Just a week ago, I had no idea I’d be doing this. I’m still shocked that this opportunity came my way and have learnt a lot from it.

Until a recent revelation, I hadn’t realised my DJ friend Martin, whom I’ve known for some time now, is also the pianist for Marc Almond. We chatted about it and he invited me to come along to one of their gigs in Birmingham. The musicians and engineers he worked with were willing to put up with me for a little bit and I could come along and help with the sound. Watch and learn, Pete. Watch and learn.

But watching and learning turned into getting hands on experience. I’ve spent a lot of time on the kit I was using but just not in a “live music” setting. In this situation, you have to get it right first time: you can’t go back and say “Can we try that again, please?” There’s a lot of pressure.

As far as Marc’s sound was concerned, that was Michael Zimmerling‘s baby. I could be involved and maybe spell him for a few moments, but it’s got to be him that does it. That’s the deal, and it’s his skills and expertise that Marc pays him well for. Michael has a huge wealth of experience but keeps fairly quiet about it. That’s German modesty for ya!

I came along to the next gig in Liverpool, at the Carling Academy. This time, a bit more confident with how things stood, I did the support band on my own – Lee Griffiths. It was only two guitars and two vocals but it was all down to me, this time. I enjoyed it and was in my element. I know Lee’s songs – I really like them and felt confident engineering them.

I was going to leave it there and be content with what I had done. The rest of the gang were off to London that weekend for the final concert of their tour but I didn’t think I’d be involved. I was skint and busy that week so never planned for it. However, one of those impulsive decisions later, I was going. Lee would have his full band down there so there’s be a proper gig to get my teeth into.

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t what happened. When I got to the venue, it dawned upon me just what I was about to do. The O2 (once called the Millenium Dome) is absolutely fucking huge. On a scale that is hard to understand when you’re going to be performing in there. At least IndigO2, which is inside the main dome, is more manageable. But it’s still a massive space. (See the pic at the top – that’s just the upper circle!)

Marc was the priority and we spend nearly all the time getting his musicians set up and sounding good. He was the headline act after all. True to form, Lee and his lads turned up about an hour before the curtain. Just as well as the main band was still sound checking. But 30mins before the doors would open, we still hadn’t even set up Lee’s instruments. Fuck!

Marc’s band finally happy with their setup, the four lads from Manchester sprang onto the stage and cables and capos were flying everywhere. Everything was in place and we had about ten minutes to tinker with the sound, instead of an hour. The fact that the desk was completely new to me didn’t help matters. I was expecting something familiar – and not the spaceship that I was shown. It frankly scared me at first. But once you understood one section (and if computers don’t faze you) then you quickly begin to feel at home.

We weren’t ready, that’s for sure. No way can you do a soundcheck in ten minutes, so I’d have to find my feet during the first couple of songs. It happened and it worked. Apart from a few issues with delays (echos to the non-techie) the whole thing went brilliantly. We recorded the whole set into Protools for later editing, and a professional DVD of the whole event was made. Clips to follow soon.

Lee Griffiths and Colin Ridyard are good together on guitar and vocals. They’ve done this so many times on their own that they can stand alone in front of an audience fearlessly and do an entirely acoustic set. But, coupled with Cheyne on bass and their drummer (I’ll find out his name and get it on here soon) it just sounds amazing. It reminded me of one of Eric Clapton’s Unplugged sets.

This is not a review of their stuff – I’ll leave that to others – but you can listen and judge for yourself. You can stream them from http://myurbanplayground.com, but you’ll need to have Flash installed. If you like what you hear, please give me and the lads some feedback.

Their track listing is:

1. Build Me Up
2. Back On My Feet
3. Society’s To Blame
4. Shoes
5. Hippy Dippy
6. Scared
7. Meet Me Halfway

If you listen to just one or two songs, I recommend “Shoes” and “Hippy Dippy”