We arrived at the Kitchen Garden Café, York Street, Birmingham in time to get a drink at the bar and find our seats. I was greeted by a smiling Stewart who was chatting to everyone on their way in, which is a lovely little extra that you wouldn't get if you went to see a band in an arena. I really love this venue, its charming and intimate.
We had chosen to go to an acoustic show. The reason being that these shows are held in smaller venues so you really are up close and personal. Stewart and Dean played first but this is a shared headline tour. They interacted with each other constantly on stage. The banter is hilarious at times and you can see that they really get on well. They have been performing together for over 10 years and looking at them both together, I would say they are closer than brothers. They have a wonderful chemistry between them. They also interacted with the crowd throughout their set. Most of the crowd following them around the country so are considered friends. Its lovely when a band knows each member of the audience by name.
There was a very short interval of about 20 minutes while the bands swapped over their instruments and got the stage ready for our next acoustic duo.
Cherry Suede come from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and are the co-headliners on this State Of The Union Tour. In fact when Stewart and Dean go on tour their names are always linked to Cherry Suede as these guys all love to tour together. Randy Young and Randy Scott come as a package, their words not mine. I have their cd's and we have been corresponding very occasionally via messenger and email for a couple of years so it was lovely to finally meet them and catch their set. Again the musicianship and the banter was wonderful. One member of the audience even bought Randy Young a pair of platform shoes as a gift because he is not tall. Guy Jones bought them round to show all the audience . He has a very comical walk and this wasn't the first time we had seen it tonight. His is another name you will hear in association with Stewart, Dean, Randy and Randy. He usually performs with them when they do their full band shows. He did actually step up onto the stage with all 4 artists for the last song of the evening. Which was fabulous.
It really was a great night. Even better for me because I didn't have to drive anywhere as I was picked up and dropped off. Thank you Tina and Charlotte West.