Well, it's not often you get to conduct a sell-out gig at the Royal Festival Hall, share a stage with Jimmy Page and Joanna Newson, and become the living ghost of the late great David Bedford. I have done all three tonight and I am buzzing!
One of the highlights of my life will undoubtedly be conducting Me and My Woman this evening. They'd sold seats in the "choir" area, which is behind the stage itself, and because I was facing the musicians upstage, I had my own private audience of revellers who were conducting the music with me!
Everything went incredibly smoothly, but for a terrible moment in the song Commune, where Roy's fingers started playing very bizarre notes. At the end of the song, he waved to me, and said "Can we do the last verse again?" "Of course," I said. "Where shall we go from?" Asked Roy. "The Black Cap?" I suggested, laughing, because we'd discussed in rehearsals that it was not just a beautiful bird, but also an infamous gay pub in Camden. So we did the final verse again, and everything was perfect.
Brava Fiona for doing such extraordinary arrangements, for choosing such inspiring players and for being 37 years old today! They're lighting fireworks across London in your honour... At least I THINK that's why they're lighting fireworks...
Pepys spent much of the day drinking in pubs 350 years ago. They were already celebrating November 5th by 1661. At one stage, he reports that he was "seeing the boys in the street flying their crackers." Good old Pepys!
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What a night it was too! Thanks for writing such an entertaining and illuminating blog.
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Paul (The Roy Harper Podcast).
Me and My Woman was extraordinary, moving, poignant, uplifting....tremendous.
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