Don't tell me this. Aargh not sure how I can get there. Took today off, not next Friday and couldn't come after an 8 1/2 hour day. Not happy now. And I can't afford the overnight stay.  

Blimey what hours do you work?? Can't be more than 2 hours from you so even leaving at 6pm should be comfortable.

Ok, that puts it in different light. Was aware, just didn't appreciate how debilitating a day at work would be. Sorry for being a numpty.

Look forward to seeing you there.

Word is to ask any friends along to this one as it's short notice and would be good to fill it. Apparently venue is quite capacious.

Only condition is band name not to be publicised again, although wearing of t-shirts etc on the night is not being discouraged.

Sent Kerry a mail already; was going to send to Rita from work as we swapped mails on last one.

You'll note I've hinted at gig on main forum. I think the numbers on here who find that buried will be manageable - the concern is more for fora like Twitter or FB. Band want people there, just not for name to be bandied about due to contract with IOW.

I'm happy for you to ask Rita though. I've already sent to Sharon, Nick B, Bethany etc.

Re booked into hotel in Crawley West (Premier Inn) so will only have to walk to and from gig. Flying in via Southampton on Flybe at 1 pm on Friday and will get train to London and take it from there. Hope it's a good gig. Scrapped the ferry journey and get to leave Dublin at a civilised time.

Noel,

Some trains from Southampton stop at Crawley and Gatwick en route to London, unless you have a desire to be in town for the afternoon?

Check out National Rail site for the details if you want to avoid bouncing off a London terminus back to Gatwick. Might be cheaper too, albeit a slower train.

Cheers,

Suss

Have  just bought a ticket from Southampton Parkway to Ifield for £31. Can travel at any time , but must travel via Clapham Junction and then out to Ifield via Gatwick or Crawley. Takes about two hours.

The route via Havant also takes two hour

Not flying back from Gatwick till 7 PM so might head down to Brighton rather than go into  London.

noelindublin wrote:

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BTW Ryanair were charging about 250 Euros for a one way trip to Gatwick on Friday...

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 Mr. O'Leary has come up with the goodies for me to Cork; £22.99 out and  EUR 22.99 back, so just over £40 return.  

suss wrote:

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noelindublin wrote:

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Have  just bought a ticket from Southampton Parkway to Ifield for £31. Can travel at any time , but must travel via Clapham Junction and then out to Ifield via Gatwick or Crawley. Takes about two hours.

 

-- Edited by noelindublin on Wednesday 5th of June 2013 04:26:02 PM

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 I'd be amazed if anyone checked you went to Clapham, and the trains that go via Gatwick go to Clapham afterwards anyway. Seems like a stupid condition to me. Play ignorant and just get off en route. It's not as if you have to leave Clapham and present ticket at a barrier to go back whence you came.

Realise there are fast trains up to Waterloo via Clapham, but why should the ticket force you into that. Play the dumb tourist card 

Ticket is valid on South West Trains via Winchester and Basingstoke route to Clapham Jcn and then must change to Southern trains for the leg to Gatwick and Ifield .Anyway will have from 2.30 arrival in Southampton till 9pm to get there so problem is more filling in the time. Not sure exactly what there is to do in Ifield if one is at a loose end. Anyway see y'all there.

ArrGee wrote:

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noelindublin wrote:

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Not sure exactly what there is to do in Ifield if one is at a loose end.  

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 Sit in the pub?

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 The sat image shows the pub to be out in open countryside. Will be strictly limiting my alcohol intake as I have to last till 7 pm return flight and don't want to be nursing a hangover. I think I'll head down to Brighton and while away the time there rather than facing the stress of London.

Jules wrote:

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We will get there early, but will go into Crawley first of all and get something to eat. Probably be at the pub around 5 pm ish. Will try to look out for you!

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 Chris aka BTR will be in Crawley in the afternoon. He has sent me an email and we may be sharing a taxi to and from the venue as we are both staying in hotels in Crawley.

The gig is not on until about 9 pm so not too much point in turning up too early-maybe an hour or so for the build up.

lots of nice villages and countryside west of Ifield and Crawley, but I think Crawley itself is just urban sprawl. Robert Smith of The Cure is from Crawley.

Theres a pond and mill to visit if one is looking for some 'wild life'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ifield,_West_Sussex

More

Rat Trap

Clockwork

So what you've not all been waiting for.

Next

Next

Not finished yet. 

Next

Simon again

What??? Just had a thought!!!

which tracks were suggested anyway?  I wonder if they'll change the ste?

Missed one which is worthwhile adding.

My wifi is so slow. There's more worth showing . 

Posting from sunny Brighton today. Really good gig. Better than I expected. Crowd of at least 300. Most amazingly Bob met a few of us from this forum after the gig and answered loads of our questions in a very forthright and entertaining way. I was very impressed with Bob because I had never met him before but he was so interested in my questions and those of the others, and I felt he was really listening. He certainly goes into long, elaborate answers to questions, and whether you fully agree with him or not, he does think about what people are saying.

Suss, Chris(BTR), Wes, Nick and a few others I didn't know were there also. Bob was downing the wine, but he was certainly not rushing off. He was very interested in what songs we thought they should do at IoW. Also met Pete, Darren and Alan from the band and again they were all gentlemen, not brushing anyone off.

I had practically given up taking photos by then. The light was rapidly fading and with a spotlight directly on Bob it made it look as though his hair was on fire. Bright orange face lol. I'm learning photography so thought maybe I just can't cant get the settings right so flicked back to auto but the camera made an even worse job of it . 

I was gutted I missed going back afterwards. Should have hung around a bit longer. I was exhausted so easily persuadethee band had gone. Foolish me. 

First proper chance I've had to post since Friday but can confirm that Rats in front of 300 was far far more exciting and energetic and entertaining than Stone Roses in front of 60,000 (guess) last night. And I'd back any complete neutral to say the same. Getting a good feeling about IOW and the reaction they ought to get; Rats that is.

My memories of Friday are a little bit hazy, but remember only getting my camera out for Having My Picture Taken (needed the song to remind me I'd brought it ) and yes, Bob's hair/head was a fireball . I'm just delighted the more expert and proficient snappers such as Jules and Nick get such memorable shots for the benefit of rest of us. Thanks guys.

Re: discussions afterwards - apologies to BTR for crashing in on conversation about set but think we assembled devotees unanimously agreed Someone's Looking At You needed to find a space. The problem, not unsurprisingly, was which of the set to drop, if any.

From memory my hastily scribbled offering to Bob was Eva Braun (not only my absolute favourite but plugged in to their intro sequence so pretty much a given anyway), Clockwork, SLAY, Mary, Do You In, Neon Heart, Mondays, Diamond, Modern, No 1, Rat Trap. 

All except SLAY were the set from Friday anyway, in a different order though, but I still think She's So Modern is better stored up than early, as it was at the Gate. I can see the crowd lapping that up myself...big shout of MODERN at the end, straight into drums for No1 without a second's pause. Bob wasn't especially convinced by that combo but as Noel says was very happy to mull over, discuss, and at no point dismissive to anyone. Whoever said 'it's like an audience with Bob' was spot on. If time really is the enemy then I would reluctantly drop Neon Heart from the above or, perhaps (but doubt this will happen), cut out the 5 minute interlude in Mary. 

With hindsight, such a wonderful thing, I wouldn't have stayed up to 4.30 in the bar with Darren becoming honorary member of that support act for a couple of hours mainly Irish singing, or rather I would have stayed but perhaps should have told that persistent bottle of Jameson's to do one. Maybe that didn't help my overall enjoyment of the Roses. Head feels like it's Made of Stone today .

Great to see some many from here on the night. Really looking forward to seeing again, and others, at the remaining gigs. Will post my amateur snaps of having their picture taken when I get chance.

suss wrote:

With hindsight, such a wonderful thing, I wouldn't have stayed up to 4.30 in the bar with Darren becoming honorary member of that support act for a couple of hours mainly Irish singing, or rather I would have stayed but perhaps should have told that persistent bottle of Jameson's to do one. Maybe that didn't help my overall enjoyment of the Roses. Head feels like it's Made of Stone today .

There but for the grace of God, go I.  Well, thanks to grace of Mrs. ArrGee anyway!  The way I look at it, I'll not see the Stone Roses again this year, but will see the Rats once or twice more at least.   Given how I felt after Elvis Costello and the pre/intra/post gig drinks, I think I would have struggled to enjoy anything except what I got on Friday evening, which was a good night's sleep.  Having an aisle seat at a gig is just an excuse to get to the bar and back rapidly :O) 

suss wrote:

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Think that (the lulls) was my main gripe....

Did enjoy last night, just not as much. Too many jamming spells and a few too many 'lesser' tracks, which lost the audience. Have to agree though that thousands singing the anthem tracks did send a shiver up my spine, along with that nippy wind. 

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With the Roses you have to accept that all most people want to hear is the first album and a couple of singles off the second.  And since they did 11 of the 13 tracks on the final version of the first album plus the two singles, there wasn't much else.  Perhaps they could have done One Love, Sugar Spun Sister and Bye Bye Badman,  wich would have been more familiar, but at least they didn't do any new stuff.

Anyway, Mr. Ryan's comments are spot on (and I don't know him)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/live-music-reviews/10107789/The-Stone-Roses-Finsbury-Park-review.html

ArrGee wrote:

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Well, there were lulls in the Roses, but I wouldn't really go along with that unless  the Rats get 60,000 singing along.  

If I was to give any advice about the Isle of Wight set, it would simply be that no one will probably give a monkey's what they play aside from Rat Trap and Mondays, but they should make it exciting.  In which case dropping  Diamond Smiles and possibly Do You In for something more upbeat.    I would definitely have Joey's On The Street Again and Someone's Looking as they are both more upbeat, and quite frankly far better songs.  Also they have a lot of the hand-clapping participation thing that goes down well at concerts in fields.

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 Think that (the lulls) was my main gripe and partly bears out my view that Modern > No 1 > Rat Trap ends on a high for the crowd. I'd say Do You In is immediate enough and with a strong enough beat to engage the unfamiliar, whereas Neon Heart suffers by comparison. Fair shout with Joey, but concensus seems o be it's too long for a festival set. Diamond Smiles benefits from being recognisable I guess....

Did enjoy last night, just not as much. Too many jamming spells and a few too many 'lesser' tracks, which lost the audience. Have to agree though that thousands singing the anthem tracks did send a shiver up my spine, along with that nippy wind. I walked to Tufnell Park, about 3 people waiting there.

I spoke to Bob and Pete both on Friday night and asked them if they would be recording new songs. Bob told me that he had written about 4 new songs, all with 'rat' in the title, Ratified, The Boomtown rats, and two others. I was amazed at how easy it was to speak to Bob, having never met him before. Once you are genuinely knowledgeable about his and the Rats music he really takes on board what you are saying. Even got to tell him about the annoying na na na's on Diamond Smiles and how they are much less prominent on the record of the song.

I take if from this that eventually a new album will be released, maybe not immediately but maybe late this year or sometime next year. The comeback will only be about the old catalog, and that is fair enough. Quote from Bob  to me before leaving :'I'm always writing new songs'. Good for those of us who want more than a nostalgia trip and think the band can still deliver- though hopefully they will not be making a concept album with all songs about rats

Overall I thought the whole gig was great. A nice relaxed atmosphere, big sized 'garden', friendly locals, a pub landlord a bit like Basil Fawlty, a good age mix, lots of people who knew the songs, perfect weather.

I like the Stone Roses, but I hate huge crowds, and crowds that drown out the act by singing along. I mean what's the point if you get thousands of drunks mouthing the Stone Roses songs and you are surrounded by 60,000 people. The whole Roses 'cultural importance' is overstated too, a mini industry that keeps some music journalists in employment.

Good to see Joan again- was amused when she showed me how her dancing had sunk a deep hole into the soft garden soil. Good to meet Do The Rat, though just for a brief introduction. Overall had a very good time, helped by not drinking anything but Coca Cola

Other memories: Geldof walking up the garden to the stage being greeted by wolfwhistes.The Oirish folk band who did the warm up- the sort of band Geldof would have booked for a bit of fun.Learning its 'Eye Field' and not 'IFF FIELD'- thanks to the flawless Southern Train announcers. BTW Geldof said at one stage: 'It's great to be here, wherever the **** we are' lol.

-- Edited by noelindublin on Monday 10th of June 2013 01:26:36 PM

Off top of my head, apart from setlist, the remainder were introduced as 'a few for the Rats fans' and included Elephant's Graveyard, When the Night Comes, Back in the Night, Banana Republic, Having my Picture Taken, Close as You'll ever Be, Joey and finally the largely pre-recorded dance oriented new track which sounded good but descended into chaos as a few guests took to the stage. Band were only singing along anyway (not really playing).

Might have been another one or two - was a decent length performance - but no Howard Hughes this time.

noelindublin wrote:

I like the Stone Roses, but I hate huge crowds, and crowds that drown out the act by singing along. I mean what's the point if you get thousands of drunks mouthing the Stone Roses songs and you are surrounded by 60,000 people. The whole Roses 'cultural importance' is overstated too, a mini industry that keeps some music journalists in employment.

Yeah I hate it when all the drunks start singing, can hardly hear myself.   

To be honest,  the worst thing about been surrounded by 60,000 people isn't the singing along, it's them shouting at their mates so you can't hear the songs at all. Or even worse shouting my ear totally unsolicited. Or sticking their phones in front of you. Or snogging front of you. Or falling in front of you. Or pi$$ing in front of you.  And that's just the girls.   Still it is funny when you see them falling in the pi$$. 

Some kindly advice to festival goers.  Don't drink.   It's expensive, and you can't expect to be near the front.  We lost one of our party to the portaloos just before the Roses came on.   He never made it back.   We only saw him at the very end, and he was far away from the action.   Worse for girls they have to queue.  For ages.  Well except the afore mentioned.

Modern

http://theboomtownrats.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/i-remember-you.html

All lifted from this forum