Philip Seth Campbell Tour - Day 2 Leeds Brudenell Social Club

 Woke up at 11:45 quick shower and check out.  Too late for breakfast I had to treat myself to a maccies instead.  

I decided to take the scenic route to Leeds through Thirsk, Ripon and Harrogate.  Rippon was really beautiful.

Beautiful building is the Ripon Police Museum.

Ripley Castle

Love hydrangeas!!

Taking this little detour took so much longer than anticipated and my plans were thwarted going to Elland Road.  But I was so emotional when I stumbled across this artwork on the side of the building at the top of the road from the venue.  Marcelo Bielsa is God to many of our Leeds fans.

Arrived at the venue which was in a very strange area. A former working man's club set up but the staff were really friendly and I spent ages chatting with the sound guy.  An L shaped venue meant that merch desk was out of view of the stage but at least it was still in the same room.

Danny Clement opened up and this young lad has such a great voice.  Sadly no merch to sell and also had the most disrespecting fans when it came to the other acts.  They talked all the way through.  I felt like a head mistress telling them off all the time. So I didn't hear much of Alice's set tonight.

Another great set tonight including Wrecking Ball Nights which was fantastic.

I took some pics of Phil interacting with the fans afterwards.

The 2 hour drive home was not eventless in the least.  I was busting for a pee so decided to stop at Birch Services.  I legged it inside, made it by the skin of my teeth! On the way out I tripped on the mat and went flying down on my knee, puppies out with them and my face scraping against the carpet.  Its 1am and there was not a person in sight.  I couldn't get up as my knee was too painful.  So I laid there crying in frustration.  Finally a trucker saw me and walked past in the other entrance. He came over with the security guard to help me.  I didn't want to be dragged up by the arms so they went to fetch the manager.  He was useless too and spoke very little English (how do these people get jobs in the service industry??).  Finally the trucker brought over a chair for me to pull myself up from.and the drive home was excruciating.

Got home, had some pain killers and tried to get some sleep.  Roll on Saturday!

Philip Seth Campbell Tour - Day 1 Newcastle Cluny

 The day has finally arrived.  I looked at the weather report and was very happy to see that no rain had been forecast for my couple of days away.  I was planning on returning tonight after the gig but I decided that it did not make sense so found myself a Travelodge at Washington services for the night.

I set off around 11am so that I can take my time. Not been to that side of the world in quite some time.  I decided to make a little detour to the Angel of the North as I had only ever seen it driving by.  

Spent about 20 minutes there before setting off for the Cluny.  I got to the venue for about 3.30pm and headed in after finding some suitable parking.  

Did not see any sign of anybody so had a alcohol free beer whilst waiting in the bar.  I met a couple of the Modena City Ramblers, an Italian band that were playing in the bigger room tonight.  Communication was a bit of an issue but hilarious none the less.  Lovely old Italian rockers :-)

I then bumped into Ben at the bar and went over with him, met Mike for the first time and said hello to Phil.  It all started off a bit frosty but I soon engaged verbal diarrhea and Phil and I ended up in a heated debate about all manner of things including his love for Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus.

Finally its time for doors and the place soon fills up.  Merch desk is in a good position and I can see the stage from where I am sat.  It feels so good to be back in my happy place.

Alice Faye opened the evening with Lewis on guitar.  The girl has a lovely voice and I likened it to Patsy Cline for some songs.  Not my up of tea but the girl has talent.

Phil was in fine voice and we were got most of the songs from the new album except for one of my favourites Silent Symphony. What made me happy was hearing Temperance Movement and Byson Family songs thrown in there too.

The main set was finished off with City Limits and the rest of the band went off so that Phil could do a couple of solo tracks.  However, a gentleman in the audience fainted and it took some time to sort out and get help so the boys came back on stage and finished off the night with a brilliant edition of Lovers and Fighters.

Merch sales went well afterwards and I was absolutely buzzing driving to my hotel.  As soon as I hit the bed I was so very happy that I didn't decide to drive home. 

Went to sleep with a huge smile on my face.  God I love live music!!!

Philip Seth Campbell UK Tour

 I am beyond excited as I have just confirmed that I will be part of the team for the upcoming Philip Seth Campbell tour.  Looking forward to a busy couple of weeks in my happy place behind the merch desk!

Roll on Newcastle on Wednesday :-)

My First Tattoo

 Well anybody who knows me, knows that I have been wanting a tattoo like forever.  After meeting Scotty earlier in the year and seeing his work first hand on my birthday, I was confident I had made the right choice for this tattoo.

To say I was scared is putting it mildly and I had to have a little word with myself.  "You have had 2 children and chemo, you can handle a little tattoo!" Obviously it ended up not being that little :-)

Transfer done.

Scotty doing his thing!

Outline done.  I didn't even wince.

Watching Father Ted (at least 6 episodes).  It was funny as Scotty knew them all off by heart but it also reminded me of living in Ireland.

Time to start the colouring in!

Ok this hurt a little bit more !

I am so chuffed with the outcome.  

31 Day Gratitude Challenge

 So I am starting this because despite the last 14 months or so, I have many things in my life to be grateful for.

I will use the next 31 days as a reminder of all the great things in my life and why it is good being alive.

Life happens to us all and we have the choice on how we allow it to affect us. 

I choose happiness 😊

Best birthday ever