A Marstersful Weekend - Part 1
At last - A Report in three stages. Or at least a series of disjointed ramblings that will only really mean much to me. I forgot to get round to writing things down from last year's Jamesing though and can't remember much about it *iz old* so I'm determined not to forget any of what was for me the best set of James events I've been to. I haven't looked at other people's reports or pictures yet, because I'm easily distracted and was determined to get this written. I know that deborahw37, debris4spike, gillo jamalov29 have posted reports and pics just from my LJ skimming, and am looking foward to reading those (and those linked to on CDS that I've bookmarked for later). I've included some rather bad pictures which include photos of people - these LJ entries are remaining unlocked for a while so if anyone wants their pic removed just give me the word.
DISCLAIMER Please do not be expecting detailed accounts of songs, set lists, detailed notes on 'how to be an actOr', q&a transcripts or fantastic pics as I donut do those. Just my observations and feelings and memories of stuff that happened (mostly to me) over the weekend. The aforementioned LJers have written reports which I am sure contain much more of that factual type of stuff. Fabulous pictures can be found elsewhere too, as I'm sure you already know. :)
GETTING THERE AND UNION CHAPEL - 1 MAY
I got bitten by some sort of Twitter madness earlier in the week and ordered a £30 Vodafone phone with free £5 credit so that I could Twitter to the SMS number and receive text updates. Not only that but they were giving free internet access all day Friday so I spent the train journey twittering, reading CDS and my email and trying to log on to LJ. Not the easiest thing to do on a screen about 1.5" square. :D
My travelling companions for the whole weekend were Late Starter, Exotic Mushroom and Kaleidoscope (Kaz) who don't hang around LJ much but are frequenters of CDS. LS was also my landlady and Kaz my room mate (and we walked EM back to her hotel round the corner each evening to make sure she didn't get lost or stolen).
We eventually got to the gig after causing slight panic on the underground by reporting an unacompanied briefcase to the driver. I don't know how long it had actually been there without an owner, but it became noticeable at the stop before the one we needed, as people had to climb over it to leave the train and then it was left standing there in solitary state. We all four looked at each other and decided to report it - AFTER we got to our stop. We really didn't want to risk missing our gig. That was the longest time between stops ever, and I tried to inconspicuously move further down the carriage without people noticing. :D The driver didn't seem particularly concerned and it took him several minutes to get out of his cab to come and see what LS was talking about. We decided the time was right to leave and as we were going up the steps saw someone in an official looking hi-vis jacket with a pointy stick heading towards the platform, and a little bit later another bloke with a walky talky heading down the escalator.
We got good seats on the left hand side of the chapel, five rows back, and with a big gap in the row in front of me where no-one was sitting.
Two support acts this time,
two lovely young ladies doing some sort of guitar based country folky type music, which was lovely to listen to (though it did get rather samey after a while). I thought they were called something to do with Pixies, but it turns out they were the Smoke Fairies. They had beautiful voices which harmonised really well together, and they were amusing too. Kate (or possibly Jessica) apologised for the crackling coming from her guitar and pointed out her homemade solution - a length of wire - which she said she usually tucked in her pants and it stopped the crackling. Unfortunately due to her dress/tights/boots combination she couldn't do so that night. They also laughed when they didn't get the ending of one of the songs quite right, and said they had meant to practice it the previous evening but one of them got locked in the kitchen with a burning toaster and practicing went completely out of their minds. Despite saying I wasn't going to (last year's support act CD is still in its case unplayed and gathering dust) I did try and buy their CD (which was presented beautifully in a little package tied up with a ribbon) but the were obviously very popular and had sold out by the time I got to the merchandise table.
Then it was the turn of Gareth Thingy and Blue Gillespie. At the risk of damning with faint praise, he was better than at The Point. I like his voice, but not the songs he sings/or even possibly writes. He started off well, but quickly went downhill (after about 30 seconds). I amused myself watching the bass player struggle to play with just three strings - he gave up completely in one song and started playing his bass like a drum instead.
Finally the main draw of the evening walked onto stage, vest on, patches in place, and proceeded to please both the audience and himself with his great performance. All his own songs this time, no covers, and I got to hear the Moonshot song. We got to do the obligatory 'stamp your feet till he comes back out again', without which no James gig would be complete. And he threw things at the end.
We were later than usual getting out of the UC so didn't get to have a nice meal in the pub as they'd stopped serving at 10pm. So instead we nipped into McDonalds for a burger, and before long lots of other people followed us there, causing them to have to reopen a section that they'd cleaned and shut. HA! Never try and keep a jamses fan from a table and chair at which to eat their burger. And I got to meet sky-prague. Who is decidedly lovely.
Still to come - Saturday and Sunday!
Part 2
Part 3
DISCLAIMER Please do not be expecting detailed accounts of songs, set lists, detailed notes on 'how to be an actOr', q&a transcripts or fantastic pics as I donut do those. Just my observations and feelings and memories of stuff that happened (mostly to me) over the weekend. The aforementioned LJers have written reports which I am sure contain much more of that factual type of stuff. Fabulous pictures can be found elsewhere too, as I'm sure you already know. :)
GETTING THERE AND UNION CHAPEL - 1 MAY
I got bitten by some sort of Twitter madness earlier in the week and ordered a £30 Vodafone phone with free £5 credit so that I could Twitter to the SMS number and receive text updates. Not only that but they were giving free internet access all day Friday so I spent the train journey twittering, reading CDS and my email and trying to log on to LJ. Not the easiest thing to do on a screen about 1.5" square. :D
My travelling companions for the whole weekend were Late Starter, Exotic Mushroom and Kaleidoscope (Kaz) who don't hang around LJ much but are frequenters of CDS. LS was also my landlady and Kaz my room mate (and we walked EM back to her hotel round the corner each evening to make sure she didn't get lost or stolen).
We eventually got to the gig after causing slight panic on the underground by reporting an unacompanied briefcase to the driver. I don't know how long it had actually been there without an owner, but it became noticeable at the stop before the one we needed, as people had to climb over it to leave the train and then it was left standing there in solitary state. We all four looked at each other and decided to report it - AFTER we got to our stop. We really didn't want to risk missing our gig. That was the longest time between stops ever, and I tried to inconspicuously move further down the carriage without people noticing. :D The driver didn't seem particularly concerned and it took him several minutes to get out of his cab to come and see what LS was talking about. We decided the time was right to leave and as we were going up the steps saw someone in an official looking hi-vis jacket with a pointy stick heading towards the platform, and a little bit later another bloke with a walky talky heading down the escalator.
We got good seats on the left hand side of the chapel, five rows back, and with a big gap in the row in front of me where no-one was sitting.
Two support acts this time,
two lovely young ladies doing some sort of guitar based country folky type music, which was lovely to listen to (though it did get rather samey after a while). I thought they were called something to do with Pixies, but it turns out they were the Smoke Fairies. They had beautiful voices which harmonised really well together, and they were amusing too. Kate (or possibly Jessica) apologised for the crackling coming from her guitar and pointed out her homemade solution - a length of wire - which she said she usually tucked in her pants and it stopped the crackling. Unfortunately due to her dress/tights/boots combination she couldn't do so that night. They also laughed when they didn't get the ending of one of the songs quite right, and said they had meant to practice it the previous evening but one of them got locked in the kitchen with a burning toaster and practicing went completely out of their minds. Despite saying I wasn't going to (last year's support act CD is still in its case unplayed and gathering dust) I did try and buy their CD (which was presented beautifully in a little package tied up with a ribbon) but the were obviously very popular and had sold out by the time I got to the merchandise table.
Then it was the turn of Gareth Thingy and Blue Gillespie. At the risk of damning with faint praise, he was better than at The Point. I like his voice, but not the songs he sings/or even possibly writes. He started off well, but quickly went downhill (after about 30 seconds). I amused myself watching the bass player struggle to play with just three strings - he gave up completely in one song and started playing his bass like a drum instead.
Finally the main draw of the evening walked onto stage, vest on, patches in place, and proceeded to please both the audience and himself with his great performance. All his own songs this time, no covers, and I got to hear the Moonshot song. We got to do the obligatory 'stamp your feet till he comes back out again', without which no James gig would be complete. And he threw things at the end.
We were later than usual getting out of the UC so didn't get to have a nice meal in the pub as they'd stopped serving at 10pm. So instead we nipped into McDonalds for a burger, and before long lots of other people followed us there, causing them to have to reopen a section that they'd cleaned and shut. HA! Never try and keep a jamses fan from a table and chair at which to eat their burger. And I got to meet sky-prague. Who is decidedly lovely.
Still to come - Saturday and Sunday!
Part 2
Part 3