Blog: A Tour In A Day

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Saturday found myself and Mr Hewitt gathering together once again to embark upon a BRAVE NEW IDEA: The Tour In A Day!

It's a highly complex, detailed idea, but the very very rough layman's version of it is this: doing a gig in the afternoon AND the evening of the same day, in different places. "But that breaks all laws of science known to man!" I hear you HOWL. That is as maybe, but we at the cutting edge of ROCK SCIENCE know no boundaries of experiment!

The first gig of the day was at The Victoria in Birmingham, a LOVELY old fashioned multi-roomed pub the like of which I haven't seen for AGES. Having got Super Cheapo tickets on the Virgin Train (designed by a MADMAN who had never used a luggage rack, clearly) we BOUNDED down the side of the station and into the pub where we met Mr R Kirkham. Beer was enjoyed, chat was exchanged, the room was set up and FOOD was eaten. Ray had kindly brought us a JUG O'PASTA that he had made and which was PRECISELY what was required to keep us going through the rest of the day.

Having FED I went downstairs to see if anyone had turned up, and THEY HAD! There was a whole HEAP of people who'd come especially to see us, which was EXTREMELY gratifying at such a WEIRD time for a gig, and I gently shepherded them upstairs ready for the show, full of GLEE.

The gig itself was LOTS of fun (NB for ME, i mean, i cannot speak for anyone else but they seemed to enjoy it too!), even if SOME members of the Onstage Team forgot how to play one of the songs... it had, after all, been about a WEEK since I'd last played them, i can't be expected to remember EVERYTHING! Other than that it all went rather smoothly, and it was a happy, if sweaty, Hibbett and Hewitt who FELL upon the PINTS that Ray (special guest star AND top promoter) had nipped down to fetch us. HOORAH!

A bit of beer and a bit of chat later we headed off to the train station again and thence to NORTHAMPTON, where we arrived to find the IBIS was only five minutes from our disembarkation point. We checked in, SETTLED, then headed out into the night for GIG TWO: The Nook Cafe, in The Fishmarket.

As it really WAS a former fishmarket it was FREEZING, tho heaters in the Cafe bit gradually sorted us out. WHAT a nice place it was - a proper cosy "arty" cafe with board games and annuals and a range of furniture and crockery. Almost as soon as we got in I had a CUP OF TEA, and the evening followed that DELIGHTFUL trajectory throughout, as lovely people (many of whom i DIDN'T EVEN KNOW!) came strolling in. We'd decided, as earlier on, to do without PA system and our SUPPORT for the evening, Mr Winston Echo, did the same. As well as GRATE songs he this time ALSO did a READING, with some passages from Ivor Cutler's autobiography. It made the whole event feel even MORE Arty, also FAB.

After a brief break me and Steve took to the stage once more, and had a WHALE of a time. SINGING everything earlier on made us a lot more confident about what we were doing, and also somehow made the actual SINGING feel better too. Honestly, at some points I was tempted to go MARIAH CAREY on everybody's ASS, THAT is how much i was enjoying the singing!

Afterwards someone said "Have you ever thought about using harmonies when the two of you are singing?" and my DIVA-ESQUE dream crumbled as I had to admit that i always get too DISTRACTED when someone else does harmonies and end up following them, like an piece of tissue paper on a damp shoe.

Apart from that all the conversation afterwards appeared to be of ENJOYMENT, as everyone seemed to have fun - although i was STUNNED to hear the "keep the conversation off galactic emigration" line FAIL to get a BIG LARF (it always has done before! i was shocked!) everything else had STOMPED along, and so we fell into a jolly round of Having Another Beer and Thinking Ourselves KINGS OF THE WORLD.

Soon everything was packed up and we made our way across town to The Lamplighters for another beer, wherein i bumped into a couple of members of The Retro Spankees, and ended up talking about a) syncopated clapping b) how AMAAAZING it is being in a band. It was GRATE!

Next morning, however, it was a TIRED Hibbett who woke up at the usual post-beers Ridiculous O'Clock and got the BUS to Milton Keynes (NOTE TO SELF: Never try and use trains on a Sunday if you can help it). Tired, but also VERY HAPPY. Turns out A Tour In A Day actually WORKS!

posted 16/11/2010 by MJ Hibbett

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