When I play gigs and people know the songs or have heard of me and have my albums.
Its odd, but a privilege.
The drive down to Blackpool was tiring but fun,with the excellent company of mr David Elliott.
The gig in Blackpool was fun - top organisation from Ken Foster, great sound. Made some new friends, decent warm crowd. Busier on the Friday but fine on the Thursday for turnout. My friends Credo played on the Thursday with me and and was nice to meet the Also Eden guys. Great playing with bands doing it for the love of music, all really nice people.
I stayed in Blackpool for an extra day then got the train back on the Saturday. This could have saved some time:
Spent the day on Friday wandering round with David, was fun and a great laugh. Seaside towns are a bit grim out of season but still very interesting, especially if you enjoy slot machines and Poundland. Here is David on the whole thing (hope he doesn't mind me quoting):
"Anyway...a few reflections on EG overall then I'll shut up about it (yeah, right). It was a success, certainly on a musical level, and there seemed to be enough people for Ken to break even (I hope). Quite a few folk were commenting that it's nice to have a prog event which takes place in the North of England - and with that in mind it was fitting to have The Tangent as the final band on, as Andy (and indeed the whole current lineup) are all Northeners. Having said that they came from far and wide, including a couple of guys from the US, and of course the young Italian contingent who were all such lovely people. The whole vibe was great, very much like Summer's End in that respect, happy, relaxed people enjoying a week d of great music. Lambsie was there for the three days and having a great time watching music without having to worry about schedules, load-ins and so on.
Highlights for me were many - Matt opening proceedings to genuine warmth from the audience; Dropshard, the enthusiasm of youth coupled with masses of talent; The Watch playing some of my favourite music (ahhh, Firth of Fifth!); SeYes pulling off a set consisting of some of the most complex music ever written with huge panache; seeing Darran from Godsticks in full stand-up comedian mode to an appreciative crowd...oh, and playing and singing like a demon; Abel Ganz, with a lovely acoustic feel coupled with a rock punch.
The sound was outstanding throughout, and Steve and Mike such gents. Steve was saying how great it was to work with such a friendly, co-operative bunch of bands.
But it's a bit invidious to single out anyone, really...I'd have paid to see any of those bands playing a gig, which is ironic because I didn't have to. The DJing was huge fun...lots of people asking for song titles, and chatting about their favourite music."
Amazing some bands came over from Italy. My set went down well - especially as I'm not "proper prog" (I know, OK you got me) and inhabit that weird crossroads that they call post rock or "post prog" as someone said yesterday. Nice supportive crowd, they videoed the whole thing :) So there may be a DVD.....
The journey back home was interesting. There is always talk of there being a north/south divide in England, but I think its more of a London/Rest Of England divide. When you get our of London its a different world. And I saw the concrete cows in Milton Keynes.
