write up from the gig last night Thursday 18th May 2023

 Write up from the gig last night 

18/5/23

So i went to the gig I got there about 6 and the wait a bit got myself ready I did tune my guitar up before I left home but I checked it again at the gig as I didn't want to perform with my guitar out of tune as the g string is known for going out of tune and i was doing bends on it for the solos and stuff .

So I checked .Then a group from level 3 year 2 I think they were came on and performed there original songs I think in total they did about 4 or 5 there was a piano ,bass and drums in it so we sat there and watched that and then someone's joined them for a song or two with the guitar . 

After that we had another group on which was the high levels from  us either level 3 year 2 or hnd not so sure as I don't know them . So this group was some original and some covers and it was drums ,guitar and vocals and some backing in the background that was made and played whilst they were performing of different sounds and the vocals was rapping .

Then it was our turn to go on so I went with Joel as he wanted to borrow my guitar tuner and then I got set up got plugged in and pedal all set up and done and made sure the levels were good and then Cameron introduced us said we were the history of horror and said the name of the song which was my hero by the foo fighters and we did that and when that song was finished I couldn't hear myself so I asked Joel to turn me up a bit more and then we did the entire set list so my hero ,square hammer ,London dungeon ,pet semertary ,join me in death ,heaven and hell and lastly zombie we got claps in between which was good .

When my group had finished I stayed and so did Cameron to watch some others perform which was piano and then guitar and then I left as I was getting tired and it had been long day.

My mom videoed it for me to watch back on as I like to see what I did well and what I could improve on and to keep to show people about what I have done so far through my journey in music and guitar. Also the college filmed it so i probably wont share the videos my mom took of me as you will have it of the college who ever is marking these .

I was suppose to take a picture the pedal but forgot because I was so focused on playing the guitar and performing the gig it slipped my mind but I did use one you cant see in the video well in the video mom made of me i don't know if you can see it in the video the college filmed or not as we probably won't be given that footage . 

What went well ?

We did the set list the best we could we had the set list  on the floor which helped me as the setlist kept getting changed up my solos went well as far as I know and I'm glad I did the solo in zombie as I was a bit worried about it as I just got told earlier on in the morning to do it.

 So I went home and tried to get some ideas together but i mainly just improvised it which I think went as well as it could go . I'm glad I said something about the volume as in the last gig I could hear the guitar for the first song we did but I couldn't when I did the second song and I couldn't say anything because the song had already started so this time around in notice and said something before we did any other songs I corrected my mistake from last time . We did have more people then i expected watching us as a group and I'm glad we went on in the middle .

What could be improved ?

Well for me I said in my last gig write up that I wanted to work on my stage presences I did try and work on it and correct myself I trued looking up at the audience I was looking mainly at my parents as I know them to concentrate on someone I do know so I'm still engaging with the audience because it was in the café in was more lighter and you could feel everyone looking at you and it felt imitating sometimes where as when we did at 45 live it was darker the audience was back more a bit there venue was bigger and felt different . 

I was right at the front which I was told I needed to be anyway but I wasn't expecting to be that close at the front so it pushed a bit out my comfort zone . Which wasn't a bad thing because I was there to perform and to been seen its all part of the job and being a musician .

Another thing is that I was trying to turn the pedal on and off and felt like  because I don't rehearse with a pedal I didn't have enough practice with doing that I was trying to play turn the pedal off and on and look at the audience so I was trying to multitask and look at the set list to see what was coming next so I could prepare myself properly.

 So I think I needed more practice at doing that . I feel like the solo was good but could of been better like I don't think I performed it to the best of my ability I could of give it a bit more energy I don't if that's the right word in some ways I feel like the zombie solo was better then the square hammer one and I have been doing the square hammer one for months now and zombie just made up on the spot  right there and then to me watching the video back it looks better in zombie then it does square hammer it might be because I'm hard on myself you might not think that if you watch it or if you was there I just put myself to a high expectation always have and always will .

As a whole gig the gig was not as good as it could of been those groups before and after us we just added in last minute the whole gig was suppose to be the history of horror and it wasn't and I don't think it was totally fair that we were given that theme when group A were the ones that picked it and they didn't even do it in the end considering it was us doing a themed gig we should of been the ones too pick it I think I am being fair when I say that  but that is just my opinion I'm not saying the groups that weren't horror themed were bad because they wasn't it shouldn't of been like this .

Another problem with is that we were told that by doing a theme that we would get more audience in it actually ended up doing  the opposite and because of this we couldn't do it in the original  45 live venue we did in the café of the college and the gig should of had lights and visuals to make it more of story which were told we needed to tell a story through music to engaged and keep the audience interested .

We had more audience in our first gig back in October then we did this gig and that wasn't themed and also it wasn't  advertised anywhere so no  one knew about it so you cant expect people to come to something they don't know about can you. 

By the time my group had finished most people had left already that's why we didn't go on last because most people in my group wanted to go on last and we wouldn't of had many people watch us there wasn't as many people there in the first place so losing people we didn't want and we couldn't fit loads and loads of people anyway it wouldn't of worked go on in the middle was a good choice .