Thursday, February 4, 2010

I'm Touring Again

I'm not on the bike, but my cogs still need oiling...

So I'm about to start the second leg of the tour... with the now confusingly titled Sit Down, Pedal, Pedal, Stop And Stand Up show.

It was a title that made perfect sense when the show was originally added on to an existing 1600 mile bike ride but doesn't quite belong any more seeing as I'm no longer cycling. Ah well. I guess it's like when the actor who played Taggart passed away and the series carried on being called Taggart even though there was no longer anyone called Taggart in the show.

Of course it would be impossible to cycle from gig to gig because it would be impossible to arrange another run of gigs each one being a cyclable distance from the last. Or rather it would be possible, but it wouldn't be possible to do that and play in all the venues that want the show and that's really the point. The first leg was a bike ride turned into a tour while this one is, y'know, a tour. I'll be playing Belfast for example. There's a sea between here and there. You can't cycle that. Christ on a bike, no.

So it's the same show but without the saddle soreness and the blisters. I started with a couple of low key warm ups in Windsor on Tuesday and Wednesday night. I've only done a couple of short spots at benefit gigs since the first leg of the tour ended so I felt incredibly rusty before the first show and couldn't work out how I'd ever managed to learn the material and find the best order for it. The result is that I spent the Tuesday night feeling my way through the show, not always knowing how a chunk of material was going to end when I started it. They were a friendly crowd though. I enjoyed the show but I was frustrated by my own performance. It felt a bit too much of a stop-start for me, as though I was leading myself through the material instead of leading the audience through it.

But with stand-up the only way to learn is to do and it showed with the Wednesday night show where things were flowing much nicer and my memory felt restored. A lot of the rust was gone. The cogs in my mind were feeling oiled. It was a much, much better show as a result.

I have a long day tomorrow - eleven interviews between 8am and 1pm before the drive to Canterbury for preview number three. There's one more preview after that - Tuesday 9th in Leamington and then the tour proper kicks off in Preston on the 11th.

So... Preston, Sheffield, Nottingham, Reading, Edinburgh, Bradford (do you see what I mean about not cycling) Oxford, Derby, York, London, Folkestone, Southend, Bournemouth, Cambridge, Tunbridge Wells, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Bedford, Wycombe, Newcastle, Cheltenham, Cardiff, Birmingham, Salford, Brighton, Bolton, Stoke, Warwick, Liverpool, Blackburn, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Dorking, Belfast, Basingstoke, Leicester and Llandudno here I come.

Some of the shows are sold out already, some are close and some have got a bit to do but all of them seem to be moving and I'm chuffed with the way it's shaping up. I hope to see some of you there... the details are on the live dates page of my site.

In other news... I've been in some interesting meetings over the last few days and should have some good news to announce soon.

Oh... and in other, other news... Genius is being repeated on Dave. That's the TV channel, Dave. Obviously.

18 comments:

Scottish Nature Boy said...

Best of luck on the road Dave! Looking forward to seeing you live in Scotland again.

Idea for another show - travel around the world and find others who share their name with a TV channel that shows their TV shows (despotic megalomaniac dictators need not apply)...

Lizzie said...

Didn't realise you were playing Canterbury until it was too late to get two tickets together, so sadly won't be seeing you here. But I hope you have a great time in our little city and if you have time, check out the view from the University of Kent campus (where the Gulbenkian is) over the city. It's really beautiful.

Hope you have a great show, and a brilliant tour!

Unknown said...

Surely it's "Christ on a bike - Yes, Dave on a bike - No"

Good luck uwth the show, 8 of us are coming to see you in Basingstoke.

Saw your warm up in Andover last year and am looking forward to seeing how the show has evolved.

Jay said...

Have a great tour, Dave. Looking forward to seeing you in Bradford next week!

Ray Morgan | Poetry said...

I'll be there in Southend! Really looking forward to it.

Unknown said...

I bet you could cycle the Irish Sea, given a suitably modified bike. Now there's a challenge. Sounds like a job for Chris Boardman...

Emo Bears said...

Looking forward to seeing you in Stoke as you had been inconsiderate enough to sell out on your Birmingham show before I even knew you were touring again.

Dan Metcalf said...

Yay! See you in Oxford then.

Ian said...

Come to Dublin, Dave! You know you want to...

Sarah said...

Looking forward to seeing you in Brighton. Thanks for the reminder, it's nearly sold out!

Anonymous said...

Dave, any sign of a Dublin gig? We'd love to see you over here!

Dave Gorman said...

@Ian and anonymous: I'd love to do a gig in Dublin but the answer to these things is always the same. I don't book theatres, they book me.

Emma Spreadbury said...

Good luck with the Sit Down, (acelerator) Pedal, (brake) Pedal, Stop and Stand Up second leg.

You're coming over to Oxford, but I saw the show in Wycombe, and it would be ridiculos to see one of your shows more than once.

I hope Team Genius are oiling their collective cogs as well.

Scottish Nature Boy said...

@Emma - ridiculous but it's what we are doing anyway! You should do something ridiculous every day. Or was it something dangerous?

Tracey said...

We'll hopefully see you, completely de-rusted, but not too well-oiled in Nottingham on Saturday - You're our Valentines treat (not to worry you or anything!).

If you ever do fancy a bit of 2 wheeled pedalling in this area, we make great human SatNavs.

Emma Spreadbury said...

@ Scottish Nature Boy - I saw Googlewhack... I think 4 times. It was ridiculous. I must have had a lot of disposable time on my hands back then.

To be fair, the shows were different every time. In one of the theatres, I saw a mouse.

Adurj Le`Bard said...

You left off the Lecture Theatre at Walton in your tour dates. Fantastic acoustics. Especially if you stand next to the upright Piano. Plus plenty of room to queue in the locker area.

Good luck with your tour Senor Gorman.

simon d said...

Dave,

Hope the scouse heckler left you alone at Preston this time around! I have never seen a heckler manhandled out of a theatre before! Well played!

Simon D