AFTER a leisurely breakfast at Les’s we pack up and leave Edinburgh for Lindisfarne.

Spending the night at Les’s has given us a head start and we only have 60 or so miles to go.

First stop is the Lindisfarne Inn where we’ve been booked in for the night. We check in and leave our bags then make for the festival site which is only a mile or two away.

After getting artist accreditation we load in at the back of the Americana tent, make our arrival known to the stage manager then go for a wander around the festival site and grab a snack.

There’s plenty beer and water backstage and we’re given meal vouchers which we keep for later.

My stage time is 5pm, with set up and soundcheck at 4.30pm. We’d hoped to catch our pals Colonel Mustard & the Dijon 5 at 4.15pm, but there’s some problem with the the tent where their stage is and they’re moved to another stage…but with a 4.30pm start 🙁

I get set up..the sound engineer is of the ‘too cool for school’ variety and is disinterested in working with Margaret and declines an offer of a copy of the set list which shows the songs I use my footstomp. “I’ll use my ears,” he says. Ahh well, we occasionally come across this type…but thankfully rarely.

I hit the stage at 5pm and the tent is full…a great, responsive audience. The sound is OK despite the engineer’s indifference, but I’m aware that my footstomp is on the whole time, making any movement across the stage audible through the PA which kinda makes me tread carefully. The engineer clearly ain’t using his ears. The audience don’t seem to mind, but for me it feels like it’s compromising my show a little.

Note to sound engineers: Margaret and I are ‘the client’. Margaret has been to more than 1500 Dave Arcari shows worldwide and while she doesn’t claim to be a sound engineer (although she is, and has been, more than capable of running my sound herself), she knows who things should sound. And how I want them to sound. You may know your rig, the room/space and be an expert in you field…but you are not an expert on my guitars and sound so please at least have the courtesy to listen to what Margaret has to say. We have to work with you and will, if necessary bow to your arrogance for the sake of the show at hand but, by fuck, you will never work with me again.

Despite this, we have a great time – the rest of the staff, crew and stage management are fantastic. After the show we catch up with some pals, including Mark and Fiona who are soon to embark on a round the world trip in their amazing van.

We eat, hang out for a while and enjoy some more music then head back to our hotel for the night. Knackered.

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