Tuesday, March 15, 2005

No 16: The Robin, Wolverhampton, 29th June 2004

Lizzy had been working in Birmingham today so she came back to our house before we set off again for Wolverhampton - not far, 50 miles or so. Quick drive up the M42 in the recently acquired new motor.

The Robin is actually in Bilston, a fairly dull looking part of the Black Country - the venue itself however is wonderful, looking like an old cinema, with "Noddy's Bar" off the lobby, covered with numerous posters of Mr Holder himself.

We had some fish and chips from a local health hazard - as we were sitting outside eating them, Dave Chapple (bass - I don't think I've mentioned him before) strolled past, looking for somewhere to buy some credit for his mobile phone. I think he found some up the road.

Back in the venue, we set up the tripods at the side of the balcony. During the support act, Lucky Jim, we see Arthur at the side of the stage. He looks surprised and heads back behind the scenes - we hear later that when he saw us, he realised that he had left the video camera in his hotel room and sent Kose back to collect it. It arrives just as the band are coming on stage so I don't have a lot of time to set up - both Lizzy and I have got used to setting up video cameras in the dark by this stage, a useful life skill.

This is a great show - some months later, when Lizzy and I had a weekend at her house watching back to back videos in chronological order for two solid days, we vote this one the best of the lot, closely followed by Edinburgh. Lizzy brought a data projector home from work, so we had the full big screen experience on her spare bedroom wall, complete with speakers as well. And several bottles of wine. But no popcorn.

A quick chat with Arthur at the end - we tell him next one for us Liverpool in about a weeks time (thats the plan anyway). The tour bus is parked next to the venue, we have a chat with Mike and Troels and Frazer the merch guy (star of Mike's diary). I have to drive back to Nottingham so no hanging around/ stalking tonight. We drive past the tour bus in the new motor - its good for driving back along the M42 at midnight, listening to the Janice Long show on Radio 2 - special live guests Lucky Jim - and tomorrow night its going to be Arthur Lee and Love...

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