Over the weekend I did a warm up gig for New Years in Abu Dhabi. The Shades played at Escape (a club in the Coventry) to give us all a chance to play our new material. We sound checked and blasted through a few charts before having a bite to eat before the gig. The guys who have already been out there were telling me how jaw dropping the Emirates Palace Hotel is and all about the excursions and activities that we could do. I’ll be taking my camera with me so you can see for yourself.<\/p>\n
When we got back for the gig the entrance had been roped off with the addition of bouncers and an respectably large cue to the door. The place was packed. It was a nightmare to get through all the people to the stage but we knew that we’d have a good audience. There were about 400 people, or so at a guess, maybe even more. Every inch was packed down the long bar, on the dance floor, round the seat even up to the corners of the room.<\/p>\n
We ended up playing for about 2:30 hours and all suffered from the dreaded tinnitus ring at the end of the gig (despite ample ear protection). It was loud. But having a good horn monitor made it bearable. I’d have been toast in the first 5 minutes without being able to hear myself.<\/p>\n
We ended about 2 AM. I was staying round Andy’s ( the keys player) along with Matt (percussionist) that night so we packed their stuff down and got back at around 3AM. The problem was that I had a wedding gig to play at 8AM.<\/p>\n
Four hours of sleep, a bottle of lucozade and a breakfast bar later, I was playing for some ones special day. At least they couldn’t hear the ringing that I could as my ears said goodbye to few more frequencies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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