Judge Live in Lewes - 29th November 2002

Judge & Rikki Patten take a bow

On November 29th last year, Judge appeared live on stage at the All Saint's Hall in Lewes, Sussex, performing a short set supporting Arthur Brown at an 'unplugged', acoustic gig.

Also on the bill were singer-songwriter Janna Burchell and Tibetan traditional singer Yang Chen.

The show was well attended, and the venue, a converted church, is pleasant and has good acoustics. Judge was delighted that several CURLY'S AIRSHIPS enthusiasts turned up for the event.

Suits you, Judge!

Judge was understandably nervous about the show, as he calculated that the last time he appeared on-stage singing his own songs with live accompaniment had been a little over ten years before. He was backed by Rikki Patten, the 'second guitarist' for CURLY'S AIRSHIPS, on acoustic guitar, and performed three numbers.

'Carpet Tiles', one of the most popular songs on his 'Dome Of Discovery' CD, was followed by 'We'll Always Have Paris', an unrecorded number, written just before he began work on CURLY'S AIRSHIPS, which acted as a 'test bed' for some of the composing techniques used on the big piece. He finished with 'It's The Silence That Kills You' from CURLY'S AIRSHIPS (it appears in Chapters 4 and 15) complete with some additional lyrics, not heard on the CDs.

To Judge's relief, audience reaction was enthusiastic, and he had to confess that he didn't have any other songs ready, and so no encore would be forthcoming.

Arthur Brown and the inevitable FIRE

Later, on checking his scrapbooks, he subsequently realised that at his last gig, a decade before, he had been wearing the same white suit!

He enjoyed the experience to the extent that he has vowed to try and perform some more this year, if he can recruit an additional musician, and find somewhere that will let him play.

Arthur Brown's set was fantastic, and anyone who enjoys his work should make every effort to see this Master live with his two-man acoustic band. A magical artist.

Pictures courtesy of Fiona Lindsay and Sean Kelly