Gig report: The Dowsing Sound Collective @ Ely Cathedral

Band: The Dowsing Sound Collective
Venue: Ely Cathedral, Ely
Date: 06/07/13
Audience: Packed (sold out?), joyous
Set: First half - Us Against The World, Higher Ground, Soul Of A Man, Riverside, Innsbruck, Under African Skies, Mercy Street, The DSC Mashup, Marry You. Second half - White Sky, Madness, Extreme Ways, Winter Song, Ho Hey, Who Wants To Live Forever, Breaking, In Trutina, Shackles, Radioactive, You Can't Always Get What You Want. Encore - Ho Hey
Notes: We've been talking about this gig for a while now, with slightly dangerous and expectation-enhancing statements such as, 'the biggest gig of my life' being banded about on a frequent basis. I knew it would be big, but perhaps the fact that my head is spinning by a million other projects meant I couldn't quite get as anxious about this one as I normally would have done. Then I turned up at the venue for the tech set-up on Friday night...reality kicked in. Sat down behind my drums, I couldn't actually see the back of the venue - it seemed to go back forever. Equally, looking up at the ceiling, the beautiful, beautiful ceiling, it's difficult not to feel just a bit dizzy. The scale of the gig soon hit home, yet the way Dowsing is run is like a military operation - so organised it's almost frightening, and the tech, and then rehearsal yesterday afternoon ran without any hitches. These soundmen were excellent by the way, my good friend Paul (who was at the gig) knows them well and had been singing their praises for a while - but I was sceptical given the size of the building. It soon became apparent though that - fittingly for the most incredible of venues, Andrea and Nina had managed to get the best sound company in the business. I do like Dowsing very much you know, I may have found the run-up to this show a little stressful but that was purely my own doing for taking on so many projects at the same time, all of which are colliding somewhat at the moment on a frequent basis. But yesterday was just a reminder as to why Dowsing is such a special thing; aside from the gig itself, it's the people that make it, the continued words of encouragement that are exchanged before this epic event, the pizza and whisky pre-show, the lying in a field during the blazing sunshine and relaxing - it's these little moments that help make days like these memorable.
So - the gig itself...a lot of people turned up. Myself and my drums were restricted to a small Perspex box due to sound control - drums are loud as they are, in a cathedral they're just ridiculous - bit of a shame that I couldn't actually see the choir but these are the sacrifices that have to be made in situations like this, and the monitoring system inside my little box allowed me to have full control on what I wanted to hear, instrument by instrument. A bit of a luxury, but also essential for this type of performance. The first half was a cracker - unlike last year's Corn Exchange gig where we seemed to need time to warm to the situation, we hit the ground running. Very last minute changes (such as switching from drums to congas on 'Soul Of A Man') kept me on my toes, the band felt really tight - which is amazing because we haven't always been in rehearsals recently, the choir - from what I could hear - were on top form and really enjoying themselves. 'The DSC Mashup' - formally known as 'Notches' and one of the tracks we recorded earlier this year, allowed us to really go for it, my drum solo was perhaps bordering on over-enthusiastic rather than the classy 4 bars of sophistication I had promised myself, but I managed to at least hit a lot things very quickly. The second half was always going to be musically a lot more challenging - sure; there were a few sure-fire successes in there ('White Sky', 'Ho Hey') hut also some real banana skins from a band perspective. Gav (our incredible bassist) and I chat grooves a lot - and decided shortly before the gig to simplify the rhythm on, 'Extreme Ways' - it worked a treat, it gave the whole track a little more space, we doubt anybody else would have noticed actually but it made it all the more easier to hold it together. I won't lie here, 'Who Wants To Live Forever' didn't work out drum-wise, it was a struggle in the rehearsals but it felt like we had it nailed in an earlier run-through, but the odd communication issue (the difficulty of us all being so far away from each other on stage) meant we seemed to start on a wrong footing and it was a near miracle it didn't just crumble - but the confidence of the choir saved it, and ironically a lot of my friends have been hailing it as one of the highlights of the evening so maybe, outside of my little box, things weren't so bad after all. By the final three tracks - the home straight as it were, confidence and dignity very much restored. Although I couldn't see the choir, I could feel their warmth and enjoyment by 'Shackles' - I could also tell by the smile on Andrea's face that it was all going to plan. By the time we'd reached, 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' the floor in my little box was full of empty carbonated drinks cans, it effectively resembled my car...but we could really let go on this one, I actually did feel like a caged animal by the end - all gig the focus is on being tight and focussed, by the double-time conclusion of the final track I could put every last ounce of energy in; heartbeat thumping away, bits of stick flying everywhere, some very strange facial expressions. The audience could vote for the encore track, I'm so glad they chose, 'Ho Hey' - selfishly I was happy about this because I was exhausted and it's the easiest song in the world to play.
The choir have doubled in size, over a hundred of them now, the band have grown, yet somehow Dowsing just gets better and better. Andrea's ambitions seem to be without limit - last night was another leap forward, the visions of our remarkable founding member and musical director once again realised, and in return everybody on stage - whether they be in the choir or the band, shared a magical moment that will stay with us forever.
The evening ended with a rousing standing ovation from the audience, and the buzz word afterwards seem to be 'amazing.' There were tears of emotion, of joy, of relief, that somehow we managed to pull this one off again. A show - an actual proper show not just a gig - of such epic proportions that shouldn't work, but did. The comedown from this show will be heavy; I was more than a bit jaded in my fringe rehearsals today (as much as I'm loving playing the character of Max in 'Redundancy Club' - there's something about leaping around and saying, "we're a crazy office, we eat hummus" that makes me happy), Dowsing takes up so much of our lives - and that's not just physically being in rehearsals - but on a day-to-day basis it's at the forefront of our minds.  I'm forever grateful to be even associated with The Dowsing Sound Collective, let alone have the responsibility of being the drummer - it's a privilege. An exhausting, sometimes stressful privilege, but I wouldn't swap nights like this for anything.