The Star Inn 
Bentworth
Alton
Hampshire
01420 561224

matt@star-inn.com

The Jenny French Review Page

Trafficker                   John Young                Jules Benjamin

John Young 4th August 2000  www.youngjohn.co.uk 

What follows is a detailed account of the evening of 4th August at the Star Inn Bentworth.

It my help if I give you a bit of background information before I begin.  We are a small country pub in the middle of nowhere in particular.  However, Friday night is music night and most weeks it is THE place to be.

My favourite artist however, is, yes you've guessed it, John Young.  So much so that the next booking in September is at my request, for my Birthday.

The area where the visiting artists have to play is in front of the dartboard between the toilet doors (this is significant later).

I generally come out earlier on nights John is playing than other weeks so as not to miss a note.  So when I was walking across the car park and could hear 'Closer' coming out of the pub to meet me I was horrified.  This is usually the second song in the set, I couldn't possibly have missed any, it was far too early.  Absolute relief to find on entering, that this was just a sound check.

The set began with 'All Grown Up' ........ that distinctive intro works so well.

We then had 'Closer' followed by 'Life Underground' with John telling us that this was as quiet as it would be tonight.

He then went on to introduce 'When I was Young' as a bit more popish.

On introducing 'Palmistry' John asked for help with the rap section, which apparently plays havoc with his throat, and indeed he did revert to singing the second half.

He then introduced 'Ivory Tower' asking if anyone had experienced love and jealousy, no one was going to admit it.

During that quiet, serious beginning someone announced to those within earshot that this song should be re-named 'The Ice Cream Van'.  As the word spread around the pub there was a lot of hilarity going on............. you just can't do serious in the Star.

John then told us that he had been intending to go into the break now but he had a request for 'Nothing at All' which he would do first.  The intro began - then abruptly stopped.  John had been distracted by Matt brushing past and announcing that he was going for a p****.  John stopped, told the rest of us who had not heard this saying 'you don't want to know that Matt's going for a p*** do you? To which a unanimous yell of 'YES' was the reply from the whole bar.  Further toilet banter ensued before we got the full rendition of 'Nothing at All'.

Then John said that he was taking a break and invited us to 'grab him' if we wanted anything.  This was a poor choice of words and it was only the table between him and three young ladies which saved him.

After the break John introduced the next section with 'I'm going to do something noisy now'. Beginning with a medley of classical tunes ('Beethoven' - ed)e were asked to try and spot the 4 tunes, which were:   Beethoven's Ode to Joy, Bach's Toecata & Fugue, Sailors Hornpipe and Puff the Magic  Dragon. I have to say that although I recognised the Beethoven I had not a clue what it was called, I did spot the hornpipe (difficult not to really) and Puff is too well disguised for me but others got it.

During this vigorous assault on the keyboard our Matt was using the bar as if it was a keyboard playing along, giving it everything (I wonder what it would have sounded like on a real keyboard)?

Next came 'Childhood's End'  John introduced this asking us if we had heard the story which goes with this, no-one answered so he continued with the story which I am sure most of you know so I won't repeat it here.

Before the applause had finished John said 'more nostalgia' over the intro (Yes - ed) to 'I know what I like'.

Next came 'Last One Home' to which we were invited to sing along.  We almost managed to drown John out with an unearthly racket.  I got the feeling that John was finding it difficult to keep it together at this point - playing, singing and laughing at the same time can't be easy.  Once started our Matt (bless him) was not going to stop and continued with the chorus all the way until the very end.

John then tells us he is going to do some of the new stuff.  During the short wait while the band is changed we get a rendition of 'Always look on the Bright side of Life' from Matt.

Soon John is ready and launches into 'Kings'.  During this my friend turned to me and said 'Oh I don't like this one - it's scary - it's like a spy chiller'.  I had to agree it does have a sinister feel about it.  It came to
it's very abrupt end - John looks up smiling at us waiting for the audience reaction which is a bit delayed because of the unexpected  ending.

Next came 'Just One Day'.  It is the second time that I have heard this one and it definitely does something for me.  During the whole of this song a group of us sitting along a bench seat swayed to and fro to the music - synchronised dancing sitting down if you like.

John looks at us smiling, and says 'want some more?'  YEAH!!!! cries the audience. (I think he already knew the answer).

He then went on to introduce us to the new CD he is working on 'Significance' which begins with 'Significance' and ends with 'Insignificance'.  'Significance' had been premiered elsewhere so he decided to give us the premier airing of 'Insignificance' and would play them back to back for us.  He then said that we could dance to these if we liked.  We didn't need asking twice and in a flash several of us were on our feet.

I believe this is the point where I am supposed to go into great detail about what these songs are like.  I am sorry but I am not capable.  All I can say is that they are not too dissimilar to each other and are as
excellent as we have come to expect of anything John produces.  (Anyway, I was too busy dancing to try and dissect them.)

The applause nearly died down, John unconvincingly says 'that's the end of the show' - immediate response is - NO!!!!!!!!

John with a big grin on his face says 'I hate the 97 encores at Bentworth' - The grin told a different story.

During the evening John had received a request for 'Wings to Fly' but he couldn't remember it - it is not usually in the live set.  Instead he said he would play 'Angel's Wings'  - There was a story to go with this.  All was quiet, hanging on his every word whilst he recanted 'you know when you fall in love and the Angel of love comes down and you feel - just fantastic -pause- then you f*** up (language John).  This was met with raucous laughter - perhaps we have all been there.

I had not heard this one before, it was gentle and quiet - so we weren't.  A digital camera had been waved around during the evening and there was much laughter going on looking at the pictures at this point.  Even so at the end there were again screams for more.  John said that we must all be on medication and suggested that it came from the pumps behind the bar.

He then changed the orchestra back over and told us this was another favourite that he had not planed on doing this evening as 'Imaginary People' began - this one was for me!

He could not be persuaded to play any more after that.............I suppose it was getting late.
 

So there it is a typical Friday evening in the Star at Bentworth

If you are still with me thanks for suffering my attempt at a 'gig review', don't worry I won't give up the day job.

Jules Benjamin  www.julesbenjamin.co.uk 

A Review of ‘Benny The Wedge’ Live at the Star Inn Bentworth Friday 2^nd August

The evenings entertainment was introduced by Benny the Wedge aka. Jules Benjamin when he picked up his guitar and hailed “Good evening Bentworth” to which there was no response, although everyone was attentive. He then launched into his fist song of the evening ‘Take the weather with you’.

At the end of the song someone called out “who sang that song” to which he replied “I just did, Crowded House, was there a wager on that?” “Yes” was the reply “who lost” said Jules “you did” was the answer.  He then began to play ‘Babylon’.

At the end of this he commented on how strange it felt to stand between the toilet doors before singing ‘Feeling Groovy’.  Then there was another call from the audience “Do you do Black Sabbath?” to which he replied “No, you can if you want to.  What shall we do next”  “Puff the magic dragon” came from the back of the bar  “go outside and do that” was the quick retort.  There were several more suggestions, all of which were ones he didn’t do or know.  Then he said, “let’s play piano because I want to sit down.”  As he was settling down to the keyboard one of our regular troupe of cyclists passing by prompted the comment “are the cyclists here or do you always dress like that?”  He then began to play  ‘Piano Man’.

Back to guitar. “Lets do some Scottish music, any Scottish in” to which there was no response “good we can take the piss out of them then” to much laughter.  He then sang ‘Flowers in the window’ after which he asked a lady passing by for a request. Without stopping she replied “The Eagles, Lying Eyes.”  Without hesitation he launched straight into it.  This was followed by ‘Big Yellow Taxi’.   “Who was that by?” Came a call from the same group that asked a similar question earlier  “Jodie Mitchell, you lot would be crap in a pop quiz, don’t be in their team if you have a pop quiz there’s 8 of them and they still don’t know anything!  Let’s do another one on the piano”.   He then began a very tuneful ‘Close to you’ until he got to the part that goes Ahhhhh this was delivered much less tunefully and very loudly which provoked laughter throughout the bar and ended the song.

He then picked up his guitar again and sang ‘Handbags and Gladrags.’  After this he was persuaded to play one of his own songs and we were treated to ‘You have been loved’ which can be found on his ‘Running from the Scene of the Crime’ Album that I can personally recommend.  He then began the play the first line of the American National Anthem in a Hendrix style.  After which he quipped “now you know why Hendrix didn’t play acoustic” to which someone shouted out “behind your head” so he did, note perfect to the delight of the audience.  He then crouched down facing backward behind the keyboard and played keys behind his head, this earned a huge applause.

He then introduced the next song ‘All my Loving’  “This is in E major if you want to sing along.  It’s an easy key to sing along to, difficult to accompany but easy to sing to.”  After this one he said that he would take a short break.

During the break ½ a drum kit was produced and assembled, a bass guitar and electric guitar appeared.   It transpired that the plan was for regular Sunday night jammers Dale on Bass and Stuart on drums to accompany Jules on Electric guitar, so all of a sudden we had ourselves a band.

“Welcome back we have a change of plan, why does this always happen at Matt’s pub?”  The three of them then went on to play a blues number which I could not pick out a title from.  Later I asked Jules what it was called and he told me that he had made it up.  Perhaps we should have recorded it, I am sure it was as good if not better than a lot of blues songs I’ve heard - is there no end to this man’s talent?

They then did ‘Kansas City’ after which Jules shouted “Hey Matt this guitar has been drinking.”  A quick tune up, then they did ‘Sweet Home Chicago’.  After this Dale on Bass suggests they try ‘Wild Thing’.  Jules responded “I’ve never done it before but we’ll have a go.”  He pulled it off very well even though some prompting of the words was required.  During this song Matt took the mic from in front of the keyboard to put it in front of Dale on Bass so he could sing backing vocals. The lead, however, only just reached and almost knocked Jules’ music stand over which prompted him to call “Security!”  It didn’t actually fall, however and they continued only slightly interrupted.  At the end Jules announced “That was the Bentworth Affordables.”

There then followed a short break during which Matt decided to create a super group.  This consisted of Jules Electric lead guitar, Dale on Bass and John Young (singer/songwriter and regular performer at the Star who had come in for a drink with friends) on Keys.  “What shall we do?” says Jules.  Matt suggested the Halifax advert to which John replied “there’s a group of people here who want to be entertained!”  They plumped for ‘Johnny Be Goode.’  At the end someone at the bar held op the telephone and called out “John it’s your agent on the phone.”  To which John replied “I didn’t come to do a gig I came for a pint.”   Jules responded with  “John was too embarrassed to do a solo, we’ve got careers to worry about.  This is the super group’s last track.”  ‘Great Balls of Fire’ to which three of us couldn’t resist dancing to. This was followed by screams for more but to no avail, the response was “This was a one off”

Another very short break while Jules was being persuaded to play a couple more songs, and then we were treated to ‘Postman Pat’, which was cut short when a glass was dropped.  That was quickly followed by ‘Let it be.’  There was yet more cheering, clapping and stomping for more to which Jules asked “What’s this the Salvation Army” to which the reply was “We have the Tambourine” as the said instrument was violently shaken.   To that he said,  “This will be the last one, any requests?”  I didn’t hear the response but Jules said “I’ll have a go, I’m in that kind of mood” and we were treated to ‘Too good to be true’ which was accompanied by a lot of percussion from the audience.  The percussion box which is usually out on Jam night had been severely raided.

Trafficker  www.tommyallen.com

Friday 15 November 2002  Trafficker live at the Star Inn Bentworth

Having heard the amount of interest in this band during the previous few days, I arrived a little earlier than usual. Even so, I still had to worm my way through the people to get to where I had been given a reserved seat at a table with honoured guests Tommy’s mum and fiancée. This was definitely going to be a busy night.
A little after nine Tommy opened telling us that it’s Matt’s birthday on Sunday and his Mum’s birthday today and wished them both a happy birthday.  He then began their first song ‘All Over Again.’  It was very noticeable that right from the first note all the band were giving it their all and were very obviously really enjoying their music, this continued for the whole evening.

The next song was introduced with ‘We’re going to go down to Texas now’ I didn’t catch the actual song title.  During this song we were introduced to Eddie on Drums and cheeky on Bass. We were then introduced to Colin on mouth organ as he launched into quite a frenzied performance.  The next song ‘Going Crazy’ was introduced with a reminder of the birthdays, this song included backing vocals from Eddie on drums.

By 9.30 I looked around and it appeared that standing room was now only available in the car park.  Apparently at some point in the evening money was being passed through the windows in exchange for beer. (I do believe we have found the capacity of the venue.)
‘Is this enough for me’ was the next song.  Around ½ way through the lights flickered.  For those of us living locally it was a bit of a heart stopping moment as in recent weeks we have been experiencing many short power failures.  It was a stormy night and a great relief  when the power remained on and we were able to continue un-interrupted.

‘This is a Roddy Hall Song - ‘I cried my Eyes Out’. During this song I tried to take some pictures to embellish this review.  However I am still learning how to use my new camera and I could not make the flash work so I got a lot of very dark pictures.  As you can see I did eventually manage to get a couple later in the evening. 
They went straight into the next song that had a slow quiet beginning.  This was ‘When love is gone.’  Tommy told us that it was on their new CD due out next year but they are not ready to sell it yet, so we’ll just have to wait.

‘This is a Robert Johnson song ‘Rocking Blues’ and is the last one of the set.’  During this Colin treated us to an extremely frenzied attack on the mouth organ.  A couple of ladies were afraid to come back out of the toilet while the band were playing and did only after a little encouragement to a big cheer from the audience. We were then asked to clap hands along with the music.  Most people quickly obliged, but Tommy was not happy,  ‘that means you mum!’  Everyone was really enjoying this number hand clapping and foot stomping.  At one point I thought we could all end up in the cellar as the floor moved with the excitement.  A plug followed this for their CD’s, which were on sale.

During the break there was a rush for the toilets and at one point the queue for the ladies was half way through the band area.  After a while it settled down and following a 15-minute break they began the second set.  It began by everyone singing happy birthday to Mum and Matt. Then Tommy said to the band ‘the slow one 1,2,3,4’  ‘Rock Steady.’  During this song Colin and Cheeky on Bass were swaying to the music one behind the other very close with big grins on their faces, they got a disapproving look from Tommy as much to say ‘what are you doing!’  They just grinned back and kept it up for a few more moments before Colin provided us with another session on the Harmonica.  This time the song being a slower number he was much less frenzied and more in control than before.  At some point during this number the speaker nearest me had quite a wobble, I think someone must have knocked against the table it was sitting on. The next song was ‘Shadows of Love’.  Tommy shouted ‘are you enjoying yourselves?’ Yeah! Was the reply ‘Cant hear you are you enjoying yourselves?’ an even bigger Yeah!  Followed by an instrumental section.

The next song we were required to clap at the intro  ‘Come on lets see some hands’ as the intro (mainly piano) began leading into ‘Personal Investigator.’  During this we were treated to some more enthusiastic harmonica playing.

By now there were people sitting on the floor at the very front, there was lots of to tapping and hip swaying going on, there wasn’t room to move any further that that.  I felt the floor moving again as this number built up to its final crescendo. This was ‘Diplomatic Man’.  It was quite a rocky number that sounded pretty un-messed up to me.

‘This is a free number’ was how the next song was introduced I was not sure of the title  ‘All I need is a friend’ or maybe ‘Be my friend’ or maybe something else entirely. There was no harmonica at all during this song so Colin crouched down next to the drummer leaning against the doorjamb.  He was looking quite uncomfortable as he shifted his weight around.
Last orders were called at the bar As Tommy was asked to play a song for his mum ‘I wrote my mum a song she sad it was too depressing, she said it sounded like a death march so I wont play that one.’   One of the band retorted ‘She’ll stop your pocket money!’  Instead they played ‘Talk it over’ which was far from depressing, again quite a rocky number. We had some backing vocals on this one also and the audience was required to sing repeating what Tommy sang. This really got everyone going and was followed by a huge applause clapping and shouting.  During the break Matt had asked Tommy to call last orders over the mic,  it was only now that he realised the time. ‘Sorry Last orders at the bar five minuets ago.’  He then gave a plug for Dr JJ playing at Moose Hall in December before introducing the next song. ‘This is a song for my Fiancée sat next to my Mum’ ‘Marry You’
Then we were told it was the last song of the evening.  We were introduced to Keith who was to guest on Saxophone.  ‘This is a Rolling Stones number ‘Feed on Me.’ At the end of this one there were calls for more.  ‘You want more?  Are you going to buy a CD then?  Mississippi Nights' in E.’

Then it really was time to go home.

All in all a most enjoyable evening.  Good music performed by a group of musicians that compliment each other well and are obviously enjoying what they are doing.