May 26, 2006

12/5/06 Gig

It just shows how quickly your priorities can change. In my last post I was worrying that we might not perform as well as last time. Then, on the Wednesday before the gig, I came down with a horrible flu-bug. By Thursday night I was shivering uncontrollably, and had a fever. My wife was sponging me down to try and bring my temperature under control, and as I sat there, all I could think was "This will be the first Shorties gig I have ever missed".

I had missed Thursday night's rehearsal and rang Dan on the Friday morning to say that it was highly unlikely I would be at the gig. Luckily my role in gigs is largely as front man, and there were only 2 songs where my instrumental contribution would be irreplaceable.

However, having said a little prayer overnight, I began to feel better. Not fully better, by any means, but by 4pm I was seriously thinking I might be able to attend. I rang Dan and asked him to collect my guitar, and to take care of the sound-check and all the other pre-gig stuff. My idea was that I might just be able to handle arriving, doing the set, and going home.

This was exactly what we did. I hadn't had a drink before going on-stage and so was very nervous, and the lack of rehearsal and the nerves showed. I made a complete mess of the first song, 'Lottery'. That said, the crowd gave us a good response and I began to relax. As the set went on we really got into a groove. As per my last post, this was not to be another perfect gig. The sound engineer wasn't half as good, for a start. But we were playing pretty well.

It was great to have Liam back on board too. Doing his first gig since the October 04 one, he looked in his element, singing lead on 3 of his songs: 'Noriega', 'Centrafugal Bugle' and 'Leopards Head', and helping with percussion on others.

'Miss Friel' was extra special too, as the songs co-writer, and the man who introduced Dan to Liam, and thus brought him to the Blackwells, Tom Carlin, was in the audience. He had been out of the country for some time, so Dan and liam were delighted to see him again.

The brand new song 'Centrafugel Bugle' got a really positive response, and we got the crowd fully on board. I even did my traditional leap into the crowd on Miss Friel, though my legs gave way on me because of the flu, and I nearly crushed a poor young lady

I'm hoping this has taught me not to get so hung up on perfection. Just being able to be there this time was so so special and reminded me how much to treasure these gigs.