The Wilde Theatre is set in the wonderful grounds of the Southill Arts Centre just outside Bracknell,which also home to what has been a series of wonderful chilled out evenings in the Cellar Bar.

And so it was on this evening in January , that Damon Sawyer announced  the expansion of his Platform Music  events to every Thursday and the release of a cd ‚ "Platform Music Vol.1"‚ by moving the well supported evening into the bigger sister venue of the Wilde Theatre.

 

The evening was compered by Martin Kitcher who began by introducing the first act on, Inimitable Dragonfly. This male and female duo from Reading strike you with the warmth of a cup of hot  chocolate before bedtime but unsettling you with their delightful David Lynch  film set image. Beautifully eccentric, and outstandingly gorgeous looking silver Gretsch guitar and calming voice alerted all to the start of a wonderful evening.

Next up, was a surprising debut, performance,under the guise ‚ Sean and Friends. This may well seem and indeed may well be, a working title name, but Sean himself is very charismatic, sang a couple of gorgeous tunes in everyday perfect diction and the crowd warmed to him immediately.  His friends on this occasion were Alex and Rorey. One to watch.

Joe Johnston is a likeable larger than life Scottish born singer and guitarist who sings with incredible passion and has the delivery of a gentle ox, commanding one to watch every movement and twitch in his comfortable performance. His performance of 'Crazy' is a fine example of acoustic art taking on more mainstream forms of pop music.

Fresh from last years Guilfest and probably  contemplating this years one next, was Sophie Henderson. Immaculately dressed and multi-talented, Sophie took us through dreams and desires with an angelic poise.

Just before the interval, the audience were treated to a fury , if their is such a thing of peace by the wonderful Nathan Ball.  Bare feet and bared soul occupied the stage as he gave us observations on pretty much much everything with a cool and husky 70`s style Cat Stevens genre vocal but with a guitar performanvce more in line with Richie Havens. I was completely lost in this brilliant performance as was he and the audience. Great stuff.

A legend , and Platform Music regular, David Doddington begins the concluding part of the show, confidently striding onto his second home, a stage, and making every ear prick up with his huge voice and personality. Brillaint and timeless.

Moscow Flyer, had caught earlier on their Myspace site on recommendation , and they very much lived up to the description. They are full of passion and pleas ,accompanied by a slightly celtic , rock festival sound and are a very focused unit. It seems early and promising days for these people as yet but I think we can expect good things.

All good evening come to an end and this one did with a rousing and original performance  from  Guildfords`  Jay and Adams` New Rising. Superb harmonies, brilliant use of the Cajon from Adam and world class guitar from Jay, show these two as a valid theatre touring act in their own right. A new album is currently being recorded and I can`t wait to hear it. They are born stars, don`t sign them anybody, they don`t need the hastle, they are going to be huge anyway!

A great night.