14 Cousins, The Grey Horse, Kingston upon Thames, March 28th 2010

Big Sis had been staying since the previous Wednesday, so I wanted to keep on packing in the gigs for her. She thought twice about getting the train out to Kingston on a Sunday afternoon to see a bunch of middle-aged blokes play covers in a no-frills pub, but thankfully she said ‘yes’.

Astral, The Suit, Al The Manc and I had seen 14 Cousins here last year and had had a fine afternoon (it’s a Youngs pub, so there’s no problem with the beer), the main draw being their lead guitarist, the splendid Peter Bruntnell (see blogs passim). The other members of the band are good, too, and essentially they’re a fine covers band, as no-frills and entertaining as the pub itself.

What we got was nearly four hours of great music, with lots of toe-tapping and singing along. Here’s the (incomplete) setlist to show you the breadth and quality of the music on offer…
First set:
Tulsa County (The Byrds)
Friend Of The Devil (Grateful Dead)
The Heart Of Saturday Night (Tom Waits)
From A Buick 6 (Bob Dylan)
Fulsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash)
Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young)
Passenger Side (Wilco)
Second set:
Alberta, Alberta (Eric Clapton)
Watching The River Flow (Bob Dylan)
Wichita (The Jayhawks)
Powderfinger (Neil Young)
Up On Cripple Creek (The Band)
Heart Of Darkness (Sparklehorse)
Last set:
That Was Your Mother (Paul Simon)
The Girl Of My Best Friend (Elvis Presley)
Jump, Jive And Wail (Louis Prima)
Into The Mystic (Van Morrison)
My Back Pages (Bob Dylan)
I’m Not That Cat Anymore (Doug Sahm)
The Shape I’m In (The Band)
Man In The Long Black Coat (Bob Dylan)
Ohio (Neil Young)
Cold Turkey (John Lennon)

Sometimes a great afternoon just consists of good company, good beer and great music, and this was one of those occasions, topped off by a swift pint in the Hole In The Wall when we got back to Waterloo. Cheers!

Here are 14 Cousins from last November in the same venue, playing Sparklehorse’s Heart Of Darkness followed by Wilco’s Passenger Side (complete with amusingly pissed headbanger in the background):