Ok, so this has been Crimbo week and our last couple of gigs before 2007 at The Cauli (Friday) and The Fatling and Firkin (Saturday). Well, it was a bit of a mixed bag to be truthful. There is always an odd vibe playing gigs this close to Christmas as you never know quite what to expect by way of a crowd. This was particularly true at the Cauli, especially after our last excellent night there had raised our hopes of a good crowd. As it happened, we probably only had 70 or 80 people turn up this time and its always difficult to get things going in there with a smaller crowd, especially as most of them had probably been partying all week and were probably a bit immune to it all by the time they got to us. We tried our best though, even bringing on our part-time sax maestro, Tracey, for a few songs to add a bit of class to our ranks and a bit of authenticity to "Valerie" and a few other tunes. We did even have people dancing for a while, but things had turned a bit quiet by the end of the night, so we decided to put that one down to experience and use it as a warm up for the following evenings gig at The Fatling.

The Fatling, being a smaller venue, was packed out with a really good atmosphere. There were also a lot of old friends there to see us too so we knew there would be a lot of "lurve" in the room. The sound on stage and from the PA was great to, so we all got straight into our stride and played a storming first set, with the new songs "I Love It When You Call" and "Chelsea Dagger") sounding particularly good and getting the singing going early. The second set was going great too and Tracey joined us again to wow the crowd. Things were going almost too well and then we were told by Wayne, the Bar Manager, that we needed to finish the show early as there were early signs of trouble that he wanted to diffuse quickly. We were really disappointed, as we were gearing up for a big Christmas ending with some festive Slade and Wizzard to be played, but at least we ended on a high with the crowd all wanting more. After the gig we had so many people coming over and telling us how much they enjoyed our set as it was so different from all of the usual songs other bands play, which is really nice as it means that people are getting what we are doing now. That being said, it's guaranteed we'll still get someone coming over and asking for "Sweet Child of Mine". :-)

So that was The Fatling gig and this has been 2006. Another great year for us as a band, although we're already looking forward to 2007 and our 4th Saturday residency at The Cauli. Thanks to everyone that has supported us in 2006, from the venues that have booked us (like The Cauli, The Lord Napier and The Marne), to the friends that have helped us humping gear, sorting our sound and doing our website (like Gary, Paul and Sue), to our families and friends for putting up with us and, most importantly, to all of you that make the effort to come along and see us play. We really appreciate you all as, without you, Monkey See would just not be able to exist. Thanks again.

We look forward to Monkey Seeing you all again soon in 2007! :-)