Blog: Return To Middlewich

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On Saturday I took a train, a train, a train and a bus to get to Middlewich, there to ROCK it. Amazingly, ALL of these public transport items functioned almost perfectly - there was a slight delay at Euston when it turned out that giving approx 17,000,000 people 30 seconds to get onto a train wasn't going to be enough, and then at Winsford Station when a bus driver was terrified by a car being Quite Close to the bus stop, but otherwise it all worked GRATE!

I was there to play at The Kings Lock with Mr G Williams aka Jasmine Allen Estate once again. I arrived at the pub to find Gareth already entangled in setting up the PA system, and once that was done we were soon joined by Mr J Williams and Ms E Pemberton as well as various local connoisseurs of fine music and lovely beer, both of which would be in full supply.

As is traditional I popped over the road to the chippy for my tea, where I had a SCALLOP aka battered potato for the first time in DECADES and OH MY WORD it was delicious. Long long ago, when I was a student in Leicester, myself and Dr Kneel would always go to The Dolphin Fish Bar for chips because the lovely lady who worked there would pity us and give us free scallops, and they were ACE.

PROUSTIAN INTERLUDE completed I returned to the pub where Gareth got up and done a GRATE set containing various of his HITS, a cover of "Duchess" by The Stranglers, some Middlewich songs, and a load of his other songs that were new to me. It was excellent, and I found myself sitting there thinking "I could just relax here and watch and listen to him all night, this is fab."

ALAS that was not to be as I had to get up and do some songs myself, and these are the songs what I got up and did:

The Peterborough All-Saints Wide Game Team (group B)

AI Guy

Batman But Done Better

The Perfect Love Song

Only A Robot

It's Hard To Be Hopeful

Chips And Cheese, Pint Of Wine

In The North Stand

Bad Back

20 Things To Do Before You're 30

It Only Works Because You're here

The Lesson Of The Smiths

Batman But Done Better got its first airing in a Normal Gig-Style-Gig, and I'm not entirely sure it worked, but everything else seemed to go OK, even including the quite lengthy Slightly Maudlin section in the middle. I had a GRATE time doing it all though and was somewhat of a quiver afterwards at it had been my FIRST Normal Gig-Style-Gig since before Christmas. It was fun!

Also fun was the FACT that the whole gig was DONE before 9.30pm which gave us plenty of time for BEER and CHAT which we did quite a lot of. The Kings Lock is a really really nice pub, especially when one is joined by similarly delightful people, and it was only THE LAW that made me and Gareth eventually leave... and head down the road for a cheeky night cap in my hotel. A fantastic evening, HOORAH!

posted 24/2/2025 by MJ Hibbett

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