I opened up by saying I wanted to make this one really good, and kicked off with So Long Astoria by The Ataris. There was a very specific reason for this - if you listen to the lyrics it's all about remembering a place that is special to you, I think it is anyway, and with Amy about to move from the house we'd pretty much been sharing and having a wealth of memories there which I'm sure we'll share for a long time, I thought this appropriate. I didn't play it too well as it has been literally years since I last tried and it showed, but it was good fun to play it once again.
I followed it up with the Get Out Of My Head and Bitterness combo, in that order. If it's a new gig I'll do it the other way round but I'm no stranger to Katies! Also, because I play them at every gig I do, I've practiced them to the point where they'll very rarely go wrong now, and Mitch who was on before me loved Bitterness so that went down very well indeed, I was pleased with that!
One More Show was next, and I was hoping for a warmer response than I got the last time I'd played at Katies. It didn't go down badly, but my better songs seem to be remembered for their quirks and attitudes, and apart from the key change and the naughty words, One More Show doesn't have much of either. I'll keep playing it for a while and if I find an audience that likes it then great, but it won't surprise me if I have to retire this one in the future.
Again for Amy I played Home for Summer by Feeder. It's funny, I heard this song for the first time five days after Jack's Legacy broke up. I've waxed lyrical many many times about how hard I took that, but this song is special to me because rather than the bitter, spiteful fury that I feel with most music that reminds me of my former band, this one actually mellows me out a little bit. The message seems to be that you did what you did, and however well it worked out, it's all over now... and what you've got left is significantly different to what you had when it all began. The relective lyrics will always strike a chord with me, and the title was suspiciously appropriate, given the subsequent vacation of Amy's student house. It seemed to go down very well, and I can't thank Katies enough for that!
Storm from the North is fast becoming a live favourite of mine, despite what the audience may think. It's made all the more interesting by the way I play it slightly differently each time, though I may settle on a 'best' way to play it in the future. Tonight it seemed to go down with passive indifference, but putting it ahead of the previous song might make playing a loud, aggressive one like this seem a little out of place. Always fun to play though!
A bit cheeky here where I asked how many songs I had left knowing it should only really have been one. Sam was good enough to let me play two though, the first of which was Girl's Names, which as I've said before I kind of feel obliged to play when I play Katies now. Not necessarily always a great move, but I played it quite well to polite applause so I can't complain!
I ended with We Will Survive, no surprises there but apart from Bitterness that's the chorus that everybody sings on their way home in a drunken mess. Actually I'm lying, that doesn't happen at all as far as I know. But it's a nice sing-along chorus that people can enjoy, energetic enough to feel like I mean it which is crucial at the end of a show, and for those reasons can certainly feel like the more memorable part of the show if I get it right! This time, I appeared to get it right, and I left the stage feeling confident that I'd done a good show.
Well done to Mitch who was on before me, and Josh who was on after, who also played very well!
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