1 of 2 - Lovely weather and a busy Saturday in Galway

After some long trips over the past few weeks and another dose of bronchitis which is just great for singing .. eye roll, I was finally on the mend and looking forward to one of the busiest days in the calendar, and two gigs in my adopted home county which provided some welcome relief from long nights in the car on the back roads.

I had a bit of spare time Saturday so I popped into to a friendly garage in Tuam to sort a few bits for yet another NCT (seem to send most of my time waiting around in NCT centres these days) and then thankfully had a bit of spare time for a coffee and a roll before the short drive outside the town for my first gig of the day, a communion party. I was particularly looking forward to this as it was due to be outdoors and the rain promised to hold off as well as being my first communion party in Ireland (or any country!)

The family who'se young child had taken the communion earlier in the day were lovely and welcoming which is reassuring when performing live music as when everyone is friendly and in a good mood, things always go well! After a quick safety check of the equipment (basically making sure the wind wouldn't blow down my amp which is like a sail in the wind, and taping down the cables so the kids don't trip) I was ready to go. It was a beautiful big house in the countryside with green grass as far as the eye could see and a big bouncy castle to keep the kids entertained as well as a game of football going on.

I had prepared a little set list but you always have to be ready for this to change for requests or if the age demographic is not what you expected. I love requests as it means people are engaged in the music and happy to hear their favourite song. For the most part it was the kids making the requests and confidently so - I was able to play most of them which isn't always easy when dragging up bits of old rep, in this instance 'Perfect' by Ed Sheeran which I haven't played live since 2023. I get through it, and thankfully it's in the key of Ken and not the Key of Ed. I always worry about the sound when playing outside with the wind blowing the acoustics this way and that (as opposed to an indoor venue when you can hear how things sound as the frequencies bounce off the walls and back into your ear).

It was a lovely few hours outside, with a short break for cake and tea (always welcome!) and about 5 minutes where rain threatened to ruin the afternoon, otherwise it was a big success i'd say. It was great to have a chance to do some mixing and mingling with the family as well and to have everyone up and dancing at the end was brilliant, I didn't want to leave so soon but it was time to head off to Woodford for the next gig. Fair play to the Gaughan's for organising a fabulous afternoon as their family had travelled far and wide to be there.