But I might have managed to rescue it: -


As it happened, I also took a quick look in Earl's but was underwhelmed.

The room at Flaming Henry's has a high pitched roof with exposed trusses and the band was across the short way - and the speakers were the little Mackie's and Behringer clones. No subs. The sound man was given an impossible job to combat that with his desk behind the FoH. As a result all three bands suffered from less than clear vox.

I think Didi Bergman probably has talent if you like singer songwriter stuff, but her guitar sounded as if it needed new strings very very badly, and she made the mistake of playing through a Fender guitar amp, not DI-ing, so the guitar sound was woolly (as well as her probably essential words going a bit missing).

Los Salvadores are undoubtedly talented, but the somewhat South American sound (and devotion to a Bm Em chord shift) got a bit samey after a while, and I heard no surprises in the harmony lines. Again the acoustic guitar sound was somewhat unclear, and the bass on the cajon was muddy.

Wheeler Street are very good indeed (tight as the proverbial duck), and by and large the mix held up well, but if the soundman had been out front he would have been able to hear when things needed tweaking. Kick drum would have benefitted from some big subs, and there could have been more snap on the snare (although the drum solo was both excellent and amusing, particularly the bit played while holding a glass of beer in one hand and drinking it). Words hard to follow in original songs. It might be worth trying a Beta 58 or the big Shure vocal mic, is it the Beta 87A(?) on the female vocal channel. Overall a celtic sound rather than English - but that was not inapt for the night. Very impressed. It would also have been nice to hear the vocal lines swapped about in songs, to free the female voice to go for a top harmony before reverting to the tune. Enjoyed them a lot! Frontman has definite presence, despite the St Patrick's night jacket and hat. Enjoyed them a lot!