For those too young to remember or the rest of you who are too old to care, Dan Baird was the creative force behind late 80’s roots rock band Georgia Satellites and lately has been plying his considerable talents with The Yayhoos to some effect.

So how come he and his buddies end up in a pub in Kendal on a Wednesday night? Well they are on a low key troop around this country, taking in the sites on a sort of working holiday, staying in B n B’s and playing music as well as the touristy stuff, very un-rock n’ roll. 

A healthy crowd had assembled despite the attraction of Barcelona/Chelsea game on the box. Bootleggers Bar is a devoted live music pub though not quite accustomed to such rock luminaries gracing the stage but with good acoustics and a decent PA the portents were good. 

The band consists of Dan on guitar and smokey vocals, Ken McMahan on Les Paul, former Satellites and occasional Yayhoos bassist Keith Christopher and Mauro Magellan thumping the tubs.

Drawing material from the Satellites, The Yayhoos & Baird’s own solo catalogue and the occasional titanic cover version allows these friends to really enjoy themselves. The band happily milled around drinking & chatting with the crowd beforehand and ambled onstage at 9.20pm, no set-list to stick to, just a glance round and a few words and they blast into a song. 

It appeared that Dan and Ken took turns picking the next tune to perform, sometimes they agreed, sometimes they started a riff and the band refused to join in, requesting they try something different, which certainly kept it interesting.

“All Over But The Crying”, “Keep Your Hands To Yourself” and “Six Years Gone” were the highlights of the Satellites numbers, of Dan’s solo stuff obviously “I Love You Period” was popular, The Yayhoos “ Monkey With A Gun” &  “Bottle & A Bible” were well received with neat fretwork from MacMahan on the slider.

Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World” and sing-along versions of “Get It On” and “Hush” kept the crowds voices in working order as the sweat drenched foursome finally called it a day two and a half hours in.

A great gig, a warm welcoming atmosphere with what felt like four of your mates playing songs for a few of their mates, superb night.

The only down side was the lack of a chippy open on the way home, but can’t blame Dan for that!!

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