I was back at Baker St underground station this evening. I played from 4:45-7pm. I was earlier than expected, as I was supposed to busk from 6-8pm. I was going to stay until 8pm, but my string decided to snap around 6:45pm, so I finished the set with some of my songs that I have backing tracks for and singing along without the guitar.
I think there had been some incident or train delays, as where the pitch was it was so overcrowded with people passing. I felt quite claustrophobic performing and had my back right up to the wall. I was super squashed with my microphone stand and guitar, but kept on playing regardless.
The station staff were stood opposite me too, looking straight at me. One of them came up to me and said can you turn the amp down, as some people are getting panicky because of the announcements, so I turned it down.
Also there was a woman who at the start of my set started screeching randomly and shouting: “you need to be married,” right opposite me. She was scaring and making people jump with her screeching. The station staff called the police, as soon as they arrived she disappeared. No idea what happened to her amongst the crowds of people passing.
Apart from this I did have tips, but the wifi/3G was not working for me to connect to my card machine. One man came over and got funny too, saying: “do you have a card machine?” And I said I do but the signal isn't working in here for me to connect to it. Next thing he said: “you've said that to me before, other buskers use it here and you can't get yours working, it's bad.” And he got quite rude. I said I've tried to get it working etc. I said he can have one of my business cards, and he said: "No I don't want that. I only want to see you here!”
I forgot to mention… I also had a random box of cigarettes put in my tip box too. I don't smoke so no idea what to do with those! It was definitely another day of unpredictability for sure!