When I picked up the ticket for Catherine Ireton’s second Treasure Tracks gig, and read that the venue would The Signalman, I was a little surprised – the Treasure Tracks gigs were meant to be all about special venues, and surely a gig in a pub isn’t all that, especially in Brighton. But what if the former Railway Hotel was just a stepping stone to a later destination…
On arriving at the pub my fears were assuaged. I was met by a man in traditional railwayman’s garb and an inspector’s badge who informed us that at 6pm sharp we would indeed be moving on. A small group of less than twenty were walked to London Road station, which got unlocked (has it EVER been manned at any time on a Sunday?) before we were ushered out of the back of the waiting room and into Brighton Model Railway club headquarters. This month’s Treasure Track is Invisibility Disguise, and is about that thing that small children do when they’re really small and don’t know better where if they close their eyes they must be invisible – are there any smaller people in Brighton than in the model railway club?
This Treasure Tracks event seemed more gig-like than the last. Catherine was joined by her Ticket Inspector on acoustic bass and xylophone and another friend on clarinet and guitar, and since the space was only being used for the gig there were no crying children in the background as there was at the Booth Museum. Two gigs in the songs are a little more familiar, but the set wasn’t just a re-hash of last month’s. The extra instrumentation meant that even though a lot of the same songs were played they didn’t sound the same and the set also included God Help The Girl’s debut single Come Monday Night.
So, congratulations to Catherine for maintaining the high standard set by Treasure Tracks one. I look forward to finding out what’s in store for the third gig, due in August sometime.