The annual

Pig & Jig took place on Box Common on Saturday July 4th in

glorious sunshine, and, with a record number of people attending, was deemed a

great success once again by the joint organisers, The Corsham School and The Quarrymans

Arms pub of Box.

 

            As usual, headlining

country band The Electric Lobsters opened proceedings with a fine set of jigs

and reels, some of which appear on their critically acclaimed album “Kamares”. The Lobsters have been playing at the Pig & Jig for several years now and the event simply would not be the same without them, being as they are one of the ebst country bands in the South West at the moment.

 

            However, in

truth the night belonged to Corsham blues band Corinthian Casuals, making only their

second appearance at the Pig & Jig.

 

As the Casuals took to the stage,

the gathered masses might not have known what to expect from this group of

slightly scruffy looking men in their early twenties. They certainly wouldn’t

have expected such a stunning show from a band who are obviously on their way

to local critical acclaim.

 

Appearing, rather confusingly,

wearing his drummer’s dad’s fishing hat, singer and rhythm guitarist Stu Joslin

growled his way through their first two numbers, Etta James’ “I Just Want To

Make Love To You” and Stereophonics’ “Bartender And The Thief”, like he had

smoked forty Camels and downed a bottle of Jack Daniels just before he went on.

 

            The ice

cool fingers of tall, dark and handsome bass player Max Goff provided some

excellent lower frequency lines, even when he gets let off the leash to sing

Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock”, while lead guitarist Alex

Mitchell proved how far he has come in a year as his classy

and naturally crafted guitar licks and solos became the focal point of most of

the bands numbers, most notably on a remarkable cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Hey

Joe” which lasted for a glorious ten minutes.

 

 Driven along by young drummer Tom

Page, whose talent belies his age by a good few years at least, the band ended

their set with two Rory Gallagher tracks, the refreshingly different mandolin

based track “Goin’ To My Hometown” (during which Joslin seems to have a real

ball) and the blisteringly frenetic “Bullfrog Blues”. The by now mesmerised audience

wouldn’t let them go that easily however, and on their swift return to the

stage decided to play the ultimate Independence Day song, “Sweet Home Alabama”

that had the whole common rocking for the final occasion that evening.

 

The Lobsters returned to the

stage not long after, and kept the party going long into the night with more of

their excellent trademark musical stylings that had most attendees attempting even the most complex of dance moves!

            Away from the music, the event raised lots of money for its chosen charitable cause, Dorothy House, in memory of former Corsham Teacher Jon Ridler who sadly passed away earlier this year after a long cancer battle.

             A date is yet to be set for next years event, but it will be pretty safe to say that it will take some doing to beat the simply awesome variety of entertainment from Pig & Jig '09.