No 3. The Scala, London, 31st March 2003 (as Andmoreagains)

By this time Lizzy had introduced me to Love on the internet - both the official tour site and also a fantastic site run by a dedicated Danish fan, Torben. I started getting involved in the message board and via the sites we also got to know about a "secret" gig that was being staged in London, under the Andmoreagains name rather than Love. We decided we had to go, and booked into the Kings Cross aka Islington Thistle (why do we always stay in Thistles??) - the venue was within about 100 yards of Kings Cross station and the hotel was handy both for Kings X for Lizzy and St Pancras for me. I arranged to take the following morning off work as well but had to be back in the afternoon because I had a big work social event in Nottingham the following evening (which also meant I had to make sure I didn't drink too much!!).

We arrived early evening, and had a few drinks and something to eat in the not very salubrious neighbourhood of the venue. We then queued up to go in to the Scala and Lizzy spotted Gill, who she had met at previous gigs and who we would subsequently share lots of good times with over the coming months. The Scala is a converted cinema, a nice set up - it wasn't completely full and we settled near the front on steps near the side walls during the support act. Mike and Rusty from the band came out from backstage with beers and were watching the support act too - I said hello to Mike having met him in Manchester - he was pleasant and charming and asked how I was, but I don't think he knew me from Adam! A guy in the audience recognised Lizzy and introduced himself as Steve 64 from the Love message board.

Then Love were on...no orchestra this time, just the five piece so a different sort of show from the two previous occasions. Great sound, more rock and roll than psychedelic, and it was good to see the band in a much more intimate setting than the RFH and Manchester gigs. At the end we hung around for a while and Arthur came out on stage - a guy that we have later come to know as John E was up on the stage getting Arthur to sign his record covers and joking with him about wine. This was the nearest I'd ever been to Arthur - I got onto the stage followed by Lizzy who was by now suffering an extreme case of nerves . We stood there in the proximity of Arthur, grinning inanely - more like a pair of awestruck teenagers than a couple of middle aged women with husbands, grown up kids and responsible jobs!! Arthur looked over in our direction and said to me " Excuse me Ma'am, what's your name?" - I told him and said that we had been fans of his for a very long time, and asked if I could have his autograph for my friend (i.e. Lizzy).

Yes, I know, the old "Its not for me its for my friend" routine - why I said that and not just "Can I have your autograph please Arthur" is beyond me, but anyway he took my outstretched piece of paper and wrote "To Lizzy from Arthur Lee " on it. Lizzy still has this somewhere and hopefully treasures it as one of her most precious possessions.

There had been a tall guy with dreadlocks, carrying a young child, visible in the wings throughout the performance - after a while Lizzy and I staggered out onto the streets of Kings Cross, and there was this same guy and child talking to Arthur in the street. We made some "Oh look there's Arthur Lee" type noises which immediately sent Arthur rushing back to the sanctity of backstage - we engaged the guy in conversation and he told us he was an old friend of Arthur's from way back when. Not wanting to get a reputation as stalkers, we made our way back to our hotel via a local kebab house, a habit which was to become quite familiar over the next weeks and months.