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Blog: It Can Only Go Downhill From Here

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COR - last night's gig, i shall not lie to you, was AMAZING! It was Totally Acoustic at The Lamb again, which is ALWAYS lovely, but this time it was EXTRA WOW.

I arrived to find my REGULARS - Pete, John, Dan and Steve - sat at a table, READY, with my Brother and Cheryl just round the corner. Straight away Worry //1 ("What if nobody comes?!?") was REMOVED. I went to the bar and paid for the room in advance, so as to avoid a repeat of last time's FARRAGO when i forgot all about it and had to go back again next day... this also removed Worry //2 ("What if they've forgotten the booking and somebody ELSE has it?") which left me with only Worry //3 ("What if LOADS of people turn up and it's too full and they can't get in?") which, frankly, is silly.

Next to turn up was The Allen Key In My Self-Assembly Kit, then Charlie, then... well, LOADS of PALS turned up, it was fantastic! Even Nic and Emma, who I think I last saw when we played at their wedding, were there, it was all LOVELY.

Andy from Pocketbooks arrived with time to spare, everyone came upstairs and settled in, and i kicked off with THE FOLLOWING on ukelele:
  • The Drummer's Lament
  • The Last Of The Gang To Die
  • Ask
  • Chips And Cheese, Pint Of Wine
  • A Million Ukeleles

  • It was all pretty GRATE - The Drummer's Lament went down well, I think i PROVED my point re. Morrissey songs being suitable for ukelele (tho maybe doing Ask as well was pushing it), and i was REALLY pleased that I'd learned up A Million Ukeleles, for LO! When I got to the last couple of choruses SUDDENLY people all around the room pulled out ukeleles and started playing along! It was MENTAL - it turned out Pete had organised it as a Ukelele Flash Mob THING, with song sheets, instructions and EVERYTHING. INDEED, he'd apparently had it lying in wait at a couple of OTHER gigs when I'd NOT played the song - i wondered why he kept asking if i'd be playing the ukelele! It was all RATHER ASTOUNDING, i had no idea - COR!

    Next up Andy a.k.a. Sunny Intervals played - I'd asked him to do it because every time his main band, Pocketbooks, play I always seem to be doing something that precludes my attendance, usually a gig of my own, and as everybody keeps saying how ACE they are I thought booking at least ONE of them to play would mean I'd finally get a chance to see him/them. I was REALLY glad I did - as ever with these things I did wonder if he'd be OK SANS PA, but it made the songs, tunes, and especially WORDS shine out - i was VERY impressed, it was brilliant. I'm going to be going to see them in full band mode TWICE in the next few weeks now - HOORAH!

    We then had the cigs/wee/beer break and I retook the stage with GTR to do THIS:
  • The Peterborough All-Saints' Wide Game Team (Group B)
  • We're Old And We're Tired (and we want to go home)
  • The Girl Who...
  • Do The Indie Kid
  • It Only Works Because You're Here
  • Being Happy Doesn't Make You Stupid
  • Easily Impressed
  • The Lesson Of The Smiths

  • Billy Jones Is Dead
  • Boom Shake The Room

  • It was MUCHO FUN. It was GRATE to be back doing a gig again, and nice to feel I was doing something at least a LITTLE bit different, with loads of new ones and especially getting The Girl Who... back in the set again. My FAVOURITE bit was during Do The Indie Kid when Pete and Steve performed The Music Of The Future on ukeleles. It was very very very good.

    We then settled into the BEST bit of the evening, the BEER AND CHAT section, which was even nicer. It was SO lovely to see so many TOP CLASS people there, and much NONSENSE was spoken and BEER drunk and I staggered out of the building thinking that I had maybe done the BEST gig of the year ALREADY! HOORAH!

    posted 23/1/2008 by MJ Hibbett

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    Comments:

    i'm assuming the "it was very very very good" is refering to the whole of the previous para and not just the previous sentence...

    also LIST!
    posted 23/1/2008 by CarsmileSteve

    I meant the Music Of The Future, of course - if only there was a bootleg!
    posted 23/1/2008 by MJ Hibbett

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