Open Mic at ‘The Hop’

I’m so pleased to say that despite the initial nerves, my section went very well, I think. I fluffed my words a couple of times and my mic usage was a bit erratic, but I don’t think it mattered too much. The Hop was quite empty (I guess Monday night isn’t going to be as packed out as a Friday or Saturday), so really I was just singing to my guests, Claire, Ken and Pat, plus the other artists that 360 manage and their guests. So – it was a lovely informal evening, not too much pressure, and chance to build up my confidence and improve technique on a live rig.

It’s nice also to see how well the others are doing: Zoe, Carla and Harry were also singing last night, and they clearly seemed more confident than I was. I elected to go first as I thought that it would be better to do my little set, and not prolong the nerves any longer than necessary. It’s nice that we all perform in very different genres and therefore don’t have to be competitive in any way. We are all there to develop our skills, build stage confidence and build our repertoire.

With the first one behind me, I think I’ve finally laid the ghosts of past stage disasters to rest. I’m very grateful to Ken and Pat (and Claire of course) for coming to support me, and of course to Andrew for being my backing and lead guitarist. Ken has video-ed the set, (pics are taken from the video) which I may or may not put up at some point. I’m very highly critical watching stuff back like this, and there’s certainly room for improvement. To me, the sound at a live gig is never as good as when you were there – even for the pro performers, and you watch it back and you think: “Blimey, I didn’t realise he was singing flat there on the night…” But that’s the downside of recording with a phone, and not directly from the stage mixer. Perhaps next time we can do this, and see what we really sound like…