Halfmoon
That's more like it!
We played at the Halfmoon in Putney on Saturday night. This is home from home for us so it was great to play there again. Soundcheck was a bit dodgy though. We found out the Steve's bass guitar isn't 'shielded'. I have no electrical knowledge so I don't really know what this means but what I can tell you is that it made an awful high pitch buzzing noise. Apparently it was because he was standing right by a load of electrical equipment, compressors and limiters for the PA system. So Laurie and Steve had to swap sides to stop the problem. Swapping sides made it better but there was still a buzz. Cheap copies hey! It's not actually a cheap copy. He got Wunjo Guitars to make him a special bass from scratch in the style of a 70's Fender Jazz. He got it made to look old too.
Anyway. We took longer than we should have done for soundcheck. After soundcheck we chilled out in the pub, had a beer or two, a bite to eat and waited for people to turn up. It's always the worst part because your anxious that you get enough through the door. At the halfmoon, we always get enough people, we just want to fill the place and please Carrie and Steve, the promoters, because they've helped us out in the past. If we fill the place we get a nice bit of cash too that goes on rehearsals etc.
The place started filling up and we went on stage at 9:30pm. We walked on to Beethoven (I think)!! I don't know what that was all about! Giles must have arranged it. I decided to keep my coat on for the gig. Last minute decision. I started to regret it in about the 3rd song. I must have lost about a stone up on stage!!
The Set:
New Way, Devil in Me, First move, Run Aground, Beauty, All I Need To Know, Bullet, Do It For Me.
We crammed a good set into half an hour. I tried to get on with things and minimize the muckin around between songs when I think Giles wanted to chat. Giles took the piss out me a couple of times about my hair and my jacket but it's all part of the show. He was like a man possessed on Saturday night. Great performance. He stepped on the mic lead on the last song so his vocal cut out. But stuff like that didn't matter on the night. On Tuesday in Manchester, maybe that would have thrown us along with the string breakages, but on Saturday the whole package seemed to work.
After the gig I met bloggers Mark and Jill and I had my photo taken with Mark after several attempts! I kept closing my eyes! Mark and Jill, I really appreciate you coming to show and I hope you can come again very soon! Mark has written about the gig on his blog. Click Here!
in December we're doing 3 gigs at venues we've never played at before. Should be interesting! Hopefully they'll be successful and we can round off a great 2005!