Pop Idle by Dave Dawson ~ 30 Years on the Road as a Professional Singer #Memoir @DerekPhilpott

Like hordes of others, best-selling author Dave Dawson has spent decades crisscrossing the country as a solo full-time professional musician. During his 30 years on the road, he has performed thousands of shows before tens of thousands of people, yet still remains one of the army of anonymous entertainers who literally sing for their supper, as part of the Never Ending UK Tour. From pubs to clubs, dives to luxury hotels, theatres to gardens, and hen nights to care homes, there’s hardly a live environment that he hasn’t encountered, enjoyed or endured.

Along the way, he’s had brushes with fame and fandom, strippers and stalkers, crooks and colourful characters, pissed-up punters and prima donnas… and has banked a wealth of experience at the brunt of the live music circuit.

Dave Dawson has an appealing writing style peppered with wry humour and after having read Dear Mr Pop Star, I knew Pop Idle would be a read I’d enjoy.

This is a realistic account from someone who has been on the live music circuit for many years. Pop Idle is an engaging and entertaining read, with some more serious undertones, including dodgy agents, con men and stalking. It’s a real, down to earth insight into the life, with its inevitable ups and downs, of an entertainer and all that that entails, not least of all luck, opportunities missed and being in the right place at the right time.

Pop Idle (the play on words will become apparent) recounts Dave Dawson’s years traveling from venue to venue, across the length and breadth of the country. It’s a very well written account of his life as a professional performer which encompasses most venues you could think of, from the luxurious to the less salubrious and the anecdotes cover a range of emotions from the poignant to the laughable.

I particularly liked the account of a show at a care home and this remark from one of the residents…

“Thank God we’ve got a singer today. Last week we had a girl playing the harp. I know we’re all close to the end but there’s no need to rub it in. That’s just taking the piss.”

Another amusing care home exchange came when one lady asked Dave for something by Deer Streets. He was nonplussed and confessed he’d never heard of Deer Streets. It turned out the lady meant Dire Straits. Impressed, Dave was surprised she knew the group and commented to that effect. It transpired Mark Knopfler was her son. There were several other surprising revelations concerning famous people and others who, although not famous, were incredible in their own right.

My encounters with all these remarkable people made my boast of two Palladium shows and an uncle who’d been in The Who look a bit shit…but they shrunk my head… I’ve not had “ears in different time zones” for quite a while.

I didn’t realise just how much was involved in being a touring act. It’s not just the never ending travelling to and fro but lugging equipment from home to venue and back again each time as well. Highly recommended if you’re interested in the less famous side of the music business, or just like a good entertaining read.

My thanks to Dave Dawson for a digital ARC