OK OK, one last gig for January... no, actually it's because I've got the Fakes practice on Wednesday when Sam's doing the open night in Coven, and I'm going down to Amy's this weekend so I won't be doing much then either; that just leaves Thursday if the Garibaldi's still got it's open night. Plus, I needed some recovery after that last one at the Woodman...
I didn't get off to a flying start as I once again tried Dear Mr Manager and forgot the words. You'd think I'd have learned them by now and to be fair each time I play it it does get better. I think I got away with it tonight because I forgot the words at the last 'coda' section at the end and the vast majority of people in the room that night didn't actually know it was supposed to go on for another two lines when LC started clapping. That was actually a rescue call as I hadn't got a clue what the words were after that, cheers LC!
I then tried The Most Beautiful Woman I Know, the first time I played it at Katies funnily enough. And to be fair.it worked quite well! I played the song without making any significant mistakes (I strummed the first verse when it was supposed to be picked but hey, how would anyone else know I got it wrong?) and it went down OK, not brilliantly but then againg I suppose it's got the combination of being an unfamiliar song and about as MOR as I get with my songwriting. I still think it's a good one, though it will need more time in my set to become familiar enough to have an effect on a full gig.
A valid point that needed to be made - I have been going in and out of Katies for pretty much a year now and in that time I don't think I've ever heard any Irish songs there, bearing in mind it's supposed to be an Irish pub. I decided to change all that with a rare run through The Foggy Dew. Now I know the version I play isn't 'correct' in the sense that I don't use exactly the right chords, but it works for me. With that song though, what I'm doing on guitar is nothing special at all, so it has to be about the delivery and I think in that sense I came through quite well. Hell, I've been listening to that song since I was 10 years old; I know how it's supposed to sound! And get this - it was that song that I was asked about by the people who spoke to me afterwards; that song that appeared to be generating the interest...
Not a usual gig by any stretch of the imagination. I left out my best and more popular songs in favour of some brand new ones that I can barely play, and a cover that I almost never play. But that was never really the point of tonight. I wanted some more live experience for my new songs, and I wanted to have a go with something a little different, to stop myself from going through the motions. In this, at least, I have achieved what I set out to do, so this might set a precedent for how I conduct myself at future gigs. It's an interesting balance; my songs are more likely to go down well if I stick to the familiar and good songs, but I'm certain that I'll put on a far more convincing performance if I do the set I want to do.
Besides, if I stick to what works, where are the new songs going to come from? Even Bitterness was a new song at some point back in April...
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