Relief

I had my gig in the studio where I work last night. It was great! Everyone seemed to really enjoy it and said what a nice atmosphere it was. That was what I was hoping for.

I went on first. I was nervous as always and my fingers were like jelly when I was trying to pick the guitar. But I thought my voice wasn't too bad. It wasn't wobbling everywhere like it used to. I did start to feel sick half way through my set. It just seemed to be taking ages! Anyway, I got through it and got a good old round of applause.

Most people in the studio don't really know that I write songs and play guitar. I think they just see me as Simon-who-disappears-into-his-office. So I found it quite difficult to suddenly stand up and sing songs in front of these people. And I think they were quite surprised. Hopefully in a good way!

Anyway, Annie played afterwards and I played guitar with her. Her two violinists played too and they sounded great. Her first number was quite atmospheric and there was a huge downpour outside which mingled perfectly with the song as it bashed against the metal roof above us. It was one of those never-to-be-repeated moments.

But best of the night was definitely The Great Indoors, the band that I used to be in. Brendan's songs are just brilliant. The Great Indoors are Brendan singing and playing guitar, Anjuli on backing vocals and sax and Dan on double bass. Together they had a really warm, rich sound. Like a dark, mature, red wine. Delicious! I thought I would be a tad jealous seeing them with a different bass player but I wasn't at all. It was just really good to hear them play again. They very graciously let me play bass for their last song, Working Overtime.

So overall, a success! The audience enjoyed the music, the musicians enjoyed playing.

Here's me on my last song, Indian Summer. You can almost hear the relief in my voice!