Saturday, June 20, 2009

The Hamilton Square Launch

We stood at the Sea Shell eating fish'n'chips.. Paul Davey appeared at the other side of the road and we called him into join us before wandering along to the Perseverance; the sound guy David was there, Jim the Fiddle turned up and Daisy, who is the ace merchandise person, followed soon after. We had a rambling soundcheck ( we were a bit tired after assembly and recording with the Song Club in the daytime), and settled down to chat with people as they arrived.
I kicked things off with a short set, joined by Paul for London and Martin for Poetry and Rhyme and Heaven Avenue; then Martin did his short set, putting Jim through his paces. We had a short break (a cake break- yes I did make the cakes but the black writing icing I'd bought to draw music notes on top was too stubborn to come out of its tube and it was a hell of a lot easier to just bung a smartie on the top of each one)
Then it was straight into the CD tracks- I dedicated Loverman to you, Foolish Girl, as you were with us in spirit. It was informal and friendly and warm and just about perfect in terms of playing a gig, as everyone in the audience was smiling and so were we.
Martin sang beautifully and the guys played really well, complementing the songs. A guy in the audience liked Hamilton Square so much he stood up and shouted 'That was the best song of the lot!'; we finished with Sweet Saviour (the first time I have been able to remember the words), and then did the Airship Song as an encore.
What a perfect launch party! Thank you for coming, everyone, and thank you to the family for turning out completely and being such good eggs!

2 comments:

Sarah said...

It was a pleasure! We really enjoyed it! You were all fantastic. We are listening to the album now actually!
See you soon
x

Anonymous said...

Hi Helen - Hamilton Square is full of wonderful love songs. Really enjoying it. And it's recorded so well. I love it when you can hear the singer breathing between verses!
Rich C. xx