This was a really entertaining night, with several artistes we’d never seen before – including Pete Dodds! – and we were very pleased to be going to the Saturday night gig at the Cluny Warehouse, too, for double the enjoyment. Friday’s bill started with Steve Daggett, who played a half hour set – excellently, I have to say.  As well as a selection of his own songs, he sang Lady Eleanor because, as he says, he always likes to sing at least one Jimmy Alan Hull song.  (Actually, the last time we saw him it was about 6 songs)  A great rendition, all the more memorable for the sound effects at the end, which were just as effective as the more usual cymbals!  Steve then proceeded to compere the rest of the evening. Next on was Prelude, who also did a half hour set, including, of course, After the Gold Rush.  Lovely harmonies and a treat to listen to – hope we get to see them again some time soon.  After a quick addition to the equipment on stage, along came Pete Dodds and the Lime Street Band, consisting of, among others, Messrs Craggs, Duffy and Dodd.  There was also a keyboards player, Tony Davis, Jim Hornsby on guitar and Neil Harland on double bass.  A fine selection of songs followed, mostly written by Pete, including a hilarious one called the Bitch, which he said often resulted in him getting a black eye!  It was suggested that he should write a follow-up, called the Bastard!  Pity that one isn’t on the new album.  One of the songs, The Disappeared, was co-written with Marty.  .He was joined on stage for Banks of the Tyne by Neil Chambers on the Uilleann pipes (Kathryn Tickell plays the Northumbrian pipes on the album), Pat Hedger on backing vocals, and our old friends Rachel Rhoades on the fiddle and Michael Bailey on guitar and backing vocals.  Michael and Rach both stayed on stage for a while, joining in with several songs and looking as if they thoroughly enjoyed themselves – they certainly sounded great! Pete and the Lime Street Band played for about an hour – I’m sure many of the crowd bought the new album as a result – we certainly did – then Steve came back on the stage to introduce The Happy Cats – “a band who in the last 6 months have played anywhere with a 3 pin socket!”  They were only able to play a short set – about half an hour – but were as enjoyable as we have come to expect.   To round off the evening were The Caffreys, a difficult to describe band who seemed to play a bit of everything – all very enjoyable, and I probably would have wanted to dance in a bigger space; They were certainly a notch or two louder than the rest of the artistes.   The following night followed a similar pattern but starting with Neil doing s selection of tunes on the Uilleann pipes, then Steve (no Prelude tonight).  The rest of the evening was as on Friday, with both Steve and The Cats singing a different set. All in all, a great weekend, and I look forward to similar events.  Maybe Mr Daggett and the Cats might consider doing a joint gig somewhere in the near future?  (Hopefully not too far north!)