Sadly the main bar was almost empty; not a good sign. Well, the evening got off to a good start with a pint of Flowers at just £1.35! (Is there a pub selling a good pint of beer at a better price?) And, free live music too! Well done the Station Hotel.

As I enjoyed my cool pint, the band were playing background music through their PA. A nice rig with Marshall tops and Peavey bass bins. The band also had their own sound engineer. The Lynyrd Skynyrd track sounded good, a nice 'clear' and 'clean' sound. All the signs were good and I was now in the right mood to enjoy the live entertainment.

The band returned to start the second and final set. Full Circle are a Stevenage / Hitchin based three piece rock and blues covers  band - comprising lead guitar, bass guitar/vocals and drums.

The guitarist, Stephen Cropley, uses both a Fender 'Strat' and Gibson 'Les Paul' through a Marshall amp with two 4x12" cabs and various effects pedals.

The bass guitarist, Kevin Crase, uses a Fender precision (new model) with a state of the art Trace Elliott bass combo. He is also the groups lead vocalist.

Drummer, Graeme Law plays a Pearl kit.

Ah, good, the band are about to start. The drummer counts them in 1-2-3-4, and the music begins.

Full Circle's opening number for this set was The Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash". A good raunchy lead guitar sound, the band seemed 'tight', but something was wrong. Something didn't sound right.

The band weren't too loud for the venue, often a problem with some bands, in fact the overall volume was just right. So what was wrong? Surely their sound engineer would sort it out? But she didn't!

With a more critical ear I noticed that the bass guitar was too quiet. Only notes played on the low 'E' string cut through! Notes played on the 'A' string could just be heard, but, any note played on the 'D' or 'G' strings could hardly be heard at all! Also, the bass drum couldn't be heard 'punching' the rhythm along. That was most surprising as it was 'miked up' through the PA.

On closer inspection I noticed that all the instruments were put through the PA. Standing close to the bass guitar amp and left PA speaker the only instrument I could hear clearly was the lead guitar - that was on the opposite side of the 'stage'! Did the lead guitar need to be put through the PA for a small pub gig? Okay for the Birmingham Arena, but possibly a little 'over the top' for pub gigs, especially when the guitarist was using two Marshall four by twelve cabinets. Enough volume for a venue six times the size of the Station Hotel!

Kevin's lead vocals, were also, sadly, a little weak. He 'got away with it', but, maybe an additional lead vocalist who can share the vocals is needed. Graeme Law, the drummer had a mike but rarely sang into it. When he did he couldn't be heard. Was it plugged in and the fader up? Kevin, the bassist was also the bands compare, but, sadly, his personality just did not come across to the audience. His 'nervous' laugh after every comment soon became irritating.

Full Circle performed numbers that the audience knew. Including such songs as the blues standard "Walking", "Alright Now" (The Free classic), Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe", Z. Z. Top's "Smart Dressed Man" and others. It was only on "Alright Now" that the bass drum could be heard. In fact it was a little too loud on this song. Why could it not be heard until that song? It was being 'miked up', so it should have 'cut through'. That should have been corrected by the sound engineer, with an adjustment of the mixer fader.

To sum up, I was disappointed with the band. Especially as they have been regularly gigging with the same line-up for over four years. Stephen Cropley, the lead guitarist played some excellent solos. The drummer, Graeme Law's timing was good, although he could have played a lot more 'fills' during songs to 'pad out' the overall sound.

As regards presentation, Stephen and Graeme looked like rock musicians, but, why did Kevin wear such hideous, scruffy shorts. Come on Kevin, at least look the part. If you want to wear socks with trainers, wear white sports socks, not black.

Hopefully Full Circle can sort out the sound imbalance and presentation before I see them the next time.