[Gigs] The Distraction Club

Last night I finally managed to go along to a Distraction Club, a musical comedy club run by Mitch Benn and his band (The Distractions). Despite a very slow train and never finding my way around Oxford Circus, I made it to The Phoenix before 7 where instead of queenortart and fractalgeek, I first ran into valkyriekaren and d_floorlandmine which was a pleasant surprise. The others turned up a bit later and we chatted in the queue waiting for downstairs to open. The venue is quite nifty, it's set up with comfy sofas as well as tables and chairs so guests can eat while watching but having had a big meal at The Punter the night before I didn't eat and only had a baguette on the train.

Mitch Benn and his band (as well as individual band members) did a few numbers throughout the evening and also acted as backing band for the other acts when needed. Guests this time were:
- Silky (brilliant guitar picking and little songs about all kinds of things)
- Vikki Stone (brilliant, irreverent and cute, sang a cover of Bonnie Tyler's "I Need a Hero" substituing "hero" for "dildo")
- The Segue Sisters (cover versions of modern songs in the style of the Andrew Sisters, fantastic, too bad they only did two numbers)
- Matt Blair did a bit on Meatloaf
- Both the keyboarder/bassist and the drummer of the Distractions did a solo piece, the former an excellent Country parody and the latter a piece I can't describe without giving away the punchline
- Headliner was Phil Nichols (funny and occasionally a bit rude/offensive songs that rocked)
- As one of his pieces, Mitch Benn wrote a song during the second interval based on current news stories suggested by the audience (the new iphone, the royal stalker found dead in a park and the Daily Mail's false prediction article with made up quotes and facts).

So yes, excellent fun. Highly recommended (it's always on the first Tuesday of the month, details on the website, advance tickets are released a week or two ahead of time and it's worth booking early)