We have just got back from The Dolly Show. Before you stop reading because you are thinking; ‘who in their right mind would go & watch a squeaky woman from Tennessee’, let me explain. My wife was not thrilled when I came home a few weeks ago with two tickets. In fact, she asked if I was taking my mum. She is of course more used to listening to Robbie Williams, Paloma Faith,& N’Dubz. (Never heard of them? They are a band that are named after, and from, my place of birth – North West London.) However, with a bit of persuasion she decided she would come along and humour me.
The first half of the evening’s show was a performance from ‘Dog Ruff’, a band from the village who play a wide range of cover music, & who enjoyed playing as much as we enjoyed listening. The guys have been around along time & their sharp wit provided numerous smiles between numbers. The band are all family members and they really get into the swing when hitting the rock’n roll. Martin on the drums was a last minute replacement from Poland. I thought the band were joking when they announced that he was from Poland, but chatting to Martin in the bar, it was soon evident that he was indeed born in Poland, & even more impressively, when I asked how he knew all the songs?, he told me - he didn’t, he just followed the lead guitar. If anyone noticed that, I will give them a tenner!
The very cheap bar ensured that most of the audience soon got into the spirit of the evening, and after some more top ups at the interval, everyone was ready for ‘Dolly’. She arrived on stage with a top heavy petite frame in a spangly white frock. In true Dolly style she had huge blonde hair, and told us all that; ‘it takes a lot of money to look this trashy!’. Whilst half the audience (the men) were still trying to work out if ‘they’ were real, she was soon banging out the big numbers. My wife, still being (just) in her thirties (Yes true, work that one out! – and she’s not from Thailand!) didn’t think she knew many of her songs. One hour later, she had recognised every number and was waving her arms and singing along with everyone else. ‘Dolly’ not only sang excellently whilst she performed her really polished ‘show’, she also had a warmth, as she chatted to the enthusiastic crowd. Throughout the evening, she often left the stage to mingle in the audience, finding unsuspecting ‘guest singers!’ to join in her songs. Some poor bloke called Terry even got dragged on the stage just because he had a grey beard like Kenny Rogers, he was then forced to duet in ‘Islands in the Stream’. Like everyone else, he got into the spirit of the evening & to everyone’s delight, he simply let himself go and enjoyed himself.
On the way home we were in a jubilant mood & my wife even seemed to like me. We even discussed what most of the men had been trying to work out all night. My wife felt that Dolly was probably doing quite well naturally, but that she had probably given herself just a little extra help. I have no idea how women know these things, but at last my confused mind was at rest. By buying the tickets I had at last got something right, well.......that was until she discovered that I had put the clean duvet cover on the wrong way round and forgotten to put on the bed sheet! Ah well, I had tried.
We have now seen three show’s at the new Community Centre in Milford on Sea, and each time the quality of entertainment was beyond our expectations. If for any reason you have avoided events in past, give it a go - The people are friendly & welcoming, the bar a bargain, the shows great value for money, - and most importantly, the volunteers that work so hard to choose artists to invite, get it spot on!
