A belated write up of the final Wasps of 2024, a lovely night where I learned a very important lesson about anxiety (it’s bad, and there should be less of it).
My main worry was the Coal Porters fans, and whether they’d go for any of the other acts. I don’t really know what I was expecting – leftie boomers booing at the presence of comedians and synth pop stars on the bill? As I have written elsewhere, the magic of the night is putting people in front of the kind of acts they wouldn’t otherwise seek out, and at the end, many audience members came up to me and thanked me for doing just that.
Our bluegrass headliners were sublime, and played above and beyond the time they had been booked for. Highlights? Plenty, but A Light From The Mountain, Mr Guthrie, and a final, glorious cover of Teenage Kicks were up there. The fiddle player-sung Style Council cover was something special, too.
But my favourite act of the night was Laurie Black. Songs about women in space and small venues, incredible synth magic, and such a magnetic stage presence. She couldn’t have been any different to Sid Griffin’s troubadours, but the audience were with her from the first chorus. There’s a photo of them, rapt, bathed in light, which comes from that magical moment when I realised everything was going to be ok.
The comedy was good, but samey, which is on me. I should have booked at least one act that was DEFINITELY not stand up – the Mikey Bligh-Smith role. But Paggy was a very engaging headliner, and Jen Zheng is going to be a star, with her tales of AI madness and navigating racism and British bureaucracy.
The Highchurches set was beset with a few problems, mainly due to Martha’s medication making here pretty wobbly on stage. But there were still some magical moments, especially during Doris Wu and the closing Harvest Moon, when everyone relaxed, and opened their eyes and their hearts.
It looks like there won’t be many more Highchurches gigs for a bit, while Martha focuses on her Brighton Fringe show, but we’re gonna keep practicing and writing songs in the meantime.
On Sunday we had what felt like a breakthrough band session, in which we played around with the songs that we had and loosened things up a bit. We formed somewhat on the hop, and for those more nervous about public performance than me (basically the rest of the band!) it’s probably good that we just build that alchemy of playing in a room together, getting right and loose at the same time, before being unleashed on the Great British Public again. But I think they’ll miss us while we’re gone.
2025, for me, is about getting some recordings done. Me and Chris T-T have been talking about the importance of having some physical proof of the projects one embarks on, and I’m excited to demo and record these songs. There is lots to figure out, including session musicians, guest vocalists, and which songs make the album. But it’s an exciting thing to even think about. As someone who starts a million different things but finds sticking with them pretty difficult, I’m hopeful that this thing will get to some kind of launch party with white wine, compliments, and a sense of having carved something worthwhile out of the ether of modern existence.
Wasps, meanwhile, will return on 21st March – a Friday! – when things will, hopefully, appear a little clearer.
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