Colours And Sound

It’s 10pm on a Monday night. I’m lying in my bed for the first time since I left it at 4.30am the previous Thursday. Every muscle in my body aches. The hangover is just starting to subside. The throat feels and sounds like someone has been spiking my drinks with razor blades. And I’m feeling the onset of a fluey cold. All of this can only mean one thing. I’ve just been to a Marillion convention.

For the uninitiated of you, let me try to explain. Rock band Marillion have a small but incredibly devoted following. Every two years they book up a holiday camp and up to 3000 fans travel to enjoy three days of music, drinking and general jollity. And now I’ve got to try to put it into words. I’m not sure if this will be a cohesive diary, or more of a collection of chronological memories. It’s difficult to know where to start. As I lie in my bed there’s no space in my head. It’s too full of colours and sound.

Thursday morning feels like a long time ago. The alarm was set for 4am, the taxi picked us up at 5am and the flight to Amsterdam 7.10am. Unbelievably by the time we boarded, my boyfriend Darren and our friend Neil had already drunk two pints of beer! Start as you mean to go on lads...

We landed an hour later, set our watches forward to local time and then spent a further hour hiking across the vast plains of Amsterdam Schipol airport. A short train ride into the centre of the Dutch capital later and onto our hotel for tonight. The convention didn’t start until Friday, but we thought we’d get there a day early and Annett on the online forum organised an extra special rate at the extra posh Radisson for Marillion fans. We couldn’t yet check into the 5 star luxury, so we left our bags and headed out for some tourism.

We walked to Anne Frank House, somehow avoiding the trams and the thousands of bicycles that rule the streets. I visited Anne Frank House when I was 15, but I don’t think I was old enough or educated enough to really appreciate it. It is the most moving and thought provoking experience. White Russian plays in my head as I view the pictures of piles of dead bodies in the concentration camps.

I take a deep breath as I leave and we make our way to the nearby Pancake Bakery for some nourishment. Then it’s back to the Radisson where we could now check in. The hotel is amazing and the room wonderful. We relaxed for a few hours before heading out for some sushi – Darren had found out about an all-you-can-eat place. When we arrived it was packed and fully booked. This place MUST be good. We snuck in after a cancellation and had 2 hours to fill ourselves before our session ended. The fish was so amazingly fresh, it was well worth the money. Tokyo Cafe, highly recommended!

Well fed, it was on to the Tara, an Irish bar where there was a pre-arranged Marillion meet. This is where the recollections get a little hazy. Apparently we left around 2am, but I can’t really be sure...

Five hours later and we’re awake again. Breakfast was included, so we wanted to take full advantage before heading back to the airport to meet my sister Vicky from her flight. After a few more hours of hanging around and meeting up with old friends, we could hop onto our coach to Center Parcs in Port Zelande. This was where the convention was to be held, and it was a long, boring, tiring two hour trip west, especially after the previous night.

The check-in queue was ridiculous so we visited the shop to get some supplies. When we did check in I couldn’t wait to get rid of the case I’d been dragging behind me for the last two days! The cottage was absolutely lovely, despite a rather treacherous looking spiral staircase up to the bedrooms! Our room-mate Paul arrived just after us, and he and Darren headed back out for further supplies (largely of the alcoholic variety). In his infinite wisdom, Darren insisted we bring a PS2 including Guitar Hero controllers and Singstar microphones for entertainment. All the extra lugging around was worth it, and we spent the rest of the afternoon on a Singstar marathon. Vicky and I on vocals, Darren and Paul performing to the camera. It was a hilarious, “you had to be there” moment.

Luckily someone remembered that we were actually in the Netherlands to see Marillion so at 9pm we ventured to the tent. After obtaining some beer tokens we made our way to guitarist Steve Rothery’s side of the stage. The band opened with five, as yet unheard songs from the forthcoming album, Somewhere Else. On first listen my personal favourites were Most Toys (fantastic single material) and The Wound (think Massive Attack or Portishead with more of a rock edge).

Then onto the main feature. At every convention, Marillion perform one of their albums in its entirety, and this year’s choice was This Strange Engine. I love every song on this album, so I was pretty excited. Keyboard player Mark Kelly is the shining star – the album is littered with fantastic keyboard solos. Rothery was also in excellent form, deservedly given an extended and rapturous applause for his solo in the song This Strange Engine. However, Hope For the Future was always going to be the highlight. Much maligned by most fans, the chorus is a very cheesy attempt at samba, but there are some great moments in the song. Armed with maracas, we came, we partied, we laughed out loud. The reception was huge – I think the band gained a lot of respect for performing something so unpopular, although I think the applause was partly out of relief that it was over!

The gig closed with a reprise of two of the new songs, and the catchy chorus to Most Toys was left to reverberate around everyone’s heads. It was on to the Rock Disco at the Adventure Factory. The bar system was more than a little chaotic – particularly frustrating when all you want is a glass of water. The disco itself was a bit hit and miss, although Freebird provided us with one of the songs of the weekend. We never did learn more than the first four lines...

More Guitar Hero and Singstar back at the cottage, before collapsing into bed at some unknown time. The main thing on the agenda on the Saturday was the pub quiz, so after breakfast it was back to the Adventure Factory. We were more than happy with our #5 placing, although we could have done much better if it wasn’t for a poorly played joker and some stupid errors. Boos echoed around the room when the ubiquitous Cakey Boys were announced as winners – they beat everyone the convention before and once more won the right to battle it out on stage against the band.

We plumped for Italian for dinner, although the service was poor the food wasn’t bad. We were then invited to a gathering of rugby fans to watch England thrash Scotland in the 6 nations. I’m not generally a rugby person, but I’m always happy to watch the Auld Enemy get beaten! After a change of clothes it was on to the second gig of the weekend, Rareties and Covers. In my opinion it wasn’t a brilliant setlist or show, but there were moments of genius. Built In Bastard Radar – a song only beaten by Hope For the Future in most least liked Marillion song lists – was excellent, as was the oft forgotten These Chains. A friend of mine Liz provided one of the best surprises by stepping up to sing an excellent version of Sympathy. But surely the most brilliant moment was Marillion does Britney. A cover of Toxic showed that this band don’t take themselves as seriously as many think. A point further made by lead singer Steve Hogarth donning a dress and fishnets to perform Abba’s Money Money Money, and providing some excellent yodelling for the finale of Hocus Pocus by Focus.
The party of the night was in cottage 268 where a couple of our good friends from Marillion tribute band Forgotten Sons were staying. They had also brought proper guitars. A long, LONG singing session ensued, mostly of Marillion songs old and new. There was a weird rotating audience thing happening though, and when Kayleigh and Easter were being requested for the third time, we decided it was time to leave. Mind you, it was about 4am at this point...

We had to set alarms for Sunday. I agreed to set up a pool competition and was due in the Adventure Factory at 11am. 11am didn’t seem that early when I planned it. It was obviously too early for some of the people who had entered because we were running a bit short on players! I reluctantly put my hat in the ring to make up a knockout of 8 people, and just as I started my match Graeme came running in with apologies galore. I wasn’t really up for humiliating myself, so with everyone’s permission we agreed he could take my place. It was a hard fought competition with only two players not winning a frame and many frames coming down to a black ball fight. Darren v Graeme was the final, and after many misses Graeme snatched victory. It was great fun, but maybe next time I’ll make it a more reasonable time!

Next on the agenda was the quiz final. More boos were directed at the Cakey Boys who took it all in their stride. It was excellently compered by Andy and Jim from the Marillion fan club Web UK, and the competition was even closer than the pool! The band got their revenge on the Cakeys and beat them on a tie-break. The band also did a Q&A session – I’m sure they get less and less informative as the years go on, but they’re always very funny to watch.

We decided to eat at Sharky’s that evening, and what a fantastic choice it was. Vicky and I both ordered steak, and it was the biggest, juiciest, best cooked steak I’ve had for a long time. It absolutely stuffed me though, and back at the cottage I barely felt like I could move. The previous evening’s singing had taken its toll on my throat and I wasn’t sure how much I was going to enjoy that night’s show. Darren was invited out to take on one of our pool no-shows, our good friend Brian but I just wanted to chill out for a couple of hours. Vicky had a game of Singstar – she’s a bit too good at that for my liking!

Darren came back with lots of excuses as to why he had been soundly beaten by Brian and we cracked open a bottle of wine before heading off to the final show. This seemed to lubricate both my throat and my spirits, and I was ready for the final push. We only just made it to the tent before the gig started, so decided to dance around at the back. Tonight’s setlist was a compilation of the band’s favourite Marillion songs, kind of a best of. Despite the fact that the songs were largely predictable and there were probably only a couple of I would have chosen, it was incredibly enjoyable. My highlights were You’re Gone (how can you not love that bassline?), Between You And Me (now known as “The Jumping Song”) and The Space. Halfway through King I turned around to see Darren and Paul run out the back, Darren holding his face. When I saw him bent over the barrier outside, I thought the alcohol had got the better of him, but it turned out he’d gone down, Paul had gone up and nose made contact with back-of-head. Nothing appeared to be broken though, and he patched himself up and was back for the end of the song!

The encore and finale of the weekend was a reprise of Hocus Pocus. Exhausted but elated, it was off to the Adventure Factory for the Farewell Party. Another hit and miss rock disco, but we managed to get quite a moshpit going when Rage Against The Machine came on! Vicky went back to the chalet early – I think pregnancy and sobriety were starting to catch her up. We decided to locate the infamous Norwegians party and the most infamous of them all, Andreas. We met lots of new friends, but the mood was a little sombre as we all knew the weekend was coming to a close. At 4am we remembered that we had to be up at a decent hour of the morning to catch our coach back, so off to bed we went.

I don’t think I slept too well despite my red wine haze, and the next morning I felt decidedly off colour. The fresh winter air outside revived me a little, and I was glad I woke myself early to try to sober up and pack. Certainly the prospect of another two hours on a coach was not appealing. The Cakey Boys were on our coach – despite being anoraks of the highest order, they are very funny blokes and made the journey go a little quicker. We arrived at Schipol at midday, and got a pancake for lunch. Mine and Darren’s flight wasn’t until 8pm, so we put our bags into lockers, said a final farewell to Vicky (who had an earlier flight) and decided to spend a little more time in Amsterdam.

We eventually negotiated our way onto a tram to Museumplein. You can never be bored in Amsterdam. There are museum’s on every street and on every subject. We walked past a Diamond Museum – it was free so we figured we had nothing to lose but an hour. It was actually more of a large shop, and oddly enough there was the “real” museum at the end which cost €6 to enter. Hmmm. We looked at going in the Van Gogh museum, but €10 for the hour we had left was a bit steep, so we got a tram back towards the station, alighting at Dam Square. We got some frites mayo but still had some time to kill. Walking up Damrak we passed the Sex Museum. It was only €3, so with little else to occupy us and our minds not entirely with it, we went in. I’m not sure what I expected, but seeing 100 year old pornography was very strange, especially given my state of mind at the time.

We emerged probably slightly more dazed than when we entered, and embarked on the long journey home. A needlessly prolonged check-in, a McDonalds, a dozy flight and cab ride later, and here I am once more. Aching in body, tired in mind and lighter in pocker. Was it worth it? You bet!

Busy Diary!!!

Wow, my "Forthcoming Dates" are filling up aren't they?! I've barely got a quiet weekend until May, and then we move out! There are a lot of Preston matches on there because that's where Darren is from, so we try to get to as many matches as possible. Especially as they're doing well at the moment. We saw them playing Stoke at Deepdale last weekend - they conceded two goals in 7 minutes and then won it 3-2. It was a very exciting match (and believe me, I don't always come away from Deepdale thinking that!) So we try to coincide visiting his family with home matches, and squeeze in the odd away match too (I prefer being an away supporter, it's much more fun!)

We are going to L'Enclume for our anniversary. We were planning to go to the Fat Duck in Bray but - owing to it's many Michelin stars, rating as the world's best restaurant and owner Heston Blumenthal's current high profile - we couldn't get a booking. So after a bit of searching we found L'Enclume. We're staying there as well. We'll probably go for The Underground - a minimum of 20 courses in a meal that can last over 5 hours. We both love good food, and this is supposed to be an experience unlike any other.

In other news, today I got my first jabs before the big trip. I'm such a wimp. I haven't had an injection for 13 years and despite having three tattoos I was petrified. When it came down to it neither of them hurt (combined hepatitis A and typhoid in one arm, combined diptheria, tetanus and polio on the other). But a mixture of adrenaline, relief and euphoria after getting over my fear made me go doolally and I passed out. Three times. How pathetic am I?!!

An hour later I managed to feel strong enough to leave the surgery. I decided it probably wasn't worth going to work for the rest of the day. My arms have felt really weak all day - that's now subsiding but my shoulders feel like I've done 3 hours of yoga practice! Now I'm all protected against 5 nasty diseases. In a couple of weeks I go back for yellow fever, then a hep A booster in 6 months and I should be all good to go. Exciting innit?!!

New Tunes

A quick word about the new ROKR list. There are a couple of self-made compilations for a change. The Crash Course in Jazz is one that a friend did a few years back - she knows her stuff on the subject and did it for me. I've listened to a it a few times and really enjoyed it, but it's only just gone on iTunes so I thought I'd give it another spin.

MOLF stands for Marillion OnLine Forum. Every now and then an excellent fella nicknamed toodles gets everyone's names together and dishes out an address to each person. The idea is you make a compilation and send it to the address you're given, and then receive a random compilation from someone else in return. I think I enjoy the compiling more than anything! I've uploaded my gift to give it a spin. It's got quite a lot of prog-rock on it, so it's not really to my tastes but there are some good tracks I've not heard before. In particular Florida Keys by a chap called Pat Dailey is fantastic.

Most of the rest are Christmas presents. Emma Bunton's new album is really good, and I reckon Houses of the Holy is the best Led Zeppelin album. The Rain Song is absolutely stunning. My new job means a much longer journey to work, so I think I'll be getting more use than ever out of my choons!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Well, all the festivities are nearly over and it'll be back to work again in less than 24 hours. I hope you had a good one. Darren's son Jordan has been with us for the last week - it's always nice to have a young person around over Christmas. It's been a busy week too! We collected him last Saturday, taking in Preston v Colchester at Deepdale on the way. Christmas Day we went out to a pub for lunch. We spent a lot of the week playing on Guitar Hero on PS2 (truly excellent game btw). On Wednesday we went to Newcastle for panto. It wasn't the big professional one, but a smaller scale version of Dick Whittington. It was very, very good - I haven't been to panto for years!

Darren's parents came up on Friday to take Jordan home. Preston were playing at Sunderland on Saturday, so being season ticket holders it fell nicely for us all to go there (watching a match as an away supporter is much more fun!) They left on Sunday and the flat seems much quieter now. Peaceful. Jordan's a lovely lad but kids are hard work aren't they? I marvel at all parents who look after their children full time - I don't think motherhood's really for me!

So finally it's 2007. Last night me and Darren went to a local restaurant, Krimos. It really is the most fantastic food. We'd scoured the country for the bottle of bubbly which was recently voted as the best, so we came back for midnight to toast the new year in, catch the end of Jools Holland's Hootenanny and watch the fireworks going off around the North Sea coast that is our balcony view.

This should be a life-changing year for us. After two years of talking we're finally going on our worldwide travels in July. That's my main reason for starting this blog, so that family and friends can keep up-to-date with my adventures. I'm getting seriously impatient itchy feet now!

I'm also starting a new job tomorrow. The company I was temping for had to let me go - I suppose that's temp life for you. So a quick hello to everyone at Expamet who made my move oop North so much easier!!!

And Happy New Year to anyone who reads this. The years are whipping by so quickly nowadays (is that a sign of getting old?), I don't want to waste a minute of it. Hopefully this is the years that my life really starts to get exciting!!!

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.

Muse - Metro Arena, Newcastle (19/11/2006)

We hauled ourselves out of bed, checked out, eventually found a Wetherspoons for breakfast (note to self, locate nearest Spoon's to hotel BEFORE leaving home), went to Fopp to spend far too much money and then felt ready to hit the road back down South. We arrived in Newcastle around 5pm, and ended up in Zizzi's for a pizza - great food, appalling service. We decided to park behind the Academy and walk down to the Arena as it was cheaper and would probably be easier to get out of after the gig, so this we did and then followed the crowds to the Metro Arena.

It's not bad for an arena. A nice, spacious entrance hall, plenty of food, drink and merch stalls. I don't normally buy band t-shirts, but Darren offered so I picked a lovely black & white striped one (I normally object on fairtrade grounds, but these are made by Continental who apparently are sweat shop free, so that's good!). Of course, only one stall took credit cards - inevitably it had the longest queue and a £1.50 charge, but it wasn't as long as the queue for the £1.75 cash machine, so not all bad.

After seeing a video of Muse live we decided to go for the easy option and buy seated tickets. We were second block away from the stage, so we had a pretty good view. Support was provided by the Noisettes, who were late taking to the stage and who the less said about the better. They were pretty awful.

I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy this gig. I love Muse's latest album Black Holes & Revelations (BH&R), but I'm less keen on some of their earlier stuff. I also wasn't sure how much I'd know, how many singles they would perform or whether they would do many album tracks. I needn't have worried as I recognised virtually every song they played! However, I'm a bit hazy as to which title relates to which song which has made this reviewing lark a bit difficult!

They opened with the first track from BH&R, Take A Bow with it's powerful, "you will burn in hell" lyric. The previously hidden stage set included the most elaborate drum riser I've ever seen and a large video backdrop on which either animation or live, often treated footage of the band was shown. I was surprised by how many anthemic, almost sing-alongable songs there were, most notably Starlight, Invincible, and Time Is Running Out. Supermassive Black Hole had a brilliant video starring some dancing robots, and Matt Bellamy had a full-on rock star moment at the end of Stockholm Syndrome (I think), dropping his guitar on the floor, pulling the amp on top, lying on the amp and promptly falling over the back of the riser!

As heavy as they are, there is a precision in Muse's music that is unusual among the genre. I'm pretty sure that Matt Bellamy has a knowledge of classical music, it's certainly evident in his piano playing. Even when his guitar is laden with effects, there is still a classical feel to the way he plays. I was also amazed by the playing of the other two members, especially drummer Dominic Howard. Like Gomez the night before, this is a band with immense technical ability.

We were certainly glad of our seats! The floor looked a bit crazy for swaying and crowd-surfing! The sound was excellent for an arena, and the lightshow complemented the music perfectly.

After Bliss closed the first encore, six massive balloons were floated into the back of the arena. One by one, they started to pop - by the time the last one went the audience were heavily involved, disappointed sighs when they landed and didn't pop, cheers when they did. Witht he last balloon the second encore started, with one of my favourite songs from BH&R, Hoodoo. The final song of the night was the incredible Knights Of Cydonia. Believe me, when you're singing the following with 11,000 it's an amazing feeling:

No-one's going to take me alive
Time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive

Then the crowd REALLY started jumping. The entire floor, moving up and down together. It was an incredible sight from our vantage point. As the band rounded off the song and the show, jets of steam sprayed up from the stage. And I suddenly realised that I had enjoyed the show so much, I hadn't wondered what the time was once (which is rare for me!).

Although I'm not sure if I'd go to see Muse again. It was almost so perfect, another gig would take away from the experience.

Setlist
Take A Bow
Hysteria
New Born
Butterflies and Hurricanes
Assassin
Map of the Problematique
Starlight
Invincible
Forced In
Time Is Running Out
Plug in Baby
Supermassive Black Hole
Stockholm Syndrome
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Apocalypse Please
Bliss
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Hoodoo
Knights of Cydonia

Gomez - Barrowlands, Glasgow (17/11/2006)

I've been following Gomez for quite a long time now, and seen a fair few of their live shows. Having missed them earlier in the year and seen a far-too-short set at V Festival in August I was determined to catch them while they were over here promoting their new Best Of release. Unfortunately they decided not to play anywhere near me so it was a choice between the two Saturday nights - Glasgow or Newcastle-Under-Lyme. I've heard great things about Barrowlands, so Glasgow it was.

We arrived at our hotel around 3.30pm, checked in, and went to a nearby Scream bar for a drink. At 5pm, we thought we'd better look for something to eat. It was absolutely pouring with rain, so we thought we'd make our way to the venue and hope to see somewhere on the way. We ended up in Tiger Tiger - the food was ok, but over-priced. Fed and watered, we made our way in the still-pouring rain to Barrowlands.

I think we got there about 10 minutes after the doors opened. Barrowlands is a confusing place, but we managed to put our coats in the cloakroom, buy a T-shirt and a limited edition poster (on thick card, thanks to the merch guy for looking after it during the gig!) and grab a drink before making our way up to the stage area. We were amazed that we managed to bag a front row spot, right in front of where Tom would be playing. Maybe it was the rain, maybe it was the smoking ban, but we were more than happy with this vantage point.

The Barrowlands is an old ballroom dancing hall. It holds about 2000, and it's quite square which I imagine gives a good view for all. Support was provided by Josh Ritter, an American singer/songwriter who looked like he was having far too much fun! He obviously had some fans in the crowd, but his enthusiasm was infectious and we very much enjoyed his set.

By the time Gomez came on the hall had filled up, althought we still felt like we had plenty of breathing space (in my experience Gomez gigs can get quite rowdy!). California from Liquid Skin was an unusually quiet opener, but the song picks up pace towards the end and was followed by uptempo number Shot Shot and Love Is Better Than A Warm Trombone. It was a fantastic setlist drawn from across their career. Personal highlights included the beautiful Free To Run, We Haven't Turned Around and an amazing extended version of How We Operate.

During the course of the gig the band often swapped instruments - for example, guitarists Ben Ottewell and Ian Ball would join Dajon Everett on his percussion or play Tom Gray's keyboards while Tom plays guitar. Ben, Ian and Tom share vocal duties - Ben and Ian often performing in a more insular way while Tom is happy to conduct the crowd. The combination of personalities and the lack of one single "lead singer" makes it feel like more of a group effort, and gives a wonderful balance of fun with the amazing technical abilities of all 6 members.

There was probably only one lowlight - some drunk bloke singing very loudly and very out-of-tune in my ear during the quiet instrumental section of Charley Patton Songs. Otherwise the crowd were friendly and incredibly loud - the roar of appreciation at the end was deafening! Enforcing the smoking ban obviously meant more interference from security than usual, but it didn't detract too much from the performance (and it was fantastic to come out of a gig NOT stinking of smoke!). The sound quality was excellent, and I can fully understand why Barrowlands has been voted the second best venue in the world by bands.

The main set finished with the manic Whippin' Piccadilly, and the encores were three more classics from the first two albums, finishing with one of my personal favourites Devil Will Ride. And it was all over, far too soon. I could watch Gomez play for hours and not get bored. They are possibly the best live band on the planet at the moment, criminally ignored here in their home country. Go see.

Setlist
California
Shot Shot
Love Is Better Than A Warm Trombone
See The World
Hamoa Beach
Free To Run
Blue Moon Rising
Notice
Get Myself Arrested
How We Operate
Ruff Stuff
Ping One Down
Silence
Charley Patton Songs
Girlshapedlovedrug
We Haven't Turned Around
Whippin' Piccadilly
----------------------------
Make No Sound
Fill My Cup
Devil Will Ride

Hayseed Dixie - Carling Academy, Newcastle (15/11/2006)

If you have a look at my little ol' diary dates you'll notice that this week is packed full of gigs. Last night Darren picked me up straight from work and we went up to Newcastle. After getting a bit lost and eventually finding the right car park we needed to get fed. We ended up at Luigi's Ristorante on Groat Market. Absolutely fantastic. They do a "happy hour" special where you get a starter (choice of 4), any pizza or pasta dish and either ice-cream or a coffee for £5.50. We went for the potato skins and the garlic dough twists, then Darren had an arrabiata and I had the marinara. It was a good sized portion (sometimes you feel a bit cheated in happy hour), and there were loads of prawns and mussels in my dish. The meal including drinks came to £15 for the both of us - we'll definitely be going back if we get the chance.

We made it to the Academy in plenty of time for the gig. The support band were called Dark Water and they were excellent. I'm not generally into gothic emo-rock, maybe it works better live for me - I bought a sampler CD so I'll find out when I listen to it. They have a female lead singer with a lovely voice and good rapport with the audience. Heavy but melodic and passionate, very enjoyable.

I think there were a few Dark Water fans in the audience - I'm not sure what they'd have made of Hayseed Dixie! I've seen them a couple of times before at an HMV in-store and at V Festival (review here) but not for a full gig so I was a bit unsure as to whether I'd enjoy them for 2 hours. Still, it was just £12.50 a ticket, so I considered it a bargain. For the uninitiated, Hayseed Dixie are a rockgrass band. Basically they play rock classics (and a few of their original compositions) in a bluegrass style. There are four members, playing acoustic bass, banjo, mandolin and the lead singer who also plays guitar and fiddle. They set up the stage themselves, completely unpretentiously, and seem genuinely touched and amazed by the rapturous reception.

I love covers. Not your bog-standard, karaoke style covers, but I love it when someone takes a song and reinterprets it, and that's what Hayseed Dixie do. The set is largely made up of AC/DC tracks, but my favourites in their repertoire include Queen's Fat Bottomed Girls, Ace Of Spades by Motorhead, Walk This Way by Aerosmith, Black Sabbath's War Pigs and Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin. Also making an appearance was the Hayseed Dixie classic I'm Keeping Your Poop to huge applause.

They went off stage for just seconds before coming back for the encore - as singer Barley Scotch says, it's somewhat arrogant for a band to go off and drink beer just to hear the crowd shout their name. They finished with their fantastic version of Green Day's Holiday and a breathtaking performance of Duelling Banjos (originally written by the father of two of the members fact fans).

The set was beautifully balanced, a couple of covers then a couple of originals, so no-one who didn't know the band could get bored. They're really good fun, totally unpretentious, and I have a feeling that if you've got the time to hang around after the show (and don't have to get up for work in the morning) you'd probably see them in the bar within ten minutes of the show finishing. Go see!