I performed in a Gala Performance of Ivor Novello and Nowel Coward in the Buxton Opera House. 2 calls and a Concert later I was on my way home again. There’s not a lot to tell you about the playing itself as Novello and Coward are not overly taxing to play.

On Tuesday morning I took my car into the garage and I’m still awaiting the damage to my wallet. Lets hope it’s less than the £170 that the Vauxhall garage quoted me without even seeing the car!!

Saturday night With CHris Poole and the Shades was a gig good as always. My weddings on Saturday and Sunday went without a problem but when I went to pick up by buddy Paul for another gig on the Sunday night I managed to rip apart the gear linkage in my new car. Perhaps the sheer force that I slipped it into reverse was the problem or perhaps the gods of gigs are testing me.

Either way I had to put in an emergency dep, put Green Flag Rescue to work and then limp my car back to Derby.

the upside is that Paul sent me a text saying that the gig I missed was the worst one the group have ever had to endure - so perhaps the gig gods could be smiling my way after all?

]]> http://mattrobertsmusic.com/2008/08/26/the-big-gig-challenge-progress/feed/ http://mattrobertsmusic.com/2008/08/23/the-big-gig-challenge/ http://mattrobertsmusic.com/2008/08/23/the-big-gig-challenge/#comments Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:08:18 +0000 Matt http://mattrobertsmusic.com/2008/08/23/the-big-gig-challenge/ I’ll be posting by mobile for the next few days. Why?
The answer is that I have 15 gigs to play in 9 days. Ah yeah!

It’s good but i’m moving to london after gig 15 so it’ll be a long 9 days and any spare time I have will be spent packing.

So i’m currently in the break of gig 1 and I’ll be playing a private function with Chris Poole and the Shades tonight. I’ll try and chart my fatigue daily.

But don’t worry. It won’t be long now. We’re currently planning out Eurobusk 08 so I’ll have to release 07 soon :).

Not exactly a trade up to the Audi I wanted but from a car that’s done 73,000 to a newer car that’s done 30,000 just makes sense. I’ve never driven a Vauxhall before and  I’m not  an expert on cars . I’m hoping  that it’ll be as reliable as the golf and fiesta that have proceeded it.

I have 12 gigs in 9 days from this Saturday so it’ll get the Matt Roberts Baptism of fire.

I know I enjoyed it for the first time last year, but that was all because I trained at the conservatoire with Rhyd and it was really interesting to see how the TV portrayed someone I knew.

I do admit I like to laugh at the self deluded people who go on the show (it’s kind of Morbid Comedy). So here’s the run down of some of the things that wind me up with this show (in no particular order):

The long pauses before …. …..   . . . .. .. … decision

The false footing answers - "I think … you …. SHOULD … not …  NOT .. .. go home … and pack your bags… to come back….  because I’m afraid ….you… have MADE it Through!!!! (screams - contestant puts hand to face to stop their nose from falling off).

The harrowing back story - "Sophie is poor. She was hit by a tricyle and lost the use of her face and now she’s come to sing to us today on the anniversary of her great great great grandmothers dogs death".

The use of pop to highlight decision (You’re through - Westlife plays). If you have any sort of musical brain you can see if it’s climaxing to major or minor and guess what each one means.

The guys who say "I AM MUSIC", "I LIVE MUSIC" "IT’S MY LIFE" "IT’S MY DESTINY" - Now I’ve spent thousands of hours practicing my craft and make a living from music. But I wouldn’t have the front to say any of those things (but then again I live in the Real World).

Do these people live in a special bubble? I mean back in the day Rhyd always said that he wanted to be in a Westend style job and used this show to get to his spot on Broadway in Phantom 2 (or so I hear from mates who are still in touch).

I could go on … but …. I ….. will … not… make you wait for my answer. So… I… won’t go on. (That terrible Leona Lewis song plays up to the climax)

Mic stands, pop shields, Sennheiser headphones, KRK monitirs, Cables, Keybord, Mac….

… all I need now are the things that make it all work.

]]> http://mattrobertsmusic.com/2008/08/17/whats-missing/feed/ http://mattrobertsmusic.com/2008/08/16/looking-back-part-4/ http://mattrobertsmusic.com/2008/08/16/looking-back-part-4/#comments Sat, 16 Aug 2008 08:00:31 +0000 Matt http://mattrobertsmusic.com/2008/08/16/looking-back-part-4/ After a few hours of sleep on the Sunday I realized it really wasn’t a good idea for me to get up at 5 for a 3rd morning and drive to Liverpool. I found out that the gig actually started in Manchester and ended in Liverpool so I thought it’d be better to train it up the night before and stay in Liverpool, get an early train to Manchester and meet up with my band there.

The beautiful thing about trains as oppose to cars are that you can sleep on a train with less risk of dyeing.

So that’s what I did. I have some great pictures of the wedding. It was one of the better ones we’ve done in the last few weeks. But again I need to fix the upload issue before I can post them. On the upside you can look forward to loads of pictures in a post very soon.

All in all it was a good weekend. It was hard work but a lot of fun. I spent over 12 hours driving and about 6 hours of playing. It was a really good laugh!!!

After making the most half-arsed sandwich you’ve ever seen I sorted out my stuff for my gig the morning after. An Indian wedding going from Oxford to London.

Another early start I left at 5am (again) and drove up to Oxford. The gig was pretty standard and finished in a Marriot Hotel next to Heathrow Airport. In total I was driving for about 7 hours and got back to Derby in the mid afternoon where collapsed onto my bed again and looked forward to the gig in Liverpool the following morning.

… continued tomorrow.

Now for those who haven’t driven through the valleys in the early hours I’d recommend not going to quickly. The reason for this is simple; sheep.

They are everywhere! Unfortunately that includes the road. And what do sheep do in the early hours of the morning? The same as you and me; sleep. And for a tired driver on a mission sleeping sheep in the road aren’t brilliant.

Apart from the living speed bumps it was an amazing site to watch the sun rise through the mountains (I’ve snapped a picture on my phone but you’ll have to wait until I’ve resolved my uploading problems).

I arrived at the wedding with time to spare. Unfortunately it wasn’t as bright and sunny day as the bride and groom had hoped. In fact one might say it was a bloody terrible day to get married. Even more unfortunate for me was the fact they wanted me outside to play as they came in.

Despite only playing for a few minutes I was soaked to the bone and was left to drive back to Derby very tired, very cold and very wet. Even so - I love my job

…. continued tommorrow.