Just a normal Sunday afternoon in London...

Norwegian_Blue

As some of you know, I've been struggling with health issues and some really bad luck over the recent months (And a big thanks to those who have been supportive here, both in kind words and buying my stuff!)...but a few days ago finally got some good fortune, as a friend of mine asked me to cover for him on a little show as he'd messed up his flights. I've not been able to gig a huge amount, but I decided this one was something worth the effort!

Sadly not viewable on Iplayer due to tech trouble during the set.... but 45,000 in Hyde Park wasn't an entirely terrible experience! 





For me the most fascinating part of the day was watching the touring crews rolling in and out like clockwork... for them just a usual afternoon. I think for bands like the Stereophonics, Blondie, James Blunt etc it might be 40th-50th festival slot like this of the year and they are very well drilled. We had great views from the side of the stage until Shania Twain showed up and her hefty security decided we were no longer important enough to be in the area...

I can also confirm the Rick Astley is the life and soul of the backstage party! 

Name dropping aside... I can highly recommend checking out 'Wildwood Kin', a huge pleasure to work with over the weekend and a band going places! Thanks to them I managed to beat the family record of 12,000 set by my uncle in the eighties...it's still an ongoing competition! I'm fully aware that I got to do this by chance, but it was an experience to remember! 

Legionreturns

Wow! I bet that was an experience you'll never forget! Congrats! 

stratman3142

What a great experience. Definitely merits a Wow.

Kebabkid

Well done and I hope things continue to improve for you.

All the best

Teetonetal

Awesome - nice to see someone actually doing a VERY well attended gig

ICBM

Brilliant .

I think playing a proper gig to 45,000 - even if you got it accidentally - beats accidentally playing solo to 150,000 for twenty seconds when I was stage-tech'ing at the Edinburgh Hogmanay street party a few years ago, so I concede .

It is an amazing experience to stand up there in front of a real sea of faces like that... even if you're not really meant to be .

viz

Brilliant. 

ICBM said:

 accidentally playing solo to 150,000 for twenty seconds 

Even if you extrapolate that to, say, a 50-minute set, that'd still be 1000 people!

Vibetronic

awesome, that looks fantastic!! Coincidentally a friend of a friend was playing bass for Rick Astley at that, she'd liked a photo and it popped up on my FB feed this morning.

proggy

Fantastic, good for you.

DLM

OP: Wow!

Teetonetal said:

Awesome - nice to see someone actually doing a VERY well attended gig

@Teetonetal Y U hurt me like dis?

Jalapeno

Wow'd. 

Superb opportunity

ICBM

viz said:

ICBM said:

 accidentally playing solo to 150,000 for twenty seconds 

Even if you extrapolate that to, say, a 50-minute set, that'd still be 1000 people!

It went out live on national TV too! In the background behind Jackie Bird or someone...

I was tech'ing for the band who were on directly after the new year bells, so while all that was going on I was doing my last check and playing the guitars/bass for a few bars each just to make sure everything was OK. I was a bit puzzled to hear an echo, until I realised it was coming back off the shops on the other side of Princes Street! The soundmen had forgotten to mute the PA . They noticed pretty quickly and killed it just as I was playing Sunshine Of Your Love on the bass - I'd done Born To Be Wild on one guitar and Smoke On The Water on the other - left handed, so the choice of playable tunes was a bit limited .

Absolutely brilliant experience, even if everyone in front of me must have been thinking "who is this prat?"

Norwegian_Blue

Vibetronic said:

awesome, that looks fantastic!! Coincidentally a friend of a friend was playing bass for Rick Astley at that, she'd liked a photo and it popped up on my FB feed this morning.

Rick's band were great... his life in the industry certainly shows, very easygoing and wanted to chat with everyone!

Vibetronic

Norwegian_Blue said:

Vibetronic said:

awesome, that looks fantastic!! Coincidentally a friend of a friend was playing bass for Rick Astley at that, she'd liked a photo and it popped up on my FB feed this morning.

Rick's band were great... his life in the industry certainly shows, very easygoing and wanted to chat with everyone!

ace Glad this one came up for you...I should imagine it'll take you a few days to come down from that

CHRISB50

That's amazing. 

Must have been a fantastic experience. Well done you. 

ThorpyFX

yeah, thats bloody awesome. well done!

midlifecrisis

well done, can only imagine what that feels like as i play the dog and duck on friday to 5 middle age tarts and a bloke in a flat cap.

Guitar_Slinger

Blimey!

simonk

Nice one Paddy!

Grunfeld

Norwegian_Blue said:

...a friend of mine asked me to cover for him on a little show as he'd messed up his flights. I've not been able to gig a huge amount, but I decided this one was something worth the effort!

Looks amazing.  Who were you playing with?

Norwegian_Blue

@Grunfeld ;