Who’s Molly? – CRAZY TOUR STORIES

In this Crazy Tour Stories segment, the alternative indie band, Who’s Molly?, talk about some of their crazy moments from touring. You can check out the feature, after the break.

Now we know this will read like we’re making it up… but I swear every word is true.

In 2017 our band Who’s Molly? were playing at a pair of linked UK festivals on the smaller unsigned stage. The first festival was in the North of England and the second was in the South. The first show wasn’t ideal as you could hear the MainStage bands as we played our set but we’d driven miles to get there and we weren’t going to let that get it our way. The guy who booked us saw our set at the first show and asked us if we’d play the aftershow party at the second festival for the headline acts and the presenter who hosted the festival.

We had no idea what to expect, as it was the first showbiz party we’d ever been asked to play, and to be totally honest the first showbiz party most of us had been too. Having finished our set on the unsigned stage we were picked up in a golf buggy and driven up to soundcheck for the private event along a track. The location of the gig was about a mile away in field well away from the main festival. The stage was in a tent with a great vibe and chilled lighting and nearby there were loads of other smaller tents where the overnight guests were staying. But, when we got there, apart from security and the sound guy, it was pretty much deserted.

The sound guy told us they only wanted a chilled acoustic set so as we sound checked we stripped it back a little and were good to go. He then asked us if we knew how to operate a PA desk as he wanted to go and get some sleep.

As the time approached 11:00 pm the mainstage headliner finished and we were told the acts, their friends and the guys who organized the festival were heading back to the party and that we should start playing so there would be music as they walked in.

We’d put together a setlist mixing our own tracks with some throwback covers to keep the party vibe going. We started jamming something instrumental acoustically to an almost empty tent, but within 5 minutes a couple of hundred people turned up and we realized this was going to be one hell of a party, almost immediately the crowd went crazy for it. Then the presenter (who up til now we’d only ever seen on TV) arrived and drove right into the crowd in his buggy beeping the horn and waving a bottle of Hennessy. He got up on stage and started pouring shots in the mouths of each band member (apart from our unlucky guitarist who was driving us the four hours back to Wales that night).

Very quickly we ditched the acoustics and went electric. We had them dancing on tables and it all kicked off. After a couple of songs, one of the headliners who we’d been fans of for years joined us onstage. We jammed a cover with her and it went down a storm. Now everyone wanted a turn. That was cool for the artists whose songs we knew but presented a problem when one of the headliners climbed up on stage and none of us knew anything he’d done. There was an awkward pause and we all looked at each other before launching into Kiss by Prince. Which he knew. A lucky escape.

The party was only stopped at 2:30am when the sound guy woke up and told us we’d blown his P.A.

It was an incredible night. We sang with some of our musical heroes, drank too much (apart from the designated driver guitarist… unlucky dude), AND we got asked to play the main stage this year. We packed up that night and had a four-hour drive back home to Wales, and made it just in time to watch the Connor McGregor v Floyd Jr fight.

Tour story at its best

Karl – (Who’s Molly?)

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