Ruts D.C. UK Tour May 2023 - First World Problems and more...

What follows was written in May 2023, at the times and places indicated.

Wednesday 10th, Room 905, The Thistle Hotel Luton, 9.55 am

Well. 

It's been a while.

Ruts D.C. last played a live show on Saturday 3rd December 2022, at The Islington Academy. Even though I say so myself, we were great. It was the last night of the 'Counterculture Part 1' UK tour, we'd been accompanied on all shows by the mighty T.V. Smith, and it had been a wonderful experience from start to finish. I'd joined Tim for three songs at the last show ('Tomahawk Cruise', 'The Lion and the Lamb' and 'One Chord Wonders' in case you were wondering) which maybe made the night extra special for me - mind you I then spent over an hour after the show walking around with all my tour luggage trying to get a taxi home. First World problems eh?

Since then we've recorded the 'ElectrAcoustic Volume 2' album which is due out in August in time for The Rebellion Festival, and I've been out and about on the Wingmen tour. All good stuff - but there's nothing quite like playing live with Ruts D.C... we've just had two days rehearsal at The Hive Rooms in Horley where the Wingmen tour rehearsals took place, it's a good set up and we've all enjoyed being there. Yesterday afternoon we were joined by Dale (driver) and Dave (soundman) with whom we then wended our weary way to Luton - We're in Stockton-on-Tees tonight so it's a suitable stopping off point. I'd stayed at The Gatwick Airport Travelodge on Monday night (again, Wingmen approved) which was as, erm, eccentric as I remember it being - this is a rather more straightforward place with breakfast consisting of rubbery scrambled eggs, lukewarm baked beans and potato rostis that night best be described as 'experimental'. As I say, First World problems eh? 

 Now I'm scribbling away on some old A4 paper that I found in my bag as I don't have a notepad with me. I used to take one everywhere with me when I was a regular blogger but that was then and this is now - these days I use Facebook to blast on and on about myself (!) so why am I back doing this now? Simple - I've just started re-reading 'Diary Of A Rock 'n' Roll Star' by Ian Hunter and have, rather pretentiously perhaps, decided that it's time to get back to this sort of thing. Do you wanna be a rock 'n' roll star? Of course you do. Let's be one together.

We leave at 11. It's good to be back!

Thursday 11th, Room 304, Hilton Garden Inn Sunderland, 10.12 am

Ooh - that's the Stadium Of Light. I don't think I've seen that before.

It was a good first night, maybe even a great first night as first night's go.

The journey up went well with no major hold ups so we were at the venue a bit early - with our hotel 40 minutes North of there we had no choice but to go to The Green Dragon to, erm, consider our setlist or something. Actually that was more or less what we did, as there are a couple of changes from Part 1 of the tour. 'No Time To Kill' has replaced 'Dangerous Minds - both are on the 1981 'Animal Now' album - and 'Caught In The Kill Zone' from our new album is in for 'Music Must Destroy'. But there is a less likely difference this time... if like me you saw the band promoting the afore-mentioned 'Animal Now' in 1981 you will have seen Segs and Paul swap instruments to play 'Despondency' and 'Fools' - they play each other's instruments on 'Fools' and 'Despondency' on the album too. Somehow - and I'm not exactly sure how - 'Despondency' is now in the set with Segs on guitar and your humble narrator on bass. Strange but true, and a proper 'did I really just do that?' moment for me. This is the longest set we've played since the band reformed and there is hopefully something for everyone in it.

First nights are almost always a bit... weird. Ian Dury put it best in 'What A Waste' - well, kind of anyway. We thought that we took a while to get going but it was a good show with many-a friendly face in a very appreciative audience. It was good to see UK Subs guitar man Steve with his lady Beki (check out her band Chaos 8 - fearsome stuff!) alongside uber fan Tony Lee (he's got our faces tattooed on one of his legs! Really!) and his lady Kate - as I say, a good start to proceedings.

Dunfermline tonight - I don't think I've been there before. It's the home of The Skids - that's got to be a good omen hasn't it? Well I think that it has. We're off at 11. Again.

Room 106, The Guildhall And Linen Exchange Hotel Dunfermline, 3.27 pm

We're staying in a Wetherspoons. Ooh.

Whisper it very quietly - it's excellent. Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?

Our journey took longer than it might have due to roadworks, diversions and the disconcerting sight of a burnt out car on the opposite carriageway. A lack of service stations (more First World problems!) meant that our only stop was at petrol station where a poster in the window proclaimed 'FOOTBALLER SAVES FRIENDS LIFE AFTER PITCH COLLAPSE'. An evocative thought.

We're a few minutes walk from the venue and we're sound checking at 5. Time for a pint perhaps?

Saturday 13th, Room 306, The NIU Hotel Manchester, 10.53 am

I've missed a day. How did that happen?

'Twas a cracking night at PJ Molloys in Dunfermline, a venue with a rightly-deserved good reputation and one that I really hope that we return to in the future. a sold out crowd made us feel welcome from the first song, and there was time for a drink afterwards with some fans who were also staying at the hotel - great stuff all round.

Last night was also good, but not without it's moments. The monitors were off for the first song which always creates an 'is it just me that can't hear anything?' moment for everyone on stage. Well, it certainly does for me. I thought The Academy was a bit big for us but we had a good crowd who warmed up as the show progressed, and everyone went home happy in the end - that said I for one could have done without the security man trying to throw me out when I went out to our merch after the show to see a few people. My cheery 'I'm in the band honest' while waving a backstage pass in his face didn't even get near to making him smile - still I suspect that judging by his general demeanour I and indeed you have a better day than he does most days... support came from Voodoo Radio, a father-and daughter duo who are well worth a look and listen if you get the chance. Nice people too.

We're leaving for Huddersfield at midday so it might be time for a walk across to the rather odd looking Irish shop opposite. And hopefully there will be time for us to get a photo outside Salford Lads Club. One for the Smiths fans - which I'm not really, but you have to do these things don't you?

Sunday 14th, Room 203, Premier Inn Huddersfield, 11.22 am

I suppose it was bound to happen sometime. 

There I was, soloing my way to the end of 'You're Just A...' and thinking 'oh this is sounding good' - I should know better than to do that shouldn't I? By the time we got to the end of the next song 'It Was Cold' I could hardly hear the guitar. Well, I could, it just had no power.What's gone wrong? Oh, it's ok now, maybe it's just me... 2 songs later and it's definitely not right, Dale is on stage and we're playing with leads then decide to change to my spare pedalboard as Dave and Segs keep everyone entertained with some increasingly outrageous stories. We change the amp while there's high jinks at Niagara Falls with Kirsty MacColl - eventually we restart the show and it goes well despite me spending the rest of it expecting something else to go wrong.

There's work to do at today's soundcheck.

In the meantime - I don't think I've been to Huddersfield before either, it seems like a good place although admittedly I've only really seen The Premier Inn, the pub next door (The Aspley) and the venue (The Parish) but it feels good if you know what I mean. Mind you I was in the bar until 3 am with Stranglers fans Steve and Nick...

Tuesday 16th, at home, 10.18 am

The last thing that you want when you're on tour is a day off. Well, it's the last thing that I want anyway. Or is it? My washing is on, it's a lovely day and my guitar problems on Saturday night turned out to be the fault of a dodgy guitar lead. Well hopefully that's the case - sound man Dave is taking both amps for a service today ('I know a man in a shed') just to be on the safe side.

Sunday in Nuneaton turned out to be a good day all round - lunch at The Chase Hotel was followed by a string change and the afore-mentioned troubleshooting at sound check before I joined Steve & Sheila and Paul & Mandy at The Lord Hop for a pint or two of impressive tasting Pilsner. Back at The Queens Hall it was good to see Pam Greenfield and her friend Josie among the many familiar faces, and a good show was followed by a few few drinks with a few more people... and I woke up yesterday with maybe the worst hangover ever. Ouch.

Or did I? Without going into too many details the next few hours showed that it might have been a stomach bug. Or maybe that Pilsner wasn't quite so impressive after all...

We're playing in Reading tomorrow. Good. 

Thursday 18th, Room 19, The 1843 Hotel Reading, 10.42 am

It's good to be back. Or as I wrote the other day, it's good to be nowhere again. That line should be in a song shouldn't it? Maybe one day it will be.

A good show at Sub 89 last night, although from our point of view maybe not a great one. 'Hard work' we all said in unison at the side of the stage as we waited to go back on for the encore. 'Hard work' said the mighty T.V. Smith who is back with us for the next set of gigs. 'Hard work' said sound man Dave who then announced that the PA system 'might be a bit blown'. 

Hard work then.

I'd been up to Denmark Street earlier in the day as in the wake of the guitar lead issues I though it might be a good idea to buy some new ones - when one goes, they often all go... it's all changed. Last time I was there it was a street with musical instrument shops in it, now it's more like a guitar theme park. Everything seems to have doubled in price too. Bah. For there it was a train to Reading and a walk to Sub 89 to meet Spike and his son Kaleb who are joining us for this leg of the tour as Dale is elsewhere. Dave met Spike when he was drumming in Dexys, he's a great chap and his lad seems like a nice fella so it's looking good for the next few shows.

So - why was it 'hard work'? It's difficult to say... I was expecting my guitar to go wrong again - maybe it's time for some switch cleaner on everything? The lights were rather, erm, dark, Dave was on a riser which made him feel separate to us and us feel separate from him, Segs's mic stand kept collapsing... it's those First World problems again isn't it? And we went down well, and it was great to see Roland Link, Retroman Steve, Bill from The Good Old Boys and more so maybe it's time I cheered up.

Brighton tonight. That'll be good. I've cheered up already.

Friday 19th, Room 40, The Amsterdam Hotel Brighton, 10.31 am

And it was indeed a good show - none of us were happy with the Reading gig do this one has put us right back on track. Excellent.

The Concord 2 is a classic old venue - when we arrived Nick from Burning Picks was there to take some photos and to generally be of assistance. I met him on the Wingmen tour, he's a splendid fellow and a great photographer as these pics show.

Earlier I went to GAK to buy some fingerboard oil and switch cleaner and then went to the excellently-named Wai Kika Moo Kau for a burger - I like Brighton but it's a bit hippyish for me, maybe not the mod temple I always expect it to be. Oh well. As I say the show blew away any doubts about the previous night (which wasn't bad, we just thought that it could have been better) and it's set us up well for Portsmouth tonight. 'Twas great to see Tony and Andy from The WitchDoktors, and the lads from The Assassination Bureau, and my old mate Simon from The Newtown Neurotics - they've got a documentary film called 'Kick Out!' coming out in September which should be well worth a watch, not least because I'm in it!

Check out is at 11 and breakfast finished at 10 so I'd better find a sandwich if I'm going to...

Saturday 20th, Room 232, Travelodge Portsmouth, 11.51 am

Crikey - we're leaving at midday. Where does the time go?

A great gig. More next time.

Sunday 21st, Room 232, Travelodge Letchworth, 10.20 am

Today we leave at 11. Where does the time go (slight return) eh?

An enjoyable show at Club 85 in Hitchin last night, although slightly blighted by the ghastly hippies who were masquerading as the crew. Don't smoke dope all day boys, you'll get nothing done... oh, you got nothing done. Still Andy 'Human Punk' Chesham was promoting so everything went well in the end - T.V. was as great as ever, and even though I say so myself we really got hold of the show. Excellent. Now it's time for a quick walk across to Costa (we're on a distant industrial estate) then to get everything together for the ride up to Derby and a return visit to The Hairy Dog. T.V. is on at 5.30 with us an hour later - it's a matinee show! 

Tuesday 23rd, at home, 5.16 pm

So - where DOES the time go?

I've been asleep much of this afternoon. I'm not ashamed! I'd woken up at 7- something this morning genuinely wondering where I was. This happens my friends, this happens. 

There's lots to mention while I can still remember it.

The East Street Bar in Brighton after our gig. 'It's student night' said the doorman. 'We're students' said Segs with a straight face as the afore-mentioned doorman smiled and let us in and Segs added 'See you in 20 minutes when you're throwing me out'... well it had been a great gig, and Portsmouth was great too, with a snippet of 'How Soon Is Now?' for the recently departed Andy Rourke making it's way into 'In A Rut'. We added that in Hitchin and Derby too, where public transport finishes at 8.30 on a Sunday evening hence the early show. T.V. was tremendous - why don't we play with him all the time? - and we were pretty good too as this footage shows. We managed to get a couple of drinks at The Blue Jay next to our hotel after the show - and that closed at 10 o'clock. It must be a Derby thing... and it was light when we left the venue. Weird!

Oh - and I finished 'Diary Of A Rock 'n' Roll Star', and very good it was too. Last week I re-read Zoe Howe's excellent Lee Brilleaux biography 'Rock 'n' Roll Gentlemen' which I last read when we toured Australia and New Zealand a few years ago (what a poser eh? I mean, I didn't have to mention that did I? Well... actually... I did!) and which highly amused Segs at the time as I apparently somewhat adopted Dr. Feelgood's legendary 'time for a jolly up' approach to touring - in other words I suggested a visit to the bar at pretty much every opportunity. Subliminal messaging perhaps? This week I've got Nick Kent's 70s memoir 'Apathy For the Devil' for company which I've not read before and so am very much looking forward to reading. 

It's a sold out show at The Water Rats in King's Cross tomorrow night, which will also feature an 'exclusive' playback of our new acoustic album and which promises to be quite a night. From there we play York, Dunoon, Sheffield and then back to The Water Rats for an added show - that's a lot of miles isn't it? Still at least I won't wake up wondering where I am.. or will I? Let's see!

Thursday 25th, Room 208, The Linton Hotel, Luton, 9.27 am

Well - that was an 'interesting' end to our evening. But more about that in a minute.

The Water Rats - shouldn't that be Water Ruts? - always promised to be a night to remember and I'm please to say that it more than lived up to expectations. Packed out - maybe oversold? - and beyond hot (surely they could have turned the air conditioning on?) the show was everything we hoped that it would be and more. Much audience and indeed band merriment occurred throughout the show despite the heat, In A Rut' included a breathless burst of 'Love Song' for the recently departed Algy Ward, and even the fact that our dressing room was three floors up (at least! I lost count at 65 steps!) and the fact that the bouncer on the front door was roundly unpleasant to all and sundry couldn't dampen our spirits. But maybe the most interesting moment in the show was also one of the most unexpected... one chap over on Segs's side of the stage was a particularly good dancer, to such an extent that Segs inverted him up onto the stage during the last song of the evening 'Psychic Attack'. It was only then that I realised that it was Peter O'Connor, the noted actor that appears in the promo video for said song - so if you were there you saw a live performance of the video. Strange but true.   

And if you weren't there you can see said performance here - isn't Pete great?!?

A classic evening. And then we got to our hotel. These WhatsApp exchanges say it all -

What's this all about with the student beds?

It must be comedy night. 

I'm on the verge of getting a cab home...

I feel like I've been arrested!

I've slept in worse - Guatemala I think...

I've just seen Tony Handcock's landlady.

Breakfast finishes at 9, court at 10, leave at 11 subject to sentence. 

I'm soothed by the sound of them building the gallows.

And then, in the morning - 

Bed was actually comfortable although the rubber undersheet was a nice touch as were the circling helicopters. 

I feel like I've been operated on. 

Prostrate examination imminent. 

You get the idea.

More First World problems? Maybe... it think it was the shock of there being no bed in the room when we arrived at sometime after 1 am - Kaleb had to show me that it came down from the wall. It's great being old... it turned out to be ok although I've got a really sore neck from sleeping awkwardly; that said the breakfast was good so it's time for a shower and to get everything together to leave for York at 11. Another new venue tonight, and it's Dave's hometown...

Friday 26th, Room 11, The Pavilion Hotel York, 9.38 am

Ooh - vegetarian sausage. If ever there was a not-always-good-option option it's vegetarian sausage. But if it's recommended by Dave Ruffy, all bets are off. Superb. And out new friend Sean the waiter saw Soft Machine at The Crescent a few years back and loved it. A good start to the day, and a good gig last night in front of an enthusiastic audience at a splendid venue. 'In A Rut' included 'Nutbush City Limits' in tribute to Tina Turner, and it was great to catch up with Matt, my old mate from a previous life, he was on top form and is still out gigging regularly which was great to hear. 

We're playing at The Punk On The Peninsula Festival in Dunoon on the West coast of Scotland today. That's a long way away isn't it? We're off at 10 - pack your bags Leigh! 

Saturday 27th, leaving Greenock

Welcome to the Ruts D.C. tourbus. 

To be pedantic, the Ruts D.C. splitter van. These are very prevalent in the rock 'n' roll world (maaan!) as they are ideal for transporting disenfranchised musicians and there equipment from town to town. Usually there are 9 seats - 3 in the front and 2 rows of 3 in the middle section with luggage and equipment in the back section of the bus which is divided off (hence the term 'splitter') from the front and middle sections. In the middle of this bands the 2 rows of 3 face each other with a table between them; sometimes both the rows face forwards so fairly obviously there is no table in this bus.

So - who's in the bus and where are they? Well...  Spike is driving - he's also on sound (Dave the sound engineer left us after the Derby gig as he's away working with Kris Barras) as well as tour manager and more. He's brilliant at all all of it. Also in the front is his son Kaleb - he's now looking after our backline, and is even on merch as well some nights. He's brilliant too. Behind Spike sits Segs and behind Kaleb sits Dave while I'm at the right in the back row facing Segs. The table has 5 receptacles in it - they house, left to right as I look at them, a small unopened bottle of water, a half full (or if you prefer, half empty) bottle of Merlot, an open small bottle of water, a nearly empty bottle of red wine and a large bottle of water with the top off. That's fairly typical for us, and that water bottle could cause me a problem or two of Spike has to brake suddenly so I'll have a look for the top in a minute. The River Clyde is to our left - the tide is out - and it's about 5 hours to Sheffield where we're gigging tonight. The radio on in the front and the mood is relaxed - and why not? It was a great gig in Dunoon where we were made most welcome by promoter Iain and our friend Dave Ralf who was working at The Punk On The Peninsula Festival. We repaired to The Argyll Hotel for Guinness and a setlist discussion - we've been playing for 85 minutes whereas this was an hour show - when we returned to the festival Millie Manders And The Shut Up were sounding good. I had a bit of time to catch up with Ruts fan extraordinaire Mark McCulloch and his wife Shona before Church Of Confidence took to the stage for a boisterous performance. There were no dressing rooms - maybe we're the only band that gets changed for the show? - so we had to use the van which suddenly didn't seem be quite as spacious as it had felt up until that point in proceedings. 

Ooh - it's those First World problems again...

We went on at 8.35 - the tent was full and getting fuller and by our third song 'You're Just A...' it was packed. A large stage meant that Segs and myself could indulge in what we often call our 'Paul Simonon moves' (well, he's the coolest man ever isn't he?!?) with much merriment all round. The only downside to the show occurred when we swapped instruments for 'Despondency' - as I passed it to Segs the guitar strap came off. Closer inspection showed that the end pin had actually come out from the guitar. Bugger! Kaleb sprang into action immediately, passing Segs my spare guitar, finding the end pin and screw on the stage and repairing the guitar in time for the next song. What a splendid chap he is! 'In A Rut' once again featured 'Love Song' (cue mass pogoing from the punks) and 'Nutbush City Limits' (cue mass confusion from the punks, although the girls danced!) and after the show we all agreed that, in Segs's words, we'd blown the roof off the place. Iain the promoter was pleased too, presenting us with a bottle of Glen Scotia whisky which we chose to sample on the ferry back to Greenock. With predictable results. 

To Sheffield!

Sunday 28th in the bus heading South passing Junction 26 of the M1, 11.44 am

I suppose it was bound to happen sometime (slight return).

A bad gig.

Actually it wasn't a bad gig, just perhaps not quite as good as the rest of the shows on the tour. I'd not been to The Corporation before - they kindly 'leant' me some Superglue which I used to plug the screw hole for my Les Paul end pin with the aid of several small pieces of Marks & Spencer wooden cutlery procured at a motorway service station on the way to Sheffield. Rock 'n' roll eh? I must fix it 'properly' sometime soon. 

(Incidentally if this sort of thing happens to you and your guitar cocktail sticks or toothpicks are really good, as are matchsticks. Don't say that you don't learn anything here!)

Soundcheck was... ok... the monitors were shall we say, a bit iffy, Dave's being particularly so. But it'll all be ok later won't it?

We decided to visit The Brown Bear, a favourite haunt of ours when we are in the area - Dave suggested a cab, Segs was on the phone so he said he'd follow along later. We'd just got there when we received a text message from Segs to say that Kirk Brandon had been taken ill and was in hospital. He's an old friend of theirs and they work together in Dead Men Walking so it was worrying news. 

We went on at 8.45. Dave has been going on first to get himself settled behind the drums and usually gets what Segs and myself waiting in the wings often refer to as 'The Ruffy Cheer' - which tonight didn't happen. Or maybe we just can't hear it from where we are? We walked our to a smattering of vague applause - perhaps we've overplayed the area lately. We played well but received a muted response interspersed with people shouting for old Ruts numbers. My monitor was off, or very quiet, or something, but at least my strap button stayed on my guitar... we finished with 'Babylon's Burning' to a few seconds of applause then silence. As we walked down the steps at the side of the stage to the sound of our own footsteps Dave said 'let's leave it there' so we did. No encore.

Back at The Mercure it's time for a few drinks and some mad stories from Spike to go with some from Dave and Segs. That's more like it. 

Today it's sunny and the mood is good. Back to London Town and indeed back to The Water Rats. Good

Monday 29th, at home, 5.19 pm

And there it was, gone. Again. 

But what a tour, and what a way to finish it. We returned The Water Rats for a show that more than made up for the one in Sheffield the night before (which apparently wasn't that bad after all) and which saw a couple of changes to the set - as many people had come to more than one show we replaced 'No Time To Kill' with 'Back Biter' and 'Caught In The Kill Zone' with 'Music Must Destroy', both good choices I thought. I've spent most of this afternoon asleep - of course I have! - so now I've got some washing in and have bags to unpack and things to put away. But what a great three weeks we've had, due in no small amount to the excellence of our touring crew - Dave and Dale early on and Spike and Kaleb for the latter part with Liam and Ceri appearing here and there too. We thank them all, and we thank you if you came to a show.

It was good though wasn't it?!?

So now what? Well as previously discussed 'ElectrAcoustic Volume 2' is due out in August in time for The Rebellion Festival, and we've got gigs coming in for The Autumn and even (gulp!) some new song ideas coming together... forwards... as ever...

Weekend warriors

What follows was indeed written when it says that it was written - it appears here unedited except for a bit of tidying up here and there, especially the bits where I couldn't read my handwriting...

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Hello from the 11.36 train from Glasgow to London. It's Sunday 7th July and I've got a headache. And I feel like going back to sleep. I won't though - not for a while anyway - as I'm going to write up my memories of the last two weekends of Ruts D.C. gigs for the blog page that I keep saying that I must get around to writing more for, but never actually do... here we go then - stop me if you've heard this one before...

Friday 28th June, Greenwich 

Hot in every sense of the word, both physically and emotionally. Like an idiot I decided to wear a jacket for the first couple of songs - when I tried to take it off I discovered that it had stuck to me. Ah well. I knew I'd be a fashion victim in the end. And nothing had prepared me for (a) seeing a t-shirt with my face on it (Dave and Segs are on it too, but I think you know what I mean) and (b) people not only buying it but wearing it too. 

The show itself was to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 'Babylon's Burning' single being released - since we were unable to ascertain a definite date for this we chose one that it had been in the singles chart on four decades earlier. Any excuse eh? The Pelton Arms in Greenwich is a splendid pub, and it was suitably packed for our show which we streamed live on the band's Facebook page (ooh - for a minute there I sounded almost like I knew what I was talking about didn't I? Anyway here is the footage if you'd like to see it) and which went fantastically well. People travelled far and wide to see us, which was a very humbling experience from our point of view. We really must do an acoustic album one day mustn't we?

Saturday 29th June, Glasgow

Rain of near-biblical proportions held off right until the moment that we got out of our taxi from the train station and discovered that we were at the wrong entrance to the park. Bugger! As the world-weary security guard put it, 'welcome to Glasgow boys'. You have to love somewhere that they leave a traffic cone on the head of a statue over the weekend as 'there's no point in taking it off until Monday, they just put it back up there if we do' though don't you? Still the Kelvingrove Bandstand is a remarkable venue, and it was great to see the familiar faces of the Stranglers road crew as we arrived for our soundcheck. At showtime the rain had stopped, the sun was shining and all was right with the world - until Segs sang the words 'thunder and lightning' in 'Jah War' and the proverbial heavens opened. Poncey English people (like me!) ran for cover while every Scots person just carried on watching - as one chap put it to me afterwards, 'I was more worried about my beer getting watered down'. A great gig, and The Stranglers were pretty good too. Mind you, they usually are.

Homeward bound we changed trains at Crewe where we spotted a rainbow t-shirt-wearing  Cliff Richard boarding our London train. Within seconds we were all texting each other with unrepeatable variations of his hit single song titles. Well, we couldn't say them out loud…

Friday 5th July, Caerphilly

Well I'm lucky enough to do some pretty amazing things with an electric guitar in my

hand, and playing at Caerphilly Castle is definitely among them. Possibly the most stunning venue I've ever been lucky enough to play in, our dressing room was up a seemingly endless stone spiral staircase - the word 'room' doesn't do it justice, it was a stone hall with, among other things, a tapestry of a hanging on one of the walls. And if that wasn't enough, The Tommy Cooper Walk Of Fame was across the road. Earlier we had a meal in the Volare Italian restaurant, where in addition to the magnificent food we were given complimentary limoncellos (being the heathen that I am I'd not had one before. I guess I need to get out more?) while fans came in off the street to ask for photographs with us. Our gig was even better than the previous week's show, with plenty of Ruts t-shirts in the crowd and smiling faces all round. Afterwards I went up onto the viewing area above the right hand side of the stage, where the unexpected excitement of audience members waving caused me to give what might best be described as a rather peculiar impression of The Pope. They went completely mad when Dave and Segs appeared. The Stranglers were excellent once again, but as I said last time, they usually are.

Saturday 6th July, Dunoon

After the C.C. show we drove to The Britannia Hotel in Bromsgrove in an attempt to break the near-astronomical distance that we had to travel to the next gig. On arrival sometime around 2 a.m. we were sternly informed that breakfast didn't start until 8 a.m. - when we arrived at the allotted time it looked as though it had been open for ages and was packed out. First world problems eh? A few hours of fitful sleep in the bus followed (aided and abetted by Mott The Hoople and The Tom Robinson Band on the headphones) before we eventually arrived at the ferry port to Dunoon. Our journey across was enlivened no end by Segs's tales of his adventures sailing in the area, and when we arrived in Dunoon it was impossible not the think of The Wicker Man. Well, it was impossible for me not to think of it anyway. As we drove to The Queens Hall for our show as part of The Punk On The Peninsula Festival the picturesque tranquillity of the surrounding area contrasted with the assorted multi-coloured mohawks and punky t-shirts - when we arrived Fire Exit sounded good, Ian the promotor has provided a large bag of haggis-flavoured crisps (not for me thank you!) and Jennie from Rebellion and her pal Jo were cheery and friendly to all concerned. We played to an audience which sounded as though they'd been drinking all day or indeed all weekend - either that or they liked us (no one left as far as I could see) but they couldn't be bothered clapping. They treated The Cockney Rejects in much the same way, which I would imagine is something that their doctors wouldn't necessarily recommend - we missed the end of their set as we had to leave to catch the 10 o'clock ferry. This was a shame as we also just missed T.V. Smith who was arriving for his show the next morning, but it was still light and the bay and surrounding area looked absolutely amazing. From there it was back to Glasgow for much merriment and a bottle of red wine (or two) in Dave's room with Reservoir Dogs on in the background. At least that goes some way towards explaining this morning's headache.

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So there you have it - four great shows. And we're looking forward to more next week when we play both electric and acoustic shows at The Rebellion Festival in Blackpool where I'll also be appearing with Alvin Gibbs and The Disobedient Servants among others. I will be attempting regular posts from the festival on my Facebook page, and if you're going I'll see y'all there...

'Do you think it was something that you ate?'

Do you like profiteroles? Yes, I do too, maybe not quite as much as some people but they're really nice sometimes aren't they? I always find one or two of them is enough although I've seen some people eat a lot more than that. I expect that you have too.

The impressively-filled bowl pictured above appeared on the 'band table' (that's what it said on the piece of card) around 9.30 on Saturday evening; by 9.45 we were on stage. I wouldn't normally take a photo of such a thing, but it for whatever reason it made me laugh. I had one, thought about two, decided it wouldn't be a good idea before two 45 minute bursts of prancing around posing with a plank of wood around my neck; other band members had similar thoughts but had some more profiteroles anyway. Halfway through our show looks of horror crossed their faces as a waitress removed the remaining ones from our table - they'd said that we should take them to our dressing room and they'd been proved right.

I rather suspect that I had a look of horror on my face too, but for a different reason. More about that in a minute.

It's been a while since I've been able to write the words 'three gigs in three days' but I'm pleased to say that I can write it about the weekend just gone. The first show was the first show (if you see what I mean) for Ska Madness - the brainchild of CBB-er Matt and featuring himself, myself and his mate Jamie on saxophone (and a bunch of backing tracks) and making it's debut at no lesser venue that Cippenham British Legion Club near Slough. As we were setting up a cheery chap came in, looked around and asked where we wanted him to set up; when we said we didn't know he introduced himself as 'Steve Curtis - Bon Jovi and Freddie Mercury tribute'. He then nervously ran off to find out if he was in the right building, returning a few minutes later to triumphantly announce that 'we're both on'. Leaving aside the fact that for a minute there I wasn't sure if he meant both of his acts or us and him this was good news.

After setting up is was time to get a drink and check stage times. Barry the boss hummed and harred for a minute before deciding that we were to go on at 9.45pm, with Bon Jovi on before us and Freddie Mercury after. (Now that's a sentence that I never thought that I'd write!) He then advised us not to leave anything in our cars ('sat. navs, coats, they'll have anything away') and went back behind the bar, leaving us to debate whether or not we fancied cheesy chips (we did!) and to catch a bit of Steve's first set - I'm not exactly an expert on Bon Jovi's career but I do know that he's a very good singer (next time you see a band playing 'Livin' On A Prayer' see if the singer gets the audience to do the 'whoa-ho' bits in the choruses - they're really high, especially in the last part of the song which is in a higher key; one could somewhat cynically point out that it exposes the limitations of the singer if he has to get the audience doing that bit for him, but cynicism the last thing you'd ever get from me...) and as such Steve made a good job of the songs and worked hard to get the audience involved, particularly when he got them singing 'Livin' On A Prayer' (I'm not being cynical, honest... no really I'm not, I certainly can't sing it!)

Playback gigs are always a bit odd from my point of view, and not always particularly enjoyable; however this one was really good fun - a bit loose here and there (it was our first go at it after all) but we certainly went down well with Matt as energetic as ever and Jamie blowing up a storm. A good start for Ska Madness - let's see what happens next.

After the show we took our gear down as quickly as we could to make way for Steve's second set. (We also realised that we could go home early if we got our stuff off the stage! Oh yes!) As we were loading our gear out through the pool room I heard a voice shout 'Heggarty!' - I turned round to see a smiling gentleman walking towards me with the words 'I heard your singer introduce you as Heggarty, that's my name too'. It turned out that my new friend Chris Hegarty spells his name with only one 'G' - I told him my lot were greedy...

After a busy Saturday in the shop it was off to the somewhat unlikely surroundings of Papplewick School in Ascot for a show with The Repertoire Dogs. This is only my second time depping with the band (their 'usual' guitarist is Mick Ralphs from Mott The Hoople and Bad Company - how mad is that?) and it was every bit as enjoyable as my last show with them, for most of the time anyway...

Nick's on vocals (ably assisted by Elkie and Freya) with Simon on guitar, Nigel on bass and Bob on drums, and we're playing at what Nick cheerily described as 'a big piss-up for staff and parents'. From what I saw this certainly seemed to be an apt description, with many people in fancy dress and an atmosphere of genial jollity all round. We had a small room (complete with pool table) to change in before have a meal prior to our first set starting at half past nine. I had Quorn Chilli (as did Bob, a fellow vegetarian) and heroically resisted having too many profiteroles as mentioned above. I had a couple of bottles of lager but that was all, honest.

We begin with 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' followed by 'I Saw Her Standing There' - we're playing well, people are up dancing already and it's going to be a great night.

In the interval I go outside in search of the gents toilet - they're refurbishing the ones in the building and I'd previously walked what felt like about half a mile to find some, but had been assured that there were some much nearer just outside the back door. I eventually found it just around the corner, as I was walking back I felt tired suddenly, weary even. Come on Leigh, two gigs in a row and you're already knackered? Dreadful!

As our second set progressed I felt more and more tired, and was developing a particularly nasty stomach ache. I tried to ignore it but it wouldn't go away, in fact it got worse. I burped suddenly - ooh, that didn't feel too good. This is getting bad. Very bad. Meanwhile the gig is going well, very well, and I'm concentrating on playing but it feel as though my stomach is swelling up and I'm getting very worried. As Bob and Simon start our last number 'All Right Now' I have to sit down, much to the consternation of Nigel who wonders what's wrong, I tell him I'm ok even though I'm not and I'm hoping that there won't be an encore even though I know that there will...

After 'Born To Be Wild' I put my guitar down and stood for a few seconds. No, it's no good, I'm going to be sick. Bugger. I try to walk calmly out towards the back door but know that I'm walking quicker and quicker until in the end I'm trying not to run, as I get outside I'm definitely running and I make it to the toilet praying that there's no one in there... there isn't. There is a God.

After what feels like an eternity in hell with Satan and all his little wizards I step back outside. I was sick. Very sick. Very very sick. I feel terrible. As I walk back towards the venue, there are three loud well-to-do sounding men outside having a smoke. As I get nearer I hear one of them recounting with much hilarity how he'd kicked a horse in it's ribs 'hundreds of times, you should have seen the bruises'. His friends threw their ugly heads back in distorted laughter. I wish I'd been sick on them.

When I woke up the next morning I felt as though I'd done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson in his prime. My head hurt, my throat was raw and my stomach and sides ached. I've got a gig in a few hours, an afternoon show with The Rikardo Brothers at The Unicorn in Abbots Langley. How am I going to do that?

I stumbled downstairs - Shirley asks me how I feel. Well not too good but I'm on my feet. I ask her what she thinks I can eat, she suggests toast and I manage a few mouthfuls but don't feel like much more so just stick with water. Maybe I'll feel better after a shower?

I wake up to Shirley knocking on the bedroom door - it's half past twelve, I've got to get going. I'd sat on the bed and fell asleep. Oh well, I must have needed it.

The Unicorn is a nice little pub - I'd been past it many times as CBB saxman Richard used to live near there, but had never been in it before. We're playing in the corner by the fireplace (there's an impressive fire burning as we arrive, which Scott the guv'nor puts out with remarkable efficiency) and we set up quickly and easily. I feel better than I thought I would but still don't feel like doing much other than sipping lemonade and waiting for showtime. We began playing just as The Carling Cup Final started and finished our third set a few minutes after the penalty shootout. It was a good gig - Liverpool won and so did we. The way I was feeling I wouldn't have predicted either.

By the time I got home I could bearly remember the show. I said hello to Shirley, put my guitar away, and went straight to bed.

Let it bleed

Did you want to be old when you were young? I don't mean 'old' old, like your nan or grandad or the people who lived a few doors down, I mean old as in 'grown up' so that you could do the things that the grown ups do, like stay up late. I certainly wanted to stay up late when I was a kid, although thinking back I don't know why I thought that would make things better or more exciting. Strange... maybe one of the differences between being old and young is that when you're young you want to be older and when you're old you want to be younger? Anyway when I was about 8 or 9 I had a nosebleed. It was a Saturday evening and I had really bad hay fever (still have!) I blew my nose rather a lot before I went to bed, and I woke up a little after going to sleep thinking that my nose was running. When I looked down there was blood everywhere. Everywhere. It literally felt like it was pouring out of my face, which I suppose it was if you think about it. My mum screamed when she saw me. She and my dad tried to stop it with all the usual methods - cold flannels, holding the bridge of your nose etc - but to no avail. After about an hour things were getting serious, and mum called the doctor out. He was an old (and therefore allowed to stay up late) chap called Dr. Fenton - when he examined me he said that I'd burst a blood vessel in my nose and that it would eventually stop and that I'd be 'ok in the morning'. I think it finally stopped after just over 2 hours. I still get nosebleeds today, in fact I had one earlier this week. Horrible things.

So - why am I telling you this? Well, by the time the nosebleed had stopped, 'Match Of The Day' was about to start on the television. This was a mythical programme to me as some of my school mates were allowed to stay up late enough to watch it, and they said that it was better than 'The Big Match' which was the Sunday afternoon football programme that I used to watch with great enthusiasm. Anyway because I was still awake (and feeling rather weird as I recall) I was allowed to watch 'Match Of The Day'. It was good, but not worth losing half of the blood in your body for.

I had another nosebleed on Friday morning. It was nearly 6 a.m. and once again I'd woken up thinking that my nose was running; it wasn't anywhere near as bad as the one I've described above but it was still pretty unpleasant. By the time it had stopped I realised I wasn't going to get back to sleep and so decided to go downstairs for a cup of coffee. After I'd made it I decided to put the telly on, which caused a moment of mild panic as the volume was quite high and I had to turn it down quickly so as not to wake anybody up. When the picture came on 'Columbo' was playing - strange, why is that on at this time of day? It's normally shown in the afternoon on one of those weird channels that never seem to work properly. You know the ones. When I was a lad I remember avidly watching 'Columbo' on television, where the scruffy little chap in the raincoat would outwit the bad guy every time. I loved the way that he'd zero in on the murderer, seeming to be naive or even stupid then wearing them down with his peculiar mannerisms and stories of his wife, or his cousin, or his wife's cousin, or Burt who serves him chili, then leaving the murderer (who therefore thought they'd got away with it) before reappearing with the words 'just one more thing...' when they thought they'd seen the last of him. Great stuff. I even enjoyed the later episodes although the '60s and '70s ones are still the best for me. It was and remains one of the best television series ever created, and as such it was sad to turn on Breakfast Television on Friday morning to see a clip of it being played, because that could only mean that Peter Falk had died. Shame.

Last night I depped in The Repertoire Dogs. I'd been looking forward to this gig since I got a call a while back from Good Old Boys / Ali Mac Band guitarist Simon Bishop, who asked me if I'd be interested in playing with said band. Well of course I would, not least because their regular guitarist is none other than Mick Ralphs. Yes, that Mick Ralphs, the bloke out of Mott The Hoople and Bad Company. Strange but true. Anyway not long after this I got a call from Nick the singer who explained the situation - Hud's on drums, Nigel's on bass, Freya and Ann are on vocals and it's a 50th birthday party somewhere near Harlow. 'Simon will go through the set with you as I'm not in the least bit musical' he said cheerily, before going on to be very disparaging about his own vocal abilities. He then revealed that he'd 'started the band for a bet' after going to a Bryan Adams concert with a friend - 'and here we are, 11 years later'. Like I say, I was looking forward to this one...

As we arrived in Hastingwood I realised that this was a rather different area to the one that The Price visited on numerous occasions when we used to play at The Square in Harlow. We're playing in a marquee in the garden - maybe that should be 'grounds' - of a rather large house, and the first thing we notice is that there's a generator humming rather noisily nearby. 'I bet that's a note that's just out of tune with us' says Nigel as we're setting up; we decide that if we play loudly enough then it won't matter. I'd only met Nigel briefly a couple of times before, he's just finished a tour with comedian Rich Hall (where he was known as Horst Furst II - excellent!) and plays regularly with Half A Meal Ticket among others. We run through a few beginnings, middles and ends before the guests start arriving, it's all sounding good and a fine evening is in prospect. There's an acoustic duo on before us, they've both seen us 'playing in local pubs' and really like our version of 'Don't Stop Believing'. No one in the band reacts although I expect they were all thinking roughly the same as me - 'perhaps there's another band with the same name around here then. And they must look like us as well...'

After a search for an appropriate lead Freya's iPod provides some background music as food and drink starts to appear; we're all sitting around a table near the marquee when a loud POP comes from with general direction of the marquee; the music stops, the lights go out and quite a few people make a noise along the lines of 'OOOOH!' Investigation reveals that someone behind the (makeshift) bar had plugged a fridge in, causing a current surge large enough to melt the extention cable. With people complaining that were no lights on in the portaloos things are unplugged, the generator turned back on and everything returns to normal.

We start 'Jumpin Jack Flash' at 9.15 to what might best be described as 'polite indifference' from all concerned - a shame as I thought we were sounding good. When someone comes up to me in the interval as says words to the effect of 'everyone's enjoying it, they're just not dancing' it makes me feel a bit better, and our second set gets a bit more of a reaction although there are no demands for an encore at the end. As we turn our amps off Nigel said 'well played that man' which means a lot to me coming from a player as good as he is; I think I did ok but a few of the songs were in unusual keys which threw me a bit - if I get chance to play with them again I'll make a better job of it. No really, I will. And it was a shame that the audience were a bit subdued as I really had been looking forward to the show. Oh well. You can't win 'em all. Unless you're Columbo of course. 'Oh sir, just one more thing...'

Funeral for a friend

The Uppercut played at The Dolphin in Uxbridge last night. It was a great gig - hot, sweaty and noisy, just like gigs are supposed to be. We went on late as there was football on the television, meaning that we didn't finish until gone midnight; halfway through the second set we all sang 'Happy Birthday' to our drummer Roger (it was also his wedding anniversary!) and there was much dancing and merriment all round. Like I say, it was great. It was also EASY. Easy easy easy. As easy as an easy thing being easy. Well, it certainly felt easy, compared to playing acoustic guitar at Dave Haynes's funeral the day before....

I'd been up since 5.30 a.m., having gone to bed sometime after midnight. I couldn't sleep. Obviously. At pretty much every opportunity over the proceeding few days I'd picked up a guitar and played through some Who riffs, attempting to put them into a medley. I knew from many conversations with Dave what some of his favourites were - 'Pictures Of Lily' always got a mention, as did 'Happy Jack', 'Dogs', 'Substitute', all of them pre - 'Tommy', all of them classics. The more I thought about it, the more songs suggested themselves, after all he loved 'Tattoo', and 'I Can See For Miles' has to be in there - 'I know these' I thought to myself, 'I can do this'... sometime on Wednesday night 'Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere' suddenly made an appearance, as did 'I'm A Boy', making it all too long, too unwieldy, adding to the nerves that I didn't realise that I had. Each time I played the medley it came out in a slightly different way, in a different order - I eventually decided to keep the same tempo throughout rather than vary it from song to song, which helped with the overall flow of things although it still wasn't quite working. Was 'Dogs' the problem? How could I fit 'Tattoo' in without it sounding a bit 'forced'? Should I ditch everything and start again? And then there was 'Waterloo Sunset' - easily one of the greatest pop songs of them all, but how was I going to play it on solo guitar? I changed the key from E to G which let me use some different chord shapes that I felt were more suited to solo performance then, as I'd done with the Who songs, worked out the best way to pick out the melody line among the chords. Eventually I'd done all that I could - time to go to work...

With the service scheduled at midday I arrived at Balcony Shirts at 9 a.m. suited and booted and carrying my trusty acoustic guitar (I'd changed the strings sometime in the previous 24 hours 'though I'm not exactly sure when!) along with a pink heart-shaped foldaway stool. Yes, you read that bit correctly - I'd looked around the house for something that I could take with me to sit on, and with Dave being a big fan of glam rock generally and The New York Dolls in particular it seemed to me to be a appropriate choice. As always is the case when you've got other things on your mind the morning in the shop was a busy one, which maybe wasn't a bad thing as there wasn't time to dwell on what was to come. Sometime around 11 o'clock I got my guitar out of the case, tuned it and played a few chords and scales in an attempt to warm up a a bit before walking around to George Street at 11.30 to meet my Dad who was parked there. With traffic on our side we were at Breakspear Crematorium in Ruislip by 11.40 where familiar faces were already amassing. As we walked around the corner to the East Chapel the vicar came over, introduced himself as Ken and then explained that we could get into the chapel when the current service had finished - we'd then have 'a few seconds' to get set up and sorted before the doors would be opened and Dave's friends and family would enter. I became aware of a sudden increase in tension - I don't normally get nervous before playing in public (well I don't think I do!) but this was a very different situation to the kind of thing I'm used to. As we walked into the chapel I saw the previous coffin disappear into the distance as we walked towards it; I set up the stool on the left as you looked at it, with Ken assembling his notes opposite at the pulpit. I played a chord and the reverb went on for what felt like forever - an amazing sound. 'That'll change when there's a few people in' smiled Ken. Well, he should know. Then it was back outside just in time to see Dave arrive, before we all filed into the chapel to the sound of 'All The Young Dudes' by Mott The Hoople. I knew Dave had good taste! I had a chair at the front at right angles to the rest of the congregation, just a yard or two from my guitar - Pete a.k.a. Plug the original Lurkers roadie and one of Dave's oldest friends sat nearest to me, we shook hands as the song finished. 'Play it again' mumbled Plug as silence hung in the air - it came back on just as Dave's journey along the aisle began. I looked across at Esso and his family in the front row on the opposite side of the chapel, he nodded at me with a blank expression which turned to a weak smile just as Dave's coffin obscured him from view. I felt even edgier as the pallbearers stopped a couple of yards in front of me - this wasn't a gig, this was different, bigger, more important. I could feel my heart beating as I loosened my tie and sat down. As the hymn (don't ask me what it was!) was being sung I could feel my neck beating in time with my heart as I mimed the words, all the time trying to keep my fingers moving to stay warmed up. Ken spoke of Dave's humour, his love of music especially the bands of the 1960's, how he attended a Who rehearsal when he was a lad, and then I heard him say my name. It was time.

I sat on the pink stool, picked up my guitar and looked out into the chapel. It was standing room only, and they were all looking at me. Some faces were tearful, others stoic, others for want of a better word intrigued by what was about to occur - I felt the most nervous that I've ever felt in my life. Sitting here typing now I'm actually feeling shaky just thinking about it. I said something awkward like 'here's a selection of Who music for Dave', considered beginning with the intro to 'Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere' but instead started with 'Substitute'; after a verse and chorus it was into 'Happy Jack', a bit more awkward to play and I fumbled the melody line a bit, I'd played it fine so many times so that's really annoying but it's all going ok, it's 'Dogs' next which is probably the hardest one but suddenly I'm playing the chords from 'Tattoo' and I'm the only person who knows that I've now missed two songs out but it doesn't matter because 'I'm A Boy' sounds good as does 'Pictures Of Lily', perhaps I should play 'Dogs' now although that would make it too long, no it's time to end with 'I Can See For Miles', the chorus chord sequence seems to climb up the guitar neck for ever, and I play the last E chord as Esso drums on the bench in front of him. The end. Total silence, then applause. Are they supposed to do that?

I put my guitar down, turned towards Dave's coffin and nodded - I hadn't planned to do that but it seemed appropriate - and then sat down. Ken said something but I've no idea what it was. Then it was serious. Prayers. Curtains. Tears. Poor old Dave.

'And now Leigh will play us out with 'Waterloo Sunset' Oh, it's me again. The melody sounded beautiful, I ran through the verse and chorus a couple of times, then the middle section as people were leaving, then the verse and chorus again, my nerves had gone and so had most of the congregation, I looked up to see Plug still standing a yard or so in front of me listening intently, smiling slightly as I finished playing. Over near the exit the pallbearers seemed to have been listening too. I put my guitar away, folded up the stool and followed Plug outside. I shook hands with Ken, he asked where I play, told me that he has a Stratocaster, he enjoys playing but he can't play like I can. I told that I couldn't do his job. We both laughed. My Dad told him I was playing at The Dolphin the next night and that he should come down. My Dad's like that. I saw Esso just before we left, as we shook hands I thanked him for asking me to play then told him that I'd been the most nervous that I've ever been in my life. He told me that I'd 'made the whole thing' and was I coming for a drink? No, I've got to get back to the shop but I'll see him for a few beers in the next few days. And I will. You should never be lazy with your friends should you? As I left he said that he should get me something for playing, I went to say that I didn't want anything when my Dad interjected - 'you don't have to get him anything, you two have been friends for 30-odd years, you can't give each other anything better than that'. Like I say, my Dad's like that. And like I say, you should never be lazy with your friends. Well you shouldn't - should you?

'Down in the city, just Hoople and me...'

I remember seeing Mott The Hoople on Top Of The Pops in their mid-'70's heyday- I liked the music and I always thought that they looked... cocky if you know what I mean. I thought they were great. And I remember looking at the cover of their album 'The Hoople' for ages one day in a shop in Uxbridge trying to decide whether or not I could afford to buy it or not, after all I liked the singles but didn't know all the other tracks on it and what if it's terrible and I don't like it, 'though I liked the cover but you can't buy an album just because it looks nice can you? After all they're expensive compared to singles, and anyway there's a new T.Rex album out and if I'm going to buy anything it should really be that one shouldn't it? Oh I don't know- if only I could get them both, and all the other albums that I've been looking at today...

Nothing's changed- I still spend ages in record shops (when I can find them!) wondering what I can afford to buy. Isn't there a saying, something like 'show me the boy and I'll show you the man'?

They'd finished long before I'd started going to gigs so I didn't get chance to see them although when I was in The Flame we supported Ian Hunter one memorable night in the mid-'90's; they've just reformed for 5 shows at The Hammersmith Apollo (it's the Hammersmith Odeon!) where I saw them play last night, and very good they were too. In the entrance hall before the show familiar faces were everywhere- Bobby Gillespie, Paul Simonon, legendary Mott fan Mick Jones, all testament to the band's influence on subsequent rock musicians, and the air was heavy with anticipation. Original drummer Dale Griffin was reportedly too ill to play (although he came out for the encores,) but with Martin Chambers behind the kit they looked as cocky as ever and sounded a lot better than many thought they had any right to. The older album tracks kept the audience waiting for the singles for over an hour before Hunter sat at the keyboards and led the way into 'The Golden Age Of Rock'n'Roll', 'Honaloochie Boogie' and 'All The Way From Memphis'- judging by the reaction all were well worth waiting for- with encores of 'Roll Away The Stone' and the inevitable 'All The Young Dudes' (a rumoured appearance by David Bowie didn't happen sadly) upped the hysteria level before 'Saturday's Gigs' sent us all home happy. A fine show.