OH WHAT A WEEKEND!!

So, that's another Beer Festival chalked off! Two days gone in the blink of an eye - but what a great 2 days!!

As per the last post, Friday night was a blast - as you would expect going on at 10:00pm when everyone had been drinking for 3 hours!! However, it's probably fair to say that we didn't expect the "early shift" on Saturday to be as brilliant as it was. We took the stage at 8:15pm and found an audience of 2 in front of us (and one of them was Mickey Jones - a bit of a change from Tiger Tiger for him!!); however, never a band to look on the gloomy side, we challenged the "crowd" in the drinking bit of the marquee to join us and, within seconds, we had about 100 people in front of us - and this continued to swell and swell as the moments went by until there was upwards of 500 people srutting their stuff!.
We had put together a set that was designed to break the crowd in slowly, and build them up to a frenzy; the plan worked fine - except the frenzy set in long before we expected it! Within 15 minutes everyone was up and jumping - even Chasing Cars (which we did as the second number) had full audience participation, arm waving, everything! By the time we got to Whole Lotta Rosie, Sweet Child of Mine and Somebody Told Me, the roof was coming off the marquee - and it was still only 9:30!! The only downside of Saturday's set was that we had to drop some songs, so that we finished in time for Monkey Harris to have a go - although we felt we could go on all night!! Double gloom because it meant we couldn't do Delilah - again!!
Anyway, finishing early did give us a chance to sample some of the fine beers, and to relax - by the time we left at 12:30, we were very relaxed!
So, onto next year - perhaps? We have done 5 years in a row, and we know that is something that no other band has been given the privilege to do - but we enjoy it SO much that, if we were asked, I'm sure we would say yes!
Next gig is a private party this Friday (Dave will be missing because he's on holiday!), and then we return to the Time Out Group Ball the following Saturday. Those of you with long memories might recall the great time we had there last year - for those who don't, check out the April 2009 reports on the blog (link on the right).
So, I'll sign off now, leaving you to enjoy some photographic records of the evening, and there is a recording of Saturday's gig on its way, so we'll try and find a way of posting a link to that on here at some stage!
Macclesfield MPs - old and new, sampling the wares!
Bouncers in action to stop the stage being rushed by groupies!!

What's he got to smile about??

Paul (looking like he's lost a piece of his brain) and Matt (looking happy)

A portion of the happy crowd (shame we didn't have a wide angled lens!)

Dave (not on holiday!)

Chrissie (in typical full on Token Bird/Rock Chick mode!)

Look everyone - a crowd!!

SOUNDED BAD BUT SOUNDED GOOD!

Writing this after completing Round 1 of our 5th Macc Beer Festival extravaganza! Last night was an absolutely brilliant night, although it was not all plain sailing!

We went on at 10:00pm, having been well set up by a great set from Monkey Harris - however, the first few numbers were blighted by some horrible sound gremlins! For whatever reason, the microphones made it sound like someone was frying chips in them, the on-stage monitors were giving some horrendous feedback and we had some problems hearing what was going on - very strange considering all had seemed fine about 15 minutes earlier!

Anyway, we persevered and, as ever, everything seemed to fall into place! The organisers had placed the usual plastic "crowd barriers" in front of the stage (a good move as we are renowned for our ability to kick things off!); however, the fact that these barriers were about 10 feet away from the stage created that horrible "shark infested pool" space between us and the audience - never a good situation! So, something had to be done, and the easiest thing seemed to be to ask the crowd to pick up the barriers and move towards us with them! Once this was done, and we could feel the closeness of the hot, sweaty bodies, thing really took off - 24 songs ripped out in an hour and a half (see attached set list), and it was just an incredible feeling to see so many people having such a great time! The fact they they were all drinking for charity was a bonus (and, I'm sure, totally unconnected to the good time they were having!).

We were given 11:45 as our cut-off time (to avoid annoying the neighbours too much) and, I have to say I thought we had timed the set to perfection, as we finished the main set at 11:40, giving us five minutes to deliver the encore that the crowd were salivating for! However, we had not taken account of the fact that the sound man had been told to "pull the plug" at 11:40, so our attempts to launch into a mass crowd-driven version of "Delilah" fell somewhat flat when all the electrics were turned off! A REAL disappointment for us and the punters but, as the saying goes "leave them wanting more", and that was certainly the case last night!

On to Round 2 tonight and, as we want to have the opportunity to enjoy the ambience of the Beer Festival for ourselves, we are kicking the show off at 8:15pm and giving Monkey Harris the chance to try and match what we did last night in the later set! If you have got tickets, make sure you are there in time to see us, as we guarantee that the energy levels will be just as high for the "early shift"! If you haven't got tickets, there may still be some available from the outlets mentioned on the poster (or even on-line). We'd love to see you there.

As an aside, we also attended todays lunch time session at the Beer Fest - as ever, it was a much more laid back event, although the numbers have swelled enormously over the last few years. Made the acquaintance of our new MP (accompanied by Lord Nick of Winterton, of course!) - seems a nice enough guy, and has got the message about making sure he keeps local priorities at the top of his list, irrespective of central party politics - if he does that, he won't go far wrong! By the way, STILL didn't get Nick W to buy me a drink!

Will let you know how tonight goes, in due course!

LOOKS LIKE FRIDAY IS SOLD OUT ALREADY!!

Well - I go away for the weekend, and what happens? They only go and sell all the tickets for Friday night at the Beer Festival don't they!

Actually, that's probably not strictly true, as I think there are still a few available at the retail venues, but the online sales are definitely done and dusted!! No fear, you can still get some for Saturday, which is nearly as good! Just go to the "Tickets" page on the Beer Fest website, and your every wish will be fulfilled!

We're practising again tomorrow night - promises to be a late one, as Paul has to go and watch City beat Spurs first! After that, it's all systems go for Friday night............................!

8 DAYS AND COUNTING!!

Had a great gig at Jane's party last weekend (and even got a new photo out of it!) - guest keyboard player John Wright was with us (in preparation for playing on a round the world cruise ship, would you believe?!), and it was fine preparation for the next one......

Only 8 days to go till the BIG gig of the year - Macclesfield Beer Festival, and everything associated with it! Latest intelligence (if I can use that word in this context) suggests that tickets are selling like hot pints of beer, and if you don't get one for you and your friends, you'll be as popular as Gordon Brown in Rochdale, because everyone wants to be there!

If you have never experienced the BF before, you have missed a real treat - 2 nights (and a lunchtime!) of amazing social interaction, with a vast selection of good real ale, ciders, wine and food, amazing music (of course), and all in 2 huge marquees. The atmosphere is genuinely brilliant - everyone is friendly, there is never any trouble, and the only problems seem to be with people trying to find their friends (or even the exit from the marquee!) at the end of the night! So get your act together, and purchase your tickets (a bargain at only £10) from the outlets mentioned on the poster above (you can even buy them on line this year - see attached link!). It's all in aid of an excellent cause (The Rossendale Trust), and you really do need to be quick about this as, last year, both nights had sold out well beforehand - there are extra tickets this year, but even so........

So how are Dazed & Confused preparing for the delights of entertaining 1600 people on each night, I hear you ask? Well, Dave has gone on holiday (I know, I know, but it has been 3 weeks, so give him a break!), so there was only 5 of us at rehearsal last night; our first task was to put together a set list, and that took up some considerable time in itself. Selecting tunes that go together, keep the momentum rolling, AND that we can remember the words of, is no easy task I can tell you! Anyway, we have managed to cobble together around 25 songs to choose from, and these should see us through the 90 minute set comfortably. Our biggest challenge is to try and stitch them together seamlessly because, as those of you who have seen us know, we do have a tendency to mess about between songs, tell jokes, have a sleep etc., so we have to try and avoid that, if at all possible!

Another practice scheduled for next week (after a cold, wet Bank Holiday weekend in Wales!), and that will be on Wednesday after watching City clinch 4th place by beating Spurs, so at least 1 of us will be up for it!

So, more news next week when, of course, you will all have your BF tickets, and will be as excited as us!!

A VERY ENJOYABLE WEEK - ALL TOLD!

Sitting here on Sunday night, recovering from the disastrous football yesterday, contemplating work tomorrow, and feeling really glad that I missed most of the "Dorothy" rubbish - obviously, it's gone downhill since the Macc Lass was voted off (so much for the "vote for me" poster campaign around town!), so I thought I would bring you up to date with what has been a pretty eventful week for the mighty D&C, and tell you what lies in store over the next few.

As previously trailed, Wednesday was our return date at Canalside Community Radio and, as arranged we met on the banks of the canal at Bollington at 7:30pm, primed and ready to go - well, 5 of us did! I had done my usual ring round to make sure nobody had died since we last met the week before; Andy, Dave, Hugh and Chrissie checked in OK, but there was radio silence from Matt (i.e. his phone was switched off!). Now, bear in mind that this is not unusual, and the volcano cloud had not yet made its presence felt, so we were not unduly alarmed; however, as the minutes ticked by, we thought we had better go for Plan B (as we didn't even know whether he wanted an acoustic or electric bass set up), so Matt's boss (Pikey Jeff) was duly contacted to make sure nothing evil had befallen the hairy one. The conversation between Andy/Chrissie and Jeff went something like this:
Chrissie/Andy: "Jeff, do you know where Matt is?"
Jeff: "Yes, he's sitting here next to me, why?"
C/A: "Well, he's supposed to be on the radio in about 18 minutes time!"
J: "Matt, are you supposed to be on the radio in about 18 minutes?"
Matt (in the background): "Oh S**t, I forgot!!"

Now, maybe it's because I'm not used to this sort of thing, but I would have thought that doing a session on the radio was pretty memorable, but obviously not on Planet Matt! Anyway, cue a mad drive back to Macc by Chrissie to collect the prodigal bassist (and pick his guitar up!), while we stalled for time in the shoebox that masquerades as the CCR studio! Despite this inauspicious start to the evening, the session actually went really well. As ever, we had a few laughs, and the tunes seemed to go down well - got a few plugs in for the Beer Fest as well! This Tuesday sees our mates The Injectors in the shoebox so, if you want to hear about their back story (and who doesn't?!), tune in to 102.8fm (or listen on the web) at 8pm this Tuesday (20th).

Being the gluttons for punishment that we are, we re-convened on Thursday evening to do a bit of practice - actually, we quite enjoy each other's company, so it wasn't too much of a chore! Had some discussion about Beer Fest set lists etc. and a bit of playing about with tunes for the following night - early finish too, we were home for 12:30am!

So, Friday saw us at The Hollins for the first time since Nov 2008, and what a great night it was! The pub was absolutely jammed from start to finish (even Pete Munro stayed till the end!), and Chris recorded record beer sales (that Bombardier went down well, as it always has!), so a good time was had all round. Garry the Hat was there, so we'll see whether we were good enough to merit a mention in next week's Macc Express (depends whether Rough Twist were playing somewhere else I guess!). All we need to do is persuade Andy to keep his volume down in those sort of confined spaces - we were walking around with bleeding ears at the end! Any ways up, we will be back for sure!!

Next week sees us playing a private party on Saturday, and then next stop is the legendary Beer Festival (more of that in a week or so, but get your tickets NOW!) Now is also an opportunity to remind you about the big gig in aid of the East Cheshire Hospice on Saturday 12 June; it's being billed as The Gig & A Game and features ourselves, The Screaming Beavers and the England Football Team!! Copy of the poster and details of how to get tickets in the flyer below:

The Hospice needs about £5000/day to survive, and gets very little money from the government, so it seems an ideal opportunity to see England get off to a flying start in the World Cup, enjoy some great music AND provide a boost to a local facility that I'm sure many of us know people that have benefited from (was that gramatically correct??!)

OK - LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

At least 4 weeks since anything appeared on here, and there's lots to tell you, so let's get to it!

The holiday sheepdogs have been out and rounded up Dave & Chrissie, so everyone is back in the fold now - Dave is mellowed out from his wonderful sail around the British Virgin Islands, and Chrissie is totally knackered from her whistle stop tour of the USA! Not to be outdone, Andy, Hugh and Paul all had a few days in Wales, and Matt had a morning in his Mum's front garden (think he fell over the wall on his way back from the pub!). I also had a week in the US - but that was business (apart from the Bon Jovi gig, that is!)

Thursday night was the first time the 6 of us had been together for about a month, and it was brilliant fun - old numbers, new numbers, bad jokes, good beer - no wonder it was 12:40am when we wrapped up! All of this had a serious purpose of course (several in fact), because we're back in action from next week, and there are loads of things coming up that we need to prepare for. Here's just a sample:


Next Wednesday sees us making a return to CANALSIDE COMMUNITY RADIO for another session on Matt Isaacs' Rock Diversity show. Some of you may remember that we made our maiden appearance there back in November, and either Matt has a very short memory, or he was sufficiently impressed to ask us back again! The show is on from 8:00-10:00pm so, if you are anywhere close to Macclesfield (and a radio, of course) tune in to 102.8fm, and give us a listen.
We've chosen some different numbers from the ones we did last time and, hopefully, Matt will remember to record it this time, so we will have some memories to treasure - starting to sound a bit like Desert Island Discs!


Next Friday (16th April) has us pitching up at The Hollins on Black Road in Macclesfield. It's over a year since we played there, and it will be good to go back, as landlord Chris is building up quite a reputation for his music Fridays, and so it should be a good night. We just hope there is not as much snow around as in the photo above. Facebook invites will be sent out for this to the Dazed & Confused "Massive" (you can join the group if you want!), and you can check The Hollins out on Facebook as well.

And after that? Well, we have a private party to play on 24 April, and then it's flat out, no nonsense, full speed ahead for the Macclesfield Beer Festival on Friday 7th and Saturday 8th May!!


Difficult to believe, but this is our FIFTH consecutive appearance at the BF, and it is still the high spot of our gigging year! This year's event will be even bigger than previous years, with sell-out crowds of 1600 people expected on each night - nervous, us? Never! We had our usual pre-festival meeting with Mickey Jones on Wednesday evening; as well as sorting things out, and meeting members of Monkey Harris, who will be playing with us, it was a good opportunity to have a couple of beers and watch United lose!! We'll talk more about this in the next couple of weeks but, in the meantime, you can get more information (and tickets!) via the Festival website. On the subject of tickets, be sure to get them early, as they really do sell out quickly, and we'd hate you to miss out!

That's all for now - got a football match to go to - I'm sure you will all join me in wishing City all the best as they move towards securing a Champions League spot - sorry Liverpool! If I don't see you at Eastlands, maybe we'll see you at The Hollins next Friday?!

ANDY'S NEW TOY!!

Good God, I hear you say, what on earth is that??!! Well, I'll tell you - it's Andy's new toy, which is a multi-effect pedal which can simulate most sounds known to man - and a few that aren't!

What's a photo of it doing on here you ask? Well, in the absence of Chrissie (working), Dave (personal business) and Matt (another type of personal business, nudge, nudge, wink, wink!) on Thursday, Hugh, Andy and I went for a couple of pints at the newly re-opened Jolly Sailor, and then back to the Brewery so that Andy could demonstrate the power that is the Boss ME-70! Believe me, it is one powerful tool, and woe betide any guitarist, bass player or, come to think of it, drummer or singer that misses a gig, because this bloody thing could probably replace ALL of us!

No doubt the pedal will be put through its paces next week at rehearsal - both Dave & Chrissie will be on holiday in far flung places - Dave will be floating around the British Virgin Islands, while Chrissie (and Pete) will be sampling the flesh pots of Las Vegas, including the theme park at the top of the Stratosphere Tower (check out the picture below for a flavour of what that entails!)

Notwithstanding the absence of the holiday twins, the rest of us will convene and bash through some more new numbers so that, by the time the next gig comes round (which seems a lifetime away) they will be semi-polished (like fine gems!)

Not much else to report - the nights seem to be getting longer, and maybe the first signs of spring are in the air - before we know it, it will be Beer Festival time again, and we'll be enjoying the long summer nights - at least the rain will be warmer! Last gig for Kelly's birthday was really fun - made even better by the fact that Matt did the clearing up the next day!

Rumour has it that The Injectors are playing at The Millstone tonight - some bands have no pride! I might pop down and press my nose against the window, and shout obscenities at the landlord - although I'm not sure he would understand what they meant!