<<
MARCH | MAY >>
A
P R I L 2 0 0 6
Saturday
1st April 06
Broadway
Theatre, Barking.
With Adrian
still serving sentence at Stalag Pontins, it is Dave who
makes the lonely journey south with the backline, front
of house desk and the monitoring system. Missing a
golden opportunity to play a cruel April Fools joke on
us, by calling to say that the van had broken down or he
had forgotten the drums, we find Dave in the midst of
plugging into Barkings house system when we
arrive. Also already at the Broadway, are Jean,
Mick and Barbara, with a whole arsenal of recording gear
and sweet tasting comestibles.
An odd layout for this show sees two tiers of seating
and about a dozen tables at the front, each surrounded
by four chairs. During our brief sound check,
baskets of tortilla chips were placed on the
tables. We've not seen owt like this before.
It's a good show in spite of the very reverby room,
although we did think Eddie was gonna pass out from the
heat a couple of times. This time we remembered to
check that we had a drummer at the beginning of
Paperback, but I think Roy had more than learnt that
particular lesson.
 
Friday
7th April 06
Halton FM
97.8, Runcorn.
Roy and I
pop over to Halton FM for a chat on the Pe Muldoon
in the Afternoon programme.
Saturday
8th April 06
Empire
Music Hall, Belfast.
With Roy due
to spend a couple of days in Sligo after this gig with
retro chocolate enthusiast, Pete, there is a spare bed
available at the hotel. My mate Alex and I had
been planning a night out, so I suggested he come with
us. Alex was keen, as he'd never been to the
Ulster Capital. Usually when flying from
Liverpool, I would simply order a cab to take us the
short distance to the airport. Today, though, with
the Grand National taking place at Aintree, there are no
taxis to be had, so we have to jump in the car and pay
the scandalous parking fees. Picking Alex up from
the pub down the road because the fibre-glass tray
underneath his car's engine had become dislodged, we
eventually met up with Roy at the airport. Derek
was flying out of Blackpool and we would meet him at the
gig.
Seamie was on hand to meet us from Belfast
International. Apparently, Belfast was hosting
some sort of dancing competition this weekend and hotels
were difficult to get. Instead of the Madison,
right opposite the gig, we were stuck out in the sticks
near the motorway. The plan for a night out was
going tits-up.
In the hour that we had at the hotel before going over
for the sound check, Alex and I managed to squeeze in a
couple of Guinness'. Whether it be Dublin or Belfast,
the black stuff tastes infinitely better over here than
it does at home.
The sound check with the new Empire PA proved noisy and
not particularly satisfactory....we would have to wait
until there were people in the room to hear what it
really sounded like.
We have a new addition to out costumes tonight.
Eddie has secured us some new shirts, which we believe
to be the same shade of blue worn by the West Highland
Constabulary. Roy, in particular, is doing a
cracking impression of a desk Sergeant.
Our last
check-in time for the 1.45 flight home was 1.15.
We pulled up in the cab at 1.20 and I legged to the
Easyjet check-in desk, expecting to be turned
away. The check in girls in Belfast are a
different breed to the ones in Liverpool, they are only
too pleased to help and say that it is no problem, we
just have to take the bags and guitars to the oversize channel,
as their desk had now closed. We would
be allowed on the flight. Liverpool would have
been another story. Even a second over the last
check in time there and they won't let you on, you would
swear that they enjoy it too. On recent flights
from Liverpool, we have found the check in staff to be
thoroughly miserable and humourless. The antithesis
of what you would expect from our "friendly"
home town. Liverpool has a reputation for being
warm and friendly. We have been saying for a few
years now that it is rapidly losing this status.
Even with all the shit that the people of Belfast have
had to go through for years, we Liverpudlians could
learn a lot from them when it comes to common courtesy.
Thursday
13th April 06
Southport
Theatre, Southport.
A local gig,
so everyone travels independently. Without doubt
there are more people at this show that know the band
than any we have ever played in the history of this
group. Hope you enjoyed the show.
Although not normally a keen viewer of Dennis
Norden's Laughter Files, I am still pissing
myself over the advertisement shown on this weeks
(probably re-run) episode, for "HM
Aftershave". The slogan was "Completely
Masculine in Presentation"..... I think
we might use this as a tag line for The Cavern
Beatles.
I phoned Derek whilst this was showing....we also
laughed at the advert for ICI's stretch fabrics.
Friday
21st April 06
Whitley
Bay Playhouse, Whitley Bay.
We have
always enjoyed coming to the North East. For one,
the audiences are always warm and receptive, and the
drive north is somehow more refreshing than ploughing south
on the M6.
Today, however, the M62 is crawling over the Pennines,
and the A1 is stationary in parts. The journey
that should take us 2 and a half hours tops, is taking 4
and a half.......it's a drag!
At least we really like this venue, it's our third time
here, but we are late enough to rule out fish and
chips. Actually, there has been a lack of this
kind of food lately, we all seem to be on a permanent
diet of sarnies.
It's a fairly good house at the Playhouse and we are all
as relaxed as we can be. From the opening number
we are all enjoying the show. The on stage sound
is excellent and this helps us all to gel together.
Roy is now taking no chances with making an early exit
from the second half. His set list has been
amended to include precise stage directions about when
he should leg it to the dressing room. It is odd
how a memory can work. Roy can remember intricate
details about anything that has happened over a month
ago, but is totally buggered if we decide to change one
of the songs before a show.
Yeah!...this was a fun gig.
Some nice pics from Dave Bryan.
|
