Tonight: A social club somewhere near Walsall.
It was as glamourous as it sounds (if not less so) - the average age was about 100, and that's including me and the three 20-somethings in the band...
We had a dep singer as our singer/guitarist was busy/couldn't be bothered, she was great- really nice husky voice, got stuck in lugging the gear, lovely lass and a good laugh.
We did mostly 50s and 60s stuff which went down well - you've not lived until you've seen a dancefloor full of septuagenarians shuffling away to a Connie Francis number, and a few of our usual set. Not sure what they made of Dakota, Brightside and Footloose but they gave it a go, bless 'em.
We changed key on the fly for a few songs (to give the female singer a fighting chance) which meant I launched into my BVs on autopilot before realising I couldn't get that high, so I ended up alternating between Barry White and Alvin and the Chipmunks.
There was a raffle at half time. Glamourous, like I said.
Played the 'Ray for the first time in ages - it's been out of action for a bit due to me not being happy with the LaBella DTFs that were on it, back to EB Cobalt flats and it sounded fantastic.
Thumpinator -> VTDI was all I took so no pedals to worry about. Probably for the best, as I think the Bass Soul Food would have finished a couple of them off, never mind the one control green bass machine.
Dodgy XLR meant horrid crackly/cutting out IEMs for the first set, the joy I felt when I could hear everything in the second set was almost a religious experience.
Paid cash, a pint on the house and home at 1:30 to a Westons Special Reserve and a sulky cat.
Better than staying in watching telly, innit?