The Live Recording....

So that was that ladies and gents...

After a good couple of months of preparations, we held our first live recording in front of an audience, and (until we see the footage with the audio!) it was a blinder!

I'm not going to go into all the details of the months running up to it; not only will it bore the bejaysus out of you, but my memory, as good as it is, unfortunately isn't THAT good! So I'll begin with the two days before, and of course the day of shooting!

22/04/2010
We finished practice on the Thursday night quite early, after a gruelling week (and month!) of constant playing. Did a quick assessment of what was needed and got everything into the back of big Al. (For those who don't know who big Al is.... shame on you!)
With a few nifty ways of shirting gear from one side of the room to the other (Rion had the brainwave to sit almost everything on a big carpet, and then drag it across the room... In fact, and I know this is quite a long bracketed sentence; it was one of those ideas that you thought 'I can see the future, and this is going to end in tears', but credit to him, it bloody worked, and as far as I remember, there were about 9 guitars, some drum gear, pedal boards, lead bags, an amp and me at one point! So to Rion, well done that man!)

We got the gear down to St Columbs Hall at about 9:15, where we met Pol Sheerin & Mick O'Connell. We moved everything in, and with both ours and Pol's sound equipment, it took the best part of an hour. On another note, Pol, is one of the most obsessive guys I've ever met when it comes to order! His van is immaculate! Nothing but for respect for him! But I digress..I'll be mentioning everyone I can in a thank you at the end of this long winded blog.
As I said, this was only a load in; but the venue looked amazing, couldn't wait to get started.

So that was the easy part done... The next day was all hands on deck day.

23/04/2010

I met Rion and Marty down at Cafe Del Mondo for a coffee and a checklist, which was almost blown away (I'll blame the Eyjafjallajokull volcano and Nick Clegg for that) and I poked a bit of fun at Marty and had a sup of my Coffee!

We got up to St Columb's Hall for setup...

Setting up the gear took a while; there were new factors to consider; camera men, props, entrances, guitar tech (again, everyone will be thanked in the end!) and all that hoo haa;
Pol, Darren and Mik worked to get the sound systems ready, which was a long job in itself. But the icing on the cake; the thing that made my chin wobble a bit was seeing the 'Here Comes The Landed Gentry' feather logo being painted onto the wall at the back of the stage. Jacqui and Sha worked so, so hard at it, and it was looking amazing! And it was only half finished! They ran around, got rugs for the stage; old standard lamps, and loads of material to dress the stage with. Again, credits for everyone at the end!



Lisa Byrne (photographer) and Seamus (filmographer) were going about documenting the day; also getting light readings and finding little unique areas to capture good images. Again, as with everyone else, they worked the the best part of the day, making sure everything was right.



The day continued on, with Marty & Rion working furiously organising online ticket sales, delegating tasks to whoever was close by.
Ruari O'Doherty (Little Hooks), who came to help with gear, stage management and generally just being a swell bloke worked tirelessly to help us get things ready for the big day. Also, as our own Rob couldn't make it to the soundcheck, Ruari stepped up to the plate to soundcheck the bass, thus unwittingly becoming an honorary member of HCTLG for the day!



Many coffees later, and a few (when I say few, I mean loads) of cigarettes later; we were only a third into getting things ready; which proved the enormity of the task in hand... I couldn't wait!

At around 10:30pm, soundcheck commenced.

With some of the ancient electric's in the old building, it took some work to get the sound right; but Pol Darren and Mik marched on and finally got it nailed. There was a point where I thought the windows were going to blow out with the volume! That, to me is never a bad sign! A great sign in fact... You know the old saying; "if it's too loud, then..." well I can't quite remember the old saying; something to do with age and ears or a funny anecdote of some effort.
Moving on,
12:10am.... Long day, and a longer one due...

24/04/2010 - The Live Recording
I got to St Columb's Hall on my own at 11:00am and spent the morning clearing the stage and getting the pedals, leads etc ready; and clearing the dressing room of guitar cases, rubbish and 'bare sole penetrating guitar sting cuts' from the floor. Health & Safety gone mad...
After that, and still futtering about on my own for a bit (playing guitar, fixing Rob's bass case and hearing voices in my head) Rion and Marty arrived with the final numbers; we'd officially sold out overnight! Wally and Rob arrived shortly after and the day officially began.

Pol & Darren did a check on the PA, and some final preps. Mik checked sound levels for the recording, and Seamus and his film crew arrived to get them into positions.
The day flew in and it soon was later on, almost like it was earlier in the day, only later (read that bit again... it does make sense).
The (what I'm going to dub as the venue crew, or the VC) arrived, and Diane arrived with a bit of a surprise! A big hamper of about 30 stout and a bottle of 25 year old malt whiskey (that particular drink may crop up again) from our N.A.S.T. with a card!!! Needless to say that went down (extremely, in some cases) well! So a heartfelt thank you to all of the N.A.S.T!!



Ruari carried out the final checks onstage; the stage curtains were drawn, Leanne and Leigh took the tickets at the door and the VC directed the audience into the venue....

Fucking showtime...



Wally went onstage to closed curtains and the sound of the murmuring crowd beyond it. The lights were dimmed, the curtains opened and Wally started the beat to 'Bad Boat'.
We walked on one by one and blasted into it.
It was a brilliant atmosphere, and everyone was buzzing, including us!
I don't think I'd be able to go into the detail of each song one by one, it'd take me forever, but you'll see it on the DVD when you buy it!!! So a few of the highlights of the show.

The venue was packed to the brim; all dressed in Gentry attire and looked great! Probably the biggest surprise of the night was 'Leadbelly'.
In the second half of the evening, the curtains were once again drawn, and Richard Campbell was standing with his Lambeg awaiting them to be opened. As they were, he started a constant beat and again, we walked on and began singing. The audience sang along, which really gave the song a big rootsy feel to it, and a few chants were thrown in for good measure.

The whole night in itself was a huge success. We had an enormous amount of help throughout the preparation, which leads me to thank the following people;

I'm going to just list everyone in alphabetical order...

Billy from Masons bar - For sorting out the venue for us, and organising special treats for the lads!

Cathy Taylor - Doing the door, supplying refreshments and dinner from Cafe Del Mondo.

Connor OKane - Technopeasant himself for playing in the bar to keep everyone jumping, and for his moral support and wise words about almost everything!

Diane Greer - For making sure the people were in the venue for the recording, and having a megaphone to help do the job!

Jacqui Doherty - For stage decoration and painting the amazing feather on the wall behind us... Looked amazing!

Leeann Doherty - For working the door; getting the tickets and applying the wristbands

Leigh Herron - For working the door also, and getting the names of everyone who came in!

Liam McGuigan - For replacing the 25 year old malt in the future; but also helping at the start of the night with the crowd control...

Lisa Byrne - For taking some amazing pictures of the night; some of which are featured on this very blog

Mik O'Connell - For recording the whole night! An almost impossible job, but one he pulled off.

Mod - For keeping us in order with time management, and for the backstage craic

N.A.S.T. - For the big basket of drink and the card! Was a great surprise!!!

Paddy Nash - For keeping us entertained backstage! And helping with the crowd control!

Pol Sheerin & Darren - For working tirelessly on the sound and stage.

Richard Campbell - For banging his big drum and wearing a kilt!

Ritchie the mild mannered janitor - For letting us know the do's and don'ts of the venue! Mainly don'ts

Ruairi O'Doherty - For stage management, stepping up during soundcheck, keeping guitars in order and a whole lot more!

Ryan Johnson - For playing in the bar during intervals, with his big sexy voice

Seamus Hannigan & crew - For filming the nights events! You's were legends!

Security - For, well.... security!

Sha Gillespie - For the feather, decorating the stage and running around getting everything ready for the big night!

The Bar Staff - For the booze and looking after the punters!

Todd Gfeller - For his wicked set during the intervals

And most of all

The crowd - For being there, singing, dancing, partying, dressing up and all the other antics that took place on the night. We couldn't have done it without you... So a heartfelt thank you!


So there ye go....the tale of a night in HCTLG history... a night that hopefully all those present will remember for a long time to come..and a night that all those who weren't present (shame on yeez) will get the chance to re-live when the DVD / CD is released.

See you all at the next'un!

"Here Comes The Landed Gentry...a bunch of loveable mercenaries...."

J