Nightflight at The Horn

Onstage with current band Barfly

FRM have been reviewing bands for quite a while now (scratches head), a couple of years approximately if my rapidly failing memory serves even remotely correctly, and we still haven't managed to see every band in town (or visit every venue come to that) which I think says quite a lot for the healthy state of the current live music scene in Steeltown. This was another first (leastways as far as the band was concerned) as we made the relatively short journey to Messingham to sample the regular Wednesday live music night at The Horn Inn. Tonight it was the turn of Nightflight who were making one of their relatively rare appearances in the area and a band who were totally unfamiliar to us, which if nothing else, ensured that we arrived at the gig with no pre-conceived thoughts - always a good thing.

Now, the first thing I usually look for, and I make no apologies for this, is the drum kit, but as I walked into The Horn - shock, horror - no kit! Nightflight are a duo who mainly play the club circuit - so a battle with my pre-conceived thoughts immediately began. They opened with an unusual up-tempo version of "Riders On The Storm" which worked well and a slickly put together set of MOR standards interspersed with one or two unexpected titles ensued. I particularly enjoyed their version of Joe Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out With Him".

Towards the end of the first set, the bubbly Maria had built up quite a rapport with The Horn faithful and even managed to get birthday boy Andy up out of the throng to lend a hand in the chorus of "Living On A Prayer" which gave us all a laugh and left the crowd buzzing.

Perhaps not the type of act I personally would go along to watch (what do I know anyway) but they put in a very solid and professional performance and there's no substitute for experience. The audience loved them and you can't ask for anything more than that - nice tee shirt too!

PJF

Nightflight - slick set and a cool tee shirt

The duo have been together for around 6 months, Maria (vocals), previous to this, forming one half of Pitch Black and John (guitar & vocals), recently returning from an 18 year "holiday" in France where he worked on several solo projects and with various bands (one of which was the delightfully named Lemon Bandits).

Nightflight stepped it up in the second half with a solid version of "Gimme Some Lovin'" and by now I was getting used to the drum machine (or as used to one as you can get). "Sweet Soul Music", "Johnny B Goode", "Do You Love Me" and T Rex's "I Love To Boogie" had the punters up and dancing (and I have the handbag bruises to prove it). The mix was pretty good close up but when I made my way to the back for a few numbers, the vocals tended to overpower the backing somewhat, not that anyone seemed to mind too much. Maria's voice was strong and clear with that natural vibrato which lent itself well to "River Deep Mountain High".

Nighflight saved their best until last, for me anyway, as they encored with Lulu's classic "Shout" - great stuff. These two will undoubtedly go down a storm in the clubs - but hold on a minute - they did here at The Horn tonight too.