reacquainted

Saturday 17th May 2008

2:18 p.m. CET Wednesday night was nothing to write home about (literally!). Thursday night was a bit slow-going at first, but the audience seemed to warm up as the evening wore on, and was particularly appreciative of Bridge Over Troubled Water, My Way and Always On My Mind. After my first vocal set, Dave Taylor from Live Business materialised and was very complimentary, as he was last year when I met him on the Pride of Rotterdam. Last night was a bit of a tough test, despite the bar being very busy all evening (incidentally the only ‘mad Friday’ of this contract), and delivering a pretty good performance by my own reckoning, found it quite difficult to reach most of the audience. There were a few exceptions however, as She, Sweet Caroline and I Just Called seem to be well received. There was a couple sat piano-side for most of the evening who I had got chatting to at dinner, who were very appreciative, which helped to soften the experience slightly!

Sunday 18th May 2008

10:20 a.m. Last night was very busy again but on the whole a better night than Friday. As with Friday I had to open the lid of the piano slightly to prevent myself from being drowned out! One of the few occasions during this contract where I have sang for most of the evening, with just a few instrumentals here and there to give my voice a rest. Played a few numbers that I hadn’t done for a while, including Suspicious Minds, and He Ain’t Heavy. There were a couple of blokes sat by me for most of the evening who I was chatting to and they sang along to most of the songs. Later on in the evening there was a couple in who I saw last Saturday, so I dedicated a song to them too.

As Belgium is an hour ahead of the UK, when we leave Zeebrugge these days it tends to be light for at least the first hour of the crossing. Last night during my second set I spotted another cruise ship on the horizon, but by the time I went out for my break it was almost out of sight. However, I did witness yet another astounding sunset.