As we come off, the guitarist/singer from the next band says "How do we follow that?" and that's as much praise as you could ask for. Sure, we weren't a 100% (finishing on a song we had only recently learnt wasn't wise), but we were a 100% better than last time we played here, and more importantly: I enjoyed playing this time. The songs were tight and even if Si had been drinking all afternoon, he's still too good for it too really show.
Chris came with a couple of cameras and filmed us, so it will be interesting to look back and see how we perform. I tend to enter my own world, concentrating on not screwing up, and it's easy to forget to look up every now and again and smile. After all, people have paid to be there. Gary and Si have that down, and Jamie is a stage presence unto himself.
With the offer off a lift back home (well, back to a local pub) I pop back stage to get my stuff as the band that followed us on is coming off. I've missed their entire set. The guitarist asks me if he sounded in tune, obviously worried. "You sounded fine," I lie. "Great set." It ain't easy getting up in front of a crowd in place you don't know, so anyone that does it deserves a pat on the back, but I still feel bad I didn't hear them.
Highlight of the night? Their music may not have been entirely to my taste (my Michelle Shocked days are long gone), but the Siskin Sisters showed how to entrance an audience with some of the finest cleavage I have ever seen. Highly recommended, especially if you catch them in a Jazz bar where they aren't followed by the Scuzzbuckets...
