The Gate Inn is a tradition Cotswold pub in an old historic setting on the top of a Oxfordshire hill, with large garden to sit and enjoy the view or occasionally watch a band play. The local Shipston High School souls band Battered Soul, had played in the pub garden earlier in the Shipston Proms program.
First on stage we had Dwyer Scullion - guitar, John Hill - guitar and Rasa Case - vocals which a mixture of guitars and Rasa powerful singing style.
As we have found during this Proms musicians pop in up in several bands, and so Dwyer Scullion was next joined by James Walton and Ian Cameron as the band Loft. They had a strong guitar sound with mixture of electric and acoustic guitars and strong singing voices and their numbers included “Waiting there for you”.
Then the stage (well the end of the bar!) was taken over by 4 piece band the Shambolics (Alan Thomson - guitar, Peter Bland - bass, Mark Dudfield - guitar, Colin Beckett – washboard and harmonica) with rowdy renditions of “Put it on the Side”, “Midnight Special” and Gypsy Woman” amongst others. Alan is part of the Shipston Proms team so was doing double duty in his Proms green t-shirt.
Then we had another combo this time featuring Dwyer Scullion – guitar, Rod Case – guitar and Linda Rasa – guitar and vocals, with a selection of covers including Patsy Cline’s “Midnight” and then a selection of songs written by Linda Rasa – “Easy Lover”, Train to Rome” and “One more for the Ride”.
Next up come local band 3rd Dimension for only their 3rd gig together with George Scholes – guitar, Laura Furnell – vocals and Jez Walker – percussion. They also had a guest sax player Matt Erlanger, on some songs, who had been having a quick practice with the band in the pub’s garden beforehand. Laura’s strong and passionate vocals led the sings backed up by George’s laidback guitar sound and Jez’s enthusiastic percussion. Matt joined on Sade’s “Smooth Operator” and Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” along with other band songs including David Bowie’s “China Girl” and a George Scholes written song “Who is your God”.
The evening was completed by Proms organisers Tim (harmonica) and Helen Porter (piano) with a few songs including The Eagles “Desperado”, not for the first time this Shipston Proms, and “Honk Tonk Blues” with Matt Erlanger joining them on saxophone.
The evening was very appreciated by the large pub crowd, and it is good to see so many good local musicians and people happy to turn out to watch them play.
Tim Porter thanked Anne and Ian from the Gate Inn pub for hosting the event.
