Acoustic Club Information

Monday 19th July 2021

The Horn at the Half Moon
31 North Street, Bishop's Stortford. CM23 2LD

Hello Acoustic Clubbers

It has taken a while, but we are happy to say that we restarting on 21st July with Elliott Porter as our opening Headline Showcase and a pretty fantastic list of supporting artists.

All we need now is a roomful of people to appreciate the music 

However, it would be foolish to think that the magic wand being waved has eradicated COVID 19 and dismissed it from our world but we can rock those blues away with our ever-so loyal players
 

ELLIOT PORTER
21st July 2021

It is only right and proper that we open with one of our regular players and we are so glad that we are able to welcome Eli Porter to reopen the Club. After our 15 month hiatus we could hardly ask for someone who has worked so hard to keep music live all the way through lock down. Eli has not stopped over the last year! He has been hosting so many "On Line Concerts" "Zoom" bits and pieces and most recently a series titled "a Pint and a Song". All of which were really well received. 
 
Let us remind ourselves, Eli is a talented singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. He is collaborator with others as well as a keen observer of life, love and living. He has a number of CD and Album releases that are available for everyone’s delight; his latest is LANES and is available in the usual places
 
Support will be by a pretty fine group of players
We have Joe Hazel, Tom Rider, Pat Crilly and Paul Hilder, Colin Frid and Daisy Wilcox all signed up to play so a wonderful night is in prospect

As usual doors open at 8.30, music starts at 9.00pm.

Elliot will take to the stage at around 10.30pm and will finish at 11.00pm.

Admission, as ever, is £5 on the door (cash only please we are still in the dark ages!) 

WHATS ON IN THE FIRST MONTH

Our plans have not changed, so for the first 4 weeks we are going to be running every week with 3 major headline acts and six damn fine acts on the other one. After the initial month we move back to once once a fortnight until Christmas. Plenty of details can be found at the website

28^th JULY 6 Acts x 4 Songs

JONO
There could be four of them or it could be three. All we are sure is that JONO play some great modern and not so modern songs very well.

Peter Crossley
Peter Crossley is a player with a distinct style combining enchanting melodies and tunes that hit home. He writes so many good songs that are so personal to him that they make him a must see and listen artist.

Colin Frid
Wonderful voice, great guitar work and brilliant songs. The complete package and a really great bloke as well. Colin has been around years and his style experience and stage craft shows through

Neil Gowans
A local player who spends a great time with his band The Winos. Power and rock and roll can easily be given an acoustic twist. Versatile and a pretty good songwriter too!

Geoff Carne
A much traveled and highly respected performer who appears throughout the calendar and has a number of albums with rave reviews

Vic Lennard
Vic has a reputation as a great accompanying guitarist with many leading players. However, as a solo player he excels. His songs reflect his personality and he really shines when he has the stage on his own.

4^th AUGUST CHARLIE TURNER and 8 Floor spots
Charlie started as a young shy saxophonist, guitarist, piano player singer and since those hesitant beginnings she has developed into a fully formed Superstar in waiting! Without a doubt her collaboration which produced the incredible Gretel! The Musical is one to watch for the future. No matter how she arrives to the stage – piano, guitar or as an accompanist for one of her pupils (yes naturally she is a gifted music teacher as well!) you are always guaranteed a fascinating musical experience

11^th AUGUST TERRY HISCOCK & ROGER PAVITT and 8 Floor spots
Terry and Roger are 50% of Hunter Muskett and have the ability to strip down the style of Hunter Muskett into a duo who always produce a performance that can only be classified as a "Tour de Force”. Terry has been the main song writer for Hunter Muskett and his sympathetic guitar work is supported by Roger on bass or mandolin. The songs bring a new perspective to a snapshot of Terry’s experience. Mind you Roger is no slouch and writes a pretty mean tune too.

25^th AUGUST BLUES INC and 8 Floor spots
For many years I have been introducing Blues Inc as Stortford Premier Boy Band. In fact, they are a very talented group of musicians who have progressed through Blues and into much, much more. They appear as a Duo, Trio, Quartet or Quintet and seem to move so effortlessly between the line ups. Not only do they play the blues (Chicago Electric, Delta Blues in fact any type genre or area of blues) but they have expanded their repertoire to modern classics and self penned songs as well.

For further details click the link below

<<WHATS ON SOON>>

COVID COMMONSENSE AND THE HORNS

In conjunction with our Landlords please read the following information from them. It just makes sense!

Following the announcement by HM Government that all legal restrictions for social contact measures will be lifted from Monday 19 July. It's been 16 very long months since our last gig without any restrictions, and we can't wait to welcome everyone back to gigs without social contact restrictions, and we will continue to make them as safe as we possibly can. Covid isn't going away anytime soon and we are committed to keeping everyone - you, our team members, our crew and all the artists, safe. We see this as a partnership with you, our friends and our community, to try to keep everyone safe from the risk of Covid infection. So please read these...

Six ways to enjoy a safe visit to The Horn at the Half Moon.

1. Please don't come if you have Covid symptoms, or believe you may have been exposed to infection. If you are suffering from Covid symptoms or fear you may be an infection risk and therefore shouldn't attend, we will be able to offer you a refund for your ticket.

2. Before coming to one of our events, we recommend that you do everything you can to make sure that you personally are not infectious. You can do this by:
-Getting vaccinated
-Taking a lateral flow test
-Registering that you are immune (due to previous Covid infection)

To be clear; we don't believe that we should operate a policy of excluding you from our venue because you haven't done those things. We will NOT be operating a certification or passport model to enter our shows. There are lots of reasons to not do this, not least the large numbers of people who have not had the opportunity for both vaccines and vulnerable people who cannot be vaccinated. But you, personally, can make sure you aren't adding to anyone's risk by keeping your record of immunity up to date, getting vaccinated when you are able and taking a free lateral flow test before you come. No one is forcing you to do this. We are just asking you to be kind and thoughtful and do it for the safety of everyone else and for our team members.

3. Some of our team members will be wearing face coverings during events. They are doing this because face coverings work. We aren't going to have a big social media debate with anyone about it, wearing a face covering inside an enclosed space like OUR VENUE reduces the risk of direct droplet transmission, so our team members may choose to wear them. If you want to reduce your contribution to the risk of droplet transmission, you can choose to wear a mask whenever you like during the event.

No one will force you to wear a mask, you can be kind and thoughtful and choose to wear one when it isn't inconvenient. If you are vulnerable, we strongly recommend that you wear a mask if you are able, and avoid close contact with gig goers who have chosen not to wear a mask.

4. The Half Moon is an intimate venue and whilst the operating margins for our events are very tight we will be reducing the number of tickets we sell for gigs to allow for increased comfort when in attendance. If at any point you don’t feel comfortable with being in an enclosed space with multiple people without restrictions please let a member of our team know. We also ask that you consider that other audience members may be anxious about returning to these environments, please help us ensure that everyone’s experience is as safe and enjoyable as it can be.

5. Service from the bar will return, however due to the great feedback that you’ve given we will continue to offer service using the app to order food and drink directly to your table. We are also planning to have collection points on the bars including collection only in the venue bar on all shows.

6. We will be deep cleaning the building very regularly including wiping down all surfaces. There are hand sanitiser stations around the building, and we ask you to please play your part in keeping the building clean from contact risk by regularly washing your hands and using the sanitiser.

We are a Grassroots Music Venue, we are also a community. Please always think of the safety of others and look after yourself at the same time.

TO ALL OUR PLAYERS

Before we were so rudely interrupted we were just about full with players for about 3 months, so it will probably take some time to get everyone back into the swing of booking to play in advance.

The truth is that we are all really keen to get started, none as keen as our regular players, our special friends and some outstanding artists who are on tour or promoting new music!

We need to appeal to you all to contact Geoff to restart our evenings in the proper manner. If you would like to play let us know as soon as possible.

To help identify the evenings we are running and whats on please click the link below

Acoustic Club Programme to December 2021