While there was no reason to doubt it, I was delighted by the excitement today's announcement that Dr. John Cooper Clarke will play July's Hitchin Mostly Comedy Festival provoked.
I'd like to think my judgment of what our audience wants to see is pretty sound, based on the club's popularity, but every so often there'll be a slight undercurrent of worry, particularly when there's either a lot of money involved or the event's taking place at a different venue to usual. In the case of John Cooper Clarke, I'd been working on the booking for a few months and had every crossable appendage assuming the position in the hope it would come good, but knew all along it would only work if we held it at Hitchin Town Hall so we could get enough people through the door to fund it. This obviously meant whittling down a date that both John and the venue could do while striking a deal with both that wasn't too expensive when a show of this nature has more overheads than usual.
With anything outside of the norm there's more potential for problems, and the fact the Town Hall isn't our usual home throws up variables we don't usually have to deal with. For one, it's over twice the capacity of The Sun and has ongoing sound issues despite a recent multimillion pound refit (largely because they didn't seem to ask anyone who works in theatre where that money would be best spent; for example, by putting in a decent sound rig).
The last thing we want is to not meet expectations, which was how it felt when we presented Harry Hill at the Town Hall last year, when we did our best to counter the venue's poor acoustics but still received the odd complaint. To be fair, the show was originally meant to be at The Sun and was only moved when Harry's availability changed and The Sun wasn't free for the rescheduled date, but it still wasn't as good as we'd have liked, and even though everyone knew it wasn't our usual location, it still felt like we were making excuses.
At least this time we're more prepared, plus we're using a different sound company who'll be able to provide a more appropriate rig. It should also be an easier show to mix; if no-one mentions how it sounds, I'll be happy as I'll know we fixed it.
My only other concern (although concern's too strong a word) was that our audience wouldn't be savvy enough to know just how much of a coup booking John Cooper Clarke is; whenever we present an act who's more than a comedian, I wonder if your average 'Live at The Apollo'-style punter will get it. Of course I was being ridiculous (as was proved by all the ecstatic tweets we've received); as one person said, "the man's a living legend"...and I for one can't wait to see him.
I'd like to think my judgment of what our audience wants to see is pretty sound, based on the club's popularity, but every so often there'll be a slight undercurrent of worry, particularly when there's either a lot of money involved or the event's taking place at a different venue to usual. In the case of John Cooper Clarke, I'd been working on the booking for a few months and had every crossable appendage assuming the position in the hope it would come good, but knew all along it would only work if we held it at Hitchin Town Hall so we could get enough people through the door to fund it. This obviously meant whittling down a date that both John and the venue could do while striking a deal with both that wasn't too expensive when a show of this nature has more overheads than usual.
With anything outside of the norm there's more potential for problems, and the fact the Town Hall isn't our usual home throws up variables we don't usually have to deal with. For one, it's over twice the capacity of The Sun and has ongoing sound issues despite a recent multimillion pound refit (largely because they didn't seem to ask anyone who works in theatre where that money would be best spent; for example, by putting in a decent sound rig).
The last thing we want is to not meet expectations, which was how it felt when we presented Harry Hill at the Town Hall last year, when we did our best to counter the venue's poor acoustics but still received the odd complaint. To be fair, the show was originally meant to be at The Sun and was only moved when Harry's availability changed and The Sun wasn't free for the rescheduled date, but it still wasn't as good as we'd have liked, and even though everyone knew it wasn't our usual location, it still felt like we were making excuses.
At least this time we're more prepared, plus we're using a different sound company who'll be able to provide a more appropriate rig. It should also be an easier show to mix; if no-one mentions how it sounds, I'll be happy as I'll know we fixed it.
My only other concern (although concern's too strong a word) was that our audience wouldn't be savvy enough to know just how much of a coup booking John Cooper Clarke is; whenever we present an act who's more than a comedian, I wonder if your average 'Live at The Apollo'-style punter will get it. Of course I was being ridiculous (as was proved by all the ecstatic tweets we've received); as one person said, "the man's a living legend"...and I for one can't wait to see him.