This was actually my first booked gig for a while; Joy from the Insight group put out a message about 6 weeks running up to this asking for acoustic acts to play this charity event they'd got going on in St Mary's School in Brierley Hill. I'd been there before to do some teaching, but this was the first time I'd got farther than the conference room, and it was an outdoor gig in some really nice weather so I was always going to try to make it a good one.
What with it being a week and a half between playing the gig and writing the blog for it, during which I had other things on my mind, I can barely remember the set list. I THINK it was:
- The Boys of Summer
- Yesterday Went Too Soon
- Morning Glory
- Zephyr Song
- A Little Respect
- Never Forget You
- Ring of Fire
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| This would have been during A Little Respect... |
A lot of these songs have come up quite frequently in my set in the last few weeks, but there were a few new ones. I played Yesterday Went Too Soon as I've made it my unofficial mission to play a Feeder song in every place I play, because Feeder are of course the best band in the world and their songs need to be heard. And my word, what a difference standing up makes when singing the high bits! I think this is the first time I've played that song where I've got it right with the octaves; I usually end up singing the first verse low, realise it's too low and then try and sing the rest of it high. Today, I sung it all high, and it worked really well.
A Little Respect I put in there because it never goes down badly no matter how well I play it. Today was no exception. I should point out at this juncture that nobody was going mad for any of this, but that was never going to be the case. There were a few people sitting under the shade of the gazebos listening to what I was playing, which given the circumstances was as good as it was going to get and I should be damn grateful for the opportunity! I realised halfway through playing it that I might have done better singing Go Mr Sunshine, given the setting and, well, the weather. But how many songs do you need to pay about summer in one set? Probably not too many. And as I've said before, without the backing vocals that song loses something.
I finished off with Ring of Fire, which was pretty much the first time I'd ever played the song on my acoustic guitar. Sounds odd to go in to it without rehearsal, but I've known the sequence for a while, read the lyrics off my phone and I knew the Bowling for Soup version was in a more comfortable key for me (D). It actually worked really well and I had a ton of fun playing it. I might have to be careful where and when I play it because if I'm going to play that, it sounds like a 'Party in full swing' kind of song, which would only really work if everyone was having a good time anyway. Not always the case! But today, I couldn't have chosen a better song to finish off with.
All in all I was pleased with the gig; it's the best I've played for a while. No plans for another one yet, though I have heard that Revolution have swapped the night of their jam nights to the second Tuesday of the month to prevent them clashing with another local night, so I might be able to play that one when I come back from Holland.
Now, about that photo...
Joy took that one, cheers Joy! You'll probably get an idea of just how hot it was by the fact that I'd caked myself in Factor 40 before I'd left the house that day and spent the rest of it looking like Marilyn Manson. Strong stuff too; I didn't go on until 12:30 so that was nearly 4 hours later, and I didn't burn in the 2 hours I stayed afterwards. Still, as I'll happily tell anybody who'll listen, it's better to start the day looking like The Joker than end it looking like Sebastian off the Little Mermaid.
See you next time!
