It's almost May and SouthWestBand are on the road again. This time the A1 and A66 up to Darlington for the wedding of Libby and Andrew.
It would be our first marquee wedding of the year. One of our favourite type of venues to perform in, much due to the great sound, dancefloor/bar/stage placement and the general atmosphere inside!
Libby and Andrew had opted for the full four piece SouthWestBand line-up for the evening along with our afternoon option too for live music during the wedding breakfast and mic hire for the all important wedding speeches.
The fourth member for the evening and also taking care of the afternoon duties would be our good friend and fantastic singer James Taplin.
After setting up and sound checking on the large stage we quickly headed out and recorded an acoustic video of the first dance in the beautiful grounds while the room was being turned around ready for the party.
Heading back inside and once the wedding cake was cut we gathered the bride, groom on the dancefloor and had their nearest and dearest surrounding them before opening up with the first dance.
The couple's first dance was 'Cant Help Falling in Love' by Elvis Presley. A beautiful song, and a first dance staple but this would be the first time we had played it live as a band. Thankfully it went without a hitch and once the bride and groom danced their beautiful routine to the Elvis classic we dived straight into our first live band set.
Any chance to play new songs or dust off more niche tracks for the set is always a treat for us. Libby and Andrew enjoyed Soul/Motown and Country music which meant we could include our new mashup of 'Signed Sealed, Delivered' and 'Superstition' by Stevie Wonder, the country classic 'Wagonwheel' by Darius Rucker/Old Crow Medicine and The Galway Girl by rocker, Steve Earl. James' soulful voice and fantastic vocal range suited these songs perfectly and it was a real treat to hear him do his thing up on that stage with us!
First set over it was time for a quick break, a short DJ set while guests grabbed their fish and chip supper before preparing for the traditional father daughter dance.
Libby and her father had chosen the song 'Soley Soley' by Middle of the Road, a nod to her maiden name Soley. Again it was a special moment as Libby was twirled on the dancefloor while all the guests surrounded and whooped and cheered along.
Handy tip for all you brides and grooms. If you have another dance other than your first dance. E.g father daughter, mother daughter/son etc it is always a great idea to save it for just before your band's second set. It is a focal point of the night that can be used to gather all your guests from wherever they may be and fill the dancefloor up directly before your band kicks back in with the party.
Second set and the guests were still on fine form. We played a new song for this first time that night, the 2000s pop classic 'Year 3000' by the UK and recently reunited boyband Busted. Such a fun song to play live, and after adding a song by their early 2000s chart partners McFly to our set earlier in the year it was only a matter of time before some busted made its way into the vast SouthWestBand repertoire too.
We finished the night on a huge anthem, Country Roads by John Denver. As the bride and groom were lifted up on their guests shoulders we reflected on a great night, and the start of what would hopefully be an other great marquee wedding season for SouthWestBand.
Thanks for stopping by, see you in the next one!
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