Star Date, Friday 7 January 2011 8:00pm - the dirty white tour van pulls into the car park of the Windmill to find there are absolutely no parking spaces whatsoever - the whole place is jam-packed with cars!! What the hell is going on?? Maybe it's 200 ramblers that went out at lunchtime, got lost, and have not yet returned? Maybe it's the Annual General Meeting of the Adlington Dogging Society? Maybe it's something else??
But no, the pub was actually cram jam full of people eating, drinking and generally enjoying themselves ("we'll soon put a stop to that", we thought!), approximately 200 maybe, so no pressure then! Some of them were even shoe-horned into the space where we were supposed to set up, so you can imagine how happy they were when we asked them to move, and shifted their table outside!
Now, this number of people in a venue before we even start poses a number of challenges:
- Are they expecting a band, and will they mind their quiet evening meal being disturbed?
- How the hell do we get our stuff in, and do a sound check without tipping food and drink all over the place, while we try and erect speakers and string cables around the place?
- Will they all still be here when we start playing, or are they on an early shift, so they can get home and finish watching Christmas catch-up TV?
Whatever, we pressed on, set up the gear and, although it was a bit of tight squeeze (remember, there were 6 of us this time, and we weren't used to that!), we were just about ready to play by 9:15pm. We had realised by then that the size of the crowd was due in no small measure to the fact that Becca, the landlady, was having her "farewell do" (not her birthday, as originally thought), and loads of people had come to see her off in style. It was also the opening night of the Windmill's annual "Local Ale Sale" which had drawn many diehard fans of proper beer (especially Storm Brewing's best!) in.
Heartened by the fact that nobody had disappeared in the intervening period, we cracked on and, in addition to having people up and bopping during the first set, we were treated to an amazing display of dancing, singing and general mayhem during the second! Once again, there were people up on shoulders, tables, chairs and anything else that was vaguely fixed to the floor! We did have a bit of a turn when we were asked to go on for the second set at 10:30 and finish at 11:00(!), but we soon persuaded the new landlady, Abby, to let us play until 11:30 (we actually finished at 11:50!), so all was good! I'm hoping that someone has some pics they can send us to post on here, because it was yet another memorable night, and words alone can't do it justice; so, if you're reading this, and have some photos, e-mail them to the address on the right hand side of the blog, and we'll post them (or post them to the "Dazed and Confused Massive" Facebook page).
So, 2011 is well and truly under way, and we are out and about again this weekend, playing a private party in Marple tomorrow night, after which there is a band get-together at Paul's on Sunday - which I'm sure will be a quiet and subdued affair (just like the Band on a Boat event last summer)!!
New gigs are cropping up all the time, and are being posted on the right ------------->
next public gig looks like Friday 4 March at Porter's on Roe Street in Macclesfield - the delay being due to holidays (not Dave this time!), so put it in your diary, because we know you'll be having withdrawal symptoms by then!!
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