James Walsh (Starsailor) @ the Wedgewood Rooms & The Troubadour

It's always an absolute pleasure playing the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth. There's so much history in the place that has formulated my musical life and has influenced, shaped and guided many a musician and music fan for many years. So after a while having not graced that halo'd stage I was very excited to be playing with James whom has also influenced me in past years with his band Starsailor. Particularly the John Leckie and Phil Spector produced 2nd album 'Silence is easy'. 

People turned up early and I could tell the crowd were going to be vibey and receptive as the room buzzed with that electricity that many a musician looks out for before they go onstage. 

My set was mixed with new songs and old but a full and playful crowd helped me relax and get into a groove from which I thoroughly enjoyed. 

You can't write this kind of crowd interaction, when it goes right and people are interacting and bantering back. It makes for a much better experience all round and personally for me I always play better when the crowd are engaged and they feel relaxed enough to enter into the spirit of what I am doing. Some would say that's my job to create that..it often depends on many factors because by the nature of the musical limitations of solo artists you don't take people's heads off volume wise, so a lot depends on a fragile balance of you and them. The real stars of the night were the crowd themselves. James came on with a fantastic set of his new solo material mixed with some Starsailor classics and it was a pleasure to meet him. He gave me some great comments from the stage and completed a great gig for me.

Next up was The Troubadour in Earls Court London. It's another Titan in the formation of the bohemian folk scene in the 60s with many songwriters passing through including some bloke called Bob Dylan. It's a beautiful place as I've said before and even though the night was rather thin on attendance, it's always a pleasure to people watch Londons more refined characters live in a way only people with money can. 

Photo by Aaron Bennett Photography

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Andy xx

Mostly listening to

Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots