One day, four shows

The first of today's shows was at the bright and early time of 1:15pm and I was expecting a relatively quiet Sunday afternoon crowd for Comedy Tapas, a comp show featuring ten acts doing five minutes each. When the 80th person entered the room and stood at the back I realised this may not actually be the case. 

Opium on Cowgate, where the menu was presented, has a proper stage with heavy metal style logo backdrop and a large box-like construction between the stage and the seating area - presumably to keep metal heads at arms length. Though more likely to be an excellent launchpad for crowd surfing.

The quality of the acts was extremely high with Gary Samson and Nigel Lovell on the bill plus a musical improve trio and the Singaporian guy I'd seen at the Free Sisters a couple of days ago. The crowd were responsive to everyone and we all handed out plenty of flyers at the end. Things were looking good for Mirthquake.

Come 3:30 I was back out on the street handing out Wee Blue Books and flyers to people who certainly looked a lot more festival weathered than the day before. Footfall and take-up was significantly lower but still respectable. I've still yet to convince an international student to take anything. At 4:28, despite the room being both quieter and cooler than the day before, things didn't look totally positive with just nine people sat waiting for showtime. I packed up with video camera and stowed away my bag.

Which was a mistake as a late rush of people arrived and we kicked off with 25 in the room. A very comfortable number who were a lot more responsive than yesterday's with plenty of laughing and the occasional back and forth chat. Nick and James both did well and I concluded the show with a different set to yesterday's based on going to barbecue in Norfolk (a nearly true story now my brother lives there). Upon exit not only did we make more than before despite having less people but we also shifted two copies of Straight Outta Leyton thanks to £5 donations. There was also a man with a notepad who looked suspiciously like a reviewer. We shall see...

Post-show it was out of the glamour of performing in a pub's back room to Lidl for milk, rolls, muesli and toilet paper. With our new found riches I even bought the proper stuff that isn't used up in two sittings. I have clearly made it.

Faced with significant sandwich ham in the fridge potentially going off I ended up with a dinner of said meet, instant mashed potato and slices of equally at-risk cheese. A surprisingly enjoyable meal which I promise to never attempt again outside of the student halls renaissance that is our shared flat. Thoroughly hammed up I headed out to The Southsider to catch Jo Coffey's solo show and thoroughly enjoyed it. 

From there it was over to City Cafe for a gig created out of thin air and enthusiasm yesterday when Peter in our flat revealed they had a spare hour going every Sunday night and he was going to take it so we could all have an extra spot. In the intervening 24 hours a flyer had been created then colour photocopied at hideous expense ensuring that at 10pm I would be standing just up from the venue encouraging people to come and see a quality show in spite of the shockingly badly printed flyer I'd handed them worthy of a punk gig in 1982.

Despite this guerilla gig element there were still a fair 15-20 people in the venue when I hopped up on the stage and delivered a few tracks. The sound kind of worked - and certainly somewhat better than I'd credited the £49 Maplin mixing desk being capable of. Afterwards I was straight out the venue to the Hanover Tap for my forth show of the night.

The final show had similar numbers to City Cafe but being a smaller venue gave it a warmer atmosphere. The audience, largely polite 18-20 year olds enjoying their first beers, were adorable and my crowd-work largely felt like I was running a school trip and keeping everyone entertained on the bus home. As midnight gigs go it couldn't have gone much better and was a great way to round off the day's manoeuvres.

Shows Performed: 4 (6)

Bums on seats at Mirthquake: 25 (65)

Money in the Mirthquake bucket: £33.22 (£63.21)
Steps walked according to my pedometer: 12,752 (103,610) 

CDs Remaining: 98