Take Me Away.

In 1989 I was living the life of a single person, I was working hard but also playing hard, if there was a band I wanted to see I would usually do a few gigs, I wasn’t exactly stable at the time either I got into the habit of blowing shifts because of it, the tale that’s about to unfold is what brought it all to a head and is the last jaunt that I did following a band around the country.

I was about to do a night shift on a task that had been planned for a couple of weeks, when I bumped into a couple people who I knew, I worked in a large shopping centre at the time and night time was the only time major tasks could get done, I was sat with the MEWP (mobile elevated working platform) while the rest of the gang went to get the rest of the gear, the centre was winding down so there wasn’t that many people on the ground, when I spied my mates who were obviously about to hit the town and I was asked why wasn’t I going to see Blue Oyster Cult at the City Hall that night (9/3/89) I was completely oblivious to it, I instantly started of thinking of ways that I could blow the shift to go, no matter what hairbrained scheme I could think of it was no good, so I gritted my teeth and knuckled down to the job, the shift dragged mainly because I didn’t know that they were even touring, I kept kicking myself in the butt, I had seen them every time they had played Newcastle and I was annoyed with myself, however with it being a Thursday I was off all day the next day so many cunning plans fell into place.

The shift finished early as we cracked on and I got a lift back home I was in bed for just after two in the morning, I was up with the larks and had scored a lift to Sheffield the scene of the next gig, I bought a ticket outside and buggered off to the pub with my mates, this was going to get messy, we decided to get some food so that we could at least enjoy the gig and we walked straight into Eric bloom from BOC, who was chatty and asked for directions to the gig after he had finished his curry, he wished us well and we said that we be making noise in the balcony, I also told him he would see us as I had a giant red BOC flag, not the band I had (cough splutter) borrowed it from the British Oxygen Corporation plant in Gimpsville back in 1980 so that I could take it to a gig just like this, he laughed and said he would look out for us.

A few more beers and I will admit to being a tad unsteady on my feet but I was ok (these were my drinking days) we got to the venue and had missed the support band (I never did find out who it was, not that I was bothered)and found our seats in the balcony, it wasn’t sold out so we basically sat were we wanted and waited for the main event now don’t ask what the set list was or the opener I have no idea it was over 30 years ago, and as I mentioned before this was my  drinking days, the set started and mid-way through the first song we unfurled my red flag, and yes Eric spotted it, at the end of the song he pointed to us and said “I see the boys from the North are in the house tonight” we threw the flag down to him and the show carried on, I enjoyed the gig, I have a tendency to stop drinking when the band are on as I intend to enjoy them, the night was over and we left the building to jump into our hotel for the night ( a Ford Transit van) which we parked at Ferrybridge services (I hope, allegedly I have no idea) and we all crashed and rose like the walking dead to go get an early breakfast and to get washed, we aired the van out as we recovered, the stench of flatulence and beer was a heady mix, once we had recovered we set off to Hull for the next gig in the itinerary.

We struggled to find a car park to fit the transit in and when we did the day was slipping away (for drinking) we ate and saw the sights (pubs) and again attended a sparsely attended Hull City Hall, again the gig was great we all wondered why they were playing Hull, again I enjoyed the gig even Buck’s Boogie (in which Buck broke a string and swapped guitars without missing a beat) the gig ended a little early I’m assuming because of the small crowd again I’m not sure who the support band was but it wasn’t the same as the band the previous night, a few more pints after and we all got kebabs, if the night before was toxic the next morning was positively vile, we drove back to Durham with the windows down!

All the way back I was wondering if I could do anymore gigs, my friends weren’t so that simply made it all the more interesting me and my wallet! again I was off on the Friday so I hitched to Manchester and then caught a train to Bristol it was thankfully dry so I wasn’t soaked, I got a train around 12.00 and got to Bristol in plenty of time to book some digs in a pub close to the venue (Colston Hall) I had stayed there before when I had seen Marillion on another jaunt, again the crowd was enthusiastic but small I was a tad concerned as it didn’t look good for them, again a great gig, I was more sober as I was by myself and didn’t want to get into bother out here in the Badlands, I was back in my digs by 23.00, asleep and as always up early had a shower and was sat waiting for breakfast at 07.00 they didn’t start serving until 07.30, it was well worth it, I then wandered off to find the local bus station as London awaited I had started to watch my pennies at this stage as the weekend was just starting, surely London would be full?

Unfortunately that wasn’t to be the case it was the busiest venue that I had seen so far, I arrived in London and made my way to the Novo hotel on Hammersmith Broadway, my hotel of choice if I was going to the Odeon ( I wonder if it’s still there) I bumped into some people I knew in the bar and the barman (Guiseppe ) used to Run The Dog and Parrot in Newcastle back in the sixties he always gave me a warm welcome as I always took him Pease pudding from Newcastle as a present as he was heavily addicted to it, a tiny man with a heavy accent he never forgot a face and never forgot an order, we had some bar snacks thanks to our friendly Italian and then we headed off to the venue, getting there around 20.30 again we missed the support act, the band were up for the gig and although not full it was busier than previous nights and I saw some friends from Durham so I did have a couple more pints, I was back in the hotel just after 23.00,  a wonderful bed awaited and I slept right up until 09.30 a bath a change of clothes, breakfast in the bar with Guiseppe and a fond farewell I never saw him again and he would probably be about 500 years old by now surely?

Sunday was my travel day and I was back on the National express i jumped on the bus around 15.00 there was issues right from the off there was only a handful of us on the bus and it limped into Nottingham three hours later with crap blowing out of the exhaust, it wasn’t like it is now with a replacement bus magically appearing from nowhere they stuck us in a B&B and gave us a ticket for the first bus in the morning, this would cause me problems as I was meant to be at work for 08.00, ah well what mischief could I get up to, hang on a second BOC are playing the Royal court in Nottingham tonight, it was a sign, I headed down to the venue ( I went to the Rock City first as I was a dumbass) thankfully the Royal Court is just down the road I paid £3 for my ticket and I don’t think there was more than 400 people in the venue, the band came out and gave it their best but this was the shortest set I have ever seen them complete at just over an hour and twenty minutes and that was with an encore. Back to the digs and I had about five pounds in my pocket I was going to have skip the breakfast in the morning I always had snacks so that was helpful. The bus was time however it got to Newcastle just after 12.00 noon, it stopped for everyman and his bloody goat on the way, I was late for my shift and I hadn’t rung in, I knew I would have face the music when I went in the next day.

I arrived on time but looking decidedly sickly and although I was given a bollocking it wasn’t as severe as I thought it was going to be, I was like a sickly dog all day and I seemed to have gotten away with it ( I hadn’t I had been seen in Newcastle and that information was saved for a rainy day by my boss), it was then that I realised that I needed to knuckle down and make plans accordingly rather than just wander off around the country, as a tour in reality it must have been disappointing for them and also for me, the gigs were great but looking back you could see that they were going through the motions, it was time for me to start to grow up, I mean not straight away, I was soon to meet the wife and then life changed for the better.

So there you go a historical one, and if you think that the details are a bit sketchy they are as I had to think long and hard about it, I remember the generalisation of the tour but the details are somewhere in the back of my head, what brought this to the front of my mind was I bumped into someone who was in London at the time and he regaled me with some of the details of when and where, I do have to admit after all these years I’m still annoyed that I missed the Newcastle gig, what a dumbass, hopefully you have enjoyed this one, normal service has resumed, watch the skies for incoming, stay safe and stay alive until the next time…..Toodles!