First Damsons gig

Been an odd week that one, had so much time to achieve stuff but my body seems to have demanded a bit of a break, and alas, I've spent a few evenings simply drinking beer and wading through classic episodes of 'Rising Damp', which is still unrivalled for me in it's simplicity - better than the original Reggie Perrin? I'm not sure, perhaps shouldn't even be having this argument with myself, but either way the comic timing of Leonard Rossiter is probably something we'll never see again. So, a lazy one then, which almost makes me feel a little guilty because those brilliant actor types are working incredibly hard, so I hear, on the Edinburgh show, it's creeping up - I'm getting all excited. Have found the time though to work on the first couple of chapters of an exciting novel idea that has been buzzing around my head for a while now, more soon once I actually feel like I've got a 'product' to shout about.

First gig tonight with The Damsons, the band I've been rehearsing with for the last month or so. The show doubled up as both a warm-up for next week's Secret Garden Party festival slot, and also as part of a charity night for under privileged children in Ecuador. Not the first charity that springs to mind to be honest, but fair play to them - once I listened to the organiser (who I think was called Sarah, although she could be an Emma, or a Kate? Whoever she was, she was very friendly and kindly gave me a nice bottle of wine for playing) chat about the difficulties that surround the lives of these young adults I felt guilty about stressing about my own rather worrying financial situation - it's easy to say so, but we've got it easy, really, and it was nothing but a pleasure to be part of such a worthy event. The night itself was slightly scary - I'm no snob but Romsey Labour Club, on Mill Road in Cambridge, is a fucking scary place. I'm amazed my car was still there by the end of it, without any scratches (apart from the one I did to it in another curb-related incident on the way out), and some of the locals didn't look like they were going to be in to it. Amazingly, they were, and we played to a rowdy, but ultimately supportive audience who made us feel like we did well tonight. Did we actually play well? I think we did, you know, certainly better than a band who has only had a handful of rehearsals anyway. The Damsons are growing on me in a big way, as people - all of them are frankly lovely, and I'm starting to enjoy to myself/relax a bit with them more and more often. This is why I love being in bands - people are, just generally, a bit great. So, first gig out of the way - felt like a home tie, next week The Secret Garden Party gig is a whole different kettle of fish altogether, as much as I never understood that term.

Also, from now on I'm going to try and keep a record of the setlists from the gigs that I play; gigs are a strange one, I do so many and they can easily get forgotten, obsolete in a world of other shows, and yet each show is so individual at the same time and it would be wrong for all the effort to go to waste with out remembering it somehow. So, quickly, match report of tonight's show is below:

Date: 18th July 2009
Band: The Damsons
Venue: Romsey Labour Club, Cambridge
Type Of Gig: Charity gig
Venue Vibe: Phoenix Nights
Audience: Scary, but nice
Set List: Dark Outside, Show Me The Way, In The Meantime, Hold Me, Going Places, Desperately, Goodnight Baby, Be True.