As always
it starts with a cunning plan, yes, another one, it never ends well, so this is
a musical one pull up a chair and crack open a beer, this one might be a little
long(hopefully).
So Covid
hit and the world went to hell in a basket, people got quirks, some worse than
others, some people weren’t affected, I suppose it was the luck of the draw!, I’m
a fan of Fish the big Scotsman, yes he used to sing for a band, I’ll be honest I
always preferred the solo stuff, until I met the wife I went to every gig I possibly
could, the wife didn’t stop me, I began behaving responsibly ( I know me with
my reputation) I still went if he came to the north east, and we both actually
went to two conventions and met some lovely people (fans) and some lovely band
members, that’s for another time and another blog, I’m not looking to do war
and peace here, I was talking about a cunning plan, now where was I?
So, I kind
of knew that the intention from the big man was one last album and one final
tour, with the intention to play multiple dates in cities near and far, we had
discussed our cunning plan lets try and do as many dates as possible, but then Covid
hit and the world stopped. Slowly the world started to pick up speed, the final
album was released, but no dates it was still too dangerous and financially
complicated, then Russia got all bolshy and the world tilted again, touring
became more expensive, as did a lot of other things!
Finally the
grand tour was announced and we decided to scale back the plans, actually I wasn’t
feeling it, the intention to do a couple of European dates then as much of the
UK tour as possible, but the world had indeed moved on the wife had been
battered by the world and its movements, work got in the way and solicitors
simply took the piss (again another blog for another bile free day)I was
concerned for the wife and I know I was trying prise the wife to go outdoors,
that was difficult enough, I wasn’t going to jeopardise her mental health so we
decided (actually I made the choice) to just do the our home gig, a blip in the
road was when he then announced a couple
of extra dates in Haddington and an extra “final” date, I was tempted to try my
hand, but again I wasn’t feeling it, I stuck to my guns lets just do our
hometown show, mind made up we bought tickets and then got on with life!
Then life
kicked us over and over again, I was proud of the wife as she could have
spiralled but it was one thing after another, then I took a couple of hits and
throw in the addition of potential redundancy yet again (second time in 4
years) could anything else go wrong, I’m not pushing my luck so don’t push your
luck on that! The weeks in the run up was a flurry activity on Farcebook with
pictures and setlists, I wasn’t feeling it, song wise I didn’t have an issue, I
just thought a little more variety, hey what do I know you have to pace
yourself, but it didn’t inspire me. This week the days were a blur of activity
regarding work, a very busy week and a training day (that means me on my feet
for the whole day) on the day of the gig. I didn’t plan that well, did I? I
arrived home in bits, lots of steps and then a long wait for a bus, walking I can
do, standing destroys my knees, was this going to be the state of the night.
Finally a
bus arrived and took me home and I kind of zonked out, I took some painkillers
and got ready, one good thing was someone asking me if I needed any merch as it
was selling fast, a friend from a Haddington convention, we only bump into each
other at gigs but it was nice to know that there are good people out in the
world, I didn’t need any merch as I bankrupted myself on its release, bought straight
away just in case, thankfully the wife lets me, I was hoping I could bump into
him in the venue, we had to get going, allegedly it was a near sell out, the
last time I had seen the big man in this particular venue was back in 1989, it
was going to be good to see him on a big stage!
Traffic was
light, and we chatted on the way down, I could tell that the wife was getting
nervous, not for the gig just the fact of mixing in a big group of people, we
got to the venue just as the doors where opening and it was a big crowd not a
huge crowd and we navigated the pavements of the big city into the venue, now
at this point the one person I didn’t want to see was my ex wife as she would
be there with her partner one of the big
man’s friends, I hobbled upstairs to the seat with the wife making sure I didn’t
fall over (ha me with my reputation) it was at this point that I realised that
50% of the audience were auditioning for the remake of Deliverance, ye gods
there was some ugly people and fat they
made me look anorexic, oh yes and they were annoying, by this time I was
concerned that the wife’s calming ring was going to activate the fire alarm,
the wife was not in a good space thankfully I had spotted and friendly face and
she went to say hello, at this point there was no way I could walk another step
as my knees had finally told me to Foxtrot Oscar!
Hello’s
said she went off in search of more people and when she came back, she was in a
calmer frame of mind, not perfect but it helped, what was annoying was the
amount of people who had ants in their pants bouncing about like someone had
poured petrol down their slacks! Thankfully the lights went out and the Thieving
magpie intro tape kicked in and then there he was for the his final gig on English
soil, I wont go into the full track listing its out here on the web, the opening
salvo was classic and rolled over everybody like a well fitting suit then came
Long Cold Day a great song but not one that was expected, after that slap in
the face we got Shadowplay again another unexpected shot of fiddly prog, the
set list was what I was expecting and it didn’t fill my heart with joy when announced,
but I really did enjoy the set list, yes I would have liked to have a couple of
tracks from some neglected albums, but I wont complain too much, the band was
great, the big mans voice was the best I had heard in years for the full
concert and the City Hall I would say was around 95% full, Fish had hinted he
was going to do a Lindisfarne track in Newcastle, that didn’t materialise, of
the set list what would I say was the highlight, to be honest there wasn’t a
low point nearly two hours forty minutes of well placed bloody great music
easily a 9/10 gig the point lost was the nuggets who kept bouncing around, hey
we all like a drink but did you come for the gig or did you really need to go
to the loo every six minutes, and the seats had us both crippled, we disappeared
just as The Company came to an end as I needed to get down the stairs before I got
trampled as I’m pretty crap going downstairs, a slow drive home thinking about
the gig and an artist who I have followed for more than forty years, I wish him
good luck to his wish for a new life after the end of the tour, do I regret not
doing more shows, no that was the old me, this is the new me, the one that is
falling to bits, we have to accept that we can no longer do what we used to, my
only complaint was that I wasn’t able to have a quick look around the venue and
find friends to say hello to!
So there
you go a blog with a bit more of meat on the bones (or a large carrot if you
are a vegetarian) the world moves on and I shall retreat to the multitude of
Fish albums and live albums/DVDs and videos, that should keep me going for a
while yet, but as Fish sang last night the world is totally ….. FUGAZI!
