It was the third Nor’easter to hit the region in less than 2 weeks. I had to dig my car out to go in to the office for a couple of hours. The sound crew started setting up just after noon. Daniel Wolfe and his team arrived next to set up their equipment to film the show. The band arrived around 3:00, unloaded and setup; Eric with his guitars, Daniel Jobin his drums, Marc Papillon his guitars, violin and keyboards and Virgo brought her voice. Simon Dolan decided he didn’t have enough equipment to transport with just his bass so he brought along a Baritone horn (slightly smaller version of a Tuba). He told us it relaxes him to play it before a show. By 4:30 we were ready for sound check. We ran through the set list with Julien Bradette mastering the sound board. Everything was falling into place. Billy Booth who had so masterfully given us the slide trombone track on the studio version of “Measure of a Man” was invited to join us and reprise that performance. He did, and the soundcheck was almost done.
Now here’s something I learned. In a sound check you do your opening number last to ensure all the settings are perfect.
Our opening number was the song “Friends” from my first album and to be honest we had not nailed it in the first or second rehearsal. I was concerned that our show’s opening number was not right. It wasn’t just me. We all knew it and now less than two hours before we were set to go on we were pow wow’ing on how to tweak the arrangement. It was a team effort and damn, these guys are good because they figured it out! I was now at peace that we had that first impression, first song to jump start the set.
We settled backstage to change into our outfits. Every time it became quiet and there was even a hint of tension we would hear the “oom pah oom pah” of Simon in the next room and we would all chuckle and relax.
7:45 the lights dimmed, we went on and……………. well, you tell me!
