Baboom

Harcourt Arms Band Night
​Saturday 30th June

Many thanks to the acts who made last night's Harcourt Band Night Ft Tom Ivey such a great gig, to Andre and Chaja for the upbeat harmonies, to Jemand Will for the suave rhythms and to Tom Ivey and the guys for the brilliant headlining set. Thanks also to the audience who danced all evening. What a night.

The latest...

Band Night at the Harcourt Arms

Here's a quick rundown of live music at The Harcourt Arms in 2016, in order to give 2017 something to aim for: 13 band nights with 40 bands including three touring acts from the USA; at the open mic we had 49 sessions with (approximately) 1200 songs, and of course we had the Voice session too - several acts will be appearing on ITV this year as a result; and we had about 100 new musicians coming to do their thing. And thanks to the audience too, wouldn't be the same without your support. Thanks to all who made 2016 a great year at the Harcourt!
 
And now in 2017 we embark on a new chapter at the Harcourt Open Mic under the new landlordship of Ian Stuart. So this coming Sunday, the first open mic of the year, let's continue where we left off, keeping live music alive and thriving in Oxford. See you then!

Nigel@Jude The Obscure

​Lovely time doing the half-time gig at Jude the Obscure last night. Thanks again to Anastasia Gorbunova for the invite. Really nice jam too - here's some pictures of the jam band that emerged: Alex (drums), Jonathan (bass), Anastasia Gorbunova (vocals, guitar) and Chris Bayne (guitar).

The Voice@the harcourt

Picture
We’re so grateful to all the musicians who played last night at the Harcourt Arms for the appreciative Voice production people (Nathan and Rosie, thanks so much for coming) and the very supportive crowd. We managed to fit 27 acts in, really top notch stuff, a privilege to plug you all in: David, Louise, Richard, Tim, Greg, Gordo, Neo, Anastasia, Maiquel, Lewis, Maria, Mark Atherton, Julie (Bobby Dyson's human), Patti, Chris, Kevin, Riaz, Duncan, Mary, Phoebe Rose, Claire, Will, Jenny,Raymond, Samya, Jennie, Sophie, Mandy, Kevin, the mythical Sonya and the Harcourt Collective for the amazing finale!

Band Nights past at
​The Harcourt Arms

Saturday 17th December
"Incendiary country" is a great name for what The Deadbeat Apostles did last night at The Harcourt Arms, many thanks to them and the audience for finishing 2016 off in such style. Many thanks also to Beto Beto (their first gig! awesome togetherness, fab tunes) and to The OWU Band for the smooth jazzy funk, great musicianship, audience well-pleased. So that's it for the band nights for 2016 (last open mic of the year tonight, by the way), and look out for more great live music in 2017.
Saturday 26th November
Thanks and respect to the performers at the The Harcourt Arms Band Night last night: Brant and Morgan gave us some lovely Americana harmonies, Thursday Club silenced the pub, Mudslide Morris rocked the place, and auralcandy did their usual amazing funky thing. Job done!
Saturday 8th July
Picture
This coming Saturday's Harcourt Arms Band Night features Julian Conor Reid, Giles Nuttall and The Wind and Rain. Great line-up and it's all free to get in! Unbelievable value for some top entertainment.  Logan Metz and Lincoln Mendell are travelling from the States so please make their trip worthwhile!
Saturday 27th June 2015

Fantastic music last Saturday at The Harcourt Arms Band Night: Mandolirium (c/o John Somerscales and Rod) kicked things off with their exuberant mandolin tunes and songs, put lots of smiles on lots of faces;The Great Western Tears gave us top notch Americana, with Garry's consistently supportive guitar-work under Dava's deep dark vocals; and the headliners Scribble Victory were just great - Jamie and Tom nailed those high, powerful vocal harmonies, and used the cajon and clever guitar strumming to great effect. Such a privilege to have such high quality duos at the Harcourt. Next one's on 11th July, hope to see you there.
Saturday 14th May, 8pm
​
Lovely band night last night, thanks so much to Esme Neale, Ephebe and to Echopraxis for the fabulous tunes! Great audience too, thanks for coming!
 Thursday 28th April, 8pm
​
Yepp, really fantastic night, many thanks to Jonas and Jane , to the ever fabulous Knights of Mentis, and especially to our North Carolinian guests Underhill Rose, really lovely atmosphere, great crowd, good times indeed.
Saturday 9th April
Great night at the Harcourt Arms Band Night many thanks to Becki Jayne Reed for the fabulous opening set, to Maracutaya for the groove (shimmy over to William Volpato's FB for more) and to Reverend Black (https://www.facebook.com/ReverendBlackBand/?fref=ts) for the rock-blues finisher. Great stuff, and thanks massively to a great crowd who turned out in droves and danced!
Saturday 5th March
PictureGraham Quelch and Dan on guitar, Mad Larry
​Great night, many thanks to the amazingly eclectic Ben Avison for starting things off, to Mad Larry and the boys for providing the top photographic moment of the night ft Graham Quelch and Dan on guitar, as well as some great tunes, and to the Tom Ivey Band (Tom Ivey Music) for a fabulous headline set of funk, rock, blues and several points in between. Simply Wonderful.
Satruday 13th February
​Such a great night last night at The Harcourt Arms, many thanks to The Harcourt Collective who didn't even know they were playing until a gap appeared in the middle of the line-up. Well filled, chaps. Many thanks to Luke Keegan (see Luke Keegan Music) for kicking things off, what a great voice. And what a great headline set from Rose Segal and John (drums) and Jon (bass). Thanks to everyone for coming and having a good time. Next stop is the open mic tonight! Luverly.
Saturday 16th January 2016
Many thanks to Christina (of Christina Kowalchuk Music), Ull Wells and his band, and to the Honolulu Cowboys for a fabulous and astonishingly varied and eventful night of music at The Harcourt Arms band night last night. Really great crowd too, thanks for the dancing and general good times!
Friday 25th September 2015

Band Night last night was tremendous! Thanks to Mark Atherton who set up & ran the event with help from Heidi Pollyea & Jeremy Hughes - Heidi's help was especially useful (thanks!) as it was hard for Mark to hear himself as Mark Atherton & Friends (Julie singing & the sea, & general percussion; Jeremy's lovely lilting guitar; Mark on his trademark Irish bouzouki). A great crowd was in, which grew & grew throughout the evening - an absolutely buzzing Friday night: Mark kicked things off with his own original songs in the folk tradition & three covers thrown in; then Heidi Pollyea hit the ground running - such a pleasure hearing those great songs from such an accomplished performer - lovely strong upbeat vocals, with guitar, piano... Heidi got the crowd going all right! :) Then Marisa with her whole Band & songs - Wow! what a finish to a great night - Marisa's strong rich compelling voice & songs backed by cajon, bass guitar, guitar & backing vocals, with her own guitar accompaniment too. Great finale to another fantastic memorable night at the Harcourt Arms! I can't believe how lucky we are to have pubs like this in Oxford with these fantastic live music nights - Yay!

What else have we been up to...

Harcourt Arms Mini-Festival

What can we say about The Harcourt ARMS mini festival? Great weather, great bacon butties (thanks Alan), great atmosphere, and wonderful acts: the beautiful voice of Jess Gibbard, Lewis's virtuosity, Riazand the Harcourt Collective's power, the Cripple Creek Gals' perfect harmonies, and The Balkan Wanderers' fabulous energy, Francis Pugh and the Whisky Singers' delight in having a good time and creating a great atmosphere, and Swindlestock just rock. See you next year?

The Cripple Creek Girls

And the Balkan Wanderers performing live at the Harcourt Mini-Festival

Night Life@The Natural History Museum

The Knights of Mentis live at the Natural History Museum, Oxford, 16th May 2014, sound provided by Baboom.
The Knights of Mentis gig  was magnificent, heaps of people, great atmosphere, bit of dancing, singing along, I heard the dinosaurs tapping their claws on the glass….

The Balkan Wanderers@St Antony's Late Bar

What a crazy wonderful evening Friday night on 23rd May! Heaps of money raised for the Balkan Floods Appeal, and The Balkan Wanderers had the crowd dancing to every song, such a good time in a great cause.
What an amazing crowd at The Big Balkan fundraiser last night! Nearly £1300 raised for flooded Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia. Many thanks to the brilliant organisers, everyone who danced, and Baboom for the terrific sound.
The Balkan Wanderers

Mark Atherton Band@Regent's Park College

Helping raise funds for Meningitis Research at the Regent's Park College Garden Party, May 17th 2014. 

Garden party featuring the Mark Atherton Band and the fabulous Poppy Ajudha (featuring Ben on cajon), marking several important events at Regent’s Park College.

WOBfest: West Oxford Beer Festival

Glad to help out at WOBFEST, good beer, great atmosphere, and great music.