tangerinetrees99 plays her first gig!

Since midnight on Saturday, the 7^th of February, a few things have happened to me:

1. My Surface Pro 3 – which we had to buy for school purposes – has frozen at least ten times, been in my school’s IT department at least 5 and has suffered from the Blue Screen of Death. Insert the slightly ironic sad face from the Blue Screen here.
2. Penny Wong – a South Australian senator – bought me waffles! Or more precisely, my parents and I sat next to her in café, and she kindly gave me the waffles she had bought her young daughter (who wouldn’t eat them).
3. I got an electric guitar! A blonde Epiphone Casino, to be exact (just like what John used from ‘Hey Jude’/’Revolution’ forwards).

But most excitingly, I played my first gig! I learn guitar at a place where the guy who owns it has an affiliation with a well-known live venue in Adelaide called The Wheatsheaf (or the Wheaty). Because of this, our annual student “showcase” is held there.

For about a term, I had been working on writing my own song with my guitar teacher. I called it ‘Wouldn’t That Be Good’, and I basically only finished it a week before the gig. But anyway…

So, the 7^th of Feb (the day of the gig) arrived, and as you can imagine, I was all psyched up for my debut! (Okay, not really my debut, but anyway.) I went to my weekly Saturday guitar lesson for one final practice of my own song and the cover I had chosen, went home and arrived at the Wheaty.

The 7^th was forecasted to be a 40 degree (Celsius) day. Very, very hot. (Not unusual in an Adelaide Summer, though…) And the Wheaty also turns out to be a tin shed, so it must have been about 45 degrees. Very hot.

So the gig starts, and there is no proper set list. We get through the entire first set, and I still hadn’t been called up. The break between sets comes and then my guitar teacher (who was playing with his duo next) tells me I’m on last! Headliner, eh?? 😉

So I wait a little more, and finally – at around 3:10 PM – it is my turn! The guy who owns the academy and my teacher introduce me. I hop up onto the stage, grab my trusty acoustic-electric (which had been the go-to guitar for all those who had seemingly forgot their own) and I introduce myself. After making a joke which no-one really got, I launch into ‘Little Black Submarines’ by the Black Keys, my chosen cover. After I finish, I get a big applause from the crowd, and I start to play my own song. Again, a big applause. And then I get asked to play an encore! Thinking of what songs I can play best, I play a cover of ‘A Day in the Life’.

After the show finished, heaps of people came up to me. I got a little note from a complete stranger saying that they loved my set. A few people came up to me and said that they, too, enjoyed it. I discussed The Black Keys with the man sitting behind me, and a woman compared my voice to that of Julia Stone!

And if I say so myself, what a groovy debut/not-debut?! Here are some clips:

‘Little Black Submarines’:

 

‘Wouldn’t That Be Good’:

 

‘A Day in the Life’:

And there we go – tangerinetrees99’s first gig!
I had a great day today! Went to see plenty of good music-related exhibitions, and met Scott Hicks at one, to mention two. I shall post again soon, but good day sunshine ‘till then! 🙂