Gig report: Lu @ Troubadour Club, London

Band: Lu
Venue: The Troubadour Club, Earls Court, London
Date: 28/10/10
Audience: Lovely, lots of them too
Set: The Epic, You, Twinkle Twinkle, Beyond, Ain't Dancing, My Love
Notes: With all things family illness looking like they're on the right track (as of Tuesday, to be precise) I've thrown myself back into gig and recording commitments. Sadly last night's La Raza show with my mate Neil was cancelled at the last minute due to a double booking, but tonight it was good to get back on stage after a couple weeks out and play to a lovely audience. I had issues finding the venue - I was walking around for a very long time (although my thanks must go to the lovely newsagent who not only pointed me in the right direction, but then realised I was going the wrong way so ran down the street shouting "no, the other way you idiot!" several times before making sure I found the right street - although being called an idiot by a total stranger is never nice, his heart was clearly in the right place) and carrying a snare, cymbals, sticks and bass pedal around everywhere - including the tube, is never ideal and my arms now ache considerably. Any frustration though was soon forgotten as soon as I entered the venue, as the Troubadour is a lovely place, with lovely people, big enough to feel like it's 'somewhere' but small enough to feel intimate. Although due to being an hour later I missed the soundcheck, the soundman was good enough to make everything feel seamless, and the rest of the drum kit that was lent to me for half an hour by the support act was a decent Mapex offering so all in all very comfortable. It felt really busy tonight but the good thing was a lot of people weren't there for a specific band - they just turn up expecting good music, and I'd like to think we contributed well to that. We weren't that tight - lets be honest about that, one rehearsal in a few months is going to mean we're a little rusty, and the first track was a bit awkward. But by the time we hit 'Beyond' we had locked in and were flying. I might also add that Lu, despite recent throat problems (hence the lack of shows recently) was in exceptional voice tonight, and her stage presence is top-notch too. Good fun, exhausting trips there and back, but this is a review of the gig, not my evening in general, and the gig itself was lovely. It was also recorded, possibly for a live EP, but I'll have to hear how many mistakes I made first before seeing if it should go public...

Tomorrow (well, today I guess) we start the intense recording of the Christmas album. We're recording it in a studio that was only finished being built this week, and I'm still not sure if our engineer knows about the brass, strings and guest vocalists that we have booked in. Still, it's a challenge I guess.