Last week

A great week! On Monday night I supported Nell Bryden at The Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton. It was lovely to catch up with Nell and her very talented band. They put on a fabulous show and the crowd reaction shows how much her fans appreciate it.  

Robert Lane and Nell Bryden

Nell played some new songs, including Westbourne Park, a nice bit of synchronicity as Thursday night found me at that very tube station in Notting Hill because it is just a few steps away from The Metropolitan, the venue for Portobello Acoustic Sessions.

My friend Jess came along and we spent the afternoon enjoying the sunshine and people (and wildlife) watching in Regents Park. Once at the venue we met up with Jess's sister and I had a chat with what I guessed was another performer (the sitting around with guitar case is always a give away) who turned out to be Louise Parker. The acoustic session took place in the very nice upstairs bar and was a particularly pleasant event. Louise writes great pop songs (and gives away badges) Oka Vanga are a fabulous instrumental guitar duo and Smokin Mary Plant played great and have a Birmingham connection, so excellent all round! The night was hosted by the lovely Lánre.

On Saturday night I was lucky enough to be invited to play some songs with The Tom Walker Trio, who I consider to be one of the best bands around. Tom is a superb Guitarist and singer and it's always fun to trade solos with him, Jake on Bass and James on Drums are wonderful musicians and great at playing whatever unrehearsed tunes I throw at them. I don't get many opportunities to play Electric guitar so it was a lot of fun to crash their party for a while!

On Sunday I went to the RAF Cosford Air Show for the first time in about ten years. Naturally I got sun burnt but still had an amazing day.  I love the sound  of Merlin Engines, and the force of a powerful jet booming over head...