I played the Good Ship in Kilburn, north-west London on Tuesday night, and despite the earlier thunderstorms, tube delays and general post-Glastonbury malaise, it turned out to be my favourite gig of the year so far. “Howling Springbok” Daniel Parkinson joined me onstage for a couple of songs, adding his blues harp licks and flat cap to proceedings. It was only his second gig with me, and his first in front of the legion of South African friends he brought along with him, but he sounded far better than I ever did with the harmonica rack.

It was a good turnout, a good atmosphere, and, unusually for me, I’m fairly sure I made no mistakes during the whole set…..I don’t think that’s ever happened before.


Setlist
The Nights We Burned Like Sirius
By The Time I Pass Through Slough*
Let It Burn*
If I Could Make Myself Love You
Little Ealing Lane
You Can Call Me Al [Paul Simon cover]
Dust On The Shelves

* with Daniel Parkinson on blues harp

The following night I played the last ever Open Mic at Molloy’s in Bath. During my 9 months living in Bath, this open mic has been the regular social event for students on the MMus degree, and has offered a great opportunity to road-test new songs and get feedback from other songwriters. It’s also been really good for getting drunk and singing really loudly to my good friend Steve Hatch’s version of ‘Family Tradition‘ (Hank Williams Jr). I really want to put that song into my set, but I’m scared it won’t ever work outside of that very pub on Barton Street. Anyway, we ended the era on a high, with awesome performances by Cameron Ford & Zuri Osterholt, Matt Young, getBeRned, Cherley Kane, Steve Hatch and myself. I played ‘You Can Call Me Al’, and managed to get the whole pub singing along, which was pretty special. Wednesday nights will never be the same again…