The Big Weekend

Yesterday, we (now that I played three gigs with Arco Iris, I can start saying “we”) were playing at the St. Ives Carnival. It was a success, in spite of drizzle and rather chaotic organisation of the event. The Carnival Procession started about midday. The 15-strong band (yes, only 15, but strong all the same) paraded in between two carnival floats. In the beginning, we were told by one of the marshalls to “close that gap” which I thought was not very considerate: we could walk and play only that fast. Oh well, it was only 1.7 miles anyway. The procession ended in Warner’s Park, where the prizes to the best floats were announced — to our surprise, we got the second place! Later in the afternoon, we had a 30-minute arena slot (in the draft timetable, we were described as “High Brow Brazilian Band”.) By that time, the band has shrunk to 11 hardcore players, but I think we did well, for such a small line-up.


Today was different. It was about 35 of us at the Main Stage on Parker’s Piece The Big Weekend thing. Sitting in front of the stage, Yuri and Timur looked thoroughly bored. So would be I, if I had to watch more or less the same show three times in a row. But this afternoon, while going to the playground, they had a discussion between themselves. Apparently, they appreciated our show(wo)manship after all, especially the bit when “they were waving the sticks above their heads”. (It was quieter a bit, for sure.) In any case, they had no choice but listen to us, so they could as well enjoy it.