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 :-)

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats - Liverpool Olympia 16 April 2018

I have been looking forward to this gig for what seems like an eternity as Ste and I both love Nathaniel Rateliff.  Both Ash and Sam were going from work and we agreed to meet there.  Well I never expected seats and tables and total comfort.  Such a stunning venue.

The support band was Slim Cesna's Auto club which we later discovered was Country Gospel.  Interesting is the word to use.  I did find them a bit quirky and I enjoyed some of the songs but it was maybe even just a little too strange for me.  They played quite a long set for a support band but luckily the time had finally come.

OMG what musicianship, the band were tighter than!  Their performance made every single song come to life.  Was very pleased to hear "Out on the Weekend" and "I need never get old" which are my two favourite songs from the first album.

When it came to the last song of the evening and S.O.B. the place erupted.  Everybody was standing up and continued singing along until well after the song had finished waiting for the encore.

The encore finished it off nicely with the last song of the night being my favourite and title track from the new album "Tearing at the Seams".

Can safely say best gig I have been to for absolutely AGES!!!

Full set list below

Shoe Boot
Be There
Look it Here
I did it
Howling at Nothing
A Little Honey
Coolin' out
Out on the Weekend
You worry Me
Wasting Time
Bake I Know
I Need Never Get Old
Baby I Lost my way (But I'm going home)
Say it Louder
Hey Mana
S.O.B.

Encore:
Trying so hard not to know
Tearing at the Seams

Charity Gig Announced!

Well its a new year and time for my annual charity gig again.  This year featuring the amazing Robert Vincent and his band.  Details can be found below:

Rob supporting Madeleine Peyroux @ Royal Philharmonic Hall Liverpool

Found out in the afternoon that Rob had been given a last minute support slot at the Philharmonic.  I  had heard of Madeleine Peryoux but jazz isn't really my thing but still I thought it would be good for Rob.

Nightmare journey with unreliable sat nav, but luckily made it in time and when I got there Rob was waiting with a car parking pass for me.  I made my way to merch desk and set up just in time to get inside to see the performance.  Staff pointed me to the house seats.  Rob was awesome again tonight.

After the gig bumped into Peter and Irina, who seem to have become regulars these days.

It was lovely to see the local crowd flock to the desk to talk to Rob and buy some albums.

Posing with some keyring bottle openers.

After the gig we tried to find the person in charge to pay our share of the merch commission but he was nowhere to be seen.  We decided to go for a drink with the Dobsons at the Philharmonic Pub.  All of Madeleine's band were there and the lady herself.

She was quite lovely and very down to earth.  Rob gave her an album before she left and called her over for a picture.  I tried to convince her to sit on Rob's but she said she might break it!  I have a few pics with silly faces but this is a better one courtesy of Peter.

The Crimea for the last time at Jazz Cafe, Camden - 30th July 2013

It is such a sad sad day, made even sadder that I could not persuade a single one of my friends to come and join me.  I listened to the entire discography on the way to London, cried a few tears (ok I sobbed like a baby) and remembered the great gigs I was lucky to be a part of.  I do have some awesome memories of  my time with this band, but why oh why does everything have to come to an end!???

It was Davey's birthday yesterday and I baked him a cake, but when I got to the venue I felt stupid and ended up leaving the cake in the car.  Davey was the first person I saw and I got a lovely long hug from him and he said he would see me later.

In the venue saw nobody I recognised but I didn't care.  I didn't really like either of the opening acts, but that might just have been down to my anticipation as it had been some years.

The gig was immense and can be enjoyed here over and over again!

I bought some vinyl and a CD and all the lads signed it and I held up pretty well.  But it was when I talked to Owen I started to cry.  When I relayed this story to Davey, his reply was "Well Owen will do that to you".

Said my goodbyes too Davey and cried all the way to the car and much of the way home.  The end of an era...

House gig number 1 - Liverpool

I send Rob a text on Friday night to see if he wanted me to come to the house gig as I had nothing to do with sorting it out.  He told me to come if I wanted to and to meet him at his house so we can go together.  We sat in Rob's house for a while discussing new management and everything that has cracked off in the last week.  I am a happy bunny and hope that new management can make things happen.

We arrived at Doug and Sue's house at about 8pm and no guests had arrived yet. They were lovely hosts and Sue being a child minder had lots of signs stuck all around the house, but the ones tonight referred to people helping themselves to booze and making sure the put money in the tip jar.

Talking of money we saw these lovely napkins lying on the counter and this was the result.

People started arriving and it was lovely to see so many turn out.  I think the final count was 29 but the best bit of all was that you could hear a pin drop as they were most attentive.  Rob made some reference about how weird the situation was and that seem to break the ice.

He played for over an hour but in all honesty it didn't seem like it at all.  I even commented to him that it was short!.

Got chatting to some lovely guests as I was making my way through the crowd to sell some CDs.  I sold 6 in the end which was very good odds considering the amount of people there.  Most seem to enjoy it and it was really nice to see Rob enjoying himself.  

Gemma joined us for the gig and later on went to fetch Charlie.  He was then the star of the show.

Looking forward to more of these.

Here is "Burns" recorded unplugged.

Brant Broughton Village Hall Gig

I have been looking forward to this one for quite some time and after last night's great gig in Chester I couldn't wait.  But first there was the simple matter of an afternoon at work to contend with.  Jackie very kindly offered to help me sort the notes cabinet.  OMG it was like being in a sauna with all the windows, we were sweating cobs!  I got changed and we left work, fetching Jen along the way.  We stopped off for some much needed sustenance at McDonalds in Newark before getting to Brant Broughton.  Got to the village hall and Rowan told us that the boys were at the pub, so we drove back to the pub.  It was Rob, Dave, Gordon, Martin and Doreen.  I remember Doreen telling me that she had never camped before but how they were camping this weekend.  I think we may have mislead them that we were camping too.  So I found myself giggling every time they mention camping.

We went to the village hall to secure our table up front.  I was trying to sneak a picture of Jackie, not the most flattering one of Doreen bending her ear.

Dave and Rob were at the table too, I couldn't help thinking how confrontational this pic looks.  Dave looks like he is gunning for Martin.

Well Dave finally took the stage and I loved it, preferred it much more than last week with that girl singer at Camp and Furnace.  Dave had such a fab blues voice.  My favourite song  is definitely "Dirty Little Secret".  I was selling CDs for Dave and we managed to get rid of 8 as he was very well received.

Lovely smile!

Next up was the turn of the main act.  I had informed Rob earlier in the day how the description on the facebook event said that it was an intimate evening with story telling.  No pressure there.  Rob was fabulous though and very talkative indeed.

Rob gave me a very sweet dedication of "I'm still here" which was beautiful even though a little embarrassing.  We had all the songs and "Stand by me".

It was so lovely to see people dancing to "Life in Easy Steps" and "The Passage".

Rob finished the night with Demons and it was lovely to see his cousin's boy Finn sing along and then doing some break dancing during the chorus.

Doreen was adamant that she was gonna have her picture taken with Jackie.

 Rob's second cousins posing for picture.

I told Rob how I didn't think the picture on the leaflets looked anything like him.  He then produced this for the pic.  It was very funny!

We all went back to Willem's for a drink and I mean everybody!  There were far too many people so we congregated just outside the back door and then both Dave and Rob joined us along with Willem and we had fabulous conversation.  Including  me telling Dave how much more I enjoyed it tonight since he didn't have that whaling woman with him.  Rob said "Dave meet Margi, she says it as she sees it".  Dave seemed a bit on edge as he kept talking about smoking his Moroccan Woodbine but wasn't sure of etiquette.  I told him to go for it and Willem joined in. 

 Most left after one drink but we stayed a little longer.  Had an in depth conversation with Mr Vincent senior and was getting worried about an increasingly drunk Jen.  We were having a fab time until Jen demanded to go home.  Jen slept for most of the way home.  What a fabulous night.

Bruce Springsteen - Ricoh Arena Coventry

I finally did it!!! Its been some time coming but I finally got to see the man whose music I have loved for so many years.  I was even more delighted that Rob was coming with me as I knew how much of a fan he is too.  We both got stuck in some serious travel as I didn't realise that Rod Steward was also playing around the corner in Birmingham which is what accounted for Rob's traffic issues.  

He arrived to me in the lay bye at 6:55pm, we turned around and I dropped him outside the stadium and went to park the car.  As I got out of the car I could hear the crowd roar and the gig has kicked off.  It was about a 10 minute walk to the stadium.  I then ended up going up the very steep steps to find row SS and then realised I had the wrong block, so I did not fancy shuffling past people so decided to park my ass on the concrete steps.  I fully expected some steward to come and ask me to move but nope I was there for the night.  Rob later joined me when the people next to me left.

Sad news today was that James Gandolfino died, and with him and Bruce being friends it made for a very special dedication where he played the entire Born to Run album from start to finish in James' memory.

After fabulous gig, it took us nearly 2 hours to get out of the car park.  We went to pick up Rob's car and get fuel for our cars and then had a coffee at the services before heading off home.  This is where I told Rob about my love for Springsteen when I was 16.  He was 36 and got married to his first wife Julianne Philips and how I was inconsolable for weeks. I was heart broken with him being no longer available.  Its quite funny now if I think about  how the hell I thought that him being single would ever make any difference to my life.  

It was a long gig but it was awesome and the whole emotion of it all did not quite sink in until reflection on the way home.  As much as I loved tonight, I am not sure I fancy this again in a stadium.  A Springsteen intimate gig would be the most perfect thing, especially if Rob was supporting!

Set list was as follows:

SET LIST 

1. The Ghost of Tom Joad 
   (Solo acoustic)
2. Long Walk Home 
3. My Love Will Not Let You Down 
4. Two Hearts 
   (Sign request, sign actually said "Play anything")
5. Seeds 
   (Sign request)
6. Trapped 
   (Jimmy Cliff cover) (Sign request)
7. Long Time Comin' 
   (Sign request, Full band debut)
8. Wrecking Ball 
9. Death to My Hometown 
10. Hungry Heart 
11. The River 
    (Sign request)
12. Born To Run album - dedicated to James Gandolfini
12. Thunder Road 
13. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out 
14. Night 
15. Backstreets 
16. Born to Run 
17. She's the One 
18. Meeting Across the River 
19. Jungleland 
20. Pay Me My Money Down 
21. Shackled and Drawn 
22. Waitin' on a Sunny Day 
23. Lonesome Day 
24. Badlands 
25. Encore:
25. We Are Alive 
26. Born in the U.S.A. 
27. Bobby Jean 
28. Dancing in the Dark 
29. Raise Your Hand 
    (Eddie Floyd cover)
30. American Land 

I wasn't able to sleep when I got home and ended up having less than 2 hours before going to work.  But today I was still high and can't quite get this amazing experience out of my head.  This is one gig I won't forget in a hurry!

Liverpool IPO 2013 (Briefly)

Being a regular visit to the International Pop Overthrow (IPO Festival) every year, I was very disappointed this year that all of the bands I liked were on different days, meaning that I couldn't do the usual thing of going on the Thursday night and returning on Sunday.

I decided that the best days for me would be Sunday to Monday.  As Sunday I would get to see both Dlugokecki and Eskimo Blonde and Monday Eskimo Blonde, Emma Stevens & Robert Vincent.

After spending the morning baking some Bakewell Cupcakes and Chocolate Cupcakes for Dlugokecki, I made may way to Liverpool to arrive in glorious sunshine just in time at the Cavern Club back stage for Dlugokecki to take the stage.

They played a blinding set with most of the songs from the "Putting the Tracks in Front of the Train" album.  We also had "Too Many Borders" & "Save my Soul" and they finished the set with "All Stations".

Boyd is obviously multi talented.

Phil and Deb arrived during the last song and I sat with them while we listened to Dropkick.  I know they are a favourite of Helen's but it didn't really do it for me.  Don't get me wrong they are good at what they do and as much as I like some harmonies.  I do not like entire songs to be harmonies, there needs to be some distinctive vocals for me and I found the vocals to be a bit wishy washy!

After Dropkick I went to grab a Subway and went to the hotel to go and check in.  The hotel is only around the corner so I was looking forward to the convenience.  Very smart hotel offering free cheese and wine in lobby at 5pm.  So I went to check out my room.

It was compact to say the least but it was perfectly ok for one person even though it is a double room.  The view from the window was pretty spectacular though, sadly the sun is in the way!

This is the view from the lift on the way out.

I then made my way to the Cavern Pub for the 2nd Dlugokecki instalment.

On after them was 4th Street Traffic.  I remembered these guys from last year when they played in Eric's before Eskimo Blonde.  I also remembered how much I loved the vocals and how I had one of their CDs at home.  I thoroughly enjoyed them again!

I said my goodbyes to Ben & Andy and then made my way back to the Cavern Club back stage to see The Wheels.  I remember thinking how gorgeous the bass player was phwoarrr!

After them I got the chance to see 4th Street Traffic for the 2nd time and it was even better as the Cavern pub is not really equipped to deal with really loud bands.

After 4th Street Traffic I decided to call it a night as I was falling asleep.  Then made my way back to the hotel to see this lovely night time view.

Woke up in the morning with a call from Rob saying that he had a meeting and then he will bring baby Charlie to come and meet me.  I got up and went for a nice breakfast and then did some shopping.  Got caught up in the American Candy shop and seeing all these different flavours just made me look more forward to going to USA.

Rob and Charlie came to meet me in Costa and I couldn't wait to get him out of the buggy.  So I looked after Charlie whilst daddy got a coffee.  Aww to say he is adorable is putting it mildly.  I was all overcome with emotion, he is a little sweetheart!  He got a bit grumpy and wanted to go back into his buggy after I gave him some milk and then dropped to sleep.

Woken up again, but still not impressed.

Daddy clapping hands with Charlie.

Rob then left and I went for another spot of shopping before heading back to Costa for one last coffee before the gig.  This guy was sat next to me pounding his fist against his chest and he suddenly went into what looked like cardiac arrest.  So he is now lying on the floor and I am trying to resuscitate him.  They called an ambulance but luckily he came to and then told me he had  heart murmur and this kind of thing sometimes happens.  Took ambulance over 15 minutes to get there, I never want to be dying in Liverpool!


I then went to the Cavern Pub to go and see Emma Stevens.  I missed the first couple of songs so sneaked in.  She had a great crowd and got a lovely reception and ended off the set by dedicating "Once" to me.  It was a lovely gesture.

After Emma, I stuck around a bit longer and caught a band from the Netherlands called Marty and the Graveyard.  I really liked this pop band and the tunes were quite catchy.

I got a tad mesmerised with the keyboard player as he was so into it and kept hitting the tambourine against the side of the keyboard really hard.

When they finished I went across the road to make sure I got a good spot for Rob in the back room of the Cavern.  I then saw Helen and Mark and Phil and Deb just as Dave Rave took the stage.  This brought back memories of my very first drunken IPO where Dave gave me a CD.  He was his usual entertaining self and I was glad I didn't miss him.

He called David Bash on stage to join him for the last song.

Two singing together.

It was finally Rob's turn on the IPO stage this year and I got my first glimpse of some new talent in the band.  It was a lovely set and it was nice to see so many have come out to see him play.

A nice one of Mike

I like this one of Rob

Said my goodbyes and made my way home after talking to some people outside the club for ages.  I said to Rob that I had to work the following day and that I wouldn't make it back to Liverpool.  

Well low and behold I was back again the following night and arrived just in time to see The Ladykillers.  OMG!! What a fucking joke!!!  You had the dad and two of his sons and two old blokes in the band.  They were dreadful and so up their own arses.  I was very glad when they finished.  Ladykillers my ass, who were they fooling?!

Rob was then on next and got joined on stage tonight by Bongo Pete who told me last night he was playing but him and his friend were very very drunk.  I liked the touch of the extra percussion but think it would have been better on the bigger stage as there was just too  much going on for the Cavern.  It was packed though and people loved it.

Soon as it finished I said goodbye to Rob and his parents and came home via the dock to try and capture what looked like a spectacular sunset.