Behind the curtain
I was planning on attending Uncle Richard’s 80th birthday party but the weather wasn’t cooperating so the party was cancelled.
OR WAS IT? Rick called up the boys and wondered if we would like to do a Don’t Fret livestream for his dad. Absolutely! It had been a few years since we had done a Don’t Fret session and I missed doing them.
It took me all morning to remember how to set up all my equipment and even then, something was weird with the sound when it came to an afternoon sound check time. I fiddled with some wires and knobs and eventually got a sound that folks said sounded good. I need to write down all my settings so it’s not a pain when you go to set it all up two years later!
I’m not sure if I’ve explained what a Don’t Fret livestream consists of before but the singers perform in a round robin fashion (2 songs each) and do that for a couple of hours. This livestream had Dave in Cape Breton and Troy in London playing. On my end, the kids showed up after bingo and played along to a few songs. I LOVE when this happens. I really enjoy how my kids get to see my family online and they get to perform for them. Proud parent right here folks!
Performing for a livestream is a different beast than playing to a room of people. Definitely quieter considering Rick mutes everyone! I also secretly call the Don’t Fret sessions the Silent Clapping Sessions because whenever I’m done playing a song you can see everyone clapping but everyone is on mute!
Sometimes a Don’t Fret livestream has a theme (think Christmas), other times it’s a free for all. When playing for folks I like to keep in mind how old the audience is and adjust my set list accordingly. Case in point, I would say that the 80% of the audience are my aunt and uncles’ age, then you have 15% of cousins around my age and 5% younger kids. If I’m feeling generous I tailor my set list to match those proportions. The old adage “Play them the hits they know!” Comes to mind. Sometimes I take a gamble and play a newer song and see if it catches on. I was excited to see my cousin’s kid singing along to The Weekend’s Blinding Lights the other night! Actually, it’s rare that I can actually watch the audience while playing as I’m focused on reading the lyrics or adjusting a pedal.
The sessions are recorded and I’ve never taken the time to rewatch them but I should in order to see folk’s reactions to the songs I’ve chosen. I really like archiving anything I do so I also videotape myself playing the concert as well as recording the audio. Do I have dreams of making a documentary of the Don’t Fret Sessions? Sure do. Do I have time? Nope. But at least I have some material to work with.
This particular night was a fun one as I hadn’t seen a lot of folks in awhile. I also felt that all of our song choices were great. I definitely flubbed a few songs but that happens sometimes when I switch up my setlist on the fly. Here I was thinking I would have a certain 8 songs prepared and then the kids come down so I pivot and play 3 songs they know. But I’m ok with pivoting and really, no one notices my flubs except for myself.
I look forward to future Don’t Fret sessions. They are fun and it’s a good substitute for playing together live. Speaking of which, Dave, Troy and I will all able meeting together to see Metallica in April…maybe we will slot in a live Don’t Fret session! Imagine that.