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The White Lion, St Albans[Pub]
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The White Lion has been a great music venue in the heart of St Albans for many years, with live gigs every Tuesday night and folk sessions on Wednesdays. A cosy and ancient hostelry, the Lion has a place at the heart of the city's history, and has provided refreshment and entertainment to locals for over 400 years. The huge leafy garden is a big plus during the summer months, and excellent food is now available with an exciting menu which changes almost as often as the range of real ales.
Ruby Tuesday was established in March 2004 as a friendly, relaxing, semi-acoustic evening featuring favourite local musicians as well as some you've never heard of, travelling from as far afield as Brighton, Ealing and.. er.. Aylesbury!
Forthcoming acts (4 of 8 total): Wed 14th May: Sessions @ The White Lion... Tue 20th May: Fat Walters Band... Wed 21st May: Sessions @ The White Lion... Tue 27th May: navaro... Newest gig: Tue 15th Jul: The Beatniks |
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| Wed 14 May | Folk
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|  | Sessions @ The White Lion 9pm - 11pm (regular: every Wednesday) |
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| Tue 20 May | Rhythm & Blues
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|  | Fat Walters Band   It's Philippa's birthday bash 9pm - 11pm |
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| Wed 21 May | Folk
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| | Sessions @ The White Lion 9pm - 11pm (regular: every Wednesday) |
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| Tue 27 May | Acoustic Country Folk Roots
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|  | navaro 9pm - 11pm |
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| Wed 28 May | Folk
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| | Sessions @ The White Lion 9pm - 11pm (regular: every Wednesday) |
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| Tue 3 Jun | Acoustic
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| | Ruby Tuesday A popular, well established music night every week at The White Lion, Ruby Tuesday is sometimes relaxing, sometimes enlivening, often surprising, but always worth leaving the telly for! 9pm - 11pm (regular: every Tuesday) |
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| Wed 4 Jun | Folk
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| | Sessions @ The White Lion 9pm - 11pm (regular: every Wednesday) |
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| Tue 10 Jun | Acoustic
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| | Ruby Tuesday A popular, well established music night every week at The White Lion, Ruby Tuesday is sometimes relaxing, sometimes enlivening, often surprising, but always worth leaving the telly for! 9pm - 11pm (regular: every Tuesday) |
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| Wed 11 Jun | Folk
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| | Sessions @ The White Lion 9pm - 11pm (regular: every Wednesday) |
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| Tue 17 Jun | Bob Dylan Tribute Band
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|  | The Bob Villains 9pm - 11pm |
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| Wed 18 Jun | Folk
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| | Sessions @ The White Lion 9pm - 11pm (regular: every Wednesday) |
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| Tue 24 Jun | Acoustic
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| | Ruby Tuesday A popular, well established music night every week at The White Lion, Ruby Tuesday is sometimes relaxing, sometimes enlivening, often surprising, but always worth leaving the telly for! 9pm - 11pm (regular: every Tuesday) |
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| Reviews | |
 Write a review for The White Lion » | |
 Funkin Brilliant Plastic Mangoes on Tue 22nd Apr 08 | |
   You may think of funk as flared trousers, afro hairdos and Isaac Hayes playing in Theo Kojak's TV cop series, but funk, played right, like last night, is a Most Excellent Thing.
The music itself was flawlessly played: solid, almost understated, but impossible not to move to drumming... locked-in bass playing with melodies in their own right being played along the entire length of the neck... spot-on rhythmic electric guitar, again tied-in effortlessly into the bass and drum playing... the keyboard player - who also played sax - contributed much of the soulful groove, and a confident, naturally gifted young lady on vocals to round off this surprising offering.
"Boogie Nights" was one of the most memorable songs, but there were many more - sometimes lesser well known than the 70/80s chart classics - that went down really well with (I have to say) a really appreciative crowd.
The sensitive, and musically engaging drumming set this band aside for me: all too often, you come to the end of an evening of live music with your head thumping... no such problem here. Professional quality musicians playing irresistibly great songs from a golden era when the song still meant more than the band playing it (compare and contrast, I beg you, to today's empty wash of style over content).
A rare find: a fun band playing timeless music at sensible volume levels; a friendly music-loving crowd and a venue with great bar staff... what more could a newly (re-) converted funk freak wish for?! | |
| Stewart, Fri 25th Apr 08 | |
| Reply from Plastic Mangoes: Stewart, thank you so much for your very kind words. We had a fantastic time Tuesday and the crowd really created a great atmosphere.
We look forward to entertaining you again!
All the best wishes
The Plastic Mangos | |
 Bizarre but brilliant My Pet Junkie on Tue 5th Feb 08 | |
  Twenty minutes into a My Pet Junkie gig, your fears that they might be making it up as they go along vanish. They know this stuff, and they know it well. An eclectic mix of people and instruments and sounds, MPJ escape classification; their sound ranges from bleak asteroid static to wash-me-down sound storms.
Bass player Julia barely moves as she picks out the most hypnotic of riffs, locked in tight sync with Stuart's choppy acoustic, which sounds almost keyboard-like through the vast array of effects pedals at his command.
Leon's "instrument" looks like a stripped-down disco turntable, minus the spindle. This is a top-of-the-range Roland Hand Sonic, a treasure chest of noises, drum kits and surprises, including a hand-waving section that contains a theramin-like wailer.
Vocals from Stuart are strong and authoritative whilst also being sensitive, melodic and soul-searching. He is backed up vocally by both Leon and Julia, and on one occasion their 3 part harmony sounds like a symphony.
This 3-piece won't engage you with familiar tunes, but that's not why they're here. Put in the effort to listen to this fascinating trio and without doubt you'll get your reward.
Note: this was an "acoustic" gig - their "normal" gig may be different - why not go along and find out for yourself? | |
| Mac MacLaren, Lemonrock Editor, Wed 6th Feb 08 | |
 Professional/hot. The Re-Loaded Blues Band on Tue 4th Dec 07 | |
You don't get many pub bands who don't clearly enjoy playing their music to a small audience - it's a given, in view of the money they're playing for - but one of the memories you take away from a night with this band is the beaming smile on Joe (singer and guitarist)'s face. But he's got a lot to be happy about with the band, particularly the clarity of their sound, which must come equally from their stage kit and from the arrangements of the songs, where members slip between the musical background and foreground like a swing band. This is a great improvement on everybody playing full-on from start to finish - definitely the way forward, I'd say.
But, having said that, they are one of the hottest-performing bands on this circuit. In their second set they played more extended numbers and it felt like a live Steve Miller gig from the Rock Love time... "I'm tryna find my baabee"... but they were probably playing the original songs.
You want to mention all the musicians by name - and you can, because they've listed them on their Lemonrock page. What a novel use of a music site! (Except that the drummer was Mark, and very good too, coping wittily despite being a stand-in with all the "interesting" bits that the arrangements, and local bass guru Ray, threw at him.) Joe said that Derek (normally on Tele, in intelligent contrast to his own 335-type Ibanez semi) had only been playing slide guitar for three weeks, but I am sure he lied, if only momentarily. Finally, in a band notable for their phrasing and instrumental voice, The Gent stood out as the finest tenor sax player I've ever heard in a small band. Or, I've ever heard. No scales, no wails, every note a soul note. Sums it up, nearly! | |
| A music fan, Wed 5th Dec 07 | |
| Re-formed, Relaxed, Re-Loaded The Re-Loaded Blues Band on Tue 4th Dec 07 | |
| Sunning myself in Tenerife my thoughts drifted back to the recent gig we saw at The White Lion. Been on the sunlounger two days trying to straighten my legs after refusing to pay the airline more funds for extra leg room (or even any leg room at all). Outstanding band, especially Joe on vocals and guitar. Just recovering from a shoulder problem he played superbly - a touch of Gary Moore just detectable. The band now uses smaller amps, which gives them a more laid-back sound (and also cancels out my carbon footprint). This band deserves more exposure, so look them up and go see. Definitely like to hear Joe when he's fully recovered. If he's not he could go on X-factor. The pub is getting a reputation for staging class acts and, a bonus, also sells unusual real ales and wine by the bottle. | |
| Derek, Watford, Fri 21st Dec 07 | |
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| Other Events | |
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| Print Flyers | |
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| Print 3 flyers per A4 page, with marked cutting guides. Hint: setting your start date to the first of a month, and your end date to the last day of a month, gives a neat heading on your flyer, e.g. setting 1 May 2008 and 31 Aug 2008 as the start and end dates will produce the heading: 'MAY - AUGUST 08'. Try it! You can also set the font size to a decimal value (e.g. 9.3) to make the gigs fit exactly onto the page. | |
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| Blog | |
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| This venue page is jointly maintained by Lemonrock and David. If this is not you, but this page represents you or your venue, join Lemonrock and we'll swap ownership of this page over to you to update! |
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| Venue details last updated 8 May 08, gig/event details last updated 13 May 08. |
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| Page first created on Lemonrock 21 January 05. |  |
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