Lamb and Flag gig - 23rd October 2010

Well I throughly enjoyed the Lamb & Flag gig yesterday.

We (that is my wife, daughter and I) made our way up to London on the train and met up with my brother, his wife and daughter for a meal before heading to the venue. By the end of the meal I was into the usual pre-gig nerves which I think Mrs F could easily spot - I had been talking with my brother about the Grand Prix and other stuff but slowly started to shut down. This is my way a bit before any gig - I get to the point of wanting to a) get to the venue to check all is ok b) get on stage and get it over with!

Funny isn't it I really want to play live to get my stuff heard by people and I do genuinely enjoy it once I'm playing but before hand that day all the "Why on earth did I agree to this?", "It'll be crap", "I'll be booed off" etc. thoughts can't help but invade the brain. I've read several autobiographies of other performers who have similar issues, odd we want to do it in the first place isn't it?

Anyway - the venue is really nice - a typical old Victorian type London pub right in the heart of the West End, James Street just off Oxford Street very near Bond Street tube station. The acoustic night is held in the upstairs room which is a nice size and a really good venue, it's only disadvantage is that people have to head back downstairs to get drinks but it's no real issue. There was quiet a packed crowd. There were three solo acts and two duets on last night. Given the trek back to Kent we couldn't stay all the way through unfortunately but what we heard was really good. A great place for some acoustic showcasing if people have new, different material they'd like to try out. Pete McDonnell has been on this site looking for acts - which is how I linked up with him to get a slot so go search him out... RTYD in action!!!

Anyway I was on second on the bill between 8:00 and 8:30, I did a set of almost totally original material - at my wifes request I slipped in a cover of Phil Campbell's No Love Songs towards the end dropping a song called Strength of Their Hearts I've yet to perform live to make way for it. Several new songs got their live debuts, Summertime, Running in the Shadows (my solo acoustic version is somewhat different from the recorded one) and Everyday being examples.

I felt my set went down pretty well, my daughter commented on several people were "nodding and singing along" and Pete McDonnell came up to me after the set and as we left and was keen to offer me some more slots in the New Year. So all in all that is really good, I look forward to playing there again and now it's a venue "under my belt", as it were, there is a chance the pre-show nerves will be less the next time :-)