it’ll be all right on the night…..

It’s mid-morning and I’m panicking.  I’m not the only one; Phil calls; “I’m late leaving and I can’t find my tripod…….. pause … oh it’s all right, got it. Bye.”

I have no idea what this is all about.  Phil lives 70 miles away;  I’ve never been to his house or even met his tripod.  And if he’s leaving now, then I’m panicking even more - we live further away and are still to get ourselves ready.

We have a gig tonight in deepest Herefordshire.  So far away that we have to stay overnight.  Anniemay is looking at a small overnight bag and a large pile of clothes.  After the wardrobe malfunction of a couple of weeks ago (of which I am still being reminded) she is taking no chances about being inappropriately dressed.

I try to explain that it’s a small theatre, there probably won’t be many punters (who’ve never heard of us anyway) and the only thing the band are likely to change tonight is the setlist.  And possibly spare underwear if it'll fit inside a guitar case.

At about midday Anniemay and I set off with mandolin-player Neil, while in Leicestershire, band-leader John is about to set off to collect bass-player Tim.  The plan is to rendezvous at the venue  sometime mid-afternoon.

So here's the picture; three cars are setting off from different starting points and will converge on a small town in Herefordshire.  Wrong.

When we arrive, Phil is standing by the theatre door and John is unloading his car; “Tim’s not here”.  I don’t understand so he says it again with emphasis; “Tim’s not here!”  

Tim, it appears, is 130 miles away in Surrey, visiting relatives.  He thought the gig was next week.  I’m mouthing the words “what are we going to do?” because I’m speechless.  What are we going to do?

His bass, however, is here and Tim is now on his way.  Having had the “I’m outside your front door - where are you?” phone call from John, Tim gives permission for John to break in and retrieve the instrument.  I say ‘break in ‘ - Tim discloses location of spare key and alarm code.

So a few hours later than planned, the band is reunited and we set up, then do a quick run through before dashing to the hotel to check in and then dashing to an Indian restaurant for a pre-gig meal.

The gig is a great success; two encores and a pile of CDs sold.  We leave the gear in the theatre for collection tomorrow and head back to the hotel for a drink and post-gig analysis.  We talk about more frequent rehearsals and the need to synchronise diaries.

It’s gone midnight by the time we finish which why I’m posting the pre-gig chaos a day late.