So last night around this time I was on stage playing at my 2nd bi-monthly FOLKED UP night at The Maze, a music venue in the great shire of Nottingham!

FOLKED UP is an event I’ve started organising to showcase the local acoustic and folk inclined artists I really love from around Nottingham. It’s a labour of love and I take a financial risk putting it on – I spend close to £100 each time and make that money back through the door entry fee.

Last night I went through my usual anxiety-induced freak out that I have when doing stuff like this. I was crapping myself that the turnout would be rubbish – thankfully it was quite the opposite! I must say, it can be a bizarre thing putting on your own shows, because the anxious anticipation and pre-gig fear can be horrible, especially so for someone like myself whose anxiety manifests itself physically (barely able to talk, dry mouth, tense throat, acid reflux, sinus problems, you name it!) – but the HUGE sense of accomplishment you get from seeing it all go well and witnessing a busy room of people all having a great time on a week night – that makes it all worth it!

Once I saw that people were in fact turning up, and having a good time too, I started to relax. By the time I got on stage I was really enjoying myself and I felt my set went really well. It’s always good when you get off stage having felt like you had fun playing to a great audience.

Other than myself, the young and talented Frankie Rudolf opened the evening brilliantly with his endearing and catchy folk-pop tunes, and after my set the excellent Marc Block and The Breezes delivered a storming set. Finally to close the evening Joshua Keogh enchanted the audience with his excellent songs and voice. I couldn’t have asked for a better set of musicians to play at my show, so THANK YOU to everyone who played – you are all awesome! Also thanks once again to The Maze for letting me put it on and just generally being very supportive towards what I do. Lastly, thanks to everyone who came – I hope you all had a good time – everyone I spoke to said they had a great evening, which I was really pleased about

Make sure you get down to Broadway cinema if you’re at Branch Out Festival at the end of the month (27th-28th Oct) – I’m still waiting to hear what day and time I’m going to be playing – but hey, I know the venue at least Really looking forward to playing alongside such an excellent line up (check out the website to see who else is playing.) Oh, and it’s all FREE too so you have no excuse not to come if you’re living in Nottingham or nearby!

- Marc.