Well, it came and went. Seems like a lifetime away. But what a weekend we had. After a 4 hour drive, we arrived at The Welly in Hull to begin soundchecking and as we walked into the main hall, I clocked Mr Numan doing his Meet and Greets to various fans. To say I was a tad nervous is an understatement. But, After a few minutes, Gary came over and introduced himself and immediately I felt at ease in his company. He is an incredibly humble and down-to-earth guy! Not at all what you'd expect of a man of his Calibre. So time went by and we had mere minutes to go before playing our set so I had a few glugs of red wine (which always seems to help my voice) and we walked onstage to around 600 people. We launched into To Die For, which gave me goosebumps as it normally does. I noticed the crowd were kind of static but completely transfixed as we ploughed our way through our set. Now, normally I would be worried that we were going down like a lead balloon, but numanoids are not normally known for going apeshit at gigs. They like to take it all in and watch proceedings. We got rapturous applause after most of the songs. This was good enough for me. I left the stage happy as punch. We then watched Gary's band rock the house. What a spectacle indeed. Amazing performance and sound design. I was simply blown away. After then mingling with the band backstage, I decided to go to bed. Mission accomplished.
The next evening, we arrived in Leamington Spa Assembly for our next performance. After seeing the size of the venue, I gulped! Nerves and excitement took over. I decided to spend a good hour in our dressing room, warming up my vocals and putting on makeup. Also a few slugs of red wine. Then it was time to play our biggest gig yet. And what a show it was. Again the crowd were relatively static and heads were nodding and people cheered us on. It was amazing. The sound was mind-blowing in this place. Imagine feeling completely emotional but yet focussed and confident. We left the stage feeling sublime. Best gig we've ever played. It would seem the numanoids loved us. And what a pleasure it was to play for them. Then watched Gary's band play again and it was even better than last night. Also as before, he invited his daughter Persia up onstage to sing with him on his new single My Name Is Ruin. Shivers were sent down my spine. It's not often you see a band of this calibre but they were outstanding. Afterwards, I got to talk to Gary for a good 45 minutes about all things from rock-stardom to Tourette's, Aspergers and autism. I'm always worried how I come across when chatting away, due to my inability to read people in most situations due to possible Aspergers and Autism (as I've been told I have by many people). And constant worry about my Tourette's. Maybe, who knows, I've always been a bit odd so maybe it's just that?. But yet again, Gary and his amazing family put me completely at ease with myself and were great company. Not to mention the amazing company of my band, Mike, Louis, Tom and Adam, our manager and fellow singer/songwriter Hannah Clive and our driver and roadie Dean Rose.
This has been one of my favourite weekends in recent memory and I hope at some point in the future we will be asked back to play more shows with him.
Until then, We will continue to make more music and play more shows around the UK.
Much love and peace,
Matt Warface
xxx
