Weekend at the Asylum – Steampunk festival gig report

The Steampunk Asylum at Lincoln last weekend was the most enjoyable gig I’ve played for some time.

Here’s some video, courtesy of Mr Andrew Fletcher:

It had looked like I’d have a difficult journey as I needed to get from work in London to Lincoln in only three hours. As it turned out, I had a smooth straight forward journey, arriving at the Charlotte House Hotel at just after 6pm.

My brother Joe, my partner Rachel and our friend Julia left London three hours before me, but arrived only twenty minutes earlier than I did. They claimed the train ahd been delayed, but I suspect they were just getting things wrong.

The first act were Broadarrow Jack, playing their last gig before splitting up. Their set was lots of silly folky fun, including a quite marvellous song about zombie horses. Lots of fun, but sadly you’ll never be able to see them.

Keep an eye out for Crimson Clocks, however which some members of Broadarrow Jack have gone on to perform with.

My own gig was the first with another musician playing my solo songs, as Joe played bass and sang backing vocals.

The setlist included a couple of tracks from Spinning the Compass and the whole of the Miser’s Will from Ironbark.

I can honestly say I haven’t enjoyed a solo gig as much in years. There was an attentive, appreciative audience, no-one through anything and people said nice things afterwards.

The rest of the weekend was having our photos taken by strangers, possibly because of what we were wearing.

All in all, a lovely weekend. It’s also left me itching to play more. I’m sure Joe would be up for playing a few more gigs. Just need to find a drummer. Watch this space, and all that.