The Cavern Beatles & The Counterfeit Stones back stage at the Grand Hotel Monaco 
Left-Right:    Charlie, Justin, Derek, Rick, Steve, Pete, Roy, Alan, John and Tony

Arriving in Monté Carlo a day before our show, made for a very pleasant stay.  Admittedly, our hotel was undergoing major refurbishments, but at least our rooms were fine, if very noisy first thing in the morning.  Enjoyed a great meal in an American style diner on the first night before hitting a casino. (Just for a look - of course).
Waking up early, thanks to the persistence of a circular saw, Roy and Rick decided that they simply HAD to walk the Grand Prix course, stopping for coffee in what would be the pit lane during the race.  After walking up the hill from St. Devote and round the left-hander into Casino Square, (being careful to avoid the man-hole cover!) we met up with Dirk for lunch outside the Café du Paris.  Roy loved Monté for many reasons, but perhaps it was because every other car was a Bentley that he was most impressed.  After lunch it was over to the Grand Hotel for sound checks for the evenings performance.  JL on this trip was Tony Skeggs, who had been standing in for Eddie during his sabbatical.  There was much 'waiting round', as ever on this type of event, and we passed the time by drinking copious amounts of coffee and discussing colour co-ordination with Tracy.
We've played with the Counterfeit Stones many times, and it's always the same argument.......
SE "We wanna go on first".. 
RA "No..we do!"...  
SE "Yeah.. but you did last time"......
RA  "But you are so much more colourful than we are!".....  
SE  "Yeah!..  but you lot are more 'andsome"..       
At this point.. we have to agree!!! and so it was that The Cavern Beatles would close the show.  We must be the only 2 groups in the world who will fight over NOT going on last.
We nearly always enjoy fly-outs, but this trip was made better by having The Counterfeits with us.  After this show we took full advantage of the Principality's relaxed licensing laws and we all went out together and got monged in a nearby Irish bar.  The Guinness traveled very well and there were plenty of dark glasses in evidence the following morning.
On the way back to the airport, there was the fiasco of picking up all the guitars from the Grand.  Our coach had to reverse in the tunnel that goes under the hotel and that was a bit of a hairy moment, as the tunnel is on a constant bend (as you can see from the TV footage of the race if you have never been here).  The Stones have more guitars with them than the whole of Denmark Street and it is a bit of a squeeze getting them all in the aisle of the coach but we manage, and wonder how Steve never seems to be involved in the porterage!

Thanks to Justin Sandercoe for the photo of the two bands.  Justin has since left the Counterfeits to pursue his solo career.  He is currently writing with Katie Melua for her new album.  Visit his website here

* Since publishing this page, I have received a torrent of abuse from Tracy Jacobs of Essential Entertainment, who points out (quite correctly) it was she who took the above photograph.  Not quite sure now who would hold the copywrite....and do I care? erm...yes...any legal eagles please advise!  Tracy is apparently available to take your photographs, if you have a few hours to spare and you can show her what button to press!  The results from the Kodak disposable before she got hold of Justin's digital, were to say the least...disappointing.  ;-)

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