7884/20825
Extraordinary gig in Alton tonight and not only because I was in direct competition with the Euros semi-final. It was a festival gig in a community centre, but had an enthusiastic team who were keen to help us overcome the tech inadequacies. The microphone was a bit rinky dinky (not quite as bad as the one I'd had to use at the infamous Elton John gig, but not far off, but we got it working OK.
It was an 8.05pm start for some reason, allowing me to watch the first three minutes of the match, though luckily missing minute 7 when the Netherlands scored.
The crowd were very up for the gig - so enthusiastic at the start that I worried it might derail things a bit, but it settled in quite nicely. As you know I've had medical emergencies on a weekly basis in this show and so wasn't too thrown by a kerfuffle about 25 minutes in. That was a bit earlier than usual, but it was quite warm in the venue and I assumed someone had fainted. It caused a delay of a few minutes, but we were able to check the score. The man who had gone down had actually been sick - which is a first for this tour- though I didn't find that out until the interval. He left the venue to recuperate and I carried on.
I am so used to medical emergencies that I wasn't even phased and though the people of Alton had to sit near where some sick had just been, it didn't dent their enthusiasm.
Things continued to go wrong in the second half. The clunky mic had one of those quick release buttons, so it fell apart a couple of times and the mic didn't really fit into the mic stand, which led to various humorous attempts to force it in. When I went backstage to get Right Bollock I stepped on a cable and unplugged the speaker and when I said how disappointed I was that this wasn't the fun Alton with all the rides (though only so I could say that the gig had sent me on quite a rollercoaster) the audience rebelled against me - mainly as a joke, but with a little genuine disgruntlement. I enjoyed the reaction though (and so did they). I clicked a reveal slide much too early but somehow managed to get over the finishing line like one of those wobbly men in the London Marathon.
It was a cracking gig in spite of all the clown like antics and I turned on my phone after to find that England had just won their match. So my faith in them (for all but the last 5 mins of the Slovakia match) had been justified all along.
