The Late Joys Blog: So: Did The Late Joys Survive Their Gig At The Baker Street Pub?

Spoilers: Okay, if I’m writing this then obviously one of us made it through the night!*

Patrick warms up.

About three-quarters of the way into last night’s performance at The Baker Street Pub & Grill (this would be around 1:00 in the morning) Shane turned to me and asked, “Have you ever run a marathon?” Which was his way of comparing last night’s four-hour gig with what, in comparison, might not seem so daunting a run now. Shane has run marathons, so he should know.

Mr. P and, uh, Mr. P perform.

Our well intentioned plan to play four 40-minute sets with generous recuperative breaks quickly came a cropper as, after our first two sets, we had played much more than we thought we had. It was getting on for midnight, so we had a decision to make: either play two mini-sets in order to give ourselves a break or just go for it and play from 12:15 until the kitchen shut down at 1:45. Being the gung-ho lot we are, we went for it and charged headlong into a most blistering extended set of uptempo covers and originals until the bitter end...and beyond.

Scottie shreds.

As we came to the last of the songs on the list, the Buzzcock’s “Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t Have Fallen In Love With”), I turned to Matt to get this punchy little number rolling. He, like the rest of us, had put in a valiant physical effort and was breathing perhaps a little harder than when we’d begun way back on Thursday night. “Guys, I don’t have any Buzzcocks in me,” he said. Given it was almost time for the pub to shut down, we agreed to call it a night and closed with the much more sedate “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away,” to bring the high-octane gig in for a gentle landing. Matt took out his brushes, I turned down my guitar, Shane leaned against the wall until the song’s horn-inspired end. As we played I saw Scottie just standing there, guitar in hand, staring at the rest of us. He played not a single note of the Beatles’ tune.

The black stuff
becomes you, Shane.

I asked him afterwards what happened: Had he forgotten the song (it’s new to our repertoire; we played it for the first time a couple of nights ago)? No, it turned out that four hours of guitar-hero shredding had left him with a cramp in his hand, a cramp so intense it had immobilized his entire being. That’s what a marathon will do you.

Cheering crowds, folks dancing, appreciative whistles (and occasional shrieks) for Scottie and Shane’s solo forays and an overall good vibe throughout the night left us feeling tired but really pleased with ourselves. We did it. I think we knew we would.

We can’t wait to play our next marathon!