I’ve been having a really good time as of late, the last few weekends have been just awesome, and I’ve done so many cool things. It started just after we got back from our trip to stay with Kellys grandparents in Scotland and it’s basically continued every weekend since.
We kicked it all off with a gig, our first gig of the year really, we saw The Wildhearts at Rock City. The support bands were great and everyone was in the mood for a good time, with the bar serving up two pint glasses of cider who wouldn’t be. We stayed on after the show and made a night of it, catching the late bus home and spending the next day chilling out.
The weekend after that we did some shopping for our little garden, picked up a few plants and started to get it on the way to looking nice. The Sunday morning we took Bertie out for his first real run of the year to the Limes Cafe with the Midlands Aircooled Collective, as always he looked and ran great, we got the chance to catch up with some of our fellow members and check out their cars.
The last few weekends have been pretty much full of hi-lights, but one of the best of these was Saxon, they’re an epic band that still know how to blow away an audience. We met Steve and Dave down there and had an awesome night, the second support act, The Quireboys, were so good I’d have happily paid to see them headline, in fact I thought they might just steal the show until Saxon came on and showed us what 35 years of being one of the best in the business means. Every time I see them they get one step closer to kicking Iron Maiden and Motorhead from the top two slots of my “awesome bands to see live” list.
Next I have to say a big thank you to my lovely fiancée Kelly for buying me an awesome Christmas present, she got me tickets to see The Lumberjacks. Craig Campbell, Glenn Wool and Stewart Francis, they were just amazing. I’ve been a fan of Craig Campbell for some time now, Kelly bought us tickets on the strength of this and I’m so glad she did, all in all it was an awesome night. Glenn Wool being the real surprise of the evening, having never really seen much of his stand up I wasn’t expecting to be stunned but he was truly hilarious and I will be looking out for tickets for one of his solo shows.
Finally coming to the weekend just gone, it started with a takeaway and a night relaxing with my lady, which is always amazing and a great way to counteract the stresses of the week. It soon started to pick up pace with a run out to Stanford Hall in Bertie for our first, and also our favourite, big classic VW show of the year. As always this was a great show, lots of beetles, vans, campers, gias etc. all well loved and all amazingly presented. There was is a relaxed, family atmosphere that is sometimes lacking in other shows we have attended in the past and the autojumble is always worth a visit, we picked up a new 6v horn which is now fitted and working a treat. The weekend culminated with meeting the living legend that is Mick Foley, he was just awesome and seemed a genuinely nice guy, we got a picture taken with him and he signed a few things for us and his show was just epic. it started with shorts sets by Craig Campbell and Brendon Burns who just blew us all away, they were hilarious. When Mick came out the whole room was chanting and shouting his name, from the moment he opened his mouth to the moment he shook my hand after the show he was amazing, his stories were hilarious, his timing was spot on, he knew exactly how to talk to the audience and new what we wanted to hear. He really shone, he was funny, witty and clever. The only thing that topped his show was actually getting to meet him afterwards.
The best thing about how the last few weekends is that we’re not done yet, we’ve still got more stuff to come, more shows to see and more places to visit over the next few weeks and months. I’ve got a feeling this summer is going to be one of the best yet and I really can’t wait to spend it with Kelly.
