Gig report: Dowsing For Sound @ Outside Senate House, Cambridge

Band: Dowsing For Sound
Venue: Outside Senate House, Cambridge
Date: 27/10/12
Audience: More than a handful of passers-by who seemed to really enjoy it
Set: Empty Room, Take Me Home, Alive, Fake Empire, Take Your Mama Out, Sweet Disposition, Tonight We Fly, Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall, Beautiful Child, One Day Like This
Notes: A last minute and slightly strange gig this one. Okay, no slightly about it. As part of a gloriously inventive festival in Cambridge where they've put a load of pianos around the city for people to play, Dowsing were asked to perform outside Senate House in Cambridge. Lovely central location, and there's nothing wrong with an outdoor performance - when it's sunny at least. It wasn't, it was drizzly but the full blast of rain held off until after the gig, which was nice of it. Such is the short notice this all came together, the choir was down to about 25 members, and band-wise it was just Andrea (piano) and myself, so a very stripped down performance. Completely unamplified and with the sound struggling thanks to the wind, desperately holding onto the audience who were fighting against the bitter cold, the spirit of Dowsing came to the fore once again and it although a toughie nobody could deny the entertainment we offered the lucky locals. Arrangements had to be tweaked as a bit considering there was just the two of us musicians, the odd moment had to be ad-libbed (the ending of 'Every Tear...' for example - my fault, that one), but that choir love what they're doing - they reminded me of Christmas carol singers at times with their relentless optimism - smiling despite throughout being absolutely freezing. This was never going to be the big-scale, ambitious gig that only Dowsing For Sound are capable of, but not a bad way to spend an hour on a Saturday morning to say the least.