Post by DAVE HURRY on Feb 17, 2008 11:03:06 GMT
HI-ON VERWOOD
My day started with a bit of a lie-in, with a leisurely 12pm start from home. Adrian "my head sounds like that" Swift was originally going to meet up with a sat nav en route, but plans had changed and he hurriedly called me for directions. Myself and Nicko "I like Phil" McBrain Jnr met at Waterloo to journey off to Pokesdown, which simply has to be the greatest place name in the western world. I've been nominated to make sure young Mr McBrain makes it to gigs, considering that when he ventures to venues on his own, he tends not to make it!
Swifty and Bruce "is it SAFE?" Dugginson and were on the road from Leeds. Bruce was suffering the effects of a ploughman's lunch for most of the journey, almost blowing chunks on the M1 (which would have been an appalling accident). They met Nicko and I at Pokesdown and I directed them to the venue. I'd actually been to the Verwood Hub before, watching Uncletrunx (from the forums) wrestle, so the place already had a spandex connection. Speed was (as ever) running late, so I was without amplification until his arrival. The place is practically brand spanking new, with one of the larger stages we have played (eclipsed only by Milton Keynes, and then not by much). The soundmen set about their work, and we lounged backstage. There was a guy from local radio (http://www.forestfm.co.uk) waiting to interview us, thinking that soundcheck would be out of the way soon. It took a long time to get set up, as this was the first time the venue had put a band on and the chaps were finding gear shortages a problem. It was a big room with a wood laminate floor, and as such was reverbalicious. With a crowd in it would sound great, but empty it was a bit messy!!
With soundcheck out of the way, we ventured off to get some grub inside us. We were told of a chippy which had won awards, so that was the winner. Once back at the venue with the nosh, we finally sat down to interview. This was a laugh, and a bit of a trip down memory lane for Speed as he recounted the journey that led us all to this point. We'll send the station a few live tracks from Farnborough and, I believe, we'll be on the Thursday night rock show. Watch out for it...
The support band were a nice bunch of local lads, and they went on to do a grand job of warming up the house. We hit the stage with Aces High, which started great. Well, great until mid-way through the second verse - suddenly, messrs Swift and Harris were no more! The stage left power had died! Heacham memories flew before my eyes, and the sound guys came up to check on what had happened. Myself and Bruce did an impromptu verse of 'Tears Of The Dragon', and started 'Children of the Damned'. Pretty soon after, normal service resumed and there was life on the left hand side. This song was not in the setlist but we went with it anyway, to a rapturous reception. This kind of saved the show, and the rest of the night went without power outage.
All in all, a success. I personally played really well, with only a couple of smelly moments (The Clairvoyant springs to mind, eh Swifty?!).The crowd were a little bit hard to warm up, with some kids sitting down on the right hand side which kind of put me off a bit. However, there were enough Maiden fans having a good time to make it worthwhile and I hope they have us back. We had a quick sit down afterwards, then set down and headed off for our digs.
After a night on the coldest Travelodge floor in the known universe, we had our mandatory Little Chef breakfast (while "Kenny Twelvepence" told us of his youthful misdemeanours...) and went our seperate ways. Mr McBrain and I journeyed back to Waterloo where we parted and I arrived back at the Hurry household at about 2.30pm. And slept!
Penzance and Tavistock next week - we're filming Tavistock for a possible future DVD release, so get your arses down there!
Love,
Dave "is what safe?" Hurry
Travel Co-ordinator
Hi-On Maiden Holdings (South East Division)
My day started with a bit of a lie-in, with a leisurely 12pm start from home. Adrian "my head sounds like that" Swift was originally going to meet up with a sat nav en route, but plans had changed and he hurriedly called me for directions. Myself and Nicko "I like Phil" McBrain Jnr met at Waterloo to journey off to Pokesdown, which simply has to be the greatest place name in the western world. I've been nominated to make sure young Mr McBrain makes it to gigs, considering that when he ventures to venues on his own, he tends not to make it!
Swifty and Bruce "is it SAFE?" Dugginson and were on the road from Leeds. Bruce was suffering the effects of a ploughman's lunch for most of the journey, almost blowing chunks on the M1 (which would have been an appalling accident). They met Nicko and I at Pokesdown and I directed them to the venue. I'd actually been to the Verwood Hub before, watching Uncletrunx (from the forums) wrestle, so the place already had a spandex connection. Speed was (as ever) running late, so I was without amplification until his arrival. The place is practically brand spanking new, with one of the larger stages we have played (eclipsed only by Milton Keynes, and then not by much). The soundmen set about their work, and we lounged backstage. There was a guy from local radio (http://www.forestfm.co.uk) waiting to interview us, thinking that soundcheck would be out of the way soon. It took a long time to get set up, as this was the first time the venue had put a band on and the chaps were finding gear shortages a problem. It was a big room with a wood laminate floor, and as such was reverbalicious. With a crowd in it would sound great, but empty it was a bit messy!!
With soundcheck out of the way, we ventured off to get some grub inside us. We were told of a chippy which had won awards, so that was the winner. Once back at the venue with the nosh, we finally sat down to interview. This was a laugh, and a bit of a trip down memory lane for Speed as he recounted the journey that led us all to this point. We'll send the station a few live tracks from Farnborough and, I believe, we'll be on the Thursday night rock show. Watch out for it...
The support band were a nice bunch of local lads, and they went on to do a grand job of warming up the house. We hit the stage with Aces High, which started great. Well, great until mid-way through the second verse - suddenly, messrs Swift and Harris were no more! The stage left power had died! Heacham memories flew before my eyes, and the sound guys came up to check on what had happened. Myself and Bruce did an impromptu verse of 'Tears Of The Dragon', and started 'Children of the Damned'. Pretty soon after, normal service resumed and there was life on the left hand side. This song was not in the setlist but we went with it anyway, to a rapturous reception. This kind of saved the show, and the rest of the night went without power outage.
All in all, a success. I personally played really well, with only a couple of smelly moments (The Clairvoyant springs to mind, eh Swifty?!).The crowd were a little bit hard to warm up, with some kids sitting down on the right hand side which kind of put me off a bit. However, there were enough Maiden fans having a good time to make it worthwhile and I hope they have us back. We had a quick sit down afterwards, then set down and headed off for our digs.
After a night on the coldest Travelodge floor in the known universe, we had our mandatory Little Chef breakfast (while "Kenny Twelvepence" told us of his youthful misdemeanours...) and went our seperate ways. Mr McBrain and I journeyed back to Waterloo where we parted and I arrived back at the Hurry household at about 2.30pm. And slept!
Penzance and Tavistock next week - we're filming Tavistock for a possible future DVD release, so get your arses down there!
Love,
Dave "is what safe?" Hurry
Travel Co-ordinator
Hi-On Maiden Holdings (South East Division)