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.