Five Years At Fitz

Plenty of familiar faces down Fitz last night for a celebration of Three Plus One's five years at the venue. Five years must make it one of the longest running in Brighton (Steve Thompson at The Sussex Yeoman made it to four and a half). The evening started with a set by ERM (Ela Southgate and Rachel Day on vocals, Matt Wall on 7-string guitar). Lovely harmony vocals and some nice original tunes managed to calm the typically rowdy early evening crowd. We played a set of the usual and then guitarist Piers Clark joined Keith Baxter (bass), Matt and me for some Parisienne-style swing. Piers has a wonderful sense of time - even if he won't play a lick later than 1939! Master chef Freddie (of Terre a Terre) made a delicious strawberry birthday gateaux, with a piece for everyone in the pub and the band played on for another set. I never forget it's a privilege to have a regular weekly gig, and just hope that Fitzherberts manages to survive the creeping gentrification of the area.