Last Week's Gig

Sorry, I missed out reports on quite a number of gigs. Roughly, the 4th gig was OK, 5th gig was without me (I was kinda pissed and 'disappeared' from the gig, they can live without me/keys anyway), and now I'm going to talk about last week's gig, 6th gig.

It was the first gig that we're getting paid for, as per my understanding. That's one of the small reason why I stick to the band - eventually it comes to money. Another point to remember is that we're playing without our lead star, Aza/Stone.

In the event that we're missing our dear Stone, we had to 'calm down' our rhythm and sound. In terms of songs, we played in much relaxed tunes, more of oldies and evergreen, such as Imagine, Widuri, Have You Ever Seen the Rain, La Bamba and What's Up.

We started at sharp 8PM, right on time.

There was a confusion during the first set. Before we started the gig, I told everybody that I didn't have the chords for "Top of the World". The moment I asked Sadat for the chords, he said, "I was about to say that I will follow you." Oh dear! Since both Sadat and I were not so confident in the song, we opt to take it out from the list, and replace with either Widuri or Runaway. Sadat chose Widuri.

Changing the sequence in the last minute and forgeting the most important thing in the band - INFORM OTHERS! - we played until Widuri (the second song), and Kyra gave a very very worried look to Mihad. "We can't just suddenly play an upbeat tune after such a slow song!" That must have been the words in her mind.

Instead of following the sequence, everybody was informed at the end of a song about the song to play next... and next... and next... After the first change, it's still OK. After the second change, every body "err... OK lah". During the next change, "Eh Shazz! Sing a bit for me the intro of this song." Everybody started to feel 'blanko'. Next change, "Arrrgghhh!!" But luckily it was a familiar song to all.

During the break, and it was a long break, everybody got grumpy. I felt very guilty, actually (and kept on explaining the situation until the next day and the next). But then again, it's part of the game, right? We just need to cover each others' asses, as how I call it. If the lead couldn't make out the tune, keys can cover; if vocal forgot some parts or needed a back up, keys can cover or give a hint; if drums is unsure, bass could hint him; if keys was too much on melody, rhythm could volume up his tempo; etc. and so forth.

Anyway, second set went out well. We finished on the dot 10pm, and I had ample time to pack my stuff, changed into casual clothes, before leaving the venue - something that I couldn't do before this. I could take my own sweet time to drive back and pick up the baby who missed me so much..., not like previous weeks when I had to speed on the highway, removing my make-up while speeding, (luckily I could change the clothes in the car before start driving), missing junctions along the way and made the distance longer (sigh!), and SMS my kid's teacher that I was on the way... (Sigh!)

Ah well, that's the life of a single mother who doesn't want to stay put at home, hahaha...!!

To recap today's blog, let me list down the songs we performed last week (not really in the actual order), and it will be a similar sequence for tonight too.

Event: Gig
Venue: Charlie's Reserve Restaurant & Bistro, MAA Building, Jalan Dewan Bahasa, KL
Date: 23 June 2008
Time: 8:00 - 10:00PM

Members:
Sadat on Bass and vocal, Chef (Kenit) on lead, Mihad on rhythm and vocal, Wieburn on drums, Shazz on keys, Kyra on vocals

SET 1:
1. Have You Ever Seen the Rain
2. Stand By Me + Beautiful Girl
3. Widuri
4. What's Up
5. I Will Survive
6. La Bamba

SET 2:
1. Knocking on Heaven's Door
2. Tiada Lagi
3. Imagine
4. Wonderful Tonight
5. Torn
6. Leaving on the Jet Plane

Song request of the night: Mungkin Nanti

Feel more into the music as the sequence reveals my 'archived' strength,
- Shazz@DCmates
30 Jul 2008