A Singer Songwriter Salsa Dancing Hip Hop Event … with Ukuleles.

Where else will you find such a diverse array of musical acts on the same bill.
A ukulele duo, a couple of singer songwriters, a salsa dancing act and a hip hop soul band.
Only at Lazy Sunday at Cafe Bliss, the heart of the Worcester Arts Workshop.

The second lazy Sunday of the year was blessed with an unseasonaly hot sun. It was a beautiful day and beautiful people were in the courtyard of cafe bliss for some fine live music and some of Eloinas famous Belize Cuisine.

Open mic is always a random element. Today we had a married couple of ukulele players performing songs that everyone knows … only on ukuleles. They were celebrating 50 years of marriage, which was nice

Martin Thorn and a friendly violin player entertained the crowd with a few numbers from Martins back catalogue. Some of the songs were also celebrating being around for 50 years. Martin is a fine artist and great entertainer.
Sophronie, a young singer songwriter from Wales kicked off the featured artist portion of the show and she has clearly written some lovely songs and she plays them with emotion. Her voice is delightfully pure and has a bright future ahead her. I am sure.

There was a break from live music for a few minutes while the crowd got a sneak preview of a new salsa dance class happening at Worcester Arts Workshop. A quick demonstration and then volunteers were dragged on stage to be taught a few steps. It looked really easy and I would have taken part but I was too busy, and I had a bad back and i had to press play on the iPod to play music and I wasn’t wearing shoes. Otherwise I would have loved to jump up and make a fool of my self. Honest.

It was a quite a stroke of luck to get Katey Brookes to play.  Her people got in touch saying they had a wonderful singer songwriter who would love to play Lazy Sunday but the only date she had free was  8th May. Luckily that date was also the date which lazy Sunday was happening. A wonderfully soulful voice that grabs your attention and refuses to let go. Passionately heartfelt and subtly suggestive at the same time.

Headliners at today’s Lazy Sunday were Boys In The Wood, a five piece hip hop soul funk band from Gloucestershire. Guitar drums and bass, a visiting sax player and decks. After the chilled out vibes of the last two performers it was time to kick it up a notch and the anticipating audience were expecting something lively. And that is exactly what they got. Rock solid backbeat, sweet soulful saxophone and guitar, underpinned with fine rhythmic scratching, and duel vocals with the DJ taking on rapping duties for many of the tracks.

Being the sound guy I don’t really pay much attention to exactly what is being performed, only that it is sounding as good as I can get it, the band are happy with their sound and the audience are getting the best show possible. I don’t make notes about the set list, I only take the occasional photo and so I can’t claim to be a reviewer. But if I were I would give this band a 10/10 rating. Awesome musicians, obviously having fun doing what they’re doing and really nice people as well.

I love doing these Lazy Sunday’s. I never know what’s going to happen or who I’m going to meet. Amanda at Cafe Bliss is booking some amazing acts for these shows and it doesn’t look like the quality is going diminish any time soon.

If you want a eclectic afternoon of some wonderfully varied live music for less than the price of pint of beer, have yourself some delicious Belize cuisine, enjoy a drink in the summer sun and mix with friends and make new ones, you can do a lot worse than paying a visit to Lazy Sunday at Cafe Bliss (every 2nd Sunday of the month. )