I spent some time today talking to a fellow musician about the importance of reviewing live gigs and refining live sets. I have always had a policy of video recording live gigs, so I can look back afterwards and get a better idea of what it would be like as a member of an audience. Sometimes what can appear to be a total car crash on stage in a live setting comes over as nothing of the sort. There is always something to improve and I increasingly have huge respect for artists that spend decades developing their craft. Often a performance looks effortless, but that’s because the artists have spent a great deal of time refining and developing skills.
One of the things I have learned from forming and playing with The Small Change Diaries is that it’s really important to practice, practice, practice. Playing with seasoned musicians also cranks skills to a whole new level and its a genuine pleasure to be surrounded by such talented folks. This year has been a real baptism of fire culminating with the Lagoa Festival where we played a really big stage. Our producer famously comments “One live gig is worth ten rehearsals” and I agree 100%!
In The Small Change Diaries Adrian Knowles is the musical director and I have asked him to review the footage of the Lagoa gig so we can explore how to improve the live set. I was pleased with how the equipment held up and especially the Rob Collins ukuleles and the Fire Eye Red DI boxes/pre amps. Having a really good sound really helps inspire a great performance and the challenge is that the ukulele is a relatively small instrument, so amplification requires careful attention. This year we have been lucky enough to play some really great festival gigs and we will be looking more festivals in 2017. We now have a core live set which is a mix of tracks from the debut “Adam Blames Eve” album and the forthcoming 2017 release.
