pontoon

Wednesday 17th October 2007

5:30 p.m. BST I came back on the Pride of Rotterdam on Monday for a two-week slot, and my first two nights went pretty well. Nothing that outstanding to report, although Monday was busier than Tuesday in the piano bar, and had a good reception throughout the evening. Last night I played Leon Russell’s ‘Song for You’ for the first time, which went down well. I’ve got a few other new songs side-lined which I will be playing during the course of the next week and a half while I’m on here.

The weather in Hull has been superb today and according to the forecast it looks set to stay that way. I hope it’s right!

Thursday 18th October 2007

5:11 p.m. CET Had an excellent night last night, it was busy throughout the evening, in a way it was quite unusual as half-way through one lot of people filtered out and were replaced by another lot who were equally attentive. There were some large groups and a few couples who were listening and making requests. One group of young lads were in who had been on the ship when I was here a couple of months ago and they remembered me from before. I had a few encores and I wound up by playing some numbers by R.E.M. and Coldplay, and they were well received.

Friday 19th October 2007

10:50 a.m. BST Another successful night last night, again it was busy and the atmosphere was good throughout the evening, I had a warm reception and some requests. During my second set there was a group of students sat nearby and I allowed one of them to play a tune that she had composed, which was a light classical piece and went down very well. Along with the usual quota of jazz and pop standards, I played High and Dry and Bright Eyes which I don’t perform very often which were also well received. By the time I had finished people were still wanting more, and I had some positive comments afterwards.

(As you may know, as well as being a card-game, Pontoon is also a type of flat-bottomed boat.)