Sunday, two weeks ago I got a message from a guy asking if I wanted to do a promo gig the following Wednesday. The gig would be 4 hours away from Helsinki at a big rally event with a lot of people and they wanted me to be the main act.
I've never been asked to do a gig only 2,5 days before and I told the guy it might not be possible to get the band together with such a short notice.
After calling around it turned out that half of my band members were abroad. However, I was dealing with a very stubborn guy who insisted that I make it work.
If someone's working hard to give me a gig I don't want to be the one giving up.
The following Monday became one hectic day. I made about a million phone calls and by the end of the night I finally found a keyboard guy who was ready to learn the songs in one day. I also got a base player who ended up taking an 8h train ride from the north of Finland just to do the gig.
Unfortunately we didn't have any time to rehears. Normally this would have made me a bit nervous but somehow everything came so fast I couldn't afford, and didn't have time to stress about it.
After a 4 hour drive we arrived to the place and started to get ready for soundcheck. Their schedule was late and someone told me we would have to skip the whole soundcheck.
I thought it couldn't get worse: New guys, no rehearsal and no soundcheck, great. Luckily one of the organizers realized it wasn't such a brilliant idea to let the band play without having any idea about the sound, so he managed to arranged some more time for us.
It turned out that this guy who got me the gig had recommended me and some other bands to the arrangers. He had asked them to pick their top 3 but instead they had put my name 3 times. He tried to explain they need at least one back up but they insisted that I was the only option.
No wonder why the guy had been so stubborn, at some point I even thought it was a bit weird that he tried so hard. Anyhow, I can't complain, it was a big compliment that made my day.
After the soundcheck I still didn't feel any sort of nervosity and it almost started to worry me. Of the times I've been nervous before a gig this should have been the worst.
I thought maybe it would hit me like a rock in the stomach right before I go on stage like a couple of times before.
However, stressing about not stressing is probably the most stupid reason to stress, so I decided to keep my calm vibe and if the nervosity hits, it hits.
Well, for some reason it never happened and it actually turned out to be one of my best gigs. At least I had a lot of fun on stage and think I was a bit all over the place. The keyboard guy and base player were both fantastic and the audience like it.
Sometimes it's good to just throw yourself out there without being prepared and just trust the situation.
After the gig we got a really good response and after a long night I got home at about 5 am in the morning.
The next gig will be the 8th of September in Tampere in Särkänniemi. I will have two gigs the same day. If you're around that area I hope to see you in the audience!
Rock on!
Jessica
