‘Drafting’ a gig
With the recording of Bloodrush complete (but plenty busy-ness ongoing related to the technicalities of preparing the release, more of which in another post perhaps), my mind turned to the preparation of the launch gig.
I have very little gigging experience. I’ve been performing at an open mic fairly consistently over the last few years (although lockdown put at stop to the in-person version of that), and have had a few support slots at house gigs. That said, I think it helps that I have become used to sharing my songs with small groups of people in the context of songwriting workshops. Indeed, some much more experienced performers tell me that sharing songs in this solo, intimate, completely unplugged way is, in some ways, more difficult that getting up on a stage.
Even so, it’s more than a little anxiety-provoking to know that the gig is coming up; and I’ve been managing that by trying to prepare thoughtfully.
Firstly, there’s the question of the set-list. That’s not just about song selection — it’s also about song order. Trying to put a set-list together, I became much more aware of stylistic similarities between certain of my songs: Trying to keep it interesting by mixing up tempos, keys, styles, themes, etc. — while also thinking about the practicalities of minimising switches between guitars and tunings — was pretty complex! There are also songs that I just decided I don’t want to play live (at least not this time) — some because they’re just too difficult to play, and some because I think their content might make me feel too exposed. Those are two quite different sorts of risks, but I realise that I just don’t want that pressure that either might cause, given my inexperience.
At the same time as the provisional set-list was taking shape, I was thinking about how to introduce and talk about the songs. In the folk tradition especially, I think the context-setting stories are as important as the songs, but it’s also possible to say too much and play too little; not letting the songs communicate for themselves (or the audience to take their own meanings from them). I got some good advice on how to strike this balance from Findlay Napier and Boo Hewerdine this week, as we wrapped up the Bird on a Wire course, discussed in my last post.
I realised a week or two ago that a good plan wasn’t going to be enough: I needed an opportunity to test the ‘draft’ version of the gig before an audience; ideally one that would be up for providing friendly but critical feedback. So I set up a livestream for this past Thursday, invited some music-making and/or music-loving friends, and ran the whole set solo and live for them. If you're curious to see it, you can watch the 55-minute set here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOz04jeHYNo
My friends were very generous in their feedback, and I learned a lot from the process. Thinking back about it over the last couple of days, I realised that the process felt a bit like what happens in my day-job when I write an article for an academic journal. At various stages, the draft paper gets ‘peer-reviewed’. When this works well, it produces a much better eventual output… In the academic context, at one stage, the peer review is also ‘double-blinded’ (meaning that both the writer and the reviewers are anonymised). Obviously, that’s not possible with a ‘draft gig’ (and maybe that helped make the process feel a little more kind than academic peer review sometimes does!) — but the feedback was still very thoughtful and hugely valuable. And if you watch the set and have further feedback, I’d love to hear it.
The next step — on this Tuesday coming — is a 3-hour rehearsal with James Mackay (electric guitar) and Dan Brown (keyboards and vocals) to arrange and practice 6 or 7 of the 9 songs. I’m sure that will also help to add variety and texture to the set. I’m really excited to see and hear how that turns out.
We still have some tickets left for the gig at the Glad Cafe on the 6th October… though I’m thinking about reducing the capacity slightly and making the event fully seated (partly because I’ve realised that doing so will fit the music better)… so get your tickets soon! Here’s the link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/talent-is-timeless-where-are-we-heading-bloodrush-release-concert-tickets-165756499151