Yesterday was the best day yet. I've been here long enough to have completely relaxed. I managed to keep my sobriety on Thursday night while all around me were losing theirs, and Jason has a comfy sofa, so I slept well and was feeling pretty good. I went along for the ride while Jason and Chris (his guitarist) picked up the hire car (the guy in the shop was disturbingly cheerful in his work), then we went for breakfast at a diner. I sampled peameal bacon (I'll get pancakes later in the week) and some incredibly nice fried potatoes, and got a lesson in how many ways there are to cook eggs. I always wondered what 'over easy' meant. Jason had to work in the afternoon, so I hung around at his playing the guitar and trying (without success) to make my phone charge up. It's a long time since I just sat around playing the guitar, I should do it more.
There was a serious amount of stuff to take to the venue - oh how I've missed sitting in cars with guitars on my lap. The PA needed picking up from a music shop on a busy street, which a parking officer pretty much chased the car down, allowing a couple of minutes loading in a series of locations. Bit odd.
The venue was really quite impressive. I don't think I've played at a place with a balcony before, and the stage was huge. I took some photos which I'll upload when I get home. There was even a fairly luxurious green room, and a staircase from it to the stage, so that you could appear from the wings. The entertainment correspondent from the London Free Press (who is quite a character) did the compering, which added a touch of schmaltz. I went on stage at the same time as him to tune up, but he had more to say than I bargained for, so I ended up standing there feeling a bit silly for a while, but I enjoyed my set a lot - everyone was really polite and the sound was great (it had seemed a bit echoey in soundcheck, but was fine in when some people came in). On the minus side, fingerpicking felt slightly weird because my strings are still covered in sticky dried blood from the Portland gig, and I do have a feeling that people don't understand what I'm saying a lot of the time. I'm going to try talking really slowly and clearly tonight. Or have some kind of system where people press a button if I need to repeat something. Setlist: Edinburgh, Watertight, The Easy Way Out, So Finally a Love Song, Ball and Chain, A Folly or a Fortress, Soaked to the Skin
I was in the green room unwinding with some beer and swig or two of bourbon for Kaya's set, but you could hear pretty well down there and it sounded great. Both her and Jason's CDs sound really, really good too. I'm a little bit jealous. I had a moment while I was watching Jason's set when I thought 'I'm thousands of miles from home, playing music with people I really like, for people who seem to like it, this is brilliant.' and felt actually properly happy for the first time in ages.
After everything was finished and the gear had got put into about 4 different cars (God knows where it all is now) we went off to a bar so I could compare vocabulary with people, followed by another (livelier) bar (I estimate that a glass was broken every 145 seconds), followed by a Baconator from Wendy's, which was amazing. Especially as I missed lunch. 2 prime beef patties separated by cheese, topped off with 6 strips of bacon. Oh yes. There used to be a Wendy's in Oxford Street for a while, I remember going there with my dad once, but I think it failed because we weren't ready for square burgers. They should have another go at the British market. Eric, the sound guy, was saying that you can ask for as many patties as you want in your burger. What a concept. I was tempted by a 3/4 lb one, but The Baconator had a cooler name.
Right. I'm going to read reports of Cambridge United's 5th straight victory, then get a couple of hours sleep before we head off to Toronto, because I'm still a bit fuzzy headed.