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Whew, exhausted or what!? We earnt our money on Sunday let me tell you! After a very late night on Saturday stewarding for the Southsea Folk and Roots festival we were back at the NBE CSA club for soundchecks at 11am next morning. Eye bags in place and slightly spaced out, but willing and almost eager.

First a set for the festival to a small but perfectly formed audience. We  were aiming for the dramatic opening, so I did Sandy Denny's Quiet Joys of Brotherhood with a drone then we were meant to go straight into 'Do it Alone' one of ours (on our playlist for your listening pleasure) which is in the same key. The drone I use is on one setting on my piano and I have to change it to the piano setting again in order to play the next song and I almost always forget to change the setting hence set off inot the next song playing in wah wah sound. We'd had a bet about it, Andy said I would do it and I said I wouldn't. Well, at the end of the folk song all was well, I remembered and changed the dial to the required sound, so how come when I pressed the keys for the next song we sounded like Kraftwerk!? I had remembered, i had moved the dial but it had gone one too far and I hadn't noticed! It was very funny. Dramatic entrance of one sort or another I guess!

Anyway, the rest of the set went rather more smoothly and we packed up as quickly as we ever have done to the energetic folky rocky tunes of Mary Jane http://www.mary-jane.info/Index1.html . Shame we couldn't stay to see the whole set and also a shame that we were missing the Gigantics who were up next, but duty called and we shot off to the Jolly Sailor to entertain the gastronomic folk therein.

The Jolly Sailor crowd were a different audience altogether and I really enjoyed it. There seems to be less pressure to me, with gigs like this where you know the audience is going to be transitory and I was not nervous at all for this one. My nerves had made an unwelcome return for the Festival gig. Since this had happened I was also really tired for the Jolly Sailor gig which may not have been  a good thing but I was well warmed up, so it's swings and roundabouts. So we finished about 7pm and I went home and collapsed in a heap for the rest of the evening whilst I believe Andy, being made of sterner stuff, continued to strut his stuff at the festival. I can only aspire to such stamina!