I am not sure that travelling to give talks at four venues only a couple of hours from my home quite qualifies me as a "road hardened gigster" yet. After all, I’m still really enjoying it, so something can’t be right.
The last time I went on an extended run of shows was many hair follicles ago when I was the sound engineer for the RFSQ and Sylvian/Fripp - great fun, but quite sufficient to convince me that I was a studio animal. I still clearly remember the moment after I mixed a fabulous Sylvian/Fripp live show in Japan - and realised that this was, for me, a completion: we have now worked out how this show works, I have mixed it really well, what’s next (the studio approach to music). Of course, the live approach is that you do it all again tomorrow.
Thankfully, the talks vary considerably - partly due to the venues (a slick conference space in Cardiff one day, a liminal space between two doorways in Brighton the next), partly because the people and questions change, and partly because I forget whatever passes as a thread (enforced improvisation). The various bandmembers also seem to be creeping in one by one to show support/heckle from the sidelines. It was also wonderful to see John Wetton in Brighton, looking remarkably well, which I hope augurs well.
And now off to pack my bags for London Hackney Empire.
"Helpful people are a nuisance."
