the weird and the wonderful
I’ve been performing professionally for over 10 years and one of the things I love about it is that I get to see parts of the country I would never normally get to see. I get to experience looking behind the curtain, and for me, that’s a massive perk! So, to give you a flavour of the kind of places I’ve sung, I’ve put together a list of some of the most unusual - be it strange or cool or both!
Party Boats on the Thames
I used to play in an acoustic duo that performed several times on various ‘party’ boats on the Thames. I always had mixed feelings about these gigs so I guess it falls under weird and wonderful! The weird bit was that you were usually playing inside the boat, with a full PA, trying to hold on when it got a bit choppy! I wouldn’t be so much dancing on those occasions as much as I was falling with style! That’s when the sea sickness would set in… The wonderful parts were a memorable occasion when we performed on the top deck and people on Tower Bridge joined in the party and I just felt like the luckiest person in the world. The passengers would always embark and disembark at a separate wharf to the staff, so we’d always get our own private viewing of London in all her lit up glory at around 11pm on the trip back to our wharf after the party guests had made their way home. It was always stunning.
Story from the boats? There was one occasion where we’d been booked to play for what we thought was an anniversary party and actually turned out to be an elopement celebration! The couple hadn’t told their guests that they’d gotten married that day and announced it part way through the party… There were tears, there was a row, there was a LOT spent at the bar, but in the end everyone ended up dancing to our acoustic version of Faith by George Michael so I think we were all good!
100 Club
One of the best gigs of my life was playing in a Led Zep tribute act at 100 Club in London for a gig to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust. I almost psyched myself out beforehand with how nervous I was - not something that usually happens nowadays! I spent the time in between sound check and doors looking at all the photos of famous musicians who had played there over the years - most notably that day Page and Plant - and just feeling like I absolutely did not deserve to be there, about to play on the same stage as they played. I remember feeling like I was dreaming the whole time we were playing and when I came off I remember turning to my guitarist and telling him I could get addicted to that buzz…
John Lewis Furniture Department
Oh my word, where do I start?! My Jazz trio was booked to play for John Lewis in Southampton as part of the launch of their ‘Experiences’. We set up shop in the furniture department and were set amongst all the lush sofas - very me, thank you very much! Not only was the gig a weird one (I don’t feel like I need to explain why!) it also felt like a full circle moment for me, as I had worked for John Lewis (well, Waitrose) when I was 16. 16-year-old me, working on the cigarette kiosk and dishing out lottery tickets could only have dreamed of being paid to sing for a corporate gig like that and the whole thing felt ever so slightly surreal. Probably not helped by the abundance of coffee tables and armchairs…
Story from the furniture department? We sort of turned into a husband creche! At one point I turned around to find several chaps relaxing on various sofas, toe tapping or simply taking the load off. A woman came to drop off more bags with her charge and thanked us for doing a marvellous job at leaving her free to shop at will!
Below are a few videos from the gig!
Various Kitchens
I’ve played in a few kitchens over the years and, honestly, What’s not to love?! It’s where, if you’re having a house party, everyone ends up congregating so why not just embrace that and go full on party in there!
Story from kitchen gigs? These tend to be anniversary or birthday party gigs (one included a dance-off between me and a guest. Which was, I must be clear, declared a draw!) but during post-pandemic madness I did play for one micro-wedding in a kitchen. The whole thing could have been really awakward as there was only 12 of us but it was so sweet and everyone got proper into singing and dancing along, which was just perfect for the bride who had been so disappointed she couldn’t have a big party!
The Glasto Wedding
Another weird and wonderful one! So, technically it wasn’t a wedding at Glastonbury, but to me, that’s what I’ll always know it as because the wedding had pure festival vibes! I remember getting out the car and wondering if we’d come to the right place as there were topless people in wellies everywhere (right!!) We were approached by a chap in a straw hat and shorts (nothing else) who declared himself to be the groom and that he was the one to go to if we wanted booze, drugs or food. [insert SHOCKED looking face here, because blimey you could have knocked my socks off.]
Story from Glasto Wedding? We didn’t really stop… We set up our gear and started a sound check - Play That Funky Music - which, in hindsight wasn’t the smartest move because everyone piled into the marquee and just went for it from the get go! We didn’t have the heart to stop, go and get changed, start the gig proper, so we just carried on until we’d run out of songs!
Ok, so while writing this I’ve realised that actually I have LOADS of these stories and places so I’m going to do a PART TWO blog post on this same subject soon! The main thing to take away from this though is it doesn’t matter WHERE you’re thinking of holding your celebration, I can fit into any space and I’m happy to play anywhere you’d like me to! In fact, I’d probably love it!