The space shuttle was meant to be visible last Sunday as it shot off into orbit, and I was at a barbecue on what was a very clear night, so I was very excited. But its launch was delayed and now I'll never get to see one again. Am I the only person who had a favourite space shuttle as a child? It was Columbia for the record (I can't quite remember why - maybe I had a book that allowed you to make a paper model of it?). It didn't end well I know. I have a fairly vivid memory of seeing one of them flying over central London tied to the back of a jumbo jet. I wasn't sure I believed it, but a quick google search confirms that it did actually happen. It seems it was some kind of promotional jaunt, though it's not clear why they needed to promote space shuttles over here.
Dave, Andy and I did our first band gig in about 18 months last night for my friend Jack's birthday party (and general reunion of Cambridge music people from 5-10 years ago) at The Portland. The usual suspects couldn't make it, so Paul Richards, the busiest man in Cambridge, helped us out, as well as playing conga in one of the other bands. I nearly spoiled everything by getting a bit carried away during the two and only practices we managed to fit in (both within 3 days of the gig despite having known about it for months) and I was having trouble speaking in the morning, but it was all ok in the end, just a little bit croaky. The original plan was for the music to start at about 4 and us to go on second last, but a lot of last minute changes meant that we ended up going on at the end of a fairly concentrated 4 hours of music in a very hot room. I'm amazed anybody stuck it out that long, but it was busy enough to be nice (though there was a palpable feeling of relief when we finished). I thought we played well considering the amount of practice we'd had, but there were a few, er, interesting moments. I don't think we got away with them exactly, but I don't think that anyone thought less of us. I stupidly wore a jumper with no t-shirt underneath and was absolutely disgusting within 2 minutes of the soundcheck. I even thought "is this really a good idea?" as I was putting it on.
Setlist: The Ghost of Paddy's Night Past, The Forked Tongue and the Blind Eye Turned, Watertight, This Place is Dead Anyway, You Won't Break My Heart, Cold Case, A Happy Ending, 60 Miles with a Slow Puncture, Muscle Memory, Soaked to the Skin.
The other acts were great, in particular, but unsurprisingly, Emily Barker (who was the original headliner, but went on first for jetlag reasons) and Gill Sandell, who sounded really lovely. She's just done another detective TV theme apparently, though I've forgotten what the show is called now. They're back at The Portland next week, so that should be good too.
It was really nice to see Flaming June again after goodness knows how many years. They're angrier and more energetic than ever. And the velvet dress Louise was wearing looked even less temperature appropriate than my jumper.
Playing with a band again has left me frustrated that I don't get to do it more and, as usual, at a bit of a loss about how to do anything about that. Ho hum. Preorders for Trinkets and Offcuts are going well...