Lights Out By Nine's emotional Kirkcaldy gig for Dougie Hunter

A capacity audience came to the King’s on the Esplanade Kirkcaldy to witness a May Bank Holiday afternoon of live music and reminiscences that ran into the early evening. Friends, musicians and journalists were among the invited guests and included a previous Lights Out By Nine trumpet player Richard Muszynski and radio host Graeme Scott who also features on the Live At The Carnegie Hall DVD which was given away free on the day. Opening the show was original Lights Out By Nine vocalist Al Hughes, now an accomplished soloist playing steel, acoustic and bottleneck guitar. Popular band The Long Road played next with an acoustic set to a growing appreciative crowd before Martin Stephenson played a signature original set with anecdotes and good humour spontaneously accompanied by George Morrison on tenor sax.

Gavin Hugh from Midgiebite Media introduced his promotional film for the single On A Night Like This filmed in that very room. Shown on the big screen this was a 2022 production commissioned by River Records to celebrate the anniversary of the release and issued as a single for the first time. The long form video featured dancers Rachel Dorrian & Maverick Chai in the King’s Live Lounge along with the band and additional musicians John Stevenson on Hammond Organ (Gaels Blue) and world champion drummer Carl Williams on percussion.

The Lights Out By Nine set was carefully chosen from a long back catalogue opening with Take It Or Leave It and included Mr. Brown, AWB’s classic Pick Up The Pieces, a tearful Love And Happiness, Wrap It Up, Tower Of Power’s funking Diggin’ On James Brown, George Morrison’s instrumental masterpiece Chapter 26 and an encore of Still My Baby. Trumpet player John Beresford has taken over the links between songs and thanked all performers of the day reflecting on the 36 years of LOBN and promised to carry on making sweet soul music. Dougie’s wife Mandy organised what must have been a day of mixed emotions as she prepared a cold buffet between the acts and scheduled the day with the good people of the King’s. Entry was by invitation and a charitable donation and could have sold out a whole lot more than was packed into the tiny venue which Dougie had loved and volunteered with until his untimely death last Autumn aged 70.

Lights Out By Nine are currently Tom Stirling on keyboard, Paul Haddow on bass, Malc Herpich on drums, George Morrison on tenor sax, John Beresford on trumpet, John Frame on Vocals and Alan Kyle on guitar. They play Fire Station Creative, Dunfermline on July 13th ahead of proposed Jazz Bar shows at Edinburgh Fringe in August.