Open Mic Night

This was held last night at Wakefield’s The Hop, a lovely little venue situated quite near to Westgate station and Wakefield’s Theatre and Opera House. Here I’ve got to meet quite a few of the Artists currently on the 360 Programme, or at least the more local ones, some at least coming from as far as Manchester and Nottingham.

Here a great many of the pieces about 360AD have come into place, I feel. It’s nice to have met the other artists and I see that group support that they have, and the support that Matthew and Andrew give them too. It was nice to see people who had been with 360AD for just a few months, and also see some who have been with them for a few years too, and see the level of confidence and professionalism even from those who have only been there a short time.

I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to be involved in the live scene, and this really because I have severe hang-ups about my last stage performance: albeit some 30 years ago it was a club audition that went quite horrendously wrong. To cut a long story short – and it is still hard for me to talk about it (though a bit easier to write…), I ended up completely freezing on stage on my final song, without any memory for chords or words, and just had to end the show there. Needless to say that it happened in front of a load of local talent scouts, and it was the worst way to end a potential career as a club player. Past history.

Anyway – I was just there to spectate last night. I admit I was quite tempted to get up and do something, but I don’t feel personally prepared enough yet to perform, and I reckon this will ease the more I practice and the more the songs become “muscle-memory”.

My conclusion: wow – what a great bunch of performers! Such talent and such a diversity of styles and genres. I said to Andrew and Matthew at the end, how much I feel that I’m in awesome company, and feeling quite humbled and slightly unworthy right now. I hope I can escape the rabbit-in-the-headlights syndrome when it comes to my turn…

So…. practice, practice, practice…