Normally, the thing about surprise gigs is they are a surprise for the audience, not the band. Not in this case - what I thought was a little social down the Cafe Largo and maybe getting up to play a couple of numbers was in fact a full gig with a soundcheck, a dressing room, setlist, a queue, audience and even gig money at the end of the night. Which was a bit of a surprise waiting for me when I got there at 8.

Nice dressing room at the Cafe Largo with lots of the trappings of fame in a funky setting. So there was famous guitars, lots of Bob Dylan posters and beautiful women (John Brion's girlfriend, Mary-Lynn Rajskub with a special pose for underwatermoonlight.com readers) - all these hanging around backstage setting the scene as it were. Plus there was nice pasta served by the chef himself.

We started a bit late and after Mary-Lynn had done a very funny opening set, Robyn got up and did a few numbers on his own, then Kimberley joined in and finally me and Morris got up and we rattled thrugh stuff like Hots and Devil Mask, and others we've been ignoring a bit lately like Reptile and Airscape - stuff like that. Also did a few new ones like Mind is Connected and (MUSICAL INTERLUDE) I carried on with my new extra bassy bass sound from the Pod fx unit, which I first tried in the KCRW radio session and I've used in both the LA gigs.

Then a few of Robyn's mates including (back to camera) John Brion and Peter Buck arrived and they did old 60's hits like Waterloo Sunset and a really nice version of Walk on the Wild Side ("and the white boys sang .....") and then it was over. The tour, that is. But for a gentle social, just hanging around talking (about Kimberley's 5 hour walk back from KCRW mainly).

Meanwhile I was chasing Robyn round the room with the camera. Then back to the hotel, to do a quick bit of packing for this gruelling journey home, and getting ready for Cambridge next Wednesday.

And would you believe it, Eddie Tews was there tonight so he has attended every single Soft Boys gig on this tour. It doesn't matter that he missed Austin because that was not a Soft Boys headline, it was a Matador showcase. He goes back to work in Seattle on Saturday so we don't expect to see him in Cambridge.

— Matthew