Now, we HAD been really looking forward to seeing Cud on the indoor stage of De Montfort Hall itself. Sarah understand this anticipation as she too was a Cud fan. So you will appreciate the mixture of emotions we felt when it was annouced that Carl's partner had just given birth to boucing 9lb 2oz Reuben at 1.30pm that very afternoon. There would be no inimitably voiced Carl, the fuzzy haired lead singer?! How could we possibly have a gig?!
Well, it shouldn't have worked.
It really should have stunk of bad cheese.
It should have been an embarrassment.
But it SO wasn't.
The band stayed and invited members of the audience to join 'Cud Karaoke' (or as the festival newsletter phrased it, 'Cud-U-Like').
It was, quite simply, a triumph (possibly of something over something but I can't find the words).
As a series of blokes (and two women) proceeded to live the dream and sing Cud songs in a variety of faux-Carl styles, it was a pleasure and a sizable crowd lapped up the sheer audacity and joie-de-vivre of the experience. I mean, come on, karaoke at your local pub means a 3 watt amp, a dodgy microphone and your bevvied up mates in a space barely the size of your average house. This was performing on a proper stage! With a proper sound system and engineers! With a VERY considerable audience! With one of your favourite bands ('cos, lets face it, you wouldn't be there that much by chance if you were one of those going up on stage)!
First up was, suitably, a young bloke in a blue Cud t-shirt. Nice one! He was pretty darn fine and came back twice more, including for 'Eau Water', the finale. We had bellied blokes. We had blokes bring a young girl - daughter? - on stage to dance (and contribute a fine yell of 'Boots!' to a spirited version of 'Hey Boots!'). We had pointless dancing as a mate did the singing (always an enjoyable sight). We had two women brave the stage, and though one eventually took fright and let her - actually very able voiced - friend take over, they drew some very enthused cheers.
And everyone who went on stage got to hug and shake hands with the band, who were clearly having a whale of time (and indeed did joke they might do this again sometime - I'd watch out Carl!). You can get a flavour of the event with this series of clips from the mighty source of all videos.
Enjoyability factor: 10/10 for the sheer unexpectedness of it all!
3 comments:
Well, that was a surprise!
Hilarious clips - didn't you volunteer to get up there, Lisa?
If they'd have offered up "Magic" I may well have been up there!
Nah, really, I'm a big coward. But it was a blast to watch and no many people enjoyed it!
It was my daughter who contributed to the boots in hey boots... What a gig, what a band!
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