Little Rebellion Music

As I had arranged a radio interview for Dierks I had to be there early and I saw most of the soundcheck, which really is kind of a boring process. I remember doing them myself and it is almost something you have to endure before the fun starts. :) They played one song in full, ‘Trying to Stop Your Leaving’, with Dierks staying away from most of the high notes.

The interview was great. He was quite chatty, telling us how happy he was to be back, how surprised with the reception from European fans, that there’s a new single in September and a new album in February. Halfway through, George Ducas started his soundcheck which was fine until he started playing one song quite loud so 3 questions and answers might be lost.
After the interview we did some promo pictures for the radio station website. By then George came off stage and was talking to his international manager. I ended up getting him an interview as well. While that was going on, I was in a meeting with his manager, who also works with Whiskey Falls and some interesting things seem to be just ahead.

That evening George played an acoustic set and was quite good. He has one of those voices that is both soft and strong and he is very charming. By the time Dierks hit the stage it was a sauna in there. Hot! I never meant to take many pictures and put my camera down after 4 songs to just enjoy the show. It may be the last time I see Dierks play for such a small audience (250 people!) so I needed to take in the moment. After just a few songs he was visibly uncomfortable though, it was just so warm in there. After ‘Domestic, Light and Cold’ he said to the people behind the bar “I’m serious, by the way”. :) They ran through all the hits and I had a great time. But he was struggling with the heat and was working very hard up there. For the long notes at the end of ‘Settle for a Slowdown’ he pulled a girl up on stage who was just having a fabulous time up there. Near the end there were some drunken comments shouted but he managed to deal with those pretty well. Also, some people kept shouting for ‘What Was I Thinking’. You know he’s going to play it so just be patient, it seems so disrespectful to me.

After the show, I had to have a short meeting again but getting round to that did prove difficult with everyone running around. About 20 minutes later Dierks came back out and I think the idea was to get him outside but so many people asked for an autograph and picture. Because of this they kind of blocked the stairs to outside. They needed to be free so the tour manager moved the party to the back where, this being Britain, most people lined up fairly neatly. I took some pictures for people and then I really needed some fresh air.

I love small club nights, especially when they involve, for me, quite established artists. :)