I arrived early to set up the PA for our 4th performance at Hathersage Gala. TOAST were being supported by the very talented Figure It Out. I was setup by 6, just in time to welcome the first act’s drums, guitars, keyboards and amps onto the stage. I’d scheduled sound check for 6:30pm and everyone was there bar the bassist. I’d already noticed that the band had Are You Gonna Be My Girl on their set list. As this is a bassline I’m very familiar with, I decided to step in and play on this one so we could set the volume levels for drums, bass and guitar.
I’d given some thought to how I was going introduce the band and with their consent we decided that they’d walk on to this:
Figure It Out delivered a 50 minute set showcasing songs from the Cranberries, Walk the Moon, Beyonce, Oasis, Abba and Snow Patrol amongst other classic hits. This went down really well with the audience.
We reset the the stage and the desk and then it was TOAST time. We decided to mix it up a bit this year so we opened with Oasis Rock ‘N’ Roll Star and Disco 2000. I Believe in a Thing Called Love went into an experimental mashup of Smells Like Teen Spirit and Billy Jean, that we are calling Smells Like Billy’s Jeans.
We needed a punk rock chick for the next one. We were then joined on stage by Eadie who volunteered to be our Avril Lavigne for Sk8ter Boi. Eadie nailed the song and left the stage with the crowd chanting her name. We polished off set one with Heavyweight Champion of the World, Chelsea Dagger, She’s Electric, Somebody Told me, Last Nite and Dakota.
10pm was fast approaching which meant the start of the England vs Norway World Cup match. The organisers decided to turn the music off so I went and had a go on the dodgems with Eadie.
It was one all at half time. I had Three Lions playing through the PA as we got tuned up for a quick half time blast. We played Roll With It and segued this into Mardy Bum. Vindaloo was playing as the second half of the match began. A couple of people came up and said they weren’t that interested in the footy, could I start the disco back up? I am also not interested in the footy, so I said yes. I cued up a series of bangers and quickly had the the floor filled.
It was still one all at full-time which meant extra-time, which also unfortunately meant that we weren’t going to have time to deliver the second set. It’s a real shame because it was full of great tunes. I wound the disco up as the match finished so that revellers would know that the party was over with the final whistle.
An England win was a silver lining to a muted end to a great night. There’s no World Cup next year, so here’s hoping we can return to normal service.
