On Saturday I headed to Buckley in North East Wales for a very special event put on by one of our photographers Jim Moody – a charity gig helping to raise awareness of depression, mental health issues and suicide prevention (particularly in men), with all proceeds going towards North East Wales MIND. Jim is a suicide survivor himself, and is using his experiences to help others.
My journey from London to Wales didn’t get off to the best start with all Virgin trains out of London Euston being cancelled, so the 2-hour journey ended up taking me 8 hours, and I arrived at The Tivoli Venue just as the first band Mojo took to the stage at 6pm. The band did a great job of opening the show and getting everyone warmed up for a fantastic evening of entertainment.
Up next was Andy Salter of Welsh alt-rock band Soul Jacker, who kindly stepped in at the last minute to play some acoustic songs for the ever-growing crowd after one of the bands were unable to make it. He had a great voice and played a brilliant set.
Third to hit the stage were rock / blues band Sons Of Saints from Flint. By this time the venue was really starting to fill up. These guys were fun right from the very start and played a great set of rock and blues covers as well as some of their own songs. Carys on keys and vocals deserves a special mention for her insanely good voice, as well as her younger “bro” (not her real brother!) on guitar who blew everyone away with his mad guitar skills!
Following Sons Of Saints was going to be hard, but Bad Dog from Anglesey did a brilliant job and played a fantastic set of rock ‘n’ roll tracks, including a wonderful cover of “The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac. They had a really great look and were full of energy on stage – with vocalist and guitarist Martin venturing off the stage and into the crowd towards the end of the band’s set.
Next it was time to draw the raffle, and the auction for an electric guitar starter pack, which was won by the parents of a young kid with a mohawk, who looked like he would certainly put it to good use and become a star of the future.
Penultimate band of the evening were B4time, who were very popular with the crowd. They played a brilliantly energetic set featuring original songs as well as some stellar covers including “Wherever I May Roam” by Metallica and “Anarchy In The UK” by Sex Pistols.
Headlining this very special show were “glam-tinged power-pop / rock” band Last Great Dreamers who looked very dapper in hats and suit-jackets. They put on a blistering performance and kept the energy going until the end of the show at around midnight. The band will be playing a special show in London next month celebrating 25 years since the release of their debut album Retrosexual – get all the details here.
Big thanks to Jim for putting on such a wonderful event for a great cause, and shout-out to Nick Gregory for doing a great job as compére for the evening.
Photos by Katie Frost Photography
