First mission complete

At the beginning of February 2007 Agent A the most persistent of PTA members set us a task....provide some live music at the School fete at the end of June we had about 20 weeks to put together something...it spiralled out of control.....soon the two of us had amassed a “band “ purchased some PA equipment and we were off .......with two weeks to go we had parted company with our singer and drummer after our first gig which went ...kind of ok .....our rhythm guitarist wasn’t able to make the fete ...we had 11 songs and no one to play them...Wifey and I were back to ......almost square one ...then by some divine intervention someone shined on us from above and in a freak few days we found a great singer ,a fantastic drummer and a very talented stand in guitarist.....two days before the event we had a gig on stage supporting Diddly Sqwat which went well then....D Day.......30th of June.......St Joseph’s RC School fete....what we had worked towards......could we pull it off against all odds? this was worse than challenge Aneka!!!!!! and not a cat suit, jeep or helicopter insight!!!!
The sunny English summers afternoon on the school green didn’t happen...no bunting no happy children with candy floss sticking their mother’s blouse to their sisters hair specially brushed back for the occasion ......Due to the severe weather warning the PTA quite sensibly moved the whole fete inside ...we were back on the stage in the hall where we practice.......It was cramped up there with Barabanshik’s drums but on two tiers we managed to even squeeze Rockstar our 6 year old with his drums...The Holy one arrived to stand in for Diddler and Pugwash was suitably geared up and ready to go...Wifey and I had some how patched together a band...it was all set up we played “She’s Electric” as a sound check and I saw the PTA in a huddle jumping from foot to foot excited like school girls. I had a good feeling about the gig ....The doors opened at 1200 and at 1215 we set off on our 4 sets of 4 to 5 songs......There was the odd little glitch here and there nothing glaring and the first and second sets went really well.......at the end of the second set Rock star got up and belted out a steady drum beat I came in with Eddy’s bass line and we all went for it ...he really stopped the fete all were looking at him we were very very proud parents....his drum teacher the week before had told us we had a little natural and once he got behind them drums he was dynamite!!!! He even sang the last verse with Pugwash adding to Wifey’s solo. His Grandfather was an avid singer and loved the drums we all wondered if he was tapping his foot watching his six year old Grandson from Heaven...........I know he would have been made up by it all.
The third set was a little wobbly but again nothing too obvious and then the finale the 4th set . I noticed some of the teachers dancing at the back ...we had them in our hands Mokey and Mother Dearest were at the front snapping away with the cameras on the penultimate song “Don’t you forget about me” which went down really well ...just as we were coming to the end I sprung a “stadium moment on the band......”Get your hands in the air!!!!!!!” I shouted clapping like a wild man......”Sing it La Lalalala” The band looked at me as if to say....what the FFFFFF! But to our amazement the hall which was pretty full had their hands in the air and the la la las were being sung out loud.....wow what a buzz! We ended on I wanna hold your hand .....By the end of the gig we had been asked to play at the school again this month at the Christmas party in December (funnily enough) a 50th birthday party in December a wedding in September and a charity gig in Bracknell on September 8th coupled with the Battle of Britain club wanting to hire us and the charity gig on July 17th we were well chuffed.....
Now we aren’t going to do all of those gigs we just haven’t got the repertoire and we all have fulltime jobs but this does signal the Hot Machero are now a proper band ....now the work can begin, tightening up ...building a repertoire and having some wicked fun. Mokey, Mother dearest ,Wifey, Mini minx and the real star of the day Rock star! retired back to Machero towers and celebrated by ordering a Chinese and after the mini Machero were in bed and Wifey and I were on our own drinking Red wine and coke watching the concert for Diana at Wembley we looked at each other and laughed .....................we had only gone and pulled it off!