wateroftyne

I've spent far more than I really should on a couple of tickets in Manchester. They'd better play Dog Years.

From my perspective I miss the days when you could tell they'd written songs, and brought them to the studio, rather than assembled a load of riffs and figured out what to do with them. I also miss the classic bass / drums / guitar instrumental breaks... A Farewell to Kings, Digital Man, Freewill, Distant Early Warning, Marathon, Camera Eye etc. the bits of interplay you'd really look forward to. They're noticeable by their absence on most of the later albums.

With the exception of a couple of tracks, I think it was a miserable album to go out on. Generic, overproduced rock, drained of life. Again, IMO.

I've got mixed feelings, but I'm probably going to go to Manchester... unless the tickets are even more extortionate than I expect.

.....aaaaand here's a whistle-stop walk from the rear of the arena, across the backstage village, and up to my little bit of the stage:

You weren't far wrong 🤣 It's taking a while for me to pull myself together, not helped by having to be at work in my proper job at 8am this morning. Ouch. So.. yes. Matty Healy! Sting! Lewis Capaldi! The latter two were closely-guarded secrets, and genuinely took the audience by surprise. The bad news: they did self-contained performances that didn't need the house band, so I didn't get to play with them. The good news: they were amazing, so I didn't give it a second thought. We did two shows, each around 3.5 hours long (it isn't just music - there's comedy and that too.). We opened the show with Chris Rea's 'Let's Dance'. As well as being a bit poignant, it also captures the essence of the show and fits the band line-up perfectly. We had loads of dancers on stage, and it was a real high-energy start. From there we went into a reel called Rakish Paddy, again with the dancers aided by a quick costume change. After that, Cuddy's Cave, a beautiful musical poem... it's a love letter to the region by the wonderful Nev Clay. Over the next few hours we played songs including December 1963, I Can't Make You Love Me, Always a Woman and Hit the Road, Jack. It all went swimmingly. Of course our special guests grabbed all the headlines, but that's fine by me... the charity is going to benefit massively. Need to sleep now, 'cos we're doing it again in 2028. Here's a clip of the finale:

No - more recent. Micky McCrystal.

Another day of rehearsals at the arena, this time with links to the other parts of the show. Tomorrow we do it for real... twice. Here's the view from my house: Alan's lovely leslie cab... Posh camera... The gallery - the brain of the show.

They always do… plus, I like the sound of my cab. The mix is 50/50.

OK.. we're into the Arena now. Tonight was a soundcheck, and a cursory run-through the set. Tomorrow we'll be going into more depth, checking cues etc. Here's some pics:

Yes, kind-of. One of them is now hosting the show, so we have a replacement for her...

Aye... sorry, everyone. Being in an Eagles tribute band will do that to you. I need that bridge pickup for some of the tunes. That's a 2017 American Standard, and it's blummin' lovely! OK - that's four days of rehearsals over... I'm knackered, but so far, so good. It's a great batch of songs, but inevitably the trickiest tune of the lot has had a late-in-the-day key change. As a non-reader, it keeps things spicy. We're in to the Arena tomorrow night to check lines & monitors, and have a couple of run-throughs before a day of full production rehearsals on Saturday. There's 13 in the band: Drummer (founder member of Lindisfarne), Keys (Ex-Dire Straits, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton), Keys / Violin / MD (Ex-Sting), Guitar #1 (Ex-Tygers of Pan Tang), Guitar #2 (Ex Arctic Monkeys / Last Shadow Puppets), 4x Brass (Including The 1975's sax player), 3x BVs (including the lady who sang 'I'll Do Anything for Love' with Meat Loaf) ...and little 'ol me. I'm on double-duty - I'm also responsible for the content on the video screens, which is nice as I get to make sure the visuals closely match the music. I'm looking forward to it all coming together. There was a segment about the show on the One Show on the BBC this evening if anyone's interested. Here's some more pics!

Oh, I’ve pushed the boat out. I’m using a tuner pedal 😄

Cheers! So far, so good. Yesterday was just the core band. Today we were joined by our BV ladies, and tomorrow the brass lads will be joining us. We're having to do all the rehearsals without lead vox as out guests won't be arriving until later in the week so there's always that worry that we'll need to change keys. Hopefully not... Bass-wise, I'm sticking to the two J's. They're doing everything I need. As for guests -as ever, it's top secret but I can say that Matty Healy from The 1975 will be making an appearance...

Hey gang.. Some of the longer-term members here might remember that I play in the house band at Sunday for Sammy, a huge music & comedy show that - until 2020 - happened every couple of years at Newcastle Arena. We've had some amazing guests over the years... Mark Knopfler, Brian Johnson, Trevor Horn, The Auf Wiedersehen Pet cast, Johnny Vegas, etc. But then COVID happened. And then nothing... until now! After 18 months of planning by an amazing team, it all happens again next Sunday. Two shows in one day, with a huge cast, it's a massive logistical challenge. I've been working on the songs in my own time for the last few months, and rehearsals start in earnest tomorrow. In the meantime, the crew loaded in to the rehearsal space today, and we (the core band) popped along in the afternoon to set up and do line checks. Here's some photos - more tomorrow! Two J's at the moment - both with flats. I might switch one for a P. FOH is set up in one of the dressing rooms. Monitors. My drummer pal. Guitar village. My hangout.

I don’t think I can ever watch that show again after they murdered that old Jazz bass.

Hello and welcome!

Quite.. it's strange to see some of the other takes on this this thread.

I’m just pleased the bass has been found. I’m sure if Fender take umbrage re: the replica thing, they’ll let Mark know, and he’ll react accordingly: In the meantime… let people enjoy their nice basses, eh?

I've emailed Wellers, FWIW.

Nice one! My God, that bass is pretty.

Gary at Sylva is absolutely awesome. Dave Wilson (always my #1 choice, but he's focusing on refins etc. at the moment) recommended him, and I can totally see why.

It breaks my heart that I never got to see him live.

I may get some moulded tips for the Plunges at some point. I'd always welcome a bit more attentuation.