Phil Sky - The Madcap Theatre, Wolverton

The Madcap Theater in Wolverton is arguably my true home turf - I played my first ever solo gig here in 2007 in the main theatre upstairs where there’s a wonderful old stage from the turn of the (last) century. In grunge rock band Stone Circle, which also contained two members of Vodka Boy, we played our final public gig here, also in 2007, and MMT of Vodka Boy and myself played the only public Road To Corm gig here in 2008 to a truly baffled audience. This is the second time I’ve played the Madcap this year in fact but tonight’s tour date was held in the more intimate gallery space downstairs. As we arrived, the space was beautifully set up with a corner performance space surrounded in flashing strip lights and the whole space had the air of a dark, intimate jazz club and perfect for my first solo performance without any of the members of The Experience since September.

YC Olie boldly opened the evening and turned out another great performance. All the songs where great, but every time I see these tour sets again there’s one song I’m bowled over by and tonight it was his closing performance of Green Day song Time Of Your Life – not the first time its appeared on the tour but it really was a great performance. I played second, running through my ten songs as a solo artist and with the temporary loss of the band I suddenly found I’d got all that stage space back and I couldn’t stop walking all around the stage whenever I had the chance. Seeking Salvation Through Love was on third and he created a lovely, chilled out vibe with his pop balladry. I sat back in the darkened auditorium and ate mince pies and dug the vibe of the place. Then Vodka Boy closed the evening – they are another act who’s roots are firmly entwined with The Madcap Theatre and they turned out an epic headline performance that closed with a rare treat when they pulled out fan favorite Drink More Water in the encore – a song they play so little and yet is so brilliant, not only has it been months and months since it was played last (if not years!) but their isn’t even a recorded release out there (dudes, what’s up with that? ;-) It was truly one of the highlights of the tour so far and was met with rapturous applause from the small but very high quality audience.

Next stop, Bedford tomorrow…