SAMARKAND LIVE - AUGUST 18, 2007 Gig blog

SAMARKAND
Saturday August 18, 2007
Andyman's Treehouse

Just when I thought the Samarkand Summer Tour 2007 couldn't get any more last-minute or intimate, a gig came up so quickly that I was the only one who could/would do it!

For the Madlab gig back in July we had a couple of weeks to prepare. For the Cafe Bourbon Street gig in late July we had one week. For Andyman's Treehouse, I had about twelve hours.

So I decided to attempt my first ever solo acoustic one-guy-with-a-guitar performance. After spending a few hours with an acoustic guitar, racking my brain to come up with enough songs that were easy to play and sing at the same time, I was as prepared as I could be.

I had a few alternate songs on the setlist too, because you never know. If the gig was smokin', I didn't want to make everyone wait while I tried to think of other songs to play. But it didn't matter in the end.

We got to Andyman's around 9:30pm or so. The main band was setting up their stuff. Very friendly guys, everyone insisted on introducing themselves to everyone else. Quaint.

The crowd was PRIMED by the time I took the stage! Yeah, right.

Just like the first run of Samarkand gigs in 1993/94, the audiences in summer 2007 have gone from small... to just wives & very close friends ....to ONE WIFE! That's right, I've whittled it down from like 10 people to 4 people to 1 people over the span of three gigs. No small feat. There were probably 10 people at the most at Andyman's Treehouse when I played, but I think I preferred playing to my wife & a couple of other couples, it's too distracting to try to sing about my soul when a clutch of burly drunk dudes are in the back doing their thing loudly. Y'know.

I made a video but I'm too afraid to watch it.

VALLEY
BLOOMER
BEAUTIFUL KISS
INTO
01.28.92
EYE
CATHEDRAL

No surprises in the setlist, although Eye was a bit of a challenge to play. I did the bassline on the guitar, over what should've been a Dmin drone. But strumming the bassline made the song sound eerily John Denver. Hmm.

It was a lot of fun to just play an acoustic guitar and sing my songs through a P.A. at a real rock club on a Saturday night. I'm so glad I finally got to do the folk singer thing. I'd say it's too bad you missed it but it really isn't. It's time to make a new band, I think Samarkand might've proved its point already.

Comments

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