In the moonlight, on a magic night

Its always tough to take the stage. No matter how perfect the sound balance is and how well you know your songs, there always are several big IFs. Will the strings break, will the guitars need tuning after every song, will the neighbours call the cops, and if they do, how do we prevent a bust?
But in a way its good. If anything, it makes the experience edgier…and if the people you’re playing for are having fun, then the set might just raise itself a few notches and be visceral. I can’t say all this was going through my mind when we lined up on Saturday night for our debut gig. AND WE STILL DIDN’T HAVE A NAME!!! It was a toss-up between “Monkey Business” and “Slinky”, but well, neither really stuck. So we could be both or neither. Anyways, after half an hour of strumming and tuning and arranging for beers- (and changing into gig-worthy clothes)- “Sweet Virginia” kicked off at nine. I wasn’t even looking at the crowd…in fact, I had my eyes closed, trying to whistle. Let it be noted that first songs are hardly the best songs, but it does help to get your foot in the door and relax. The night was right for relaxing too. Nice lamps, a starry night, and a bright bright half-moon. And no, the neighbours weren’t complaining. But nor were the people dancing. Dunno what they expected…maybe (shudder) Dire Straits. “Sweet Virginia” was important, as it is pretty much a microcosm of all that we do. From Brudder’s beautiful bass-lines to me and Rudder trying to sing in harmony, to the Professor’s melodic lines…not to mention my own scratchy guitar skills. And it didn’t help that the guitar’s kept trying to escape our hands with a little help from the humidity. AND my guitar strap trying o slip off my shoulder.
Really, it wasn’t as fraught with danger as I make it out to be. It was, for lack of a better phrase- quite cool. I even had a Russian World War II cap on.
And on to “Man Of Constant Sorrow.” A perennial favourite and what’s more important, a song that drives….and I missed the opening cue! O well, thankfully we were all stage-wise enough. Along came an extended intro, and “In constant sorrowwww, all through his days!” It was good, and the people were enjoying it. Some were smug, knowing what to expect from the band, while the others were gratifyingly goggle-eyed. Us working stiffs, as the Professor puts it in an article, were not doing too badly.
Now the real fun stuff- the swing stuff. And one of our favourite songs too- “Sweet Sue”. I love the sentiment, Rudder loves the tune, the Prof loves the melodic lines. Brudder, probably, just likes the groove. Anyhow, you can’t miss. And we didn’t, a rompin’ and stompin’ product. And we were grinning by the end of it.
It was getting hot under the cap, and the beer was flowing. Not for us, not yet, but the guzzling and appreciative yells had begun…not to mention grown men demanding that our bassist strip. Wonder how the Prof would react if someone asked him to strip. Quite intense is he, the Prof is. I still had my eyes mostly closed. I was still trying to sing you see.
If we do some swing, we have to follow it up with some bluegrass. Please don’t ask what that is…look up Wikipedia. But the song in question is a classic- “Deep River Blues”. Right from the Prof’s metronomic bass notes to the quicksilver country picking of Rudder, its an intro we all enjoy. And it gives me a chance to jangle the tambourine- a big yellow mother! It was fast and melodic, and I must confess I fluffed up a couple of lines but it was another good one. The rhythm was rock solid- in a big way due to Brudder- and this is a rhythm song. Some of the slackers even danced, and they all loved it.
We couldn’t play “Minor Swing” soon enough! I mean, it must have been the one song that we’ve played without fail all of this past year or so. And it shows when we play it. Me and Rudder grin, I also try to dance, Brudder closes his eyes, and the Prof concentrates like a maniac. It was a short version we played, but the song works best in short bursts. And its purely musical. There’s nothing to that song but sheer musicality.
Finally I speak to the crowd. “The next song is a lovely little love song.” Yeah, lame. But, by then, we really didn’t need to speak to the crowd. The music was doing its bit, and the crowd had long gone past feeling happy because we weren’t playing Dire Straits, and by now were really grooving. And so to “Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.” Another swing standard, and the rhythm somehow turned reggae! But the song was good enough to don the new mantle with as much ease. The Prof played some great licks, and was eventually called a “sexy beast.”
“Moondance.” A lovely song, but a tough song. But what the heck! Bash bash bash, we went, at least I did, and the moon did the rest. The howls of approval when we finished it lit us all up. Not to mention the dropping jaws. Exhausted, it was time to mingle and drink some. So we took a break.
Banter heard between songs: “Take off your clothes”; “Mama, Van Morrison!” a shrill “Awesome!” I was asked to play “I put a spell on you” by a past fan, but it just wasn’t that kind of a night.
Mingling over, we limbered up to our corner, a little tipsy perhaps, but glowing with all the love. Why be bashful? Its true.
Now for my little party piece- “Holiday.” I can’t deny that I loved playing it before all these people, and it was especially nice when the Prof came in towards the end and decorated the song with some pretty frills. There will be a better version yet, but this is a good way to go.
And then “John Henry”. There are a million and one insider jokes in this one, but thankfully we didn’t go that way, though we DID fuck up….by ending the song too early. We hadn’t even got to the best bit in this folk song! The Prof said we should play it again. I thought we should play it after a different song. A quick vote, and we moved on to “Route 66”, and I fucked up again…missed the cue that is. I was too busy banging that tambourine you see…I have an ugly blue bruise on my thigh to show for it! Anyway, got to the next cue and got the song going. Then it was Rudder’s turn to do the middle eight. What a whopper! Great fun. However, a minor problem. How do I get to the mic to sing my bit without shoving Rudder out of the way? Had to sing over his shoulder for that one. A long rambling song, with everyone taking solos, and even even Brudder- now shirtless- the grown men having had their way with him, got in a nice little walking bass solo. And the tambourine kept time just fine.
And then back to “John Henry”. A far superior version, and it rocked! Drums? Who needs drums? The crowd roared, and danced!
More of Rudder singing with “Folsom Prison Blues”. It drove with the speed and subtlety of a freight train, and the tambourine proceeded to batter my thigh a bit more. Rockabilly must be one of the greatest forms of music to play, its certainly my favourite, so when we segued from “Folsom” to “That’s All Right Mama” I was grinning like a kid.
It was time to change tracks, and the most difficult song suite yet: “Bird Song/ Dear Prudence”. Who was to know, that the Prof, Rudder and Brudder would conspire to make it a Grateful Dead-worthy jam clocking a respectable 11 minutes? I had my usual singing problems with “Bird Song”, from scales to lyrics, but the grandeur of a long-winded, snaking two-guitar and bass jam, quite took my breath away. And when we changed to “Dear Prudence” is was absolutely fabulous. I’ve always loved singing this song, but never quite realized its power to hypnotise. During the song I once opened my eyes and looked around, and most of the crowd had their eyes closed!! Fabulous. When the song finally crashed and burned with its driving, rising finale, it was time for another time out.
There are some songs that never go away from your set, though you hope that you don’t HAVE to end up playing them. But on they come, through sheer bloody-minded perseverance, and you go ahead and play it. Such a song is “Dark Hollow”. Well, there’s nothing at all wrong with it, nice melody, simple chords, some harmonizing. But heck, what is “Dark Hollow” compared to “Minor Swing”? But it’s the first song that me and the Prof picked up, so it does have some nostalgic value, and as a song it is not without its charms. So, after our second break, when we looked at the set list and found the song daring us not to play it, we went ahead and played it. It wasn’t great, but it was nicely ragged, just as the Dead play it. Well, the crowd wanted an encore, so we give them an encore. Which ones? The danceable ones, and the moonlit ones. Yes, “Sweet Sue” and “Moondance. The former was turbo-charged and none the worse for it, while the latter was minus the shrieks and howls. It reminded me of a friend asking me, “Do you sing that song with romance on your mind, or murder?” Well, why can’t you growl while romancing, I ask? But I didn’t, in this version. “Sweet Sue” was a repeat delight, even for us. And then the closer, “You Gotta Move”. It’s the epitome of what me and Rudder really like to do- play the slide, and scream. I can’t play the slide, so I scream…and I realized, that to do the screaming harmony bits in this song, I didn’t need the mike. As a result we sounded good together, with the Prof’s short sharp blues licks keeping it together. Later on, in the pics I look like I’m having a paralytic stroke, but then, that’s what the blues do to you. And I totally dig! We ended, after two and a half hours of successive highs and the moon set. The party flowed over three floors, and other music, and hunger, and fights over cabs, and, in some cases, love. But a splendid time was guaranteed for all.

Note: I might have got the running order a bit awry, but you get the point.