Wow, I've finally come down from the adrenalin high (and slight panic attack) generated by the suspense of performing for a room full of international music execs a couple weeks ago. It was really cool as about 10 of my buddies from London decided to fly down to Cannes to support me! I decided to travel down on my own the evening before the gig as I was too agitated to be sociable and needed to centre myself and focus rather than blab away with a friend. The band was travelling down early the next morning (up before sunrise - poor them!). I landed in Nice at about 23.30 and managed to sleep 3 hours from about 2am to 5am. My mind kept on obsessing on everything: whether the sound engineer at the venue was going to be rubbish, whether there would be enough monitors on the stage, whether that tingling feeling at the back of my throat meant I was about to come down with a devastating cold, whether the band was going to be delayed and/or miss their flight... etc...etc... etc..! Not a very refreshing night. I can't sleep in the afternoon (unless I'm seriously ill) so there was no chance of recovering the next day before the gig. But I needed not worry as the adrenalin kept me going all day (The 3am crash was pretty severe though!).
We had the soundcheck at about 5pm that day. I was really worked up at that point as it kept on being delayed by the venue (was supposed to be at 2pm). Anyway, I got to Morrison's pub, saw the friendly faces of my band and my manager and immediately felt better. The soundcheck went really well, to the point that some people just started coming into the pub to see who was playing and I did a mini concert for them. That (and the fact that the sound engineer was really good- not the nightmare I was expecting at all!) did miracles towards making me feel calm and centred for the gig at 11pm. I went and had a really early dinner (so my food would not be on my stomach as I was belting out "Just Listen"). Then I waited...and waited...the gig as delayed to 11.15, the 11.45...finally we went on stage just before 12am! There was a huge crowd (plus my 10 friends who were cheering as loud as they could!) so the atmosphere felt good. I got on stage and there were some technical issues with some cable (!!). Then (finally!) we were ON! We played: "Just Listen", "My Friend", "Do Da Dee Da", "Here We Go", "We Will Find A Way", "Ride Your Bike", "Just a Kiss", "Break Your Heart" and a really cool arrangement of "Revolution" by the Beatles. I was on cloud 9. I wanted the gig to go on forever. After we got off stage I was approached by a few people (a couple teenage kids even wanted me to sign autographs!) and that was really cool as I really felt that people had enjoyed themselves (I certainly had!). I'm having some footage pulled together with bits of the gig and will post as soon as it's ready.
Despite all the pre-concert jitters I really LOVE being on stage and performing and can't wait to do the next gigs. For now I have Trobadour in London confirmed for March 11 (will let you know more as soon as the time is confirmed). Hoping many more dates will slot in very soon. Lots of Love, Odette xxx
