Practice for the 'Jeremy Irons Gig'

Present: All

And the winner of the "Who Can Keep Their Woolfire Festival Artists' Wristband On The Longest" competition is won by Ad.

The practice was dedicated to preparing for the Jeremy Irons Gig.  Plenty of the usual covers and Loopy's very own pop classics.

Ad splits his nail.

Post Practice Pint Topics of Conversation: What TV/Home Phone/Broadband package Gi should sign up for.  Humax [the joys of] and Eg's inability to download and install the latest software for his.  Why the Live Popcast idea just wouldn't work.  The forthcoming album was also mentioned at some point.

The Woolfire Festival

Present: All

Venue: Woolfire Farm, Somewhere off the A33 in the Hampshire Countryside about 15 minutes from Winchester.

A few rain drops and a cloudy sky did not dampen the new experience of playing at a proper festival on a well equipped stage, with tents in the distance, and a handful of audience members.

Eg's earring. Fea's earring. Ad's leather trousers. Tom's weather map cloud T-shirt. Gi's nice Marks & Sparks sweater that he probably got for Christmas one year. The Liars from Stoke. Gi casting a critical eye over the catering facilities [two old ladies and a BBQ] and judging that they would have been far better off with a buffet. The Shed with the instruments in it. Daphne legging it for the free CD that Ad had tossed onto the empty grass in front of the stage. Eg using a Penguin wrapper that he found at his feet on stage as a link to the Found By You song. Then discovering it had belonged to the Sound Engineers behind us. An interesting start to The Smile by Fea and Ad. Eg using the stage. The woman doing the crossword in the picnic chair. The two ladies massaging each other's heads. Ad implying they were lesbians. One of them was Daphne.


An overall sense that perhaps more practice might have been better.

Set List:
Somersaults
Some Summer's Day
Ordinary Life
Evel Knievel
The Smile
Meet Me In The Corner
Found By You
Too Late
Teenage Kicks [not on set list -wooo]

Woolfire update: Loopy now playing on Sunday (August 31st)

After a lot of shilly-shallying we now have a slot at the Woolfire Festival. Loopy will be on the Main Stage at 12.30 pm on Sunday (August 31st) ... a perfect lunchtime slot (bring a picnic).

For directions etc ... got to http://www.woolfire.co.uk/

Squeeze Another Practice In Before The Gig

Present: Ad, Eg, Gi, Tom

Eg turns up in work clothes, looking very smart.

It turns out that after endless emails asking for the time of the Loopy performance at the Woolfire Festival next week [where we also said that we couldn't really do Friday] we finally hear that we've been booked for 5pm on the Friday to open the festivities.

It doesn't look great.

Still, at least we've got what is rapidly becoming known as the Jeremy Irons Gig.

Post Practice Pint Topic of Conversation: Did I lock it? Going back to check the door.  Eg's popcast idea [a live streaming of the band].  A festival in Hungary - we five can stay at Tom's parents' flat.  Gi's Killer B-Sides again.  Tom embarrassing his mother in front of other mothers on a walk in the park when he was young.

Pre-Gig Practice

Present: Ad, Fea, Gi, Tom

A quiet time in the Valley. We were the only band playing tonight, even the Taxi firm opposite seemed a little quiet this evening. All the better for the band to use this time to prepare for the end of the month gig at Woolfire Festival. Oh yeah, and the wedding in September that we're supposed to be doing. Jeremy Irons' neice's wedding.

Of course he'll be there.

Tom had a list of songs for us to practice. Always tricky without the cues from the lead singer but Ad and Fea did a good enough job of sorts to get through the evening. Interesting to hear the 'off the top of the head' words used when the actual lyrics aren't remembered.

We went through the songs again in batches of three.

Post Practice Pint Topics of Conversation: Radio 4. Smoking in front of parents. Poor memory. Short-sightness plus long-sightedness equals good-sightedness. Trevor MacDonald's infamous blooper and that it wasn't about Josie Lawrence's attempted murder. Because Josie Lawrence is a comedienne. Poor memory. Dungeoness. Deal. The Evolution of the B-Side. Gi's theory on the shape of table that makes the best buffet's at gigs - not ones that are stuffed in the corner [clogs up the flow of food-gatherers] but the inverse of that. Tom tries to describe a chevron shaped situation. And poor memory.