Greenbelt 09: Performance Cafe gig

I was asked to play in the Performance Cafe at Greenbelt this year. I remembered the cafe from when I was last at Greenbelt but didn’t realise how much it had grown in size since then – not something that helped my nerves before going on…

I hugely enjoyed playing the gig and I couldn’t have hoped for a better atmosphere, crowd or response.

Thanks to everyone who came to hear me play and to Ed Richmond and Harvey Jessop for making it happen.

Steve Lawson was kind enough to take some photos. Here are some of them:

And here’s another one I found taken by Helen O’Sullivan:

And another by jackharrybill:

As you can see I was joined by my good friend Mark Hilditch on keyboards. He flew down earlier that day and flew back the next. I’m incredibly grateful he made the effort to be there, as not only does he add so much more to the songs, it’s also a lot more fun having someone else on stage with you.

The morning after the show Steve Lawson also recorded a short interview with me for Audioboo which you can hear here:

Greenbelt ‘09: Perfect Moment

On Saturday morning at Greenbelt I was filmed playing ‘Perfect Moment’ for the Greenbelt website.

Here it is:

Or you can watch it on Vimeo.

Thanks to Steve and Rachel for making it happen.

Greenbelt ‘09: Highlights

I’ve just returned home from Greenbelt – a festival of music, art, faith, love, creativity & justice that takes place every year, of which the last few it’s home has been Cheltenham Racecourse.

A recent blog post by Steve Lawson sums up why Greenbelt is so great – have a read here.

Highlights for me this year were catching up with old friends, hearing Dave Tomlinson and Jenny McIntosh talking about ‘So What the Hell Should We Believe?’:

the Sunday morning worship service, ‘Take an Olive Seed’, which focused on the stories of the people living in the land called holy – especially the Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories:

having my first cup of chai tea (and another one not long after) at the Tiny Tea Tent:

seeing Miriam Jones at the Performance Cafe:

and having a beer in the Jesus Arms:

(thanks to Jackie for this pic)

I was asked to play this year in the Performance Cafe on the Saturday night – I’ll write about that, plus the other gigs I ended up playing, in my next few posts…..