Brad Spurgeon's Blog

NICE, France – The night before last it was my arrival in Nice, in the south of France, for my only night in the town this year as I attend the Monaco Grand Prix. I’ve been lucky enough to luck out on an apartment stay in Monaco itself this year, so the rest of the week will be devoted to trying to crash the impossible town and find a place to play in Monaco. I have one or two ideas. But this post is about King’s Pub in Nice, in the old town. It’s a mainstay of live music in a town that is bursting at the seams with live music. But after a few years where it seemed to have lost its way with the open mic, the open mic is now back with a vengeance on Tuesday nights.
MC opens open mic at King’s Pub

As soon as I saw somewhere that King’s Pub was holding an open mic on Tuesday, I shelved all other plans and went directly there after a wonderful dinner at one of my favourite restaurants in Nice (had gambas pasta). I arrived after 10 PM and the open mic was just starting. I was delighted, because the crowd looked like your bona fide open mic crowd, and not just a jam crowd. And the MC, Chris, was announcing that the stage was open to anyone, and he’d just play a few songs first.
final one at King’s pub

The stage is very sweat, a nice comfortable size for a single musician, but they also manage to get whole bands up there; and the sound system was so good that you had perfect vocals and great guitar sounds coming out of every performer’s set. And there is also an excellent monitor, so you feel as comfortable as anything.
Duet at King’s pub

I love this fabulously huge pub with giant high ceilings, and when you stand on the stage, you can look right down through the whole pub and out through the front entrance into the street. And you can project, and hope that you will attract more spectators or musicians.
Another duet at King’s Pub

In any case, there were a number of musicians, but it was also free enough that I managed to do a long first set, and then later on, finished off with a second set. Another long one. It was pure delight from beginning to end. One of the nicest open mics I’ve done in Nice, now.
A different duet at King’s Pub in Nice

Hoping things will continue this way in Monaco….!

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