Guest Blog From Verity Smith A Female Vocalist and her Over Seas Experience

Overseas Experiences

Gigging overseas seems like a glamorous prospect; new places, new people, new food and new experiences – and it totally is all of those things - but it’s also a lot more - hard work, long days, lots of money and not a lot of sleep!

A couple of weeks ago, I embarked on a trip to mid-France with the UK based theatre company, Caamora, to take part in a Gala Concert. The French contingent (as we like to call them!) even made us special wine for the event, so French and so appreciated! We had all had our scripts and music ahead of time and last minute rehearsals were planned for the day before our trip. As typical with all rehearsals, perhaps 25% of the lyrics weren’t recalled and once we’d been over it 12,000,000 times it reached 10pm, everyone had finally arrived and run their songs, so we ordered pizza and settled down for the night.

 

ALARM! 5am!!

On the road at 6am and catch the Eurostar first thing, we travelled through France only delayed for an hour by the interesting Syrian issues at the border. By 17:00 we were finally at our hosts’ house. On this occasion we were lucky enough to avoid the dodgy Travelodge experience of doom that normally faces musicians away from home, and were being looked after by one of the event organisers – luxury! Wine and food kindly awaited our arrival - we were all very pleased to have this, and our beds, waiting! But first we had to unload the van UUUGH! So, onward, to the venue, and only then FINALLY with the PA and musical instruments all unloaded, back for pasta and delicious BED!

Morning, slowly we surface, I am more than usually the first up so I sat drinking lovely coffee while our French friends busied themselves with breakfast around me. We were treated to a wonderful continental breakfast, setting us up ready for another long day ahead.

The venue was open from 11 am, and despite not being on until 8pm (or possibly later!) we needed to get there and sound-check as soon as possible. There were two support acts, also using the venue for setting up and sound-checking, and being more local to the French area than us we were using a lot of their for our set… and so we waited.

Something I have noticed about gigging, no matter what level, is that there is always a LOT of waiting. You can become a literal expert at Angry Birds, or get through many chapters of a good book in a day.  

Finally (perhaps 2.5 hours later?) we got to run though a few of songs, getting the levels and performance perfected for the evening… and then Lunch! The nice thing about gigging in France, or in fact any European country I’ve been to, is that you are VERY well looked after! And then… more waiting!

So…  the time for the gig was finally here, I’m ready (after many minutes doing my face and many more attempting to get into a corset!) – time for pre-gig selfies, Instagram, Facebook, and vocal warm-ups …  SO important, especially if you have a big voice like I do, and even more important is no wine before the gig (sob!) … and the social media aspect is so important to me too, I really want to feel connected to peopol who listen to me sing.

We sit and appreciate the talent of our predecessors, each of the warm up acts is as great as the next, and looking fabulous to boot. The crowd are on board and really happy to be there, the evening is clement (unlike England!), and then - we’re on!

 

The gig is FABULOUS! I even receive a standing ovation for one of my songs! People are cheering, singing along and  generally enjoying themselves. Every second is perfect, even those where I’m questioning how well I did in my head, did I get the words right? Did my voice crack here, or did I intonate properly there? But it’s wonderful, and in the blink of eye, it’s gone.

It always amazes me, the amount of time, effort, passion and indeed money, that goes into these events, and they’re over so quickly – even more so if you’re the one on stage! But then afterwards, the wine flows with the conversation, new friends are made and happiness is visible throughout audience.

 

 I LOVE my job!!
Despite the long days, hard work, waiting, travel and days required to recover, I love this.

Singing, being, me.  

Click here to see Verity's listing at Ents Capital and how you can hire her!