Maharaja Blues at Red Lion, Leek
Venue: Red Lion, Leek, Staffordshire
Address: 7 Market Place, Leek, Staffordshire, ST13 5HH, United Kingdom.
Date: Saturday 4th October 2025
Time: 3.30pm
Free entry, part of Leek Blues and Americana Festival
Feathers at the Red Lion
by The Nonsense Chronicler Pink Flamingo
I flew into Leek on a Saturday breeze,
Wearing socks made of jazz and a monocle of cheese.
The Red Lion roared in a pub-shaped grin,
And Maharaja Blues were tuning within.
A tiger tapped rhythms on a marmalade drum,
While a fox hummed blues through a harmonica thumb.
The rooster strummed chords with a resonant cluck,
And the bear played a bass made of luck.
I perched on a pint, sipped a riff from the air,
While conformity sulked in its sensible chair.
“Too loud,” it muttered, “Too wild, too pink!”
But I danced on the bar and spilled thoughts in ink.
For music, dear friend, is a flamingo’s delight
It bends all the rules and sets socks alight.
So come to Leek when the lion’s aglow,
And let your feathers forget what they know.
Band details: Band details and videos
The Flamingo's Portal
Maharaja Miku on his way to Leek, braving Storm Amy and leaving his kitties at home.
Diary of a Travelling Musician
ReplyDeleteDrove up to Leek and back yesterday and that included a tire change in Storm Amy
Chipped the nail in my right index finger that I normally leave slightly proud in one corner to get certain sounds whilst doing so. And the tire also rolled knto my left foot and gave me a subungual haematoma on the second toe.
Also got briefly brained by my wind driven front door but survived because
- am a former Orthopod
- getting old
So there’s not much in there to hurt.
The venue was lush, a hotel/ pub/ music venue lined in old hard wood and dating back to 1708.
The acoustics were naturally great but so was Dave the sound guy who was whizz!
Helen the festival organiser and a fantastic singer herself, welcomed us warmly and Pauline took better photos of us than ever before.
The crowd was amazing, jam packed and interested and clapped and cheered us on.
I wish I could pack them up and take them everywhere.
Our set worked well - the Maharajas were all there and in form.
I was exhausted after all the work that goes into the Durga Puja festival and everytime I shut my eyes I could hear the polyrhythms of Dhak, the traditional drums of Bengal.
Luckily the moment we started the sound check the Dhaki in my head left - thank God for that, I don’t need any ‘Quiet’apine.
I did manage to miss some A notes though…
All in all a great happy success.
We went down a storm they said.
Got back to my kitties late at night.
Back to work a bit next week, the show must go on as they say.