WELL - WHAT A WAY TO START THE NEW YEAR!

Last night saw the tour bus (i.e. the dirty white brewery van!) eventually pull up outside the Windmill Inn at Whiteley Green. Now this place isn't too far from the centre of Macclesfield, but when you spend the 10 minutes or so that it takes bouncing around in the pitch black that is the back of said van, it seems a VERY long way. This is what Paul and Matt had to endure, with only the light of their mobile phones saving them from being impaled or crushed by various bits of gear! Thanks Hugh - just don't drive like that on your test!

Anyway - to the gig itself, and what can we say?? Friday was the second night in a series of 3 to celebrate the Windmill's "Local Ale Sale" - the star attraction (apart from us) being 9 of Storm Brewing's best beers. We were hoping that the double incentive might encourage a few punters, but it's fair to say that none of us anticipated just how many people would be there! By the time we kicked off at 8:30 (early for us!), there must have been close to 200 people in the pub, all eating and drinking as if their lives depended on it which, if you think about it, I suppose they did!

We kicked off with the usual "slower" stuff and, by the time we'd got through Moondance (done with feeling, of course!), the crowd were putty in our hands! The rest of the 2 sets went off tremendously, and everyone was extremely complimentary about what they experienced - by the end of the evening I think they were as damp as I was (and that was extremely damp, I can assure you!) Thanks to everyone who turned up, especially on such a cold night and to a pub that is not really on the main drag - we did say that if the people who came because they'd heard the band were on hadn't turned up, there would have probably have only been about 20 in the place, but maybe that's just our egos talking! The Windmill have said they want us to come back and play again - although the landlady did admit that she was so busy, she had not heard most of the gig - maybe there would have been a different outcome if she had!

So now it's on to The Spinner's in Bollington next Saturday (17 January); we've never played there before either, so more new ground to be broken there! Having lived in Bolly for 2 years in the early 80s, I'm fully expecting a warm welcome - it's not a big venue, so get there early to book your place. Andy's really looking forward to it as well! Unfortunately Dave is not available for the gig but we are hoping that his loss can be covered in 2 ways:
1. Matt Johnson is allowed to return from Thailand, Vietnam, Mongolia or wherever it is that he has been over the last few weeks
2. Matt Rose is able to play with us again, this time on acoustic or electric, rather than bass.
Such is the ever changing line up that is Dazed & Confused!

With regard to other gigs, in addition to the Macc Beer Festival noted in the last post, we're provisionally booked again for Congleton Beer Festival on 27 June (I need to check they didn't change their mind when they sobered up!), and we will also be making our first appearance at the hotbed of Macc rock music that is The Nag's Head in Water's Green on Saturday 21 February. They have some real class acts there, so we will need to be on top blob for that one - and, again all support will be welcome!