Quiet gigs, amazing gigs, hitting our stride

After a reasonably dull week of admin for the solo tour (and tweaking the script, plus recording some new material under the title of 'The Paul Richards Notepad' - one of the pieces can be found here), the weekend was pleasantly busy. It was busy from a musical perspective, which was nice because I've been spending too much time in a dark room writing and learning lines over the last few weeks. The Fred's House 'Bonnie & Clyde' tour continued on Friday/Saturday (the dates are initially quite scattered, but kick in properly this week with a good run of shows), Friday's show in a big venue felt odd and empty - I felt we played well, we're well rehearsed (and continually rehearsing/changing things to keep the set fresh) but this can happen sometimes. On Saturday though it was a different gig altogether - playing at the Ent Shed in Bedford, sold out show supporting the wonderful Emily Maguire, it felt like a real high point; the seated audience gave us a standing ovation, there was just a warmth in the room...if the rest of the tour is like the Bedford show we're going to be feeling very good about ourselves indeed. We're hitting our stride, it feels both comfortable and exciting. In between those two shows I played two very strange gigs in different allotments; I've recently started dating a stunning young lady (well, she's 6 months younger than me) who I met at a recent lounge show and I went to watch her brilliant ukulele band play at the 'Big Dig' events - only to find myself drumming for them whilst there, it was brilliant, random fun. I feel happy at the moment, suspiciously so.