Starry night.

Country music beckoned me over to Berkeley last week, as the West Coast Ramblers, The Seducers and Lady A & The Heel Draggers played a show at the Starry Plough pub.

I hadn't anticipated such a fun night of dancing, and for there to be so many of my friends in attendance - especially when we first turned up and the venue was cold, and full of grungy looking hippie types. It soon heated up though, when the bands hit the stage and more people started pouring in.






I'm going to cut to the chase - the best band of the night, for me, was the West Coast Ramblers, who played the middle set. I have seen them a few times now, and every time they sound very smooth, and play catchy, danceable songs. It is a pleasure to listen to them, and the cohesion of their sound is appreciated by my ears - I love it when a band really has their act together and plays in complete harmony.






They also make a point of asking the audience to get up and dance, and thanked us after the show for dancing along, which is cool. It's great to see a band really enjoying themselves, and getting the crowd to participate in the fun!

This was the first time that I visited the Starry Plough - funny that I had never been there before, considering that I lived in Berkeley for a year from 2003-2004, and there aren't really that many live music venues there. I suppose though, that back then I would not have enjoyed the style of bands that play there anyway, when even my taste for country music has only developed over the past couple of years.

Let's face it, I'm not going to become a regular at the Starry Plough, but I would definitely go back if the West Coast Ramblers played there again.