Haven't looked in for a while - been a bit out of loop, but just had to swing by to say what a treat yesterday was. The slightly more unconventional circumstances meant we could all sit down and wait for the 'main event' in very civilised surroundings (the Acoustic Café) and chat properly, eat/drink and listen to some rather good other performers to boot. BUT boy was the main event worth waiting for. Special thanks to superseasquirt for saving the day with her extra auditorium ticket (after a rather officious minion decided to limit one of our party to just one ticket, when the rest of us got two - to cover those of us queuing at the main stage door) and so 'the plan' worked and we got our front row seats. It was a very relaxed, intimate atmosphere, and in fact Matt himself said he hadn't felt this comfortable performing in a long time - he said "You know like when you buy a fish, and it has to stay in the bag for a bit, you know, to.....settle. Well, I don't need a bag" Aww!! You know the set list thanks to earlier posts, but from my point of view it was lovely to hear Bar Tender live - much more use of the lower register, which I get the distinct feeling we will be hearing a lot more of on the new album, and of course the infamous JCB song - so cute! I will echo what was said earlier about the clarity and purity of the vocals on All That Matters and River particularly, but his voice really was breathtaking - AGAIN! As you say Broken, the Echinacea clearly worked wonders as there was no hint of any problem with the throat yesterday. It went all too quickly and I spoke to a number of 'newbies' afterwards who were equally impressed and said they were leaving wanting to hear more

Also there was a reviewer from Acoustic Magazine sitting in the row behind us and from all accounts he left very impressed.... all good news.
A security guard told us Matt had left the building whilst we were hanging around near the Taylor Guitar stand, but as it turned out a group circumnavigated the building afterwards anyway, and did catch him in his car round the back as he was leaving - hence the photos etc that have appeared on Twitter.
My photos aren't all that - despite being so close - the lighting was not very accommodating, but I will hopefully eventually get an opportunity to upload tomorrow and see if any are worth tinkering with and bringing across. Meanwhile, I must just say all in all it was a lovely day catching up with everyone and meeting a few new faces too, although I did feel a bit of fraud when handed flyers for things like the latest electronic loop pedal gizmos - thank goodness no-one asked me what guitars I play !! :O