Open Mic Night at the Masons

Friday night saw the triumphant return of the Masons Arms open mic night. Things weren't looking good when I turned up at the advertised start time of 8pm to find the pub empty, apart from a handful of regulars, who were discussing what songs to sing on the rock-karaoke post-open mic. Landlord, Kris and compare for the evening, Daz Schmeyz, were setting the stage up with a back projection and on-stage monitors for the best set up you will get for an open mic night in Llanelli, all we needed now was an audience and some acts to play. Thankfully, at around 9:30pm, the pub went from almost empty to almost full and the night was ready to start.

First up was Antonio Martinelli, guitar player with rock band, The Jaxx. As I have only seen Antonio playing with his band, I was slightly surprised by one of his choices of song; Under the Sea from the Disney film, The Little Mermaid, which was both played and sung beautifully. The ukulele player up next, wasn't quite so beautiful but it was my own fault, as the only practice I had done on the uke in the last few years was a quick ten minutes before leaving the house earlier. Thankfully, the crowd was as generous (and drunk) as ever so I managed to get away with it. Every act up on stage showed off how much talent is in this town; Bronwyn, Ezra, Daz Schmeyz all performed brilliantly and the crowd even managed to persuade Aled from Cut Ribbons to go up and do a couple of songs.

As the acts had all performed by 11pm and there was still time before last orders, there was a new event for the pub; rock-karaoke. The Masons does have a reputation for being a haven for metal-heads but with the exception of the opening performance of a White Zombie track by Dan Yudowitz and a song by Disturbed later on in the night, the choice of songs were as you would have expected from a karaoke night; The Eagles, R.E.M, Blondie etc. I also think that the pub has found a new anthem with Aqua's Barbie Girl being a very popular song on the night.

I look forward to the next open mic night in a month, hopefully with some new acts and I promise that I will be practicing my ukulele beforehand. I still may not be as good as the other talent on show but I hope I won't have to give myself another bad review.