STOP PRESS - 2 MORE GIGS!

Well - I obviously spoke too soon! No sooner do I say that we don't have another gig until the end of June, than the "London Bus" syndrome strikes and TWO more come along at once! both of these are "public", so you don't need to worry about smuggling yourself in under the hem of someone's bridesmaid's dress, or disguising yourself as a waiter!


The first one is this SATURDAY 1 JUNE at Porter's Ale House on Roe Street in Macclesfield. It's a while since we've played there, and it's changed hands, but we're sure it will be a good night and, as Summer officially starts on 1 June, no doubt the sun will be cracking the pavement (except that it will be 9 o'clock at night when we start!). So come along in your shorts and flip flops, and we'll have a good old summer knees-up!

SATURDAY 22 JUNE sees us breaking new ground - we've been asked to play at The Unicorn on Holmes Chapel Road in Congleton! Apparently, mein hosts at the pub are trying to generate a worthwhile music scene in Congleton, and we are one of the first to get it going (of course, it will all be downhill from there!) so, if any of our Congleton readers are at a loose end on the night, why not come along and see what you've been missing all this time - of course, everyone else is welcome too!  PS: I couldn't find a photo of the pub, so here's a photo of a Unicorn!

SEVENTH HEAVEN - IT WAS JUST LIKE BEING FAMOUS!!

Friday 10 May 2013 will be remembered for many things - the Government Transport Committee produced its Aviation Strategy, Adam Hansen won Stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia cycle race (it finished in Pescara, by the way), and there was a total solar eclipse visible across Australasia. However, all of these events were eclipsed (see what I did there?) by the SEVENTH appearance of Dazed and Confused at the Macclesfield Beer Festival! Now, it wasn't the 7th appearance in a row because, as seasoned readers of this nonsense will remember, we decided to give last year a miss after 6 on the bounce (we said it was to give ourselves and the audience a break but, secretly, we were afraid we wouldn't be asked!), and regretted it ever since! When we were asked to come back this year, we took the opportunity with open arms and, my goodness, was it a fine decision!!

 

The format was different this year, in that there were 2 different bands on each night, and we baggsied Friday night because we know it's always the best one! Special mention must go the The Great Escape, who made their BF debut, and did a fantastic job of warming the crowd up; it's not easy doing the early shift but Jon, Martin and the lads had the Big Tent really jumping by the end of their set. We took the stage at 10:00pm, and kicked off with an "unknown" number ("Revo") by a Canadian band called Walk Off The Earth, who a few of us saw play at The Ritz in Manchester last year. It was a bit of a gamble, but it seemed to work well, especially as it sped straight into "Rock and Roll" which is our token nod in the direction of Led Zeppelin (as many people think we're a Zep tribute band, because of our name!) - featuring Machine Gun Thompson on drums!

 

A mix of new stuff and the old favourites occupied the next hour and a half and, by the time we wrapped up with cheesy old "Delilah" (ah yes, I remember her!) at 11:45pm we were well and truly buzzing! Judging by the amount of singing and dancing that went on, the 1500 or so people in the crowd seemed to enjoy it, and we even managed to keep the barriers in place (much to the pleasure of the security guys!).

 

 

 

A couple of quotes summed up the night:

1. "It was just like being famous!" Andy Smith, Rock God
2. "I heard "Fire" rolling across the fields so, fortunately, I didn't miss all of your set!" Pete Munro, who had acting commitments at MADS, so couldn't make the event

So that's it for another year! :-(( Fortunately, Papparazzi Pete captured a couple of videos - he said they were a bit "dark and distant" (which sounds like a great name for our next band!), but you can still enjoy Matt's piece de resistance "Chasing Cars" and the rockabilly version of U2s "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" in the video stream above (Nos 15 & 16) or by clicking on the links. Plenty of audience participation in both of these! BIG BIG thanks to everyone who came along - it was a fantastic night, and we hope you enjoyed it as much as us!!

Next scheduled gig is on Friday 28 June, back at The Windmill in Whiteley Green, although we could be treading the boards in Congleton before that depending on negotiations that are currently underway! We'll keep you posted!

WELL - YOU WERE WARNED!!

Only 48 hours or so to go before the flaps open on the Big Tent for this year's Beer Festival and, unless you have your tickets in your hot sweaty hand (or have them waiting at Reception for you hip young things that bought them online!) you're going to have to get a wiggle on, and hire Sherlock Holmes to help you track some down! All this is because online sales for Friday night closed LAST WEEKEND, and we are led to believe that there are very few around in the pubs that were holding stocks (see poster on the left for a list of these)! Aside from the 200+ beers and other associated beverages that are available, the reason for this is obviously the attraction of D&C making their 7th appearance to bounce the marquee off its moorings, and we REALLY can't wait! Just one more little practice to be had tomorrow (obviously we want to keep our powder dry for the big day), and then it will be time to do the business!

The Great Escape will be on stage around 8:15, so be sure to give them a shout; we will close the evening from 10:00-ish until just before midnight. Not to give too many secrets away, we will have several "new" tunes in the set, and will be starting with a song that, I guarantee, very few people will have heard before but we think it's a brilliant way to kick off and, don't worry, there will be plenty more that you HAVE heard of before! As ever, we will be looking for plenty of audience participation, and the closer you can get to the stage, the better - I'm sure there will be barriers to stop things getting too rowdy, but talk nicely to Dutch and his mates on security, and I'm sure they'll treat you right!

So it just remains for us to get a couple of early nights (oh yeah!), and we'll see you on Friday!!