As Michael very cleverly (and obviously with far too much time on his hands) worked out, we hadn't taken to the stage for 217 days before last night. House gigs are our favourite style of gigs, but they come with their very own set of pressures; The sets are MUCH longer, most of the guests are not necessarily at the party to listen to live music but rather socialise with friends, mistakes are more noticeable, you have nowhere to hide both before or after you've played if it all goes wrong and finally, you have an added fear of letting your hosts down as they specifically picked you to entertain their family and friends. Couple those with the before mentioned lack of gigging and general nerves you could ask 'Why bother doing house gigs at all?' – Well the truth is, we thrive on those pressures and embrace them. Them intimacy of the house gig cannot be matched by any other venue. You get to meet so many amazing people in a relaxed environment and hopefully gain some new fans that may not be the type to come and see you a pub. I would love to book a tour of peoples living rooms. If you want us at your house, just drop us an email.
This gig, dogged Harewoodstock 2012, was hosted by Richard and Siobhan Harrison (I once read a book who's title character was called Siobhan and I read it as Si-O-Ban for the whole book, I felt stupid when my wife corrected me, but in my defence, I had never seen it written down before and you must admit it is strangely spelt) err, sorry I digress . . . . We know Richard and Siobhan through our dealings on Twitter, in fact, we actually know them as @mr_spoon and @shivharrison. Harewoodstock is a yearly event at their house and we were honored to be picked to play. Playing along with ourselves was Wes Finch, a talented local artist who played a cracking opening set to the very full house of Harrison family and friends. After Wes we took to the stage and from the first strum we felt at home on stage again. It certainly didn't feel like 271 days since we last sat side by side with our tools in hand (that sounds different to what I meant).
We seemed to go down well with the guests and rocked through about 15 or so songs. Our voices just about held up but my old hand/wrist problem came back to haunt me towards the end of the set and I only just managed to battle through. A few weeks before the gig, Richard had requested we play a cover song that was close to the Harrison's hearts called 'Slip of A Girl' by Duke Special. We put it close to the end of the set and after we played it we got the seal of approval by the Spoon man himself. One of the guests caught it on film – See below
We ended our set with Dazed and the lovely guests called for an encore. The usual Starsailor cover of 'Silence is Easy' was dragged out and we got the whole room participating in the 'whoa whoa whoa' section and also keeping the beat with some hardcore hand-clapping. Did we make mistakes? Yeah a few, but to be honest, we left the stage extremely happy with how we played and the audience reaction was humbling.
Many an album was sold after our performance and we got the chance to mingle with guests. It was great to put faces to the Twitter names that were in attendance. After some lovely food, meeting some great people and swallowing a few Stellas, we hit the road for the journey home feeling extremely good about the return of Barricades Rise.
Our next gig is another house show next week and then the pub gigs start. Due to the arrival of our sons, the summers gig schedule is not as crazy as last year but we still have quite a few booked in. Please check the gig guide and come down and say hello at a gig near you.
Jonathan - AKA @jc_barricades
ps, The hand/wrist injury I mentioned forces me to drop my plectrum mid-song, being the professional that I am I have to keep strumming with my finger. This gushing wound of mammoth proportions is the result. Luckily someone had a 'Hello Kitty' plaster to save me from looking stupid
pps, we borrowed a few pictures from various peoples Instagrams. Hope you dont mind, let us know if you want us to take them down for any reasons. Cheers
This gig, dogged Harewoodstock 2012, was hosted by Richard and Siobhan Harrison (I once read a book who's title character was called Siobhan and I read it as Si-O-Ban for the whole book, I felt stupid when my wife corrected me, but in my defence, I had never seen it written down before and you must admit it is strangely spelt) err, sorry I digress . . . . We know Richard and Siobhan through our dealings on Twitter, in fact, we actually know them as @mr_spoon and @shivharrison. Harewoodstock is a yearly event at their house and we were honored to be picked to play. Playing along with ourselves was Wes Finch, a talented local artist who played a cracking opening set to the very full house of Harrison family and friends. After Wes we took to the stage and from the first strum we felt at home on stage again. It certainly didn't feel like 271 days since we last sat side by side with our tools in hand (that sounds different to what I meant).
We seemed to go down well with the guests and rocked through about 15 or so songs. Our voices just about held up but my old hand/wrist problem came back to haunt me towards the end of the set and I only just managed to battle through. A few weeks before the gig, Richard had requested we play a cover song that was close to the Harrison's hearts called 'Slip of A Girl' by Duke Special. We put it close to the end of the set and after we played it we got the seal of approval by the Spoon man himself. One of the guests caught it on film – See below
We ended our set with Dazed and the lovely guests called for an encore. The usual Starsailor cover of 'Silence is Easy' was dragged out and we got the whole room participating in the 'whoa whoa whoa' section and also keeping the beat with some hardcore hand-clapping. Did we make mistakes? Yeah a few, but to be honest, we left the stage extremely happy with how we played and the audience reaction was humbling.
Many an album was sold after our performance and we got the chance to mingle with guests. It was great to put faces to the Twitter names that were in attendance. After some lovely food, meeting some great people and swallowing a few Stellas, we hit the road for the journey home feeling extremely good about the return of Barricades Rise.
Our next gig is another house show next week and then the pub gigs start. Due to the arrival of our sons, the summers gig schedule is not as crazy as last year but we still have quite a few booked in. Please check the gig guide and come down and say hello at a gig near you.
Jonathan - AKA @jc_barricades
ps, The hand/wrist injury I mentioned forces me to drop my plectrum mid-song, being the professional that I am I have to keep strumming with my finger. This gushing wound of mammoth proportions is the result. Luckily someone had a 'Hello Kitty' plaster to save me from looking stupid
pps, we borrowed a few pictures from various peoples Instagrams. Hope you dont mind, let us know if you want us to take them down for any reasons. Cheers
You guys know how to rock a house !
ReplyDeleteTop gig well done, I'm sure you have lots of new fans after last night including me & my family
from @taylorsbutchers
It was a wonderful gig, it didn't feel like the 271 days & it all looked like it came back to you both beautifully.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing you at Godiva!
@RaeMcK