Thoughts on the Albert Hall Show - 9th June

It's nice to feel like a regular at a venue like the Albert Hall. The doorman recognised us as we went in on this, our fourth show there, on this occasion for a Barnardos charity gala. (It was actually my seventh concert there - if you include two youth proms and singing the Messiah there at the age of 13!). It was also nice to be headlining, but that is more of a statement about the 'up and coming' nature of the bill than about our success.

We had to arrive pretty early for us - at 10am to set up and be ready to soundcheck and rehearse with the large kids choir. A few technical problems kept John our sound engineer busy, but we managed to have a good rehearsal of 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight' from the Lion King. Yes it is a bit of a cheesy song and a departure from our usual repertoire, but the kids love it and really yell it out.

A long day of hanging around enables us to get some rehearsals in, and we talk about the Edinburgh show a lot. Our ideas are starting to crystalise and we've got some fun new vocal stunts as well as plans for a lot of new songs. With Steve, James and I all arranging now we're starting to be quite productive, and not before time.

A pizza delivery alleviated the waiting and the show started early for the kids - at 6.30pm. That the concert went on till well after 10pm was typical of charity events in that it was massively over programmed. Each of the six acts is given three or four numbers in each half, a massive 18 songs or so (we would normally do about 9 in a half!), so what with changeovers and the compares nattering etc. the evening drags on rather.

Being experienced these days and not at all precious we volunteered to cut a couple of numbers. We've learnt that it is better to leave people wanting more, rather than to force feed an audience that has got the fidgets and is worrying about getting the kids home before midnight. So we hit them with Happy Together and Boogie, and the disappointed murmurs when we announced the cut quickly turn into massive cheers - and of course that is what everyone will remember.

Back At Work

We reconvened for our first gig for a while on Monday, a corporate gig for a German wire making company in Stuttgart. These events are always a bit of a lottery and our two sets here ran the gamut of what you can expect from them.

The first was to a half interested audience still digesting their dinner and more intent on talking to each other than listening to us. The second was party time, with everyone ready to listen and dance, and a younger audience - the oldies having departed for an early night!

Our day was typical for our German shows. Up at 5am to get to Stansted, an early flight, a tired soundcheck, and then to bed for a few hours before the show. Understandably none of us felt like sleeping after the show, and we hung around having a few beers as the crowds dispersed. We did get some good rehearsing done. Everybody is energised at the prospect of Edinburgh so for once I'm not having too much trouble forcing my fellow band mates to join in. Indeed, I'm at James' house now preparing for another rehearsal to start. What hard working boys we are.