In which your author is no longer stalking Megan Washington, who he was never stalking in the first place.
Bristol.It rains.
A petite Australian in a huge coat sits in a doorway, talking into a mobile phone.
Then, the conversation finally over, she says "Are we going to perform, or what?"
And Megan Washington takes the stage.
It is hardly the greatest of stages for one of Australia's most popular rising talents on her first UK tour - a raised area in the corner of a bar, and - thanks to what appears to be Artie Fufkin-esque levels of promotion the attendance is disappointingly poor. Let us just say, then, that the event was "intimate".
Better still, a warm-up for the following night's massive show in London, in which there will not be a single Aussie barman to be found in the whole of Earl's Court.
Megan takes to the stage on her own, kicking off her set with a few of her singer-songwriter numbers - Fighting the Good Fight, Swallows, 80 Mile - before being joined on stage by the rest of her band for what one might call pop tunes, but - hey- these are Washo pop tunes full of love, loss, smart lyrics and naval-quantities of swears.
New songs Holy Moses (sadly kazoo-free) and Plastic Bag are mixed with the best of her I Believe You Liar album, before a truly jaw-dropping version of Someone Else in Mind. A song which didn't really work out in its recorded form, it comes into its own on stage as a powerful ballad on the break-up of a relationship. Look, here's a link from an earlier performance, and don't say I didn't warn you.
And then, after a rousing version of Cement, they are done.
Except they are not.
Megan hangs around after the show, not just giving autographs, but writing whole essays, acting as a life coach, giving out hugs, and demonstrating the art of the Selfie with me and equally star-struck Hazel.
I give her a copy of her newly released album Insomnia to sign (air-freighted into the UK by the lovely Pseudonymph), and there is genuine surprise amongst the band, it being the first copy of the CD she has seen, and - at the time of writing - I possess the only autographed copy of Insomnia in THE WHOLE FREAKIN' WORLD. I might have said "Squee" at this point.
Yes, I was a fanboy going into this gig, and she could have farted along to the music and not got a bad review, but this was everything we expected, and the aftershow was just as awesome as the show itself. Any performer who gives time to their fans in the way Washo and her band do deserve every success.But, y'know: Mission Accomplished.
Megan: Please continue being excellent.
You reward, if you reached this far, are some gig photos what I took, and one by the bass player.
Your other reward: Get the single I Believe You Liar for free from iTunes this week.
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