Sixties classics in an acoustic setting

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We’re THE TICKETS, a multi-instrumental and multi-tasking acoustic duo consisting of Dave Hardy on vocals, guitar and some rather unique foot percussion, and Nigel Hubée combining his vocals with bass, mandolin, dobro, ukulele, guitar and harmonicas. We love arranging and performing Sixties (and occasionally Fifties) classics on acoustic instruments and there are so many memorable tunes from this wonderful era of creativity that even our 100+ repertoire still has room for expansion. 

Since the first coronavirus outbreak over a year ago now, live performances have more or less ceased to exist, so we’ve moved all our activity online by expanding the attic of our practice location into a fully equipped recording studio, where we continue to perform and share our music with local audiences and beyond on our YouTube channel. 

The regularly updated selection of recordings below starts with our currently most watched and liked videos, followed by our most recent upload that’s ready to benefit from your views, likes and comments. The complete list of our videos is conveniently presented on our recordings page, so you can enjoy our music without leaving our website. Happy listening!

OUR MOST POPULAR RECORDINGS SO FAR (PER INSTRUMENT)

Our version of this 1966 Rolling Stones hit has Nigel playing the original Brian Jones marimba part on the bass, adding some harmonica and vocal harmony parts, while Dave gives it his lead vocal treatment and foot percussion groove – this video just keeps growing and it may well be the reason you’ve come to our website to find out more
From the Stones to The Beatles, where we’ve arranged this 1969 George Harrison tune for the mandolin, as we think its unique double stringed sound fits the vibe of the instrumentation in the original recording on the Abbey Road album
This 1962 Bruce Channel hit is our most performed number and usually our gig or set finisher, with the multi-tasking maxed out with five instruments being played simultaneously by just the two of us throughout most of the song
A little look back to pre-corona times when we spent a day in a local studio recording and filming six of our favourite stage numbers – this Howlin’ Wolf number being our dobro blues contribution with a definite nod to the more widely known Rolling Stones version
The Kinks are another one of our favourite bands, and this iconic Ray Davies composition features a bass solo, some carefully placed harmonica riffs and a chorus with a high singalong component
A little step back into the fifties, where we’ve arranged Buddy Holly’s first global hit for the ukulele, as it alternates between rock ‘n roll licks and solos and fingerpicking style in the verses
Instrumentals are an integral part of our repertoire, and this one is known for being the theme tune for the BBC radio Sound of the 60s programme for 34 years

OUR MOST RECENT VIDEO

No intro needed really for this Neil Diamond composition and UK and US number one hit for The Monkees, with the bass taking the solo and the harmonica playing the organ riffs at the start and the end of the song

LIVE STAGE AUDIO

We also still have a large collection of live performance audio alongside this page (or below if you’re on a vertical screen), recorded on a simple stereo digital recorder positioned between us on stage, as seen on the photo below from our first public performance as an acoustic duo in 2017 (our joint musical history started much earlier than that when we first performed as The Tickets rock ‘n roll band at a house party nearly 39 years ago, with photos of the event on our soon to be expanded history page).

These recordings were normally only used as a personal quality control tool, but in their simplicity of “take of the day”, together with the ambience of audience and venue sounds from pre-corona days, we thought they’d still be fun to listen to. Using headphones or earpods will give you the full sense of being in the audience when The Tickets are playing live on stage. We love the vibe of performing for live audiences, and we look forward to the time when that will be possible again without the current concerns and restrictions. In the meantime you can see what our audiences thought in reviews.