It hasn't caught on yet as an expression, but today is Hockley Hustle Boxing Day. HHBD is the day when the people of the Nottingham music scene booked the day off from the day job if they had either the sense or the foresight. Yesterday began with a fry up in town before anchoring myself at the Bunkers Hill where I was holding court, The Sunday Alternative once again joining the throng of promoters with a stage at one of the last big events of the year.
To be honest I was worried about the gig being a disaster, which of course a lot of people would have enjoyed witnessing. Last year was such a big deal and a wonderful day that many people said that it was the best stage at the whole event so I had a lot to live up to. Once again I had booked a line up that strayed from the usual Hockley names and chosen to have my stage away from the main throng. On paper it was another strong line up but I was worried about the fact that it had taken so long to get everything organised. I had a every band and singer booked in June and sent the first group email around that time asking for certain details required to run a stage, and received my final email with a tech spec last week. My joke on Facebook a few days ago about asking for tech specs for next year now so that I might have them all in on time went largely unnoticed but it allowed me to express how unhappy I was with the organisation of it all. The other issue was the monumental ballache of arranging equipment, especially the issue of amps and drum kits. Thankfully Ant from City of Kites loaned his kit so I had a permanent one set up, which took out a lot of change over time.
Some slight issues with the sound desk set us back by ten minutes or so, but by Hockley standards that counts as early. King of Rome kicked off just after two o'clock. Last year we started at three but I overbooked slightly so decided to bring it forward. I have recorded a Random Saturday Session with Martin in the summer so I knew this would be a brilliant start to the day.
Without naming everyone and making this look like a list, the whole day once again was amazing from start to finish. The crowd were in good spirits and didn't even seem to notice that we were eventually running an hour behind, by that time I had given up worrying and just stood back to admire my handiwork in putting together such a fucking good line up. It was worth every bit of worry and stress in the weeks leading up.
Quality wise the show was right up there with last year, which leaves me with a real challenge for the 2017 festival.
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