A couple of things before I get started: This is probably the last of the string of gigs I've been doing at the Wharf Bar that has lasted about 7 months, so thanks to Jon for re-booking me all those times and thanks to anyone who came to see me during this time! Also, as I mentioned the other day, my choice of songs was largely influenced by my not-so-good gig at Katies on Wednesday, so if this all seems familiar, there's a reason for it...
I got started with the venerable combo of Bitterness and Get Out Of My Head. I've marked those two songs as my attention-grabbers and until I write something that can surpass them in that role (I might! I wrote both of them roughly a year ago so it's not like I'm recycling any of my really old songs,) that is how they're likely to remain. I guess now that I have two, I can get away with switching one around from time to time if I want to try something new, but if I need the gig to go well, definitely open with those two songs.
Impulse decisions to play songs are never usually a good idea but I fancied playing something fast, so I went into a rendition of Hall of Mirrors by The Distillers, something I've not tried for a while. It all went OK actually, I don't think anybody knew it but I was playing that for myself rather than anybody else. Trouble is when I got to the quiet bit, I had to keep up the pace AND keep quiet and I lost it a bit. Other than that it went OK, but I'd be careful where I play it; not one to do if I'm minding my Ps and Qs!
We Will Survive was next, which now that I think about it is a similar sort of pace in a different key so this was probably as good a place as any to put it in the set, though it's usually best reserved as the closer. It's a bit wierd with that song actually because I was reluctant to play it live for a while (last year, before I started doing regular blogs like this.) I always liked the lyrics to it but I find the "Hurricanes and avalanches, fodder for the human monsters" part to be a bit clumsy. Now that I play it at near enough every gig I do, certainly when I'm playing more than about 4 songs, I can't imagine it sounding any other way, and it's become one of the main songs that I play sticking with the 'rock songs on an acoustic guitar' theme I appear to be doing so well. Anyway...
I chose to play Prisoner Of My Mind today to see if it would go down any better here. Again, it might; there's usually a number of people in the audience at the Wharf who are experienced enough to remember Radiohead at their peak, and we almost always get Creep played between bands, so catering for the shoegazing Indie audience isn't too much of a bad idea in this context. It went down as well as it ever does, I guess, but when the new material starts to take shape it might have to be relegated to the longer gigs because it's not exactly uplifing.
Linger by the Cranberries was next; I know Dave told me to leave that one alone but everyone else seemed to like it when I tried it before so I gave it another go. In hindsight, it would have helped if I'd have practiced it before. I need to be more careful with that chorus though; there's only so long I can hold 'finger' on without feeling very silly. I made mistakes with that A6 chord that is pretty much integral to the song and shouldn't have happened. And I can't shake off the feeling that, even though I have no trouble hitting the notes, the song doesn't necessarily fit my voice too well. Still, it's a nice, safe song to play if the occasion calls for it, and it seemed to go down OK.
I finished off with Storm From The North. Again, this proved an interesting one: apart from mucking up the chords occasionally, I once again found myself forgetting the words to the last part of the song. Now you would think, wouldn't you, that after playing this song live for nearly a month I'd make some semblence of an effort to learn the words properly, especially as it's always the same bit I get wrong. Obviously I haven't... but thinking about why not, I think it's because I actually quite like being able to cover up the fact that I don't know the words to my own song by noodling around on the E string for a while. Who else is going to know? I don't think there was anybody in the room other than the sound guy (I think) who had heard me play it before. With a suitably climatic ending I think it's a good one to end the set with, though I may have to let it achieve a more familiar place in my set before I put it there again.
So, all in all a far more focused and effective gig than the last solo outing. The reaction was near enough the same but that's more typical of the venue as much as anything else. I was happier with the way that I'd played and my choice of songs, and kudos to Mezzotonic who never fail to ensure that I'm having a really great time for half an hour...
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