My first night as Jake with The Chicago Blues Brothers

Having negotiated the wonderful Norfolk tractor express way, I found myself in a blustery Hunstanton at around 2pm.
I had a little time till I met Pete, Jayne and Squirrel at the theatre so I took the opportunity to check out some old haunts from my childhood holidays in sunny Hunstanton. £10 worth of 2p's later I was broke, frustrated and ready to throw those stupid slot machines into the sea! Time to meet the guys I think!
We loaded in to what is a lovely little theatre and with the help of the top draw house crew, we were all ready in double quick time. The rest of the band arrived not long after and I was formally introduced to them all (I have met and worked with most of them before) and I have to say the family vibe of the whole show kicked in almost immediately!
After some rehearsals to try and hammer in some dance moves to my increasingly hard head, we all enjoyed the Norfolk coasts greatest export.....Fish and Chips. Then all that was left to do was try and remember what came where and when, get changed and get on with it!
Now I have never been nervous about going on stage- as far as I am concerned the more people the better- but the only thing I do get nervous about is letting the people I am working with down. In an earlier life I fought internationally in a discipline called Knockdown Karate where obviously the objective was to knock the opponent down or preferably out! I was honestly never afraid of getting hurt (that was what I was there for) but I was afraid of letting down everyone that I had been training so hard with and that had given me so much of their time over the months before. This was a similar fear!
As the music started though, any nerves seemed to disappear as both myself and the audience became infected by the music. Mike and I walked on to stage and straight away I felt at home.
There were a couple of dance moves I messed up or completely forgot, and the odd harmony was missing but on the whole we all seemed to gel quickly as a unit, helped in no small way by Pete coming on and ripping the stage apart as the Reverend and later singing 'Minnie the Moocher'.
The show flew by and before I knew it we were taking our bows and being cheered off stage. Sweaty but happy we rushed to the front of house to sign some CD's and meet the audience, who to a man and woman loved the night and congratulated us all on a job well done.
On a personal note I would like to thank everyone of the band for their help and support and in particular Pete and Mike who got me through my first night and I hope on to many more with "The Chicago Blues Brothers". Bring on Newark!!

Matt