Bandwidth at the Red Rattler

"Good mornin' Good mornin' We've danced the whole night through. Good mornin' Good mornin' to you!"
This was definitely a Telafonica record for a so-late-it's-early bed time. It was after 3.30am that I crawled into bed and Cherry and Blake had even further to go.
It is well known that Telafonica loves the cosy grandeur of the Red Rattler and that we love hanging out with Clan Analogue so it was going to be a success whichever path the evening took.
There was a moment when I was sitting in a deep red arm chair and I looked over to see the royals, Andy and Rachel Rantzen (forgive me Rachel if you didn't take Andy's name), surrounded by their courtiers and it felt incredibly grand to be at such a gathering.
It's always great for me to see Andy and Rachel, Ant and Maja, Mel, Nick, Andrew from Loopsnake...It really was a big night that I don't know how I can fit it all in here!
O.K. Here are Bec's highlights:
* Receiving a very cool Lunar Module badge from Ant. Am going to wear it everywhere.
* Bloodloss Vegas singing Pulp's "Disco 2000". I can imagine a sing-a-long in my future retirement village featuring that song.
* A T2 Earl Grey tea for only $2!!
* DJ Tigerlily's set - was very excited to hear a little tune from one of my favourite CDs - "G Swing".
* I quite liked the music of Swingin' Tasty Bag.
* I loved the drama of the Actual Russian Brides (and the huge Russian hat, and the tiny waste - how does Elle fit all her organs in there?).
* I got to hear Cherry playing the saxamaphone next to me on stage (although her brothers in the audience didn't).
* I always love Loopsnake's music and we got to see a shadow performance of him from behind the screen as we were packing up.
* Lunar Module was even greater than usual with Mel on keyboards. Always great to see women onstage. Especially when they dress like Mel - from purple-streaked hair bob to shoe buckles, Mel looked splendid! I love the rest of the band. Let's not be sexist here. Ant had a very nice jumper with a red cross and it was good to see Peter singing and Grant playing bass. Really liked it. "I wanna be on TV..."
* It was really nice to meet M.O.R. - Antonio - of whom I have been a fan ever since we played the same night at The Sly Fox and he wore his extremely realistic horse head.
* Watching Rachel dance is always a highlight. Others follow a repetitive loop of movement regardless of what song is playing (and that's fine - the collective movement works together like a visual orchestra). Rachel, however, doesn't just move, she dances. And the joy on her face is beauty itself. Not the self-conscious apology of a smile that the rest of us front when dancing with friends, but the pure delight of music and dance.
There are always downers and items for improvement.
* I lost one of my knitting needles and two pieces of dark chocolate, I know not where.
* The sound was very uneven in the foldback. We could only really hear the computer, Adrian's voice and Blake's guitar but we have had really positive feedback from a few people and a few CD sales so it must have sounded OK from the front.
* Also, our DVD that was projected onto us blinded me from the audience most of the time so it felt a bit cold and like singing without an audience. Less connection than our other previous gigs.
* My biggest disappointment was that by the time Andy got up, almost everyone had gone. His set last year was so wonderful and irresistible, I was sad for everyone who missed out. It was very late/early by then so AJE and I decided to quickly pack the car so we could dance and then leave but Andy's set finished just as we stepped onto the dance floor. There was a debrief afterwards between Andy, Nick and AJE and it sounded like there were some good ideas to try out for next time.
* Finally, we didn't get our dinner at all and were hanging out for Laziko's at 3am only to discover that all the World Cuppers were chowing down when we got there so we trundled off down the motorway back to the burbs with empty bellies.

We did have the privilege of Nick's company for a trip to Paddington which was a lovely surprise and, when we got home, Adrian cooked us a tomato, lentil and chorizo treat with a fried egg and toast and that smoothed out all the wrinkles of the evening.

All-in-all it was a wonderfully grand Ben Hur kind of evening celebrating the very special Clan Analogue and reuniting with friends from last year. A good time had by all. Many many thanks to Ant and Adrian!!!

P.S. Cherry, Blake and Adrian, please add your highlights in the comments box.

Set list:

I Can Hear there's a Peace in the Dark
Smells Like Rain
Your Hands
The Tail End of Winter
I Can't Make You Love Me