I booked a lovely apartment for the Portsmouth gig, so the plan was to leave early and go via shops to get us some midnight snacks and wine and some breakfast items. Set off at about 1pm with stereo blazing in the car as I was listening to some Brian Houston albums. Sugar Queen is just one of the most fab albums ever! It also reminded me how many great songs the man has.
I got as far as Bicester when I heard a pop and the car started pulling to the right. A man in the car next to me was trying to get my attention and then I followed him into a lay bye. I could see the tread coming off my tyre and it was completely flat. He said there was a services a couple of 100 yards ahead so I drove there and decided to ask for help changing my tyre.
Well as luck would have it my Polish knights in shining armour couldn't speak a word of English and it took me taking the spare out before they knew what I was asking them. They jacked up the car and took the wheel off and then all I heard was "Problem". The guy then went to show me that there was only 4 holes in my wheel and the spare had 5!!! Well who the hell checks this sort of thing when you buy a new car? It is now 4pm and I was supposed to be in Portsmouth already. I got on the phone to Phil to see if he could find me a mobile tyre company. None of them were able to accommodate me till Monday, which was a little too late for the gig.
I then phoned a taxi to take me to Bicester Kwik Fit, wait for me and then bring me back to my car. Only snag is that Kwik Fit closes at 5pm. It reached quarter to and I was convinced it was tow truck home for me tonight. Next thing my taxi arrived, we quickly shoved wheel in the back and she apologised for not getting there sooner. We arrived at Kwik Fit with 3 minutes to spare. Took 15 minutes to get new tyre and then got dropped back. As time was of the essence now, I asked another kind looking man to help me. He had my tyre on in no time and I was on my way!
I got to Portsmouth at 18:55 and Jackie was waiting outside as the door to the venue was still closed. I then phoned Rob to see where they were and we went to meet them in the pub on the corner. Rob was having dinner with Brian and Pauline. Well after I moaned a bit, Jackie got me a cider and I relaxed a bit, very relieved to have made it. I then told Brian how much I would like him to play "Queen of Hearts" and "Someday" to which he said no. I then told Rob he had to play my song after the day I had, especially since I hadn't asked for it for a long time!
We left for the venue and set up merch in the back corner. Jackie and I got talking to a lovely old lady Sheila who was 72 and went to 3-4 gigs a week. I really hope this is me in a few years to come!
We were treated to an extended Robert Vincent set and I had a lovely dedication of "I'm Still Here" and it sounded so fab. "Second Chance" got another outing tonight and sounded beautiful as ever.
Full set list below:
Brian was up next and came on stage sporting a top hat.
Brian was in full story telling mode again tonight. After he played "Sugar Queen" I ran for a quick loo break only to hear him starting to play "Queen of Hearts". Well I had to go as quick as I could to get back seeing I asked for the song. I sat down and Brian then asked me what the words to the next verse was as he had forgotten. He caught me on the hop and I said as much. He then told me to take out the words from my CD sleeve and read them out to him. Surprise surprise, I couldn't read them lol. I then gave them to the lady on the next table and she held them up to Brian, who asked why the hell the print was so small!
Brian also played "Womans Touch" which was amazing! At the end of the gig he called Rob on stage again, luckily he had a few drinks less than the night before. They gave an awesome rendition of "Let it Be".
Packing up tonight seemed to take forever as everybody was having a laugh and a joke with the owner of the venue. It was now 12:30 and I was starving so we went in search of a curry house. Rob's sat nav said it would take 1.5 hours to go to Southsea which was 13 miles away. Yes that was Southsea on the Isle of Wight! We eventually found the main street which was a curry mile and Jackie treated us to a lovely meal.
We all went back to the apartment and chatted for a while. It was now after 3pm and we managed to persuade Jackie that she did not want to drive home at that time, so we took the twin room and Rob got the double.
Woke up at 9.30am and Jackie was sat in the lounge since 7am! She didn't want to leave as there was no safe place to put keys and she did not want Rob's guitar to get stolen. What a lovely woman! She then made us some coffee and we had slutty brownies for breakfast. Jackie took Rob to fetch his car and went home.
We went for a little drive by the seafront on the look out for a nice place to have brunch. It was a glorious day indeed. We stopped off for some pizza before driving to Milton Keynes.
Deep in thought....
Something I said?
View from the restaurant
Rob arrived before me and found a pub that showed Liverpool v Chelsea match. I met him there and we went to venue after match.
We sat in back room and phoned for pizza after we saw the size of the pityful rider. So I went to fetch them along with some mozarella sticks that are 251 calories each!!! They were so not worth it.
Brian was showing Rob a video of Kings of Leon and they were laughing so much I had to video them. This was what they were laughing at:
Tonight's performance was again to a full house and Rob put in another splendid longer performance. He opened up with "Light of the Stars", we had "November" and I got "I'm Still Here" and he finished the tour off with a lovely rendition of "Demons".
Brian was joined on stage by band again tonight, so we were treated to an awesome energetic performance of all the old classics.
As Brian hardly ever stands still on stage, the only time to get a good photo is during tuning!
I spent tonight mostly watching and being totally mesmerised by drummer Matty. He was really loving the gig. At one point he lost a drum stick but carried on. I had to film it:
At the end of the gig some wise asshole was giving Rob his "words of wisdom", spoke to him like he was 17 and just played his first gig! How condescending can one person be?!! It took all the will I had in my body to bite my tongue and not tell this prick what I thought of him!!
We all said our sad goodbyes and Jackie and I were sitting in the car listening to some old school Night Parade. I was giving her a taste of things to come.
Driving home tonight I was feeling very sad but also very grateful to have been part of such an amazing 5 days.
I got as far as Bicester when I heard a pop and the car started pulling to the right. A man in the car next to me was trying to get my attention and then I followed him into a lay bye. I could see the tread coming off my tyre and it was completely flat. He said there was a services a couple of 100 yards ahead so I drove there and decided to ask for help changing my tyre.
Well as luck would have it my Polish knights in shining armour couldn't speak a word of English and it took me taking the spare out before they knew what I was asking them. They jacked up the car and took the wheel off and then all I heard was "Problem". The guy then went to show me that there was only 4 holes in my wheel and the spare had 5!!! Well who the hell checks this sort of thing when you buy a new car? It is now 4pm and I was supposed to be in Portsmouth already. I got on the phone to Phil to see if he could find me a mobile tyre company. None of them were able to accommodate me till Monday, which was a little too late for the gig.
I then phoned a taxi to take me to Bicester Kwik Fit, wait for me and then bring me back to my car. Only snag is that Kwik Fit closes at 5pm. It reached quarter to and I was convinced it was tow truck home for me tonight. Next thing my taxi arrived, we quickly shoved wheel in the back and she apologised for not getting there sooner. We arrived at Kwik Fit with 3 minutes to spare. Took 15 minutes to get new tyre and then got dropped back. As time was of the essence now, I asked another kind looking man to help me. He had my tyre on in no time and I was on my way!
I got to Portsmouth at 18:55 and Jackie was waiting outside as the door to the venue was still closed. I then phoned Rob to see where they were and we went to meet them in the pub on the corner. Rob was having dinner with Brian and Pauline. Well after I moaned a bit, Jackie got me a cider and I relaxed a bit, very relieved to have made it. I then told Brian how much I would like him to play "Queen of Hearts" and "Someday" to which he said no. I then told Rob he had to play my song after the day I had, especially since I hadn't asked for it for a long time!
We left for the venue and set up merch in the back corner. Jackie and I got talking to a lovely old lady Sheila who was 72 and went to 3-4 gigs a week. I really hope this is me in a few years to come!
We were treated to an extended Robert Vincent set and I had a lovely dedication of "I'm Still Here" and it sounded so fab. "Second Chance" got another outing tonight and sounded beautiful as ever.
Full set list below:
Brian was up next and came on stage sporting a top hat.
Brian was in full story telling mode again tonight. After he played "Sugar Queen" I ran for a quick loo break only to hear him starting to play "Queen of Hearts". Well I had to go as quick as I could to get back seeing I asked for the song. I sat down and Brian then asked me what the words to the next verse was as he had forgotten. He caught me on the hop and I said as much. He then told me to take out the words from my CD sleeve and read them out to him. Surprise surprise, I couldn't read them lol. I then gave them to the lady on the next table and she held them up to Brian, who asked why the hell the print was so small!
Brian also played "Womans Touch" which was amazing! At the end of the gig he called Rob on stage again, luckily he had a few drinks less than the night before. They gave an awesome rendition of "Let it Be".
Packing up tonight seemed to take forever as everybody was having a laugh and a joke with the owner of the venue. It was now 12:30 and I was starving so we went in search of a curry house. Rob's sat nav said it would take 1.5 hours to go to Southsea which was 13 miles away. Yes that was Southsea on the Isle of Wight! We eventually found the main street which was a curry mile and Jackie treated us to a lovely meal.
We all went back to the apartment and chatted for a while. It was now after 3pm and we managed to persuade Jackie that she did not want to drive home at that time, so we took the twin room and Rob got the double.
Woke up at 9.30am and Jackie was sat in the lounge since 7am! She didn't want to leave as there was no safe place to put keys and she did not want Rob's guitar to get stolen. What a lovely woman! She then made us some coffee and we had slutty brownies for breakfast. Jackie took Rob to fetch his car and went home.
We went for a little drive by the seafront on the look out for a nice place to have brunch. It was a glorious day indeed. We stopped off for some pizza before driving to Milton Keynes.
Deep in thought....
Something I said?
View from the restaurant
We sat in back room and phoned for pizza after we saw the size of the pityful rider. So I went to fetch them along with some mozarella sticks that are 251 calories each!!! They were so not worth it.
Brian was showing Rob a video of Kings of Leon and they were laughing so much I had to video them. This was what they were laughing at:
And this is them laughing:
Tonight's performance was again to a full house and Rob put in another splendid longer performance. He opened up with "Light of the Stars", we had "November" and I got "I'm Still Here" and he finished the tour off with a lovely rendition of "Demons".
Brian was joined on stage by band again tonight, so we were treated to an awesome energetic performance of all the old classics.
As Brian hardly ever stands still on stage, the only time to get a good photo is during tuning!
I spent tonight mostly watching and being totally mesmerised by drummer Matty. He was really loving the gig. At one point he lost a drum stick but carried on. I had to film it:
At the end of the gig some wise asshole was giving Rob his "words of wisdom", spoke to him like he was 17 and just played his first gig! How condescending can one person be?!! It took all the will I had in my body to bite my tongue and not tell this prick what I thought of him!!
We all said our sad goodbyes and Jackie and I were sitting in the car listening to some old school Night Parade. I was giving her a taste of things to come.
Driving home tonight I was feeling very sad but also very grateful to have been part of such an amazing 5 days.
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