When I'm President

Obviously, I have no intention of becoming the president of anywhere, not even my own little independent state of mind, but I had already used the title that I wanted to use, so this is from the same album and in reality, it conveys the theme just as well!

It was May 1991 and it was my (cough) infamous, single and living in and around Newcastle time of my life, I had met the wife but she hadn’t told me that she wanted me to be husband number two, I had a ticket for to see Extreme to play the Riverside, a ludicrous venue for them to be playing as they were the flavour of the month, why they never booked into the Mayfair I have no idea but it would have been sold out, I had bought their debut album on the strength of a song called “Play with me” it turns out it wasn’t on there, and the album (yes folks you read right ALBUM) was kind of bland, I wasn’t impressed, cue 18 months later and Big G had their second album on import and on repeated play as usual he had infected me with it, it was moreish, once again I bought the import version of it at the weekend before it was released the following Monday, what did I care for money.

I bought a ticket but I had no discernible way of getting there and back home, to this day I have no recollection of how I got home I know I was staying in Heaton the night before as I had attended the Mayfair on the night , the next morning up early for food in the town before hand and then a couple of cheeky pints to wash it down, I managed to get to the venue just after lunch, before the band got there. Big G was there and he got me inside as he was DJing the gig, the gig was set up and the support band were sound checking and they were simply stunning, G was open mouthed pointing at the stage, yet another discovery for him a band called Saigon Kick, for a support band they were simply stunning utilising the additional vocals of their sound engineer to help with the big ballad from their debut.

Not long after the soundcheck in walked Nuno Bettencourt who was not impressed with the venue either the size of the hall or the ablutions, the back stage area was no bigger than my back room, and could only be reached from the stage, to say he was grumpy was an understatement the rest of the band arrived and were in a much better frame of mind, the day progressed slightly more drink being consumed and then the doors opened and the venue started to fill out, Saigon Kick started the evening off in fine rousing form, they crushed, damn how was the main band going to follow that?

As it happens quite easily Mr Bettencourt may have been grumpy because of the size of the venue before the gig, but he played it like it was a huge arena the headliners did not let anyone down, a much better proposition live, and although it was the only time I saw them, it still sits in my top ten of gigs, the guitar solo being the highlight of the gig for me, then more drink, more frivolity and somehow I got home, all the way back to Gimpsville, surely that should be the end of the story, well as it would appear it certainly wasn’t, I managed to get to work the next day I soon bumped into a grumpy band of wandering minstrels this time not Mr Bettencourt and his troupe but the support band who had been staying in the Marriott  across from where I work, it turns out that the drummer (take a bow Phil Varrone)  had decided to take a shit out of the window in said hotel, well those windows don’t open much but it would appear that he succeeded, cue the band being kicked out before breakfast, I didn’t mind as I sat and had a good 40 minutes of them as a captive audience as I ranted at how good they were, one of the more pleasurable times at work, regarding music.

They soon departed once their mini bus turned up, I was offered the chance to be on the guest list for any of the remaining dates (thanks to Jason Bieler) however I was on extremely (pardon the pun) thin ice as I had had a few short notice days off (all holidays I don’t blow shifts) to go and see bands, I was trying to stay in the good books at work, honestly I was!

I would love to know how I got home from the gig as I was that sober (there’s a surprise) I’m sure at some point the mystery will be resolved, why this title well I had played the album to refresh the memory of the gig and it did really blow the cob webs away, definitely an album of the time and moment, they never reached the heights again, it was a damn fine pinnacle.

Number two of the year on time as promised hey this might become habit forming (not) enjoy and keep spreading the disease, onwards until the next one, until then…………Toodles!