24 Jul, 2009 Ch-Ch-Changes !
Life is full of the unbelievable at the moment.
First it was the weather in Edinburgh where it rained not only cats and dogs, but frogs and goats as well.
Soon after and with about only two hours sleep, I found myself on live TV, standing by idly as a chef went about his business. All the time I was getting more frustrated as I was unable to wrestle the tools from him and show him how it would be done in my kitchen!
The more surreal stuff continued when I arrived back at the hotel to see the TV sports channel show footage of the English cricket team in wild celebration mode, having humped their great rivals the Aussies for the first time in nearly a half-century. The fact that they were playing our tune – Stars Will Lead The Way – as the background music to the footage made the scenario even harder to believe.
I then fell asleep only to wake in a panic, as I dreamt that I was in a snake pit being bitten alive. I never have absurd dreams like that normally. In any case, after a cold shower I got a call from my agent asking me if I wanted to record Belfast Child with the worlds favourite opera star? What? That was then promptly followed by the arrival of an email enquiring if I would available to shoot a scene for a movie that is being made in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Hardly a run of the mill event that! All a bit too much to be true I felt!
Liverpool got me back on track however, and back to the reality that I know best. Prior to the show I was hoping that the set in the new venue would live up to the previous great shows that we have experienced at the Liverpool Pops. It certainly did in my opinion, and just as it the people who make a city, it is the audience that make a gig. That is why Liverpool always stands out!
It was good to see faces there that were familiar from so many of this summer’s gigs. Including more that a few who had travelled directly down from Edinburgh. Their comments were so complementary as apparently it was plain to see that the band had played out their skins in both Edinburgh and Liverpool. Not everyone was jubilant though, as I had to put up with a ‘Moaning Mindie’ gibbering on about the set lists and how we had not varied it enough for their own liking. Selfish or what?
In fact we try hard to keep everybody happy, but it is not always possible. We have hits to play, new songs to promote, old chestnuts to be dusted down, surprises to be thrown in etc. On top that lot, we then need to play a few that we want to play just for the hell of it. In every set we aim to nail a mix of soft, hard, dreamy, funky, rock, electro, ballad, and all them infused with differing emotions. Different career phases are touched on as music from the different worlds of SM is rolled out, with no one on stage ever – and not even for a sec – going through the motions.
Perfection might not exist, but I think we do a very good job all things considered, as do the audiences seemingly – judging by the fact that they go nuts every single night. One thing for sure that we cant do is mess with the balance of things, and especially just for the sake of someone who thinks that because they may have bought some tickets to more than one show that we in turn owe it to them to consider their experience more than the over all. It’s just not on pal!
Anyway, on to the mass of people who have made these recent nights so memorable, including also those who are looking forward to future concerts. All I can guarantee is that as the year progresses, and we return to the UK and other countries at the tail end etc. I am more than sure that we will be playing/adding almost another ten or so songs to the current programme. We will do everything to continue keeping things fresh and varied with lists changing partially from gig to gig.
Not many band will and can do that sort of thing during a six month long tour. We will!
Jim Kerr
PS 5 AM and the sun has just about risen over the surrounding buildings and monuments that make Venice the most unbelievable city imaginable. The water literally laps against the wall outside my window, the gulls already animated seem desperate not to be drowned out by the early morning church bells that peel out over the Grande Canale, and the first of today’s water taxi trips are already slowing passing me by en route to wherever it is they are going.
I have barely slept at all despite feeling tired before going to bed. Maybe it is the heat, maybe it was too much strong espresso coffee that I consumed, or maybe it is due to too much on going excitement at the prospect of our concert that is due to take place this evening in the stunningly beautiful Piazza San Marco.
Summer concerts in Italy always give us the feeling of partly being on holiday, the fact that we have some of our family including the kids out with us presently add to that feeling no less. The alleyways outside the hotel that are literally jammed with tourists also add to that holiday vibe and a similar ambience will greet us as we continue over the next days towards Sicily.
To say that we have a great life is an understatement. To say that we merely appreciate the life that the music has given us is an even bigger understatement.
When I was a toddler, there was only one print/painting that hung on my then young parents two -room apartment. Coincidentally, it was a gloriously colourful portrait of Piazza san Marco and one incidentally that I have seen in a million cheap and tacky home stores since. That portrait used to invade my dreams as I so often fell into a toddlers sleep on the couch that lined up on opposing wall. Often the dreams felt strange in away that I cannot describe, surely but not as unreal as it will for me tonight when we walk out on a stage purposefully built for us in that very same world famous Piazza San Marco.