Thursday, September 01, 2005
After a long weekend (well Friday Night to Sunday afternoon) at the Greenbelt Festival, clocking up my 28th visit it's back to normality - whatever that may be.
Felt strange having to leave so early but was part of the deal with Helen so that she can cope with me disappearing in October to New York to see U2 at MSG. Felt There was so much I had not seen that I wanted to. Heard from others how great Kendall Payne was and really wished I'd seen her. Will have to go and buy CDs instead. The great thing with venue managing Cabaret and Centaur in the past is that you get all the top acts so despite the long hours it's hard to get bored. Any spare time this year was spent walking around the site (which seemed to have doubled in size) talking to Venue Managers and basically observing how things were being done. It's been a long term plan of mine to write a report on how the festival uses its different venues and looks like I will finally get it done.
On the plus side I spent a couple of days hold-up with Michael McDermott and his business advisor Bob. Two nicer people you could not wish to meet. I'll have to blog another time about how Michael ended up at the festival, but for me it was a very special treat seeing one of my musical heroes finally make an appearance after 15 years since he first appeared on Chicago music scene. It's been a long time since I was involved in promotion work and I'd forgotten just how hard it can be. Seeing the audience shouting for "more" made it all worthwhile though. The festival and Michael has given me a lot over the years so it was nice to give something back.
Tonight we step into the complete unknown. A headline gig at the Borderline with Brian Houston as support. Bit of a gamble playing this venue but Michael wanted it so much that seemed hard to refuse fixing it! Hopefully will be a reasonable crowd as it's always nice to get invited back. Last couple of weeks have been spent plugging the gig. Never easy promoting someone who has never played in the UK before now and few will have heard of over here. Hopefully next 12 months will correct that - the new album due out in January/February has the potential to be a big seller in the States. Make a change to have people ringing me up, rather than me chasing them!
Tomorrow back to normality - Michael & Bob fly home and I have to spend some time in London sorting house out so that we can have new carpets fitted before we come home at the end of October.
Felt strange having to leave so early but was part of the deal with Helen so that she can cope with me disappearing in October to New York to see U2 at MSG. Felt There was so much I had not seen that I wanted to. Heard from others how great Kendall Payne was and really wished I'd seen her. Will have to go and buy CDs instead. The great thing with venue managing Cabaret and Centaur in the past is that you get all the top acts so despite the long hours it's hard to get bored. Any spare time this year was spent walking around the site (which seemed to have doubled in size) talking to Venue Managers and basically observing how things were being done. It's been a long term plan of mine to write a report on how the festival uses its different venues and looks like I will finally get it done.
On the plus side I spent a couple of days hold-up with Michael McDermott and his business advisor Bob. Two nicer people you could not wish to meet. I'll have to blog another time about how Michael ended up at the festival, but for me it was a very special treat seeing one of my musical heroes finally make an appearance after 15 years since he first appeared on Chicago music scene. It's been a long time since I was involved in promotion work and I'd forgotten just how hard it can be. Seeing the audience shouting for "more" made it all worthwhile though. The festival and Michael has given me a lot over the years so it was nice to give something back.
Tonight we step into the complete unknown. A headline gig at the Borderline with Brian Houston as support. Bit of a gamble playing this venue but Michael wanted it so much that seemed hard to refuse fixing it! Hopefully will be a reasonable crowd as it's always nice to get invited back. Last couple of weeks have been spent plugging the gig. Never easy promoting someone who has never played in the UK before now and few will have heard of over here. Hopefully next 12 months will correct that - the new album due out in January/February has the potential to be a big seller in the States. Make a change to have people ringing me up, rather than me chasing them!
Tomorrow back to normality - Michael & Bob fly home and I have to spend some time in London sorting house out so that we can have new carpets fitted before we come home at the end of October.
// posted by Dave @ 8:55 PM 
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Will be thinking about you tonight; hope the gig goes well. Linda and I caught MMcD in the Performance Cafe on Sunday but couldn't work my way through the crowd to say hello to you. He's an under-valued performer, great artistry in his songs.
Twas a good night. Glad you made it to the Performance Cafe - looked out for you but didn't spot you.
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