I played a rain-out date for the Listen Live folks on Thursday evening – an hour and a half set of ostensibly family music. I was set up on the lip of a pavilion with their sound system, overlooking a nice grove of trees while soccer games, joggers, kids on the playground equipment and other family activities were going on. As it turned out, there were very few kids in attendance and I couldn’t gather any from the surrounding activities. There was a nice audience of adults though, so I shifted my attention to them during the course of my set. I’m glad I can be flexible for these situations.
I did throw in some kids stuff and several folks came up afterwards thanking me for doing the old folkie stuff. They actually sang along and that was nice. Some nice compliments for Lessons from Pete and Pay Bo Diddley.
I have a problem with the set up of some of these park shows. I thought the sound was too loud and, combined with people’s inclination to sit farther away from the stage, I felt alienated from the audience and less able to connect with the people, something I really rely on, and something less than ‘folkie’. I don’t do ‘big shows’ well, especially as a solo.
None the less, I did okay under the circumstances. A few familiar faces in the crowd but no kids to speak of in the mix.