Post by DAVE HURRY on Mar 12, 2008 20:30:58 GMT
No sooner had our trip to Turkey finished, JB's rolled around. After being treated like rockstars for a week, I don't think that any of us really wanted to go back to what you normally get at venues back in Blighty (set up, get on, get off, pack your gear and f*** off!). Thankfully, JB's is AWESOME - we're always fed, the monitor mix is always spot on (thanks to Martin!), there's always a fridge full of beer...love it!
I met up with Nicko "some bird just blew her ring out" McBrain Jnr at Euston, carrying his cymbals on me back. We grabbed something to eat and jumped on the nearest train to Brum - the trains were up the spout due to some fire up in the Midlands, so it was literally a case of "get a train now, or don't get one at all". I was playing with my new phone and lamenting the lack of good-looking sheep for most of the journey. We arrived into Dudley Port around 4pm, and were picked up by Jason (dog bummer) and pals Eddie's Mum and KillerSav, some nice people from the forum who come to see us every chance they get. Eddie's Mum takes some killer photos, and Savvy helped me out with the website. Top people! We went back to Jason's for a bit of grub and to meet other folks coming to the show.
Nicko and I were chauferred to the venue by Eddie 1. We were to have two Eddie's at this gig - one during Powerslave, one during Iron Maiden. We did try and get them to have an "Eddie Deathmatch" during Hallowed but sadly it didn't come to pass! Speed "what's so funny about perspex?" Harris had been visiting his sister in the Midlands, who was to come to the gig later on. He'd brought his youngster / bass tech with him, and thus was not having to do any of his own setting up! Adrian "his crotch access was brown!" Swift appeared soon after in the Van Of Death with Bruce "fanny batter" Dugginson. We set up, sat about chatting, then soundchecked. I had my Dave Murray black strat back in action for this gig, and while it needs a little set-up tweaking it was SO good to play again. I love that guitar with all my hairy little heart.
A fantastic lasagne later, myself, Bruce and Nicko sauntered off to The Fellows to meet the fanclub. Here I was delighted to run into Rob, the Dave Hurry who was in the band back in my Manic days. It was so good to see him again, so a big shout out to Rob and his missus!! Also there were Uncletrunx and Sheepy from the forums, who were celebrating their upcoming wedding with one of our gigs! Excellent! Which reminds me, I need to RSVP my invitation and finish writing the music for said wedding...busy Hurry!
Back at the venue, we got ready. There was some dispute over the length of the set, and we had to drop Phantom from the encore which was a pain in the arse. Still, on we went and played a blinder. I had a bit of a dodgy night for solos (I seem to say that a lot!), but apart from that it was storming. Having two Eddies was awesome, despite one of them coming on a bit earlier due to the other one pushing him out early! Big thanks to Neil and John who made the show that bit more spectacular!
Afterwards at JB's you have to hang around a bit, as the antics continue post-gig. This is great, as you get to wander out into the crowd and get some much valued feedback. The flipside is that you don't get to pack down and naff off til very late, at which point you do tend to start wondering. "why do we do this?". The answer is - 'cos we bloody love it, and so do the punters!
The next day I hung around at Jason's catching up with all my pals. I met most of these internet type people back in 2003 when Maiden played Donington (in fact, I saw my first Hi-On gig a week later in Stourbridge...), but in the past year I haven't been able to see them as much as I would have liked. It was dead nice to have a day to sit about and chat, and that nice Powerslave Eddie drove me all the way home!
All in all, a good weekend. I'm still bloody knackered (and I'm writing this on WEDNESDAY!), so to the rest of the band - if I've forgotten anything, please post!
Thanks to everyone who came out, and lots of love to all my friends who I don't see enough of.
Dave "a perspex screen to jizz on" Hurry
I met up with Nicko "some bird just blew her ring out" McBrain Jnr at Euston, carrying his cymbals on me back. We grabbed something to eat and jumped on the nearest train to Brum - the trains were up the spout due to some fire up in the Midlands, so it was literally a case of "get a train now, or don't get one at all". I was playing with my new phone and lamenting the lack of good-looking sheep for most of the journey. We arrived into Dudley Port around 4pm, and were picked up by Jason (dog bummer) and pals Eddie's Mum and KillerSav, some nice people from the forum who come to see us every chance they get. Eddie's Mum takes some killer photos, and Savvy helped me out with the website. Top people! We went back to Jason's for a bit of grub and to meet other folks coming to the show.
Nicko and I were chauferred to the venue by Eddie 1. We were to have two Eddie's at this gig - one during Powerslave, one during Iron Maiden. We did try and get them to have an "Eddie Deathmatch" during Hallowed but sadly it didn't come to pass! Speed "what's so funny about perspex?" Harris had been visiting his sister in the Midlands, who was to come to the gig later on. He'd brought his youngster / bass tech with him, and thus was not having to do any of his own setting up! Adrian "his crotch access was brown!" Swift appeared soon after in the Van Of Death with Bruce "fanny batter" Dugginson. We set up, sat about chatting, then soundchecked. I had my Dave Murray black strat back in action for this gig, and while it needs a little set-up tweaking it was SO good to play again. I love that guitar with all my hairy little heart.
A fantastic lasagne later, myself, Bruce and Nicko sauntered off to The Fellows to meet the fanclub. Here I was delighted to run into Rob, the Dave Hurry who was in the band back in my Manic days. It was so good to see him again, so a big shout out to Rob and his missus!! Also there were Uncletrunx and Sheepy from the forums, who were celebrating their upcoming wedding with one of our gigs! Excellent! Which reminds me, I need to RSVP my invitation and finish writing the music for said wedding...busy Hurry!
Back at the venue, we got ready. There was some dispute over the length of the set, and we had to drop Phantom from the encore which was a pain in the arse. Still, on we went and played a blinder. I had a bit of a dodgy night for solos (I seem to say that a lot!), but apart from that it was storming. Having two Eddies was awesome, despite one of them coming on a bit earlier due to the other one pushing him out early! Big thanks to Neil and John who made the show that bit more spectacular!
Afterwards at JB's you have to hang around a bit, as the antics continue post-gig. This is great, as you get to wander out into the crowd and get some much valued feedback. The flipside is that you don't get to pack down and naff off til very late, at which point you do tend to start wondering. "why do we do this?". The answer is - 'cos we bloody love it, and so do the punters!
The next day I hung around at Jason's catching up with all my pals. I met most of these internet type people back in 2003 when Maiden played Donington (in fact, I saw my first Hi-On gig a week later in Stourbridge...), but in the past year I haven't been able to see them as much as I would have liked. It was dead nice to have a day to sit about and chat, and that nice Powerslave Eddie drove me all the way home!
All in all, a good weekend. I'm still bloody knackered (and I'm writing this on WEDNESDAY!), so to the rest of the band - if I've forgotten anything, please post!
Thanks to everyone who came out, and lots of love to all my friends who I don't see enough of.
Dave "a perspex screen to jizz on" Hurry