First of all, whatever else I say in this blog, make sure we know this: It was a really good night. Nice atmosphere, just the right artists to make it work, a friendly crowd, couldn't ask for better.
OK well my first step tonight was to take a picture of the pub before I went in. Why? Well, as you might have gathered from the blog, I play Katies quite a bit and I thought it might be a good idea to have a picture of the place that I can attach to the invites I send out on Myspace and Facebook. Superficial, and I doubt it will make a significant amount of difference to the turnout, which tonight was quite good, but it might go some way to making it look a little more like I mean it. So that should be up for the next time I get a gig there...
I went into this gig quite relaxed, and because it seems to be working I started out by playing Bitterness. Most of the regulars/bar staff know this song now, and Jen was kind enough to tell me she knew the words to it as well. I find it a good one to get the adrenaline going, and this time was no exception; I certainly sounded like I meant it and that was reflected in the warm reception I got for playing it.
Second, I played Get Out Of My Head. Despite what I said in my previous blog, this one went down very well. It's more familiar in this setting than anywhere else, which was probably why, but somehow I felt my delivery of the song had improved as well. Can't fault this one.
Then, after announcing that this was the first time I'd played to a dog, (and that's not a euphamism for anything, there was literally a guy in the pub who had a dog,) I played Prisoner of my Mind, which I hadn't played for a while but somehow managed to play it note perfectly. Not sure how well it went down; it's not a happy song and unless you're in to your shoegazing indie circa mid/late 90's, the effect would probably be lost on you. However, I did notice a couple of people who hadn't seen me before clapping in the 'gaps' where I stop playing and then start again, which suggests to me that they're paying attention which is never a bad thing.
After the gig at the Wharf last week I found myself thinking that I really shouldn't be putting Believe and Girl's Names next to each other since they use the same chord progression in the chorus, so I decided at this point to play Believe. It was here that I noticed a certain divide in the audience; it was a comedown from my more energetic songs at the start of the set and those people who I'd ensared were watching, listening, and paying attention. Those who were only casually listening were drifting off at this point. I also marked the distinct improvement in my fingerpicking, and being able to switch from that to plectrum has as much to do with the fact that I teach guitar as anything else.
Next... oh dear, this wasn't one of my better moves. As you may know, I've had some new songs, which I've not played live yet because I haven't really had time to rehearse them. However, during a call of nature I found myself reciting the lyrics to a new song, Dear Mr Manager, which thinking about it I haven't blogged yet and I really should, and deciding that as I could remember them all I might just give it a go tonight. Unfortunately, being on stage high as a kite on adrenaline reduces my brain capacity by about 50%, so I forgot most of the second half of the song and made the words up. It didn't go very well. I had to stop completely at one point. I shouldn't really kick myself too hard about this because the rest of the gig went well, but I ought to know better than this. That being said, Dale seemed to like the guitar playing in it, which is quite different from my usual style so it would have been a refreshing change.
So as you can imagine, I had to make the next one count to recover from that. Fortunately that's not hard to do at Katies, I gave them Girl's Names and this one seems to go down very well these days. I must admit it's one of my more catchy choruses; Amy text me today telling me she'd had it going around in her head all afternoon which is one of the nicer things said about my songs! I also noticed people singing along to it as well, which to me proves the point that whatever I think of the song, people like it. A firm part of my set list, should I ever decide to write one!
I ended with We Will Survive, after announcing that it was inspired by Battle Royale. I don't get much of a reaction when I say that, so I'm not sure if anyone gets it, and in a future blog I might explain why as well. For now, it's enough to say that I played it very well last night and went off to pretty much the biggest cheer I've ever got at Katies. It looks like I'm starting to put my set in the right order!
It was a good night, but I couldn't have done it without help, well done to Chris Jones and Jen Robins for some very solid performances; Jen in particular had the whole pub hanging on her every word. And it was nice to catch up with who I hope is Spence from Satsumo, who I'd had the pleasure of jamming with a few years ago at The Broadway in the Jack's Legacy glory days. Funnily enough, he described my set as 'Irish music, without the accent,' and mentioned The Levellers, as well. I'd not thought about either of those things when I wrote any of those songs, and I've never even heard any music by The Levellers, but I guess growing up around, amongst other things, Irish music, that might come across in my songwriting. If it does, it's certainly an ingrained part!
Overall, very pleased with the way tonight went. It's not looking too bad for me at all!
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