Blog

We were out in our finery on Friday, dressed perhaps a little posher than normal for the gig at the Brookfield Hotel in Emsworth (link in previous bog). It was a terrific evening. The room was full of discerning diners sat at carefully arranged tables and we set up in the corner to do our thing. When I left the house earlier in the evening I had had that odd feeling you get when you know you've forgotten something but just can't think what it is. I found out when we arrived, I had forgotten the keyboard stand! We set it up on a table instead but it was really low, I would have managed but it would not have been good. I had a very low cut and quite reluctant to stay up strapless dress on, so the thought of having to lean forward to play didn't fill me with joy and may have put the audience off their dinners! Anyway after a bit of ringing round I managed to find some saviours to bring me a keyboard stand so crisis was averted! 

We were asked, by lovely Jamie events manager, to go on once everyone was tucking in to their main course, so in the meantime we were fed too. The food was absolutely to die for, it was delicious and both Simon and I felt the need of a nap after eating, never mind getting up and playing! We did manage to though, shortly after, and we started with a laid back first set so as to help facilitate rather than interfere with the digestive process then after a 15 min or so break we went on and did a more lively set. The audience were so appreciative, it was terrific. We opened the second set with 'Shufflin' Andy's instrumental, I so love playing that, can't help shrieking at the end. 

During the first set after doing a lovely song called 'Who are you' written by Andy and the very talented Sally Strawberry  http://www.myspace.com/sallystrawberrymusic  Andy needed a rest (mainly because I do it in an odd key and it makes his hand hurt) so I did 'Quiet Joys of Brotherhood'. At the break one lovely audience member (Kate) admitted it had brought a tear to her eye and she said she'd found it really atmospheric. Nice feedback 

Anyway, an encore was demanded and we did 'One Meatball' with a bit of 'Hit the Road Jack' thrown in to end the evening with a smile. Great cabaret style evening which we hope to repeat in the future, definitely one of my favourite sort of gigs.