A Near Perfect Weekend

It's a difficult thing to explain to people when they ask if you're doing anything for your day off. "I'm travelling over 150 miles for a couple of gigs by a Marillion tribute band," sounds like a very weird thing to do. I only realise how weird it is when I say it out loud. Let me try to explain / rationalise...

Marillion no longer do the old stuff. I suppose this is the first thing I need to explain. Marillion didn't die out when Fish left. Steve Hogarth joined and they've since done 9 albums (that's 5 more than they did with Fish). Quite understandably, Hogarth (or h as he's known) doesn't like to perform the old material. I'm sure most bands prefer to perform their new stuff than their old stuff, regardless of who sang it. This has left a bit of a gap in the market for nostalgia, and this is where Forgotten Sons come in. I've been going to their gigs for a couple of years now, and I always have to travel a fair distance - it's not easy for a Marillion tribute band to get gigs anyway, and this lot have to travel from Glasgow. We've become good pals with the band, so I like to support them as much as possible. Plus it's an excuse to meet up with some other friends I've met through Marillion.

So we'd already planned to go to their double header in Bolton and Crewe, when on Thursday, a friend asked if anyone wanted to go to the derby match at Old Trafford on Saturday. Say what?!! ME ME ME!!!!! A couple of phone calls later and it was sorted - I was going to OT for my first ever Man Utd match!!!

Due to the 12.45pm kick off, it was an early start on Saturday. We wanted to get to the local Farmer's Market as it was the last of the year, so we were there at 8am for some early morning shopping. An hour later we were on our way to Manchester. I think I was more stunned than excited at this point. We met Michael and Siobhan at The Chester near the ground and did the business. Row AA in the East Stand - we presumed that would be the 27th row. When we walked out onto the stand, we found that AA was actually the front row!!! Right behind the goal!!! It made watching the match very weird - it's a difficult perspective and you can't really make any judgements on what's going on. We were on the same side as the City fans, so I got to shout lots of abuse at them. Two of Man Utd's goals and City's goal were all at our end, so we got both a good view of the net bulging and probably got on TV as well.

Old Trafford's a magnificent stadium. I've seen a couple of England games there, and I don't think it's possible to have a bad view. The atmosphere is electric (despite what some may say). Mind you, the pies are horrible...

Back to the Chester for a swift drink of celebration after the 3-1 win, then on to Bolton. We gave Michael and Siobhan a lift as they were coming to the gig as well, and they joined us for a curry (note to self - never ask Indian waiter for advice on whether a curry is too hot or not). The gig was in Moses Gate, just outside the city centre, and our hotel was just a few metres away from the venue. The pub is also called the Moses Gate, and is fairly cosy, but pretty friendly. Forgotten Sons played a blinder despite having a stand-in drummer. After the gig we got to socialising with the boys - much alcohol was consumed, a few frames of pool were played and we introduced lead singer Martin to Cheeky Vimto (for the uninformed, it is a blue WKD with two shots of port). The next day I was asked what time we left and I realised that I didn't have a clue.

We set our alarm so that we didn't miss breakfast. After a mountain of toast, we slowly got ourselves together for the trip to Crewe - the worst thing about going out and then staying in a hotel is you can't stay in bed all day to recover! I was seriously regretting that Cheeky Vimto, so I let Darren drive. We thought we'd have a look at an old nuclear bunker on the way, but it was shut so we'll have to put that on the list for next year. We checked into the Crewe Arms (which we managed to get at less than half price) and crashed out again, dozing and watching the repeat of X Factor (we both cheered at Ben leaving). We ate in a Wetherspoon's and then made our way to the Limelight.

The Limelight is a much bigger venue. It's quite a maze of rooms, but the main hall is an excellent place for live music. A group of us killed some time before the band came on by losing badly on the quiz machines (I think Darren and I are getting addicted to them). Again FS played a great gig. The place seemed to be fairly busy, but we were the only once dancing! Still, it was a pretty good atmosphere for a Sunday night, and the band certainly felt so. We finished the night by grabbing a pizza and Martin gave us a lift back to the hotel.

Again, we set the alarm for breakfast, which was excellent. I used to go to university in Alsager just 5 miles down the road, so we popped in to visit my ex-landlady Doreen. After a long long chinwag (well we haven't seen each other in over a year!) it was time to hit the road again. We had another thought of doing something touristy, but Jodrell Bank was also closed so it was time to make our way back to Hartlepool. Our route took us through Alderley Edge and past it's schools at around 3.30pm - I've never seen so many 4x4s, it was like a convention!!!

We decided we weren't going to make it all the way home without some food, so we stopped at Northallerton. The plan was to find a pub, but we ended up in the Golden Lion hotel restaurant. The food was probably pricier than we wanted to pay, but it was absolutely excellent. Service was a bit slow though - we were waiting over half an hour for the bill, then waited another 15 minutes to pay! It was such a shame because the food was so beautiful.

Back on the road, we made it home around 9pm. Winning a great footie match, seeing a great band playing songs you love, meeting up with old friends and a good meal to round it off. What a wonderful weekend.