So I convalesce, and I ease the stress

I went to one of the most bizarre gigs I've ever attended on Thursday night. It was held in the lounge room of the CIU (Working Men's Club and Institute Union) convalescent home on Saltburn seafront, where former miners usually spend their recuperative days supping pints and playing Dingbats. That's not what made it a bit weird though - it was more that I was just about the youngest person there. The crowd consisted mainly of women aged 50+, most of whom were the types you'd associate with things like church coffee mornings and houses with commemorative plates hung on every available perimeter wall. I hate to stereotype, but it's generally what 23 year-old males from the north east of England do, so I did anyway.

On the tables dotted throughout the room they'd provided a few nibbles in the form of crisps that had gone soft, and little blocks of cheese. Where you'd normally find the artist's merchandise stall, there was instead a Saltburn Convalescent Home merchandise display selling, fantastically, solution for the cleaning of dentures. It was very much a living room atmosphere (but with loads of pissed-up pensioners) and they kept the big light on throughout the gig. When it all got a bit sing-a-long towards the end and various grey heads were seen to bob, I was half expecting Noel Edmonds to burst in with a camera crew as a surprise for an elderly guest, like he used to on his yearly Christmas Day afternoon slot.

The lady I'd gone to see appear live was Middlesbrough-born folk singer Claire Hamill. She signed her first record deal in 1971 and came to be best known for joining Wishbone Ash and having one of her songs covered by Eva Cassidy. I'd never heard of her before last week, but I was intrigued when I heard of this homecoming gig, and then quite excited when I listened to her songs on Myspace and I decided she reminded me a bit of Kate Bush. She didn't in the live setting though. She was enjoyable enough, but its the setting of this gig that will linger in the mind the most. Mental (nearly).