New acoustic music venue set for Thurso after successful trial run

Thurso is set to have a new acoustic music venue following a successful trial run which was held last weekend.

The event at the Olive coffee bar in Brabster Street featured local musician Faith Charlton, and was well received by "a small but very enthusiastic crowd," according to Ken Bateson who set up Love Live Music (LLM) three years ago. He and coffee bar owner Kyle Beaumont organised Saturday night's event.

Ken said the evening "went really well" and he and Kyle intend running similar functions on a regular basis. "We're hoping to host the events once every four to five weeks. As the trial run went well we'll be using the same format.

"I spoke to most members of the audience and they were all delighted with the idea of having live acoustic music in the coffee bar and there's definitely an enthusiasm to have more of these events happening. Kyle is also very happy with how it all went so we will be doing more of these in the future.

"The coffee bar is an ideal venue for laid back acoustic sets and there's a very relaxing vibe to the place," said Ken.

He added: "Faith played to a small but very enthusiastic crowd with covers ranging from Buddy Holly, The Beatles and Elvis through to more recent artists such as Ed Sheeran and Radiohead with her own unique take on some classic songs. Playing both ukulele and guitar, she entertained us all for around two hours.

"I definitely want to introduce other musicians local to the area to play at the café and will be working with Kyle on this. I don't have any names yet but I have been talking to a few of the regular LLM performers and there's certainly plenty of enthusiasm from folks to be involved. Another possibility would be to have two sets of musicians playing the same night for around an hour or so each."

Ken sees the venture as a new branch of LLM and is hopeful it will help promote the live music scene in the area.

However, he stressed the regular LLM nights in the Legion lounge bar will continue.

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