Thursday 10 November 2016

Bear Jokes at Pub on the Park

When four acts pull out of your show on the day its happening it isn't usually a good sign. That said, I'd got someone in last minute and the room was looking pretty decent thanks to a new spotlight and roaring fires at both ends. Half seven rolled around and I waited...and waited.

By 8pm the acts were in but the actual audience numbered just one. The pub itself wasn't as busy as usual and despite a decent round of listings, retweets and event shares it looked like this would be more of a workshop than a show. I stepped up and delivered my new song about airports.

As songs go this one is pretty challenging. To indicate when the audience needed to join in I'd gone with a whistle for this one. Though I'd put it on the backing track it was clear it would work better if I had one physically with me and so had bought one for far too much from a tourist shop on Oxford Street earlier that day. The track started, I remembered most of the first verse and then went into the whistle bit.

Juggling a microphone and a whistle whilst trying to remember freshly learned lyrics isn't easy. I missed my mouth several times and when I did connect it wasn't exactly Match of the Day. However, I soldiered on into the second verse and by the time it came around again it worked more often than it didn't and what there was of an audience were breaking down over the ridiculousness of it all. I finished the track and introduced the first act.

Given the reduced bill and the small audience figures we'd opted to run the show straight without a break and this turned out to be the smart thing to do. Surely but slowly more audience joined us throughout and by the time Sonia Aste was on stage we had a half-full room. Given the numbers the gig had a pretty odd feel, somewhat similar to one of the slower days at Edinburgh. Some of the acts were great, others were patchy, but all did well in the unusual circumstances. 

Wrapping up by 9.45 all that was left was to thank everyone and head home. Airport's cherry is popped so expect to hear my whistle plenty in the coming months!

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