I am still buzzing after the amazing weekend I have had so seeing that Myspace has died a death and in the absence of a blog, I thought I would use this as my forum.
Weekend started off a bit precariously with my exhaust falling off my car on Thursday night on the way home from work. Luckily I managed to retrieve it outside the Old English Gentleman. This resulted in chaotic Friday which comprised some work from home, last minute gig sorting and of course paying £70 for the priviledge of having my exhaust fixed.
I got an early birthday present realising that my exhaust fell off last night on the way home. Luckily I managed to retrieve it in the nick of time!!!
I booked myself a taxi from Sherwood as Julian et al kindly offered to put us up for the night, so I figured best thing would be to drop my car off and taxi it from there. I arrived at The Golden Fleece about 5.30 expecting to find Lynn there but for a change SHE was late. Rob and Seany arrived and helped me blow balloons, stick up banners etc.
Everybody had arrived and we were awaiting Mr Dlugo, the fact I hadn't heard, prob meant he hadn't got lost. He finally showed and got really excited when told that he was able to get drunk after he moves his car to Sherwood. I had been so much looking forward to this night and it was so good seeing the numbers of friends that turned out for my party.
Ben was his usual random self but most of all he played a cracking set. Loved "Putting the Tracs in Front of the Train", "Lifeboat", "Right Time Wrong Time" and finished off the set with "Too Many Borders". Ben had most people in stitches but especially during his cover of Jayzee's "Empire State of Mind" substituting "niggers" for "jews" and ranting about putting the word picnic in a song. Well Ben what do you expect singing Cheryl Cole songs??
Next up were my favourite Nottingham boys (and girl). This was the 3rd year in some shape or other. They kicked off with my favourite "Hurricane" and I particularly enjoyed "Alone in December" tonight. We were treated to some new songs which were a bit different from the norm. Love the tune of the final song, just not quite sure about the vocals but who knows their darkness might grow on me!
It was then time for Night Parade who hadn't played Nottingham for a couple of years. They kicked their set off with "Fifty Stone Lover" followed by "The Passage" and I remember the 3rd song as I have only been asking for it since April last year! I finally got to hear all my ooh oohs with "I'm Still Here" It is safe to say that "You Wouldn't Let it" and "Demons" was pretty amazing too. It was nice to see how popular they were with the locals.
Now it was time for classic drunken Ben singing all the cheesy party greats including all 44 verses of "American Pie" and everybody singing and dancing along.
Highlight of the night was the couple of duets between Rob of Night Parade and Ben. We had "Sex on Fire" which was awesome, looking forward to seeing video (Willem). And who can forget Ben's dreadful version of "Havoc". It was most amusing though.
The pub cleared out very quickly and a few vodka's later we were finally kicked out. Pic below was taken outside. These were the last people standing! (and obviously me taking the pic)
We got back to Dave & Julian's and had some more Vodka. Ben hit the sack first followed by Dave.
Julian and I chatted till 4:50am.
Our lovely hosts woke me at 10:45am and we had great cooked breakfast courtesy of masterchef Phil. After Ben had his 8th cup of tea we decided it was time to hit the road to Liverpool. One last pic....with Ben showing everyone how to do band poses!
We arrived in Liverpool at about 4pm and checked into our digs, where we were greeted by a friendly little Pole with a bottle of Lambrini (which I bloody left behind). Showered and buggered off to The Cavern. To say Benny was like a kid in a toy shop was putting it mildly! He wanted to photograph and video everything.
We arrived in time for Night Parade soundcheck. Rob was not well at all and it was touch and go whether the gig would go ahead. Luckily thanks to a bottle of Pepsi and a huge belch the man was on top form again.
Eat this opened proceedings and Ben was mesmerised by Robin their drummer, he is really a bit special! I worked the door and was glad to see people arrive in time to hear Ben. Doglips was selling the merch and said that Ben had sold 4 CD's after track 2, which proves that Liverpool loves him too.
Night Parade took to the stage met my loud applause and I got my song a 2nd night running. Managed to persuade a good few tourists to pay the fee for the gig and go upstairs to get a refund of their Cavern entry fee. One of the foreigner's was Argentinian boy Sebastian who was all over me for the remainder of the night. What a looker - but I'm perfectly happy with my man.
Night Parade were outstanding as usual and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My favourite songs keep changing. It was good to hear "Hold On" again but "Holy", "The Passage" and "You Wouldn't Let It" are my current favourites.
My favourite bit of the night was the dressing room antics between Jay and Ben. How old are you guys?
The night was topped off with Jay, Ben and Larry from Eat This singing "Hide Your Love Away" in the dressing room. Ben will surely upload this video!
We then said our sad goodbyes and after several "Been there, done that" shots outside the Cavern we made our way down to church street in search of the other mad man, the one from Leeds. To say the streets of Liverpool were mad, is a bit of an understatement.
We found Johnny close to his usual haunt and it was lovely to see him again. I got him to play "If its Alright (Bernie's song)" for Ben.
Back to our room after some food from the chippy seeing we hadn't eaten since breakfast. Shower and bedtime, only I couldn't sleep with the noise upstairs. We had planned on being in Nottingham around 11am but we only woke up at 10:30! We finally got to "Our Nottingham Hotel" at 1pm, Ben had a quick cuppa and we said our sad farewells. He was excited about getting back to Daisy and Binz. I had another cuppa and came home to my man.
I want to say thank you to all my friends for the lovely birthday wishes, thanks to those who came to my party,thanks for my lovely pressies (lovely bridge book from Katiemoo), thanks to all the bands that played and most of all thanks to my old friend Karen for the trip down memory lane on facebook. Even though you are 10000 miles away, it looked like you were with me in spirit and that made the weekend for me!
Till next year....
