Just got back from a rehearsal for an upcoming gig: 

I will be performing again at the Royal Albert Hall this year with the Ob-sessions gospel choir. This year we will be accompanying singer Leee John from the band “Imagination”, who had a #1 in the 80s with the alarmingly catchy “Just An Illusion”. 

You can watch the (very 80s) music video on Youtube here. Be warned, I had the tune stuck in my head for days afterwards. 

If you’d like to come, tickets are available from the Royal Albert Hall box office from £10.

click to view gig gallery

It’s Christmas Eve and I’m blogging to you from my brother’s house in Birmingham, where I will be spending Christmas with my family after our final date on the Beautiful World tour.

In some ways it was a bit of a nightmare gig - I made the mistake of changing my strings about an hour before we went onstage, and evidently didn’t stretch my strings enough. The result: my high-E string slipping out of tune in front of 20,000 people. You know that horrible feeling you get when you’re stuck in a situation, wish you could go back 30 minutes and do one small thing to change the present situation?

Anyway - I’m really happy my parents got to see us perform on a huge stage, and I think they actually quite enjoyed the Take That show. Both of them seemed quite bemused by the screaming 20-something women in the audience around them hurling underwear at the four men onstage.

I’ve really enjoyed the tour, and working with such a great crew operating at such a high level… including the sound engineers, stage crew, backstage crew, catering staff and tour management. All of us in Brown:music are incredibly grateful to the Take That boys for what can only be described as a dream opportunity, and especially to our friend Jason for asking us to tour with them.

click to view gig gallery

Best. Birthday. Present. Ever!

Fortunately Ben (our keyboard player) told me I should plug into his Leslie cabinet, and the sound was monstrous! I even got to flick the rotors on for a couple tunes and got this huge vibey sound from my guitar. 

The choir performance was very well received, and our two guest stars - Heather Peace andDavid Lonsdale - performed very well. Heather in particular delivered what can only be described as a world class performance (and David would be the first to acknowledge this). Our final tune “Oh Happy Day” literally brought the entire hall to its feet… definitely the sort of Royal Albert Hall debut I was hoping for! :) 

Monday is my birthday and I will be playing with Nicki Rogers at The Bedford in Balham - it’s a free gig, so come by to enjoy the music and say hello. Then on Tuesday is the best birthday present a musician could wish for… London O2, say hello to Brown:music!

Another amazing gig - this arena was wider than the NEC and almost as long so the feel was a little different. Glasgow was pretty chilly, although apparently during the time we were there, London was actually colder! 

We got to watch Take That’s set from a better vantage point this time… we were at the front-of-house sound desk as opposed to being towards the side of the stage at the Birmingham gig - awesome production once again. Can’t believe we’ve already done two of these gigs now, with just two to go.