I often feel the way my friend felt on Friday night. He was doing a music gig in London and I went along, taking a friend of mine with me too. He had invited his girlfriend and some other friends to come along. When we all got there, we discovered that our table formed a large part of the audience. It's easy to feel somehow embarrassed in this situation. It's easy to think that you've put your friends through something awful as the acts before (and after) you go up and strut their stuff - whether it's flawed or excellent (you see the flaws). It's easy to think of the whole thing as an ego trip that you're asking your friends to somehow underwrite.

Except...

Well, myself and my companion had a lovely evening at the gig. Sure, there were some moments that were awful, but they were delightfully so. Sometimes you just have to trust the show and let it be what it's going to be. It was fun.

I'd had to reorganise the weekend, which meant I attended Friday night's gig when I didn't expect to, rather than do an easier one on Sunday. I'm glad things worked out the way they did.