Been a while since I gigged in Hull - in fact since I was last here Hull Truck has moved to a swanky new building. I arrived in town so early though that no one seemed to be around. But I had work to do and there was a handy shopping centre with restaurants and cafes so I had some sanctuary - but I had to pay £2.50 for parking. Nooooo! There go the profits.
I didn't get much done work wise, but it was cool to have some time to relax. I went back to the venue at about 4.30, but it was still dark and no one was moving around. I hoped that I hadn't got the wrong day.
I mentioned it on Twitter, so when I went back half an hour later I was greeted by loads of staff who had all been alerted to my plight.
The new Hull Truck is lovely and we quickly teched the show and then I went to my dressing room where I was interviewed by some students who all seemed to be called Jack (one of them wasn't called Jack, but in the heat of the moment he said that he was, before correcting himself- showing the power of peer pressure and how tricky it can be sometimes to remember who you are).
For the second time in almost as many days, come show time, I had the weird experience of walking out of my dressing room into the venue, at show time to find the auditorium empty. I knew we'd sold at least 300 tickets - how could this be? It turned out that there had been some technical difficulties, but we started within ten minutes anyway.
After the faultless tech there were a few issues during the show itself - it took a while for the intro music to come in and then the mic seemed to be booming and feeding back to me - though I guessed correctly that this was only the case from my perspective and was the result of the fold back speakers which I usually make sure are turned off. These are really for musicians so they can hear what they're playing - I don't really need that as I can hear what I am saying anyway because I am inside my head.
But aside from me being a bit distracted by the sound the show went well. A couple walked out towards the end of the first half, though I think they might just have both been going to the toilet, though I mocked them as they went for having taken so long to realise that they didn't like the show, as well as speculating on who hadn't enjoyed it and whether one of them was just going along with the other. The lady had left her coat, so I was expecting either an embarrassed return as had happened in Derby a few years back or that they weren't actually leaving. I never found out for sure which was the case.
But I had fun bantering with the crowd and a man on the front row who had the chemical symbol for iron on his T shirt (though looking at him that was the only iron that had ever touched that shirt - if only I had thought to say that at the time).
But soon enough I was in my car and bombing south. I had booked a Travelodge at the halfway point, near Nottingham, but actually wasn't feeling tired at all (probably because I had had a restful afternoon and not too much driving in the last few days) and I decided to strike out for Harpenden, which was only 90 minutes away (my London home would have been more like two and a quarter hours distance, which would have been too far). I had already paid for the hotel room so as I passed I pondered on the fact that I had spent £30.25 to NOT stay in a Travelodge. And that seemed a very fair price to avoid the snot-shower-curtained hotel chain. In fact I would probably pay £30.25 every day if it meant I didn't have to stay in a Travelodge ever again. I wonder how many other people would make a similar trade off. Because it might be enough for Travelodge to run a successful business without even having to have any hotels at all. If enough people just paid to not stay in a Travelodge then we could do away with Travelodges, but all the people who work at Travelodges and the businessmen who own it, would be able to make a good living and not have to do anything in return. I think it might be something worth pursuing. Everyone is a winner.
I got home (to somewhere I had never slept) at 1.30am. The drive had been fine, apart from the last twenty miles on the M1 where the speed limit had dropped to 50 and there was only a single lane open. That took some concentration to drive through and I didn't have much energy left. But I was glad to be back early, with my fiancee who I had missed, drinking wine and watching Community until 3, before falling into a deep sleep.
And at no point did I consider making the "to Hull and back" joke. So it had been a successful day.
