21-Feb-09 jiva In Concert - Seaton Delaval Arts Centre

The Seaton Delaval Arts Centre is a relatively new venue - enterprising enthusiasts are turning the ex Salvation Army hall into a recognised North East England performance venue. They present a wide variety of performances including pantomimes, choirs, ceilidhs, acoustic music, traditional, contemporary, rock... they have spent many thousands of pounds on refurbishing the building, installing modern facilities and lighting and sound systems. They have a stage complete with curtains, backdrops, etc and can accommodate the audience in cabaret style around small tables complete with nibbles and candles or with theatre style raked seating.

So when when they contacted us in 2008 asking if we'd play there we were pleased to accept the invitation. And what a good night it turned out to be: we had our state of the art Bose L1 sound system set up cente stage to provide crystal clear sound, and it did the job magnificently.

Jim Wigfield kicked the evening off with a medley of classic songs, then performed his own material including favourites such as 'Dilemma - The Age To Retire', 'The Wee Christmas Present', 'iPod World', 'The Chicken Song' and 'What A Friend I Have In jiva'... well done Jim, great to have you on board, and glad to hear you sold a few 'Jim Wigfield - At Last' CDs too!

jiva then took the stage for their first set - a confident mixture of some upbeat and some gentle jiva treatments of songs by some of our favourite writers and performers:

• 'Love At The Five & Dime' (Nanci Griffith)
• 'Two Old Friends' (Chris Simpson, Magna Carta)
• An Acquaintance Of Mine (Anthony John Clarke)
• Don't Think Twice, It's Alright (Bob Dylan)
• Sonny (Ron Hynes)

After a short break, including the obligatory raffle and the opportunity to buy Jim's CD, jiva were back on stage with a longer second set with a mixture of self-penned and cover songs... and even dual 12-string guitars for two numbers!

• Back Home To You (Allan Taylor)
• Passin' Thru (Johnny Cash & Randy Scruggs)
• Best Friends (jiva)
• Yorkshire Romance (C J Rowe)
• Dream On (jiva)
• No Telling (Linda Thompson)
• Back Again (Allan Taylor)
• Small Town (jiva)

Then we called Jim Wigfield back on stage to sing his 'South Shields' - a song from his album where all three of us play guitar! So, we re-created that sound with Jim singing and playing 6-string, Val playing 12-string and Jimmy playing 6-string. The finishing post was then in sight as jiva played two more songs:

• Different Dreams (jiva)
• Some Way Home (jiva)

Following shouts for more we closed the night with the singing competition - "Women sing louder/better than the men" from Jimmy, "Men sing better/louder than women" from Val... and "Just sing twice as loud as the person next to you"!

• One More Song (jiva)

Many thanks to all who attended the concert, not only personal friends but also friends from MySpace and the Folk Show community ning... thanks also for the very kind and positive comments, and a special thank you to Jim Wigfield for starting the evening as only Jim can. Let's do it again sometime and let's see more of the Folk Show community performing there...

Links
jiva website
jiva MySpace
Seaton Delaval Arts Centre website
Jim Wigfield MySpace