SO here we are at the rear-end of another year, looking back over the previous 12 months with a mixture of joy and sadness, highs and lows, and looking forward to whatever 2018 may bring us.

And greet it all with a resounding and communal MEH and just get on with it.

But you can certainly say farewell to 2017 in style with some of the fantastic live music on offer around the pubs and clubs of south Dorset: Just look at the listings here today.

And if you’re out in fancy dress on New Year’s Eve, as I’m sure the vast majority of you will be, please remember that under current Brexit negotiations with the EU, going as a pirate is now prohibited, unless you have had a leg amputated and replaced with a stump, a hand cut off and replaced with a hook, have at least one eye removed or have avast behind. Parrots are optional.

But here’s to 2018, when musicians and drummers can look forward to a full and varied diary, with well-paid gigs in friendly pubs which have allocated parking for bands right outside the door and not half-a-mile away down a muddy track followed by an Olympic weightlifting session up three flights of unlit stairs.

Where punters eagerly help the band lump their gear in, rather than stand in the way while smoking a faaaag, ignoring every polite ‘Excuse me please’ while staring at their phones and asking Mum’s Net if there’s a band on tonight at the Grievous Bodily Arms or The Flying Bottle. Txt me hun, okies. L8ter?

Where mobile phones are banned, unless used for filming the band and then promoting them on social media or telling friends ‘It’s a great night in here, come on down’.

In fact, all punters must agree to put their mobile devices on a table in the corner and the first one to check theirs has to get a round of drinks in for the band.

Where requests for Mustang Sally, Summer of ‘69 and Sweet Home Alabama are greeted by a confused look from the band, followed by a rapid rejection from the venue and a jolly good talking to in the car park.

Where shouts of ‘three, four’ after a ‘one, two’ sound check can result in the instant rectal insertion of a mic stand, shouts of ‘Play something I know’ will incur a lifetime ban from the venue and the question ‘Is that it? Have you finished then, mate? We just got here’ while packing the last amp into the van will result in a lengthy jail term.

Where pubs have just one entertainment diary, which is run sensibly and two bands are never booked for the same night (‘Yeh, just in case one doesn’t turn up’), where posters are put up a few weeks before and not left rolled up by the till until two days after the gig.

Where pubs are run well and allowed to thrive and not held to ransom by a brewery, are at the centre of a community and are consequently always busy, and where staff are treated with respect and paid well for their hard work, often over long and difficult hours.

Here’s to 2018 and a huge thank you to all the bands and venues who have sent their gigs in to gigs@dorsetecho.co.uk.

This page couldn’t exist without you, so let’s keep on keeping it live in 2018.

Happy New Year.

GIG GUIDE

TONIGHT (29)

Absolute Bowie (Weymouth Pavilion)

Southern Sinners (Finns, Weymouth)

Helena Mace (Weymouth Working Mens Club)

Sheryl Lee (Duke of Cornwall, Weymouth)

Darren H (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Toxic Fish (Belvedere, Weymouth)

Dougie Cooper’s Jazz Party (Star, Weymouth)

The Shakespearos (King’s Arms, Weymouth)

Billy Solo (Wellington, Weymouth)

Stacey Lou (Gloucester, Weymouth)

Brucefest (Lazy Lizard, Weymouth)

JoJo (Duke of Albany, Weymouth)

Nina Garcia (Royal Oak, Drimpton)

Hardcore Troubadours (Wyke Smugglers, Weymouth)

Georgie Broad (Black Dog, Weymouth)

SATURDAY (30)

Ben Waters Big Band (Weymouth Pavilion)

Alan Roberts (Weymouth Working Mens Club)

Karen Kay (Duke of Cornwall, Weymouth)

Ricky Solo (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Nite Life (Wyke Regis Working Mens Club, Weymouth)

Southern Sinners (Golden Lion, Weymouth)

Lo Numbers (Gloucester, Weymouth)

Johnny Mac (Star, Weymouth)

Darren H (Duke of Albany, Weymouth)

Jess Upton and the Guilty Pleasures (Crown, Bridport)

Darren H (Duke of Albany, Weymouth)

Sheryl Lee (Black Dog, Weymouth)

NEW YEAR’S EVE (31)

The Front (Esplanade, Weymouth) Featuring The Leggomen, Under The Carousel and the Chase

Coyote (Finns, Weymouth)

Hot Bacon (Sailors Return, Weymouth)

The Katz (Weymouth Working Mens Club)

The Cherry Pickers (Tom Browns, Dorchester)

The Shakespearos (Wyke Smugglers, Weymouth)

Finnian McGurk (King’s Arms, Weymouth)

Replay (Hotel Rembrandt, Weymouth)

Sheryl Lee (Park, Weymouth)

Martin Freed (Duke of Cornwall, Weymouth)

Finnian McGurk (Boot, Weymouth) 5pm followed by…

Tequila Mockingbird (Boot, Weymouth)

Paisley (Belvedere, Weymouth)

Chill (Wyke Regis Working Mens Club, Weymouth)

The Silhouettes (Centenary Club, Weymouth)

Lo Numbers (Spice Ship, Weymouth)

TBC (Kimberlin Club, Portland)

Vanilla Radio (Bull’s Head, Fordington, Dorchester)

V8 Hearts (Golden Lion, Weymouth)

Farrago (RAFA Club, Weymouth)

Peacock Suit, Danny Adams (Brewhouse & Kitchen, Dorchester)

The Leggomen (George, Weymouth)

Karen (Duke of Albany, Weymouth)

Nina Garcia (New Inn, West Knighton)

Dakota (Hope and Anchor, Bridport)

Karen (Duke of Albany, Weymouth)

Restless (Wyke Regis Social Club, Weymouth)

Stacey Lou (Black Dog, Weymouth)

Mandown (Victoria, Dorchester)

Karen Kay, Shauna Monks (Royal Oak, Weymouth)

Big Al Whittle (Ship, Wool)

NEW YEAR’S DAY (1)

Acoustic session (Belvedere, Weymouth)

Ricky Solo (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

TUESDAY (2)

Ricky Solo (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Acoustic Session (Rock, Weymouth)

Martin Freed’s Open Mic Night (Duke of Cornwall, Weymouth)

WEDNESDAY (3)

Dave Bowen and Jazz Friends (Three Compasses, Charminster)

Wessex Folk Night (Sailors Return, Weymouth)

Open Mic Night (Royal Exchange, Portland)

Tim Andrews (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

THURSDAY (4)

Leggomen (George, Weymouth)

Ricky Solo (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)

Traditional Tune Session (Cove House Inn, ChiswelI, Portland)

Ukulele Sessions (Sailors Return, Weymouth)

FRIDAY (5)

TBA (Finns, Weymouth)

Ronnie Del Rio (Weymouth Working Mens Club)

Billy Solo (Wellington, Weymouth)

Ricky Solo (Edinburgh House of Sounds, Weymouth)