Opening night in Alice Springs.
The last time I had performed was in a more “relaxed” venue in the little mining town of Newman in North West Western Australia. Actually it was the local soccer field. And the stage was two layers of ply on top of the grass. The lights were the football field lights with and a couple of $20 outdoor barbeque/patio lights stuck on up on the rig pointing at the band that was set up in the grand stand.
And the last time that I had properly run the BMX act was Perth in early March. Six weeks with no shows, no training, and no preparation; no wonder I was a wreck after opening night in Alice Springs. I had definitely lost my edge in both performance and fitness. It got better in the next few shows, and by the end of the last show on Saturday night I was getting it together. Albeit completely knackered!
Coming back into the show to do the same bits as what you were doing before you were out seems to be good in theory. But really, what happens is that when you are out of the show — there are no understudies as such. The other performers pick up the cues that you do, and take your place in the acts that you were in. Like the piano player in the orchestra act. I was the piano player before I was injured, then Julia, the new drummer took over when I was out — the show evolves so that when you come back in, you do not quite fit. And you end up having to re-learn the timing of your cues to fit in to the new evolved version of the show.
Between the two shows on Saturday, we were lucky to have some of the local indigenous kids come and do a little performance for us on their djembes (hippy drums). They were so cute.
