The Longest Time (Without Billy Joel)


Today was another extraordinarily long day, but now I’m at the tail-end of it, I at least feel the majority of the groundwork for my 2018 Edinburgh Fringe run has been done.

The day started with a lengthy taxi ride to everyone's favourite destination - Edinburgh's Parcelforce depot - with my acoustic guitar in tow, to pick up my projector screen, projector stand, a suitcase full of equipment and another full of clothes, before returning to my digs to drop off my luggage to then take the rest of my stuff to the venue for my tech. I had a nice chat with the driver about what it’s like bringing a show to the Fringe (dropping in the usual “how much it costs to do it” clanger that always provokes a response), for him to tell me what it’s like to grow up and live in a city like Edinburgh. The conversation was so easy the journey sped by and before I knew it, I was in my venue, setting up.

Of course no day on the Fringe would be complete without some kind of setback, with today’s being my arriving at The Caves to find I’d been left off the banner outside the venue I’d paid a fair amount to be on. When I pointed this out to Alice in the Just the Tonic office she was hugely apologetic about it - I know it really couldn’t be helped - but it was still hugely frustrating as I know it was so helpful last year when pulling people into my show. She offered the possibility of sticking a couple of A2-sized posters on an A-board outside the entrance if I order the artwork, which I’ll almost certainly take her up on, if only to give the show more presence.

Once again, the benefit of being the first show in the venue is the chance to take my time with the setup, which was particularly useful today as I unpacked all my gear and worked out what I wanted to do with it. While my room’s at least twice the size of the venue I was in for the past two years, and consequently a lot bigger than I would have liked for the early start-time, the stage is a little higher and deeper (to paraphrase a very shouty Sixties Tina Turner song) which should help give me a bit more status. As soon as I put my guitar on and started playing through the songs I started to go into show mode, though it may have have been the emergency Mars Bar I bought as I felt my energy waning kicking in.

My venue this year, which is rather shiny.

The tech itself was a little chaotic, though things feel into place by the end. Thankfully both the technical manager Andrew and my techie Mark are both “on it”, which gives me a bit more confidence; I suspect tomorrow’s first show will be a little frenetic, though at least I’ll be up-and-running at last.

After the tech, I walked back to my digs carrying my guitar (which is as heavy as fuck) before having some lunch and then running my show. The first half was tighter than the second half but it doesn’t matter if it’s a little ragged tomorrow as long as I pull it together by Saturday, which is officially the first show that isn’t a preview. I finished this feeling like I’d already hit a wall, though I’m sure this will pass once I get into the swing of things and all the preparatory work is done. Now, I intend to have an early night to recuperate a vit; one thing’s for certain: it’s not easy, bringing a show to Edinburgh on your own.

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