Guildford & Bristol

Wes[Wolverhampton] · House on Fire

Guildford & Bristol

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

Not sure whether I count as usual - or unusual?? But look forward to seeing you at Guildford!

Wes[Wolverhampton] · House on Fire

Guess you are semi usual Lisa. biggrin Should be a good night with the 3 bands on.

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

Thanks, Wes! Nicest thing anyone's said to me in a long time!

Yes, looking forward to it. Should be good.

Ian D · House on Fire

Wes, i have stayed at the Ibis Bristol Centre in Anchor Road before. Not far to walk from the academy.

Wes[Wolverhampton] · House on Fire

Thanks for that Ian-sounds like an option

JoanOfArc · The Fine Art of Surfacing

Wes I'm going to guildford, class of 77 yeh cya there

Scottie · Loudmouth

Anyone else going to the Sage, apart from Suss.? Also Johnny's solo album will be on sale at the gigs. It is very good.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Scottie wrote:
Anyone else going to the Sage, apart from Suss.? Also Johnny's solo album will be on sale at the gigs. It is very good.

I presume you mean Turnbull rather than Fingers. Only joking,yes JT is cool. He sings the start of Scream In Vain, so his voice is quite pure and if that's anything to go on, his album might be interesting. Will look out for it.

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

JoanOfArc wrote:
Wes I'm going to guildford, class of 77 yeh cya there

Look forward to seeing you there - plus Suss and Wes. Considering the pre-curry meal at venue - but just waiting to hear back as to whether there is a good veggie option:

https://glive.co.uk/online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=FB30E382-7EA1-4794-9BAD-D9336197C882

Wes[Wolverhampton] · House on Fire

Could be a good idea Lisa.

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

Wes[Wolverhampton] wrote:
Could be a good idea Lisa.

Well I need to phone tomorrow to check re:veg option. But have been told I can book table without payment in advance. So if anybody is interested ...

Wes[Wolverhampton] · House on Fire

Count me in Lisa

suss · In the Long Grass

Lisa wrote:
OK have now been told I can't pre-book table without payment in advance, so advice is just turn up on night and pay. So would guess we should arrange time/place to meet beforehand and see what we all want to do. Curry night starts from 5.30 onwards ... I will probably be relaxing in a spa until about 4.00 To be honest, not bothered where we eat - apparently there is a good Thai restaurant nearby as well. I'm sure the possibilities are endless!

Any eaterie that's airing Palace v Huddersfield is fine by me smile .

And to back up Scottie's comment, Rats will prob be on about 7.30 if Sage timings are any guide, so wouldn't leave it late to sit down for food.

-- Edited by suss on Thursday 20th of December 2012 10:28:50 PM

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

OK have now been told I can't pre-book table without payment in advance, so advice is just turn up on night and pay. So would guess we should arrange time/place to meet beforehand and see what we all want to do. Curry night starts from 5.30 onwards ... I will probably be relaxing in a spa until about 4.00

To be honest, not bothered where we eat - apparently there is a good Thai restaurant nearby as well. I'm sure the possibilities are endless!

Scottie · Loudmouth

Dont be late because The Rats are on first, about 40 mins, Blocheads about 50 mins and the Jam are headlining , about 1hr, 10mins. We had a drink with Garry and Simon and the others at the hotel. They were very happy to talk about their music past and present.

JoanOfArc · The Fine Art of Surfacing

Lisa wrote:
OK have now been told I can't pre-book table without payment in advance, so advice is just turn up on night and pay. So would guess we should arrange time/place to meet beforehand and see what we all want to do. Curry night starts from 5.30 onwards ... I will probably be relaxing in a spa until about 4.00 To be honest, not bothered where we eat - apparently there is a good Thai restaurant nearby as well. I'm sure the possibilities are endless!

i'll probably be up for the curry lisa, but like u i would prefer veggie option, sure they should have one.

can u keep me in touch about meeting place if not G Live?

cheers xx

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

OK Joan, haven't got your number - but think others may have? If not, PM me.

By the way my criteria for eaterie is one that definitely does not show any football

Scottie · Loudmouth

The Rats seemed to be on and off again very quickly. Their version of Mondays was interesting, I did not recognise the song till about half way through. Garry was saying afterwards he used to walk off stage at the intro, he did not like it. So no keyboard this time. The Blockheads were superb. So much energy. The Jam, (one of them) would have preferred a naughtier audience, but they were the only ones who did an encore.

suss · In the Long Grass

Scottie wrote:
The Jam, (one of them) would have preferred a naughtier audience

Should be happy at Guildford then with Joan and Lisa in the crowd smile

So, as I'm excluded from communal dining in my quest for Sky Sports, guess I'll see peeps in there. Should be a good night.

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

suss wrote:
Scottie wrote:
The Jam, (one of them) would have preferred a naughtier audience
Should be happy at Guildford then with Joan and Lisa in the crowd
So, as I'm excluded from communal dining in my quest for Sky Sports, guess I'll see peeps in there. Should be a good night.

I think you've excluded yourself! Isn't it a bad idea to watch Palace whilst eating - evey time they miss you'll be spilling gravy down your shirt ...Anyway if you'd rather watch footie than be sociable, will see you in there - 7.30 on the dot , right? But should be aiming to get a taxi into town by about 5.00ish so happy to meet somewhere for a drink first.

Is it just while The Jam are on - or do we have to be naughty all night??

suss · In the Long Grass

Bit of gravy no problem. Should see what I spill when they score.

I'm happy to be sociable. Where have you decided in the end??

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

I think Wes and I were in general agreement to just play it by ear - someone find a pub, text others to say where they are, then decide on place to eat. Happy to go with the flow - never let it be said that I'm fussy, just somewhere with veggie food option (and not any football!)

By the way, not too sure about that comment of yours

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

suss wrote:
Bit of gravy no problem. Should see what I spill when they score.
I'm happy to be sociable. Where have you decided in the end??

Perhaps you should bring a change of clothes to cover every eventuality ....

smile

suss · In the Long Grass

Lisa wrote:
I think Wes and I were in general agreement to just play it by ear - someone find a pub, text others to say where they are, then decide on place to eat.

I'm going to sample the King's Head, King's Road (off Stoke Road), about 5 mins walk from venue.

Fuller's pub with range of ales, food supposed to be ok...and they claim to have a big screen smile .

Happy to be summoned elsewhere, otherwise I think I'll be there around 5pm.

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

Guildford was brilliant! Of course Rats were best and really should have been headlining, but Jam came a fairly close second

Great to see Suss, Wes - and Joan briefly (sorry Joan there was a huge queue at the bar and missed you after!) Good to bump into Darren too. Everything was great - well apart from the football

Happy Xmas! xxx

Wes[Wolverhampton] · House on Fire

Enjoyed Guildford as well,although i was feeling a bit under the weather.Didnt go to Bristol in the end for that reason on top of the floods and the Christmas eve traffic.
I'm sure Suss will give us the rundown.
I think the same as you Lisa.I wasnt too impressed with the blockheads appart from the bass playing.Jam were great except im getting too old for all that crowd movement. biggrin .

Happy Christmas all xxx

suss · In the Long Grass

Wes[Wolverhampton] wrote:
Didnt go to Bristol in the end for that reason on top of the floods and the Christmas eve traffic.
I'm sure Suss will give us the rundown.

Floods didn't affect M4 or Bristol centre luckily, although there was one almighty hold up near Reading cry .

Fortunately made it into Brizzle with plenty of time to spare even though Rats opened again, at 8pm sharp. The 'charred remains of the Boomtown Rats' intro from Guildford had been updated to 'We're the smouldering embers of the Boomtown Rats, but where there's smoke....' and straight into Mary. Benefits of quick succession gigs were evident as band were really tight, although Darren was a bit hampered by a dodgy amp connection so he cut out briefly on one or two tracks. Other than that the concensus was same as at Gateshead and Guildford, that this band genuinely catch people unawares and consequently blow the crowd away. Suppose the added numbers from a 3 band bill helps (must have been 900-1000 at Bristol, in a real old school black painted venue) but atmosphere by Mondays was reminiscent of the old days.

Overheard more than one person at Guildford and then Bristol say that as good as Blockheads are they perhaps should have been first up as the energy levels in crowd subsided in the second set, but have to confess the Jam (certainly at Guildford - I didn't stay for them at Bristol) had people bouncing around and generally crushing forwards. I got battered.

All in all a fantastic set of gigs, although Gateshead proved that all seaters are not conducive to the best nights out, and perhaps, as mentioned elsewhere, the multi-band approach may be the more financially viable way ahead. Only downside of that is the limited time and repertoire.

For info, Class of 77 set consisted of Mary, Neon Heart, Someone's Looking, Diamond Smiles, Like Clockwork, Rat Trap, She's So Modern, and Mondays.

Did see a few (three) others sporting Rats t-shirts at Bristol. Anyone on here??

-- Edited by suss on Wednesday 26th of December 2012 07:12:55 PM

Lisa · Mondo Bongo

Wes[Wolverhampton] wrote:
Jam were great except im getting too old for all that crowd movement..

Well it was quite exciting at the front - but Richard is still moaning about how wild it was and made me move to the back for the encore! Mind you, think the 4 pints I had made it seem more fun biggrin

suss · In the Long Grass

Three videos from Bristol gig on youtube if anyone's interested.

Diamond Smiles at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j_R786yvMM

Like Clockwork - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KznVDUmS-Lc

Rat Trap - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z96NzVEmMVg

Mark L · Loudmouth

Thanks Suss - enjoyed these.