Crickettes Final Concerts

[neil2726]

Sorry you have decided to call it a day as far as the band is concerned! Maybe you should have introduced a few vocals in your sets - some Bangles songs etc would have been nice and given the band a wider appeal. Possibly the idea of theater only gigs was a bit ambitious for what is broadly speaking an unknown band. Why not reconsider and hire a few other venues such as Social Clubs, who always have concert rooms for hire, especially during the week. This would be much cheaper than theaters and therefore ticket prices could be reduced. You could build on this and once better established move to theaters later when the overall band is more experienced. I have only seen videos of your band and was very impressed with the musicianship of all the girls. However I do think you needed to work on more interaction/chat with the audience - forgive me if you already do this - as I say I have only seen your videos.

Good luck for the future - hope to see the band back again at some point!

[noelford]

I get the strong feeling that the decision to finish is final and, sad though that is for those of us who love the music, I don't think we would like to see any sort of watering down of The Crickettes performances simply to appeal to a broader audience. The Crickettes performances were always conceived to cater for a niche audience, enthusiastic but in a minority. They have accomplished that in spades and I reckon the only real problem has been the costs of putting on the shows. I think the girls have done everything right and it is simply the case that the niche audience, though quite large, spread throughout the UK, is not sufficiently large enough in the catchment area of each venue to cover those costs. I shall be at Porthcawl and if The Crickettes perform exactly as they always have before, I don't believe anyone will be disappointed.

[Stratgirl]

Thank you Noel. You have answered that perfectly. I am looking forward to our FINAL concert at Porthcawl with our fabulous friends who have been so loyal and who are coming from all over the country to be with us on the night.

[drakula63]

Yeah, I think to deviate even slightly from the original intention of the band (as advertised) would have been a mistake. Had they have done this, then they might as well have changed their name and image too. It will be interesting to see what the ladies do next...

[bridev]

It is always sad when a band has to break up, especially one that plays the music we all love.
I wish you and the girls the best of luck for the final concerts and whatever you decide to do in future.

Brian

[Stratgirl]

Hi Guys Yes it is sad but it just was not working out for us. I know there will always be people with lots of ideas but they do not know all the facts. I did not intend returning to being front of stage and the band was going to be an all girl function band with a singer. I wasted a whole year of my life on that one. Three singers later and 5 bass players later we ended up as a 100% instrumental band with me taking the lead. Roxy has been with me since the start and she and I agree we are not interested in starting all over again down the road we tried originally. Nia has her school exams to worry about Rachel came out of retirement from playing after having a little girl. Roxy is due to go back packing around the world and I may carry on if the interest is there but as a solo artiste again playing small venues.
My guitar has taken me all over the world. I have met all the people I could ever wish to meet. I have made 6 albums with two entered for The Grammy's. I even use to be a voting member of The Record Academy of America which meant I voted on The Grammy's. I have played in front of 20,000 and I have had a TV programme made about my life when I was only 17 years old. I am not looking for fame and fortune. I am a girl who likes to play great instrumentals for fun.
However, my main interest is my teaching of the guitar which is very successful business it gives me a good living and I have produced some brilliant players over the year and that gives me bucket loads of satisfaction.

[noelford]

Zoe, my own professional music career ended many years ago when I made the decision to concentrate on what I have been doing since 1975, professional cartooning (yes, it was a difficult decision, but probably the right one!) Since then, I have enjoyed huge satisfaction, not simply from having managed to keep my head above water in a difficult profession, but from the number of other present-day professional cartoonists who I helped back when they were just starting out. So, I can fully appreciate the enormous satisfaction you must get from your teaching, passing on the experience, talent and enthusiasm you have brought to the music. Nia is a fine example of what you have given back to music and long may you continue to do so.

[Stratgirl]

Hi Noel, Hope to see you next weekend as we are planning on joining you guys in the far west. I would like to visit more clubs but they are normally week nights when I teach.

[noelford]

Looking forward to it, Zoe. Our new venue at Caerwedros is really nice with lovely acoustics.

[TheSavage]

Sorry for the shamefully slow response here, Zoe, my mind tends to wander, and when that happens, it's terribly difficult to encourage anyone to join the search party. Anywho, have you considered 'uploading' to a YouTube channel? It seems to be a great way to get things 'out there', so to speak... Especially now that it appears that Shadowian music is getting a lot of love on there -from pretty much every walk. Just a thought. In any case, I admire your embrace of the music - seems like an inordinate number of yonks since I levitated back towards it...