On Tuesday 29th March I was thrilled to once again support Edwina Hayes at The Robin 2, Bilston. If you've visited the blog before you will know all about Edwina, if not she's a wonderful singer well know for having a song featured in a Cameron Diaz film. See her website for more info and to hear some of her beautiful music.
I arrived at the Robin at the same time as my good friend Sam Draisey, who was also performing, and his girlfriend Michaela. Me and Sam have played together many times all over the place but hadn't seen each other for quite a while. So the pre gig hanging around for once was good fun as we caught up and exchanged stories about being in the highly privileged position of a west midlands singer songwriter. Or something like that. This chat was only briefly punctuated by our sound checks.
The doors opened and the audience began to arrive. By sheer coincidence an old school mate walked in and we had a quick catch up. Turns out he's a big fan of Edwina...
...who now arrived having travelled all the way from her home in East Yorkshire and did a brief sound check. She came to say hello to Sam and I and happily remembered me. A little later she appeared again to offer us some sandwiches, which we had managed to miss by not venturing back stage...
Sam performed and went down a treat with the audience, a proper music fan audience. And why not, he's great! My favourite lyricist on the circuit. Then it was my go, and the lovely crowd were again very appreciative. Despite the very very bright lights I was able to make out my girlfriend, having only just finished work in Wolverhampton, arrive halfway through the first song. So that completed a good line up of some of my favourite people!
After a short break Edwina performed, and we were all yet again floored by her beautiful voice. She gave us a number of fabulous originals and very moving interpretations of great songs by other people.
She's also just genuinely very nice and witty which makes for some great stories and banter between the songs. With Edwina the whole gig feels like she's performing in front of dear friends, and indeed judging buy the reaction of the audience she truly was. It's easy to understand why she gets so many requests to perform at weddings/birthdays/engagements.
As always the sound and vibe at the Robin was great, I like playing there alot.
What a lovely night! Shame it's such a drive home, but I had one of Edwina's cds to listen to so it wasn't so bad.
