Over the past 3 years we have become accustomed to our autumn / winter gigs at the Butlins 80s weekends. The holiday resort equivalent to the Bermuda Triangle - it would be true to say that many things have been lost at these adult weekenders ranging from iPhones to innocence, but to my knowledge no aeroplanes or ships!!
Minehead, if you are not familiar is located in Somerset, a county known for its beautiful scenery and its cider. Situated 1 hour away from the nearest motorway it is a beautiful quaint seaside town with harbour and beach to rival the best northern France can offer. Unfortunately, it has one main drawback... It's close proximity to Bristol and Cardiff!!!! Now don't get me wrong I like the Welsh, I really do, but - when alcohol is involved they can go a little wayward! Twin this with a splattering of Bristol’s hard-core drinking fraternity and we have the ingredients to rival a Molotov Cocktail!!! You get the picture!
My journey to Minehead via Stanstead Airport is 7 hours, the last hour being down the A39 which slows things down to a crawling speed. The first thing you need when you arrive is a beer, so maybe we have the route of the problem right there!
The German element this weekend comprised of Marc, Jackie and Dustin looking after the drums in Thorsten’s absence.
The day had started badly for the Germans as the flight from Dusseldorf was delayed four hours on top of a 2:30am start, however this did give me a an extra few hours in bed prior to picking them up.
Simon made his way from his South Coast retreat via the local music shop for a replacement snare skin for Dustin and using his celebrity credentials got a £1 discount by saying it was for Mel Gaynor!!!!
Our rendezvous point in Minehead was our usual haunt off campus at the end of the harbour, The Ship Aground. We sat outside with our aptly named pint of 'Tribute' and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings. Regular readers will note my very English infatuation with the weather! Well, it was hot, 30 degrees hot -and this was England... a few hours before October!!!!!!
After a couple of pints we made our way back to our rooms and prepared for our headline 12:30am slot following scouse 80's songstress Sonia! Preparing usually involves a lot of waiting around and eating and drinking the rider.
Before the show we watched Sonia’s set from the audience and had a nice chat with a lovely couple who had seen us at the Limelight Club, Crewe back in the day. It makes you realise what a long way we’ve come as we continue to add new chapters to our story.
A brief line check and off we go!
The set was:
- NEW GOLD DREAM
- LOVE SONG
- SOMEONE SOMEWHERE IN SUMMERTIME
- THE AMERICAN
- SANCTIFY YOURSELF
- BELFAST CHILD
- WATERFRONT
- DON’T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME
- ALIVE AND KICKING
As always, thanks to all who supported us. We are looking forward to our next Butlins engagement at Bognor Regis. See you there.
Steve