Oval Tavern | The Skamonics

A return to Croydon’s Oval Tavern

Jul 4, 2016 gig, setlist Oval Tavern Comments are off

This was our second gig at the Oval tavern in Croydon – and it was as good as our first.

It’s hard to pin down why this is such a good venue, but it has a lot to do with good sound (thanks Gavin), what is clearly a great community pub and an enthusiastic crowd.

One family group, who all got up to dance, told us they had members in their 80s, 70s, 50s and 20s. That’s one of the great things about ska – it appeals across the generations.

We played two new songs. Our ska’ed up version of Mad World, which went down particularly well, we put in the first set.

And in the second set we played It Must be True Love, a Toots and the Maytals tune which is not that well known. We have been asked to play it at a wedding gig soon, and it’s a lovely song.

This is what we played:

Chinatown
Guns Of Navarone
Latin Goes Ska
Tide Is High
Mood For Love
My Baby Just Cares for Me
Alley Cat Ska
Mambo Number 5
Mad World
London Calling
Enola Gay
Price Tag
Red Red Wine

One Step Beyond
Mountain King
It Must Be True Love
Come Dancing
Simmer Down
99 Red Balloons
Tainted Love
Rudy A Message To You
My Boy Lollipop
Night Boat To Cairo
Gangsters

We don’t have any pictures or video of the band performing, but we took some pictures in the pub garden and at the sound check before we played, and there’s one of everyone in the band, inclduing special guest Jackie on tenor sax. If anyone did take any pix, please share them to our Facebook page.

Thanks Croydon, it was a blast

By skamonic

Feb 28, 2016 gig, pictures, setlist Oval Tavern Comments are off

We had a terrific gig at Croydon’s Oval tavern last night.

The pub was packed, and there were people dancing almost all the way through both our sets.

We took the opportunity to try out four new numbers:

My Baby just cares for me, which although a song from the 1930s will always be associated with Nina Simone. But while sme may not have been aware of it, it is very definitely a ska rhythm going on in her right hand.

London Calling – there’s lot of reggae and ska influences in the Clash, but perhaps not so much in the original of this. Now it is ska.

Hall of the Mountain King is from the Peer Gynt Suite by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. We thought turning this into a ska tune was wildly imaginative – and then we found that Madness had done a version.

Come Dancing is a great Ray Davies song that was a hit for the Kinks. We just like it a lot.

Each seemed to get a good reaction from the crowd, which is not always the case. Sometimes something can sound good at rehearsal and then be a bit of a flop.

This is what we played in our two sets. And we hope it won’t be too long before we get invited back.