Play it Steve!

I went to see Alexei Sayle once- a great, chaotic performance. He told a joke that went something like-

'I bought some cheese once; it said on the packet to store in a cool place so I keep it at Ronnie Scott's jazz club'.

Last night myself and the long-suffering Shirley went to Ronnie Scott's to see The 'Original' Blues Brothers Band featuring the legend himself on guitar, Steve Cropper. And there he was, just a couple of yards away from me, pony tail, loud shirt and razor-sharp riffs all present and correct. A mighty, heroic performance... and with Eddie Floyd nearly outdoing the Colonel in the 'soul hero' stakes and 'Blue' Lou Marini telling the best joke any of us had heard in a long time it's got to be a serious contender for gig of the year hasn't it?
Well it would be (Chili Peppers at Earls Court and The Who at Hyde Park currently battling it out if you're interested) were it not for the fact that those nice, helpful, smiling people at the club gave us seats behind a bloody great pillar which obscured much of the stage. No amount of telling myself that said pillar was stopping Frith Street from landing on our collective heads could make up for the fact that Cropper kept disappearing behind it. There were loads of seats with a clear view when we got there but we were told that we weren't allowed to sit in them. We assumed they were reserved or 'members only'... after the gig Shirley asked the nice, helpful, smiling lady about this and was told that no, it was first come first served and that next time (next time?!?) we should get there early and if we wanted to stay for the second house we could sit somewhere else and...
If that wasn't bad enough Cropper's guitar wasn't loud enough! Mind you, whoever heard of a guitar being loud enough?