Sometimes Gigs Are More Fun the Next Day
Second gig was last night. It was even more chaotic than I thought it would be, or I assumed it would be.
This is the second gig of The Dumbest Show on Earth variety show. It’s a three-show run.
And we’d planned a more DJ-centric show, but it was actually more sample-based. So I was struggling all night, but 80% of that added to the kind of fun, razor’s-edge feel of the show.
I will definitely go way less DJ and way more SP-404 next time, and probably bring in the Teenage Engineering sampler as well, and let those play off each other. And page through the gig sequentially, organizing every SP page like the other, with a couple of kind of home-run samples always there—the laughing, or one hand clapping, or something to screw with Kevin—and three or four, or more, song cuts ready to go at all times.
The utility guy is a tough position because you’re just required to do everything.
The other thing I can do is memorize all the lyrics for the songs, which is typically not a problem, but Britpop is a stretch for me, as I didn’t go really deep.
I did, as usual, find a few incredible tracks. Black Grape being my favorite. And I went really deep on the Charlatans, and their catalog is just fantastic.
“The Only One I Know” was a huge song for me when it came out, and being able to kind of dig deep on that has been really fun.
So.
The crowd was probably 40% bigger, and I think everybody had a good time. It was a success. The owner wants us back for more and more shows, and it’s a thing.
The background vocals—and the backing vocals by me, I think—were in the high 80 to low 90th percentile. So, super satisfied.
And, again, the feedback was way better than what I thought in real time.
Gigs are much more fun sometimes the next day, and that’s certainly how I’m feeling right now.