Party Central.

Rickety Rehearsal space.

Frogs and toads have their spring mating frenzies, the Easter Island crabs have their thing and the people of Cheshire and beyond have the Nantwich Jazz Festval, an incredible 5 day Easter Party that not coincidentally, generally comes along with the return of the warmer weather.
I played here again for Rickety Wireless, having not played together for months, so we booked out the afternoon for a rehearsal.
It was a great fun gig and we even managed to put some extra tunes in.











Thanks to Tim Lee for this photo, read more about Nantwich and this festival on Tim's blog post at https://timleesongs.wordpress.com/2019/04/22/nantwich-and-me-a-love-letter-easter-weekend-at-the-nantwich-jazz-festival/

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Hot #JazzFest vibes! Looking forward to playing with #RicketyWireless tomorrow (Easter Monday) at @crownhotelbargrill bar, #Nantwich from 6pm! Will even throw in some jazz chords for @nantwichjazz! . #MusicFestival #Cheshire #Spring #Feelslikesummer #guitarist #vocalist #UKband #festivalcrowds #markettown #rockband #popband #rockpop #rocknroll #festival #festivals #SoCheshire #bar #publife

A post shared by Jonathan Tarplee (@jonniegitahhr) on Apr 21, 2019 at 9:23am PDT

Brewing up some new tunes.

Friday, April 6th 2018 (*updated 08/04/18 to include link to live review)

Last night I was out with The Blue Yellows playing long set with new songs. As we have, of late, been focusing on recording, we were under-rehearsed in terms of live performances of new songs and in some cases, any rehearsal at all of some of the longer-standing tunes in the set. Nevertheless, although our set may not have been technically perfect, we were definitely 'in the zone' as far as artistic expression, emotion and spirit are concerned, playing an absolute blinder from what I could tell. The lovely crowd packed into the bijou but gorgeous (with equally gorgeous beers and gins) Offbeat Brewery.
I dedicated a couple of songs to my good friend Alex an amazing tour de force of a character. She and her lovely doggie died in a horrible boat fire earlier in the year.
Thanks to everyone who made it along, you gave us a great night, and lovely to see so many old faces, and enthusiastic new ones!

*Marina is Red also wrote a review of this gig at https://www.marinaisred.com/2018/04/08/gig-review-the-blue-yellows/

Awesome gig of @TheBlueYellows last night at the Offbeat Brewery #Firstyfriday pic.twitter.com/gOUPyLXvPf

— Manu Arteaga (@arteagamusic) April 7, 2018 

Official Video ad'

Setlist - spot the new tunes?

WOW Macclesfield! You won't find a better venue than The Swan with Two Necks in Macc.

 March 3rd, 2017

Just wow! On my stays in Macclesfield in the past I have always tried to make it into The Swan with Two Necks as the atmosphere is so good, and I'm really glad to report that it's still as great as ever.
A clean, well presented place that also has a bohemian character (not to mention characters inside). Clean stylishness and bohemia are sadly not common bedfellows in the music-venue world, but they are here.

So a lovely place to be in, super-friendly and helpful staff and the people who came along were also dead friendly and up for a good time.

Thank You All!

In short, THE perfect place to play or see a band!
They are pretty active on facebook so please do check them out at https://www.facebook.com/TheSW2N oh and treat yourself to a night out there!

First time using my two-in-one guitar bag from Gear4Music

We pretty much stuck to the planned setlist
this time, other than modulate 'There She Moves' into
'Jolene' (by Dolly Parton) when some enthusiastic
folk started singing it!

Spring/Summer live dates confirmed so far (& more to come)...

The Easter Weekend Nantwich Jazz Festival alone will be pretty full-on!

Coming Soon to venues in the Shire of Chesh...

May Days, May Days, May Days!

Solo performances..
.
May 5th - Foxlowe Arts Centre, Leek ! Festival! Details HERE
May 17th - The Albert Lounge, Shrewsbury
May 24-26th - Crewe Live Fest (details TBA)
May 27th - Song Club at The Old Brown Jug, Newcastle-Under-Lyme
May 28th - Alexander's Acoustic Night, Chester
For more details see the live widget on the right hand border of this blog (not on mobile version).

Easter Shows...

Mar 27th - Teenage Cancer Trust Concert, Market Tavern, Sandbach.
Mar 28th - The Lomax, Liverpool.
Apr 2nd - Alexander's, Chester.
Apr 4th - The Riser Sessions, Crewe.