Blog: A Dream Come True

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Ever since we recorded the song One Last Party it has been used as a point of DELIGHTFUL HUMOUR during Validators Setlist BICKERING SESSIONS. At some point someone is always legally obliged to say "Ooh! How about One Last Party?" and we will LARF - doing One Last Party live! The very idea!

This HILARITY has become so ENGRAINED in Validators LORE that it even features at the very end of One Last Party as the HILARIOUS PUNCHLINE - it sounds like one of OUR setlists, but one with One Last Party on it! THEZE GUYZ ARE KRAZY!!

Thus it was a bit weird last night when I arrived in a Community Hall in Distant Kilburn to hear what sounded very much like One Last Party being played by an Orchestra. Could it possibly BE?

Well, yes, of course it could, because I was there specifically to have a rehearsal with A Little Orchestra, who are going to be playing at the next Totally Acoustic. When we arranged it they asked if I'd like to do It Only Works Because You're Here with them again, and maybe another song? I said "YES PLEASE!" and as I couldn't think of anything in particular to DO Nat from them suggested Billy Jones Is Dead. This sounded GRATE to me, but a couple of days later I was discussing various items with The Validators, and One Last Party was mentioned again. My CHORTLES were almost immediately curtailed when I realised that, actually, maybe we COULD do it live, with an ORCHESTRA! Could one young lad (me)'s dream come TRUE?

It DID! We spent the next 45 minutes with me singing along to all THREE songs, orchestra and all, and as before it was AMAZING. Orchestras make a HECK OF A LOT OF SOUND so I had to sing at the fullest of my powers - goodness me, you can see why Opera Singers have to sing in that WEIRD WAY to get over the top of their BAND, it takes a LOT of effort, and it felt at times like my entire BODY was RESONATING with the effort to bellow. Obviously I lost a bit of my TRADEMARK JAZZ PHRASING (hem hem) and NUANCE, but I think I'll be audible over everyone... especially when A LOVELY THING happens at the end of One Last Party, ooh! That bits ACE!

When you've played with the same band for SO LONG it's always ODD to play with other people, and A Little Orchestra were no different in being DIFFERENT. At one point we had a long discussion about how to know the end of the song was coming - there was much discussion about BARS and LOOPS, and I just thought "Surely Kenny" [ARRANGER and, this time, DRUMMER] "will just do THE DRUMS SIGNAL?" I kept this thought to myself though - it seems that Orchestras need more than A Special Drum Fill to enact a change of direction.

Also DISCONCERTING was the fact that there was SO MUCH going on - there were about 10 musicians (and me! HA HA!) in the room and they were pretty much ALL playing different bits, and I lost my place a couple of times trying to listen to what they were doing - there's a lovely FLUTE bit, for instance, near the line "Mark E Smith sings melodiously" that I just wanted to stop singing and HEAR. I guess I'll have to wait until the podcast!

After three quarters of an hour I staggered out into the night, JOYOUS, WREATHED in sweat and KNACKERED - I'm amazed Pavarotti ever got LARGE, this sort of singing is like a WORKOUT!

posted 2/11/2011 by MJ Hibbett

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