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

After a quick check to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything - again - (at this point my microphone stand has been left behind all over Ireland) I was on the road to Woodford for a Swiss family birthday. Arriving in good time with time to stretch my legs, order a pint and chat to people is always being a bit of a luxury as often after a 2 or 3 hour drive it's straight out of the car, set up, and go! When I arrived I was immediately greeted with first class Swiss efficiancy - after meeting Armin, Jana and her father, birthday boy Daniel, I was shown to the performance area at which time I began to worry that the large table with 10 people sitting at it could get in the way of setting up - I needn't have worried as within about 30 seconds, the table had been moved and the guests re-seated. I laughed, thanked them and reminded myself that in Switzerland, the last delayed train was probably around 1976.

It takes a while to set up the PA with lights, as well as it being a lot of stuff to take to a pub. It really creates a fantastic party atmosphere for dancing, but when bringing bags and bags of stuff into the pub, can attract comments like 'this guy has more gear than U2' - ha ha very funny! I'd finally set up, line checked, check lights aren't blinding anyone and time to see what song will be the first to get someone up and dancing. I have to say as well, it's a lot easier to get everyone up and dancing and having fun when it's a birthday party in a pub as opposed to say, just an evening pub performance as you sometimes feel as if you are interrupting their pints with a lot of noise.

The birthday party crowd were up for it from the start, singing and dancing with great enthusiasm especially for the heavier songs! The locals seemed inclined to join in with the more pop and indie leaning songs so I tried to throw in a mix to keep the dancing going while personally being quietly delighted with myself by learning their 'Stayin' Alive' request in less than a week. That's always the case with function music, you learn a request or two with a few days to spare and hope it's not shit! But then they become part of the rep for ever which is brilliant. We all sang the songs until well after midnight, and I encouraged the party guests to play DJ on my phone for a while, they put on some great Swiss songs that they roared out until we switched to Metallica and Black Sabbath - I even joined in with them for a bit of air guitar in between packing up mountains of equipment. I got back in my car, throughly exhausted but happy & extremely glad for the shorter drive home!