First real gig - report!!

Well - happy to announce that I have my first real gig under the belt!

We played at this pub just outside oslo tonight. Trio, two guitars and bass. Not too large a crowd listening and they were not ecstatic, but they didn't leave and we finshed with no major disasters - in other words a great experience!

We got there about 1800 to set up the equipment - 4 guitars, bass, guitar and bass amp, and a 4 channel mixer with amp and speakers for vocals. Tuned guitars, and did a very rudimentary soundcheck. 4 hours wait. A pizza, some rounds of pool, and suddenly it was 10pm and we were on.

We had four nice guitars. An Ibanez jazzbox, a Takmine accoustic, a Yamaha accoustic and a fender Tele.

I started out with the Ibanez for the first two songs; Things we said today and Bring it on home. Our very experienced bandleader sang lead and did some smalltalk in between. It was a good start. I managed a solo on Bring it on home, some mistakes but decent I think. In fact I wasn't really that nervous, and I felt I played up against my best. The vocal harmonies in Things we said today worked well too. The bass was slightly out of tune, but somehow we didn't stop to tune it.

We traded guitars and I played the takanmine, sang lead and played harmonica on She Belongs to Me. Think we played it well, but it was not really a crowd pleaser, they were pretty slow - except one girl dancing in front of us . Back on the Ibanez for Under the boardwalk and In my Life. Simple Twist of Fate on the Yamaha in open E, again I sang and played harmonica. Forgot a verse, and mixed up the lyrics in another one, but nobody would notice that. Waterloo Sunset went well. Sang again on Between the devil and the deep blue sea - very nice guitarwork on this one from my uncle We did Crazy a bit faster than usual and I stumbled somewhat on the solo but nothing disastrous. Finished the first set with I shall be Released. I sang with the two others doing harmonies in the chorus - singing was great!! OK solo again...

And that was the first set. First reaction: WOW that went fast!! Almost 45 minutes had passed just like that. WE were pretty happy, tuned a bit, had a few cigarettes outside, and back on.

I played the Tele for the second set. A good start with Brown Eyed Girl. Honey Pie, A Change is Gonna Come, What a Wonderful World and Sunny Afternoon went OK. Looking out my Backdoor was very well received I managed to do the solo pretty well, sounded real good on the Tele. Did some Harmonica on Mr. Bojangles. I don't think anyone had heard it before, but we played it well I'd say. Lodi sounded real good too! In the second verse I got the riff straight too (and the "Everytime I had to play while the people sat there drunk" was more than appropriate). Then DOn't think Twice and the biggest disaster for my part. I played the Yamaha again, and after the first verse the strap fell off... I managed to somehow balance it with my leg, remembered all the lyrics and played harmonica in between Phew. Rounded off with Hymn to Freedom

As I said, the crowd was slow, but many said afterwards that they'd appreciated it. But then, they didn't come first and foremost to hear us, they'd come to drink too many beers like they do every saturday (and thursday, and monday for that sake) Most of all, it was a great experience for both my brother and me, since it was our debut in the (real) public. We survived, and we found out that as long as just one of us messes up at the same time it'll work ok ... I also noticed that I relaxed more and more and as a result the playing improved (somewhat).

Free beer afterwards and home by 0030. I wanna do it again!!!

Sorry for the long report, but it has some therapeutic effect as I'm pretty excited at the moment

lars