Well, who’ve have thought it when we all said goodbye to each other in Italy about a month before that we’d all end up playing together again in Holland? Unfortunately, Mick was not up to appearing/playing at this moment in his life so Snowy was kind enough to say “I do” for a second time! A glutton for punishment, isn’t he?
We had the chance to rehearse the day before the festival this time, which gave us the opportunity to work out which songs might sound the best or best suit Snowy’s style of playing. It all fell into place quite quickly to be honest, so keeping in mind that wise old saying – “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” – we didn’t labour too long in the rehearsal studio. I’m not a great lover of rehearsing myself so it suited me fine to be in and out of there asap! Get the job done and leave is my motto when it comes to rehearsing.
We decided to get to the festival ground quite early because it just puts you in the position of being on top of things when you get there in time. Bospop is a big ol’ festival and so just getting from point A to point B can take time on a day like that. Suzanne arranged that we could get lunch just after we arrived, which was great because that meant I could eat lightly for dinner (always a good idea if you’re the singer!!). We got a chance to listen to some of The Bangles set and shortly after that they trouped into the dining area. Yep, that was them alright – looked quite like I remembered them from those TOTP appearances.
We shuffled on over to our dressing room after that and they were all laid out in two long lines, facing each other. Mick Hucknall was there already so we said hello to him. One of the guys from Crowded House came in as well and then I spotted Steve Lukather and you know after that you just sort of gave up on everyone coming up to you and saying “how’s it going, Barry?” lol.
I decided to go for a ramble and check out the stage that we would be playing on. Danny Bryant was playing at that moment and it sounded powerful I must say. After that I heard a little from Crowded House’s gig and a little bit of Mick Hucknall’s gig.
Then it was our turn to take the stage. Everyone working the gig (in all areas) had been really friendly and helpful and professional up to then so I had no worries that something could go wrong in that area. The sound was spot on, monitors were good and they even had two cameras rolling at all times, which meant the audience could also watch the show on two big screens on each side of the stage.
Sixty minutes can be a lifetime or a blink of an eye, depending on whether you’re enjoying yourself or not, and all I can say is as far as I was concerned it was all over before you had time to say “jack rabbit”. I reckon we must have done alright because after I said ‘thank you’ and turned to put my guitar on the guitar stand this almighty roar erupted from the crowd and to be honest I had to turn back around to verify that it was for us!! That was just amazing and it sure gave me goosebumps. We had time to do another number real quick, which we did.
Shortly after our set, Snowy and myself went to a designated area where people could get their CD’s, T-shirts or whatever signed and it was also an opportunity for people to have their photo taken or ask questions. After that I had to go backstage to do a few interviews.
With all the work done, I decided to go back over to catch Buddy Guy’s set. Buddy is a real trouper and he had them in the palm of his hand. It was fun to watch a master at work. People came up to me and they all had really nice things to say about our gig. There were people from Spain, people from England, Australia and lots of Dutch people of course. Some of them knew me and some of them didn’t. They all thought the combination of Snowy and ourselves worked really well, so that was nice to hear. After that, I took some time to catch some of Santana’s show. It was just amazing to see all these great artists doing what they do best – play good music. At this stage we decided to head back to our hotel and chill a bit for the rest of the night. It was about a 30 minute drive from the festival site.
All in all, I think you could say it was a job well done. I certainly enjoyed myself and it was a real thrill to play with Snowy again. I hope we can do it again soon. For those of you who we met for the first time, welcome and for those of you who’ve seen us before, hope you enjoyed the show!!