I’ve been thanking whatever guardian angels are on my case for two successful gigs over the weekend. The WaveForms at St John’s Church Sacred Space caused me some anxiety. I was practising at home when I realised I should have left the house earlier in order to get parked in the city centre. I rushed off, and got my kit into St John’s only ten minutes before I was due to start. My session of mindful, contemplative, serene music began with me playing a note with trembling hand and sitting back as it looped to wipe sweat off my forehead. There were a fair number of people in the church at the start of the set, and although numbers were diminished by the end – it was 10.30 on a Friday night – most of them stayed for most of the set and all the pieces unrolled successfully. What does successfully mean in WaveForms? At this stage of my development, I played good notes, didn’t play bad notes, didn’t press the wrong pedals at the wrong times and, most important with each piece, knew when to stop.
On Sunday Normanello (Nelson and me) played our debut gig to large-ish lunchtime audience at the Spiegeltent in the Book Festival. A two-hour set passed by quickly and was warmly received. We were helped by an attentive and conscientious sound man. Now that we’ve learned all this stuff, Nelson and I are up for more, and are ready for your weddings, funerals, bar-mitzvah etc.
My thanks to all the friends who came to one or both of these gigs!
The day was rounded off by a jam with Nelson, Colin Donati, the amazing Graeme Mearns and others at the Listening Room, belting out three decades of pop songs to a mixed-nationality audience on guitar, mandolin and (yes Colin I noticed) furniture and beer glasses.