Final Saturday

I slept in until late morning, when Nicki and Tracy arrived from Milton Keynes. We had an appearance booked on Andy Coupland's radio show on Corby FM so we drove over and arrived in good time. Their photographer Joy was on hand to take some pictures and Tracy shot a few as well. The show was broadcast over the internet and it was a joy to know that Nicki's husband Lee was on-line, chatting with Andy and listening in. Bob Howe messaged Tracy to say he was listening, and Chris recorded the broadcast as well.
All I had to do was remember how to play the songs on guitar....

No problem. The show went really well and we returned to our house to prepare for the final night of the tour. Chris and I set off first because we had to collect Lee from Northampton. Jason was to come along to help us set up but he texted me to say that he'd arrive later as he wanted to watch the bands playing in the Market Place in Kettering.

My throat and glands were still very sore but Chris Lee and I unloaded the van and set everything up. It took longer than normal as we were one man down. Niki arrived and we ran through a few snippets of the set. We would have liked longer but that was all the time we had. Like Lee on the first night of the tour a lifetime ago, he would have to wing it.

Sue showed up with her friend Anita. Chris' girlfriend Heather came along with their friend Annette. Vince and Rachel brought Yana and Anne-Marie. My old bass player Andy and his wife brought a friend as well. Jason turned up with a friend but was a little the worse for wear to contribute to the proceedings.

Chris played really well and overall the show was a little rockier but still hugely enjoyable.

Nicki surprised at least one member of the audience with her performance of AC/DC's "You shook me all night long". This girl can really rock!

After twenty three shows Lee asked for a mike and joined in on some of the songs!

Finally it was over for another year. Nicki had taken on every kind of venue and won them over with her presence, her musicianship and her fabulous voice. She made countless appearances on radio stations up and down the country and even appeared on the Philmack Country Show on satellite TV
http://www.philmackcountry.com/

I had to drive the van after we'd loaded out. We dropped Lee back in Northampton and I just made it back home. I staggered into bed and didn't get up until lunchtime.

Friday- Westcott

This was originally our to be our last show and I for one was glad that it was not too far away- although Nicki and Tracy had stayed the night in York, so it was a long drive for them down to their hotel (an executive box at MK Dons Stadium)

The venue was the former officer's mess at a WW2 airbase just outside Aylesbury and as we drove on to the site we could see many of the old buildings, mostly in an advanced state of dereliction

Not so the club itself. It was a lovely venue with a big dance floor and a huge stage. The evening was in aid of Help for Heroes and more than 100 people crowded in to the venue and enjoyed a great show by Nicki and the band. The dance floor was full for every song and Nicki and the band needed no encouragement to pull out the stops

Chris managed to shoot a few frames of video as well as taking notes (he was to play the final show the following night) and here's a short clip of the fun we had that night



The show over-ran but nobody was complaining. We loaded the van and said our goodbyes, drove back to Northampton (I slept the whole way there). We filled up with diesel and dropped Lee then Cozy off. Lee was to play the final date but Cozy was to fly to Switzerland and a five week tour.

My throat was still very painful but I'd found a bottle of mouthwash and regular gargling was helping. I fell into bed and was asleep within seconds

Nicki Gillis at the Musician, Leicester, 24th July 2011

The Long Haul -Part seven

We arrived at the Cafe Con Leche in Corby Town Centre in the evening sunshine. I was so tired. This tour schedule was taking its toll. We waited until Chris arrived before we loaded in, as we had two flights of stairs to negotiate. Eveyone mucked in and we were soon loaded in and set up.

I was pleased to see that my wife Sue had come along as she's been so busy with her work recently. As we set eveything up we were joined by Dave & Vince from my own band, Vince's partner Rachel, plus quite a few other friends and acquaintances, including some who'd heard Nicki's songs being played on the local radio and decided to check her out. Nicki graciously allowed my band to perform a handful of songs to open the show and we sounded good, even if I do say so myself. Most times we play we have to use the PA provided and they always turn it up too loud. It was a pleasure to play at the correct volume.

There was a good sized crowd when Nicki took the stage and once again she won them over in double quick time.

We've played a lot of shows on this tour and I think that this was my favourite so far. The reception the audience gave Nicki was very loud and heartfelt. Even the bar staff asked her to autograph a poster. They said that she was the best they'd had perform at the venue. I'm proud to be a part of this.

Once we'd loaded the van Chris took Lee and Cozy back to Northampton while I travelled back to Kettering with Nicki and Tracy. It had been a long day and I was exhausted. At least we could have a lie in the next morning.

The Sandboy Inn at Bawsey, Kings Lynn

I didn't know what to expect about this gig. When we arrived and saw the size of the room and spoke to some of the people I expected the worst. The room was the smallest we'd played in to date and being a four piece band took up more room than the organisers were used to. I really thought we'd bomb here.

I was wrong. Within a couple of songs Nicki had won the audience over and a great night was had by all. The room was packed to capacity, the dancefloor was full, the people sang along at the top of their voices and they gave Nicki the loudest standing ovation of the tour so far.

Appearances can be deceptive

Gloucester- Friday

It was Friday. The A43 was closed due to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and we were playing in Gloucester. There was no choice but to drive from Northampton to Coventry via the M45/A45, take the A46 to Tewkesbury and on to the M5 for the last few miles to Gloucester, and hope that the traffic would behave itself. They don't called it Gridlock Friday for nothing.
As it happened, the traffic behaved itself and we arrived at the club in very good time. We had time to set up and sort the lights out (see the pictures), but still didn't have time to run through songs in an empty room. People started coming in from 7.00, and we weren't due on stage until 8.30. It was a big room with a huge dance floor that Nicki kept full all evening, but the downside is that the audience seemed very far away and didn't seem to want to engage with Nicki. It was hard work, hot and hard work.

I'm going to have a bit of a moan and ask why is it that clubs insist on the artists playing until 11.30 when most of the audience leave just after 11.00? Would the audience leave halfway through a play or a film? Nicki doesn't just play a few songs- she performs a show, with a beginning, a middle and an end, so why leave before the end?

Trish and her husband, plus several people from Dumbleton and Notgrove turned out to see her and they made all the difference. I'd better shut up because I'm finding it difficult to say anything positive. Vicky, the Club Secretary was very helpful and friendly, as were most of the audience, but a few grumpy old gits spoiled it for me.

We were originally due to play the Americana Festival this weekend, but Nicki was an unfortunate casualty of the current economic crisis when the organisers took her off the bill. Ah well, a night off.

Notgrove City Limit.....

The phone woke me up....at 10 in the morning. I'd only got to bed at five. I missed the call. In fact I missed the call three times during the day before I finally found out who it was. It was a busy day. I had to take posters and flyers over to Raunds, drop the studio computer off to be repaired and then drive to Bourton on the Water with the band to meet Nicki & Tracy. She was looking forward to a cream tea but traffic hold ups meant that we arrived as all the tea shops were closing.

Notgrove is only a couple of miles from Bourton, deep in the Cotswold country. The venue is a tiny village hall . One of the first people to arrive was Trish Bishop and her husband, who'd come to see us a couple of times last year. It was nice to see them again. The hall soon filled to capacity and Nicki once again played a great set. I know Nicki was really taken with the village and posted about it on her blog (nickigillis.co.uk). Once again it was a late night but we drove back to Oxford, got some diesel, and then continued back to Northampton. We managed to get on to the A43 just as it being closed off for the British Grand Prix weekend. I think we were the last vehicle to travel the full length before the race.

Several people who came to see us at Notgrove will also be coming to see us in Gloucester the following night

Catching up

Since my last post we've played three shows, recorded some acoustic songs for a radio show to be broadcast this coming weekend and made a surprise appearance in a local village pub.
So, first of all we travelled up to the Wirral for a show at the Whitby Sports & Social Club in Ellesmere Port. Two years ago Nicki made her first ever UK appearance on this stage, an event that will live on in everyone's memory because the screen they use to show big sporting events decided to lower itself during the second number, and resisted all efforts to retract. In the end it was tied up out of the way, with much hilarity all round. There was a big turnout for Nicki's show and she went down a storm.

Once again Nicki got the audience involved and singing along. During the second set the club allows dancing, and the floor was full for the rest of the show.

It was a late finish but thankfully almost all the audience stayed to the end. By the time we'd packed the kit, said our goodbyes, drove into town to find some food, it was way past 1.00 and it was a long way home. We'd also agreed to meet in Bourton on the Water that afternoon and I didn't get to bed until after 5.00.

Immingham Tuesday

After a well-earned rest day it was back on the road for the next run of shows. We have a new driver cum roadie in the person of Jason, who will be with us for the next three weeks or so. I collected him from his house in Kettering and we set off for Northampton. Before we'd travelled to the end of the street I noticed that the fuel warning light was on, so I put £10 of diesel in to get us to Northampton. Three years ago when I toured with Jerry Arhelger I thought the price of diesel was scandalous when it rose to £1.09, now it's £1.39 or so, and shows no sign of coming down.
The trouble is that the amount the clubs can pay has stayed the same, and with an aging club membership and few new members coming through, the outlook isn't good for touring musicians in the UK. Each pound that goes in fuel is a pound out of the musician's pocket, and we now earn less than we did ten or even fifteen years ago, when fuel was half the price it is now.

We called into Northampton, collected Cozy and Lee, put another £60 of diesel in the tank, and with Jason in the driving seat, set off for Immingham, near Grimsby. It's one of those strange quirks of the UK road network in that the quickest way to the North Lincolnshire coast is to head north up the M1 to near Sheffield, then take the M18 and the M180 eastbound. We drove up the motorway in the inside lane at a stately 60mph trying to save fuel, and arrived at the venue in good time. Chris' job today took him to within an hour of the venue so he called by to check that everything was well, stayed to catch the first set before heading back home to bed.

It was a small club, but began to fill even as we were setting up. We really could do with an empty roon for an hour or so in order to tidy up a few songs and rehearse a few new ones, but it was not to be this time. Word had got out that Nicki was in town, and soon they had to put out extra tables and chairs for the capacity crowd.

Like Dumbleton on Saturday, this was a listening club, with a good humoured crowd who'd turned up in Australian regalia with corks dangling from hats etc. Nicki soon had them singing and clapping along as we played three top quality sets. Once again Nicki brought the house down when she sang "Nutbush" and danced the routine with two of the guys from the club. Priceless.
We closed the show with "Waltzing Matilda" and it brought the audience to their feet. Even the die hards who only like "pure" country music (whatever that is) were won over. Everyone commented on a great show.
The organisers from two other local clubs in Grimsby and Scunthorpe were there. Now- if the three clubs could work together and put on a show in a bigger venue, we might get three times the people along, get three times the fee for the show, and not have to worry whether we'd run out of diesel on the way back. As it happens, we got back OK, but will have to fill up again before we head off to the Wirral for our next date.

Mexborough Sunday 3rd July

We took a leisurely (and fuel economic) drive up to Mexborough on Sunday afternoon, arriving at the venue in good time. The club is surrounded by tennis courts and a cricket pitch and a game was in progress in the warm summer evening. Once we'd loaded in and made sure everything was working we sat watching the end of the match. (It was quite exciting. In the final over the batting side drew level but lost a wicket with the scores level and one delivery left to bowl. The captains shook hands and called it a draw).

But what about the show? The further north we travel the shorter the playing time. Tonight we played two sets of 45 minutes plus an encore, with a long interval while they played bingo. Nicki has been battling a head cold since she arrived in the UK, but still put on a great show. Once again the audience loved her, especially when she stepped down from the stage to teach the dance steps to the song she was singing. I'd not seen anyone do that before.

We're gradually sorting out all the glitches in the arrangements. A few days ago Lee thought it would take three gigs to get into shape and I think he was right. Our closing song gets better with each performance, and the band is sounding tight.

We now have a rest day before our next show in Grimsby on Tuesday

Dumbleton Village Hall

Last night we played a great show at Dumbleton Village Hall, a lovely small venue tucked away in the Cotswolds. We had an interesting journey across, when an apparently simple straight line across the map was turned by the satnav into a magical mystery tour. We were heading south, then west, then north....
we passed the through Moreton on the Marsh, where we saw a stage set up for a concert in the market square featuring the Blockheads. A few miles later and we passed through Chipping Camden. A few more miles and it was Broadway. Finally we arrived and set up.

People travel miles to the venue, and they get there early to get a seat, so it wasn't possible to run through any of the songs that needed tidying up. We needn't have worried. Almost all the songs that we struggled with the previous night went without a hitch and I can confidently state that any mistakes I made were new ones!

The crowd love Nicki. She made such an impression last year that they'd been looking forward to this show for ages. They wouldn't let her go until she'd sung Waltzing Matilda (one that we hadn't planned on performing this time around)and the applause that heralded the end of the show almost took the roof off.

As we packed the gear away I could still hear some of the crowd singing away. Oh, and the song that we tried at Greenford went really well again. We're going to have to rehearse it and make it Nicki's feature number to close the show.

We drove back by the main roads. I dozed off on the front seat and if it wasn't for the seat belt almost strangling me I'd have ended up sleeping in the footwell. Ah, the rock n roll lifestyle!

First night- Greenford, West London

The first night of any tour is always the most nerve wracking. Have we rehearsed enough? Is the kit going to behave itself? Can I remember all my parts? Can I remember my own name?......

Driving down the M1 to London isn't the most enjoyable experience. Most of the route south from Milton Keynes is through road works and driving down on a Friday afternoon is probably the worst time to do it. It's about 75 miles to the venue from Northampton and we allowed 3 hours to get there. We got lucky.

The traffic flowed smoothly through the roadworks. We averaged about 45 mph and, once past the M25 the last section was very light. The North Circular Road flowed smoothly and we soon negotiated the Hangar Lane intersection. We headed west along the Western Avenue and arrived at the venue at 5.30, an hour early.

Normally Chris would drive the van, but his work commitments saw him driving around Leicester until almost 5.00pm, so I had to drive the van both ways. He followed on behind, and where we sailed through the roadworks, he crawled. He arrived at the venue 15 minutes before the show started. One of the club's organisers Becky made us a cup of tea (which was a life saver) and it was time to start the show.

Considering the lack of rehearsal and the last minute change in personnel when Lee Goodwin stepped in at the last minute, the show went amazingly well. Yes it could have been a bit tighter and one or two of the endings could be better, but the show was well received by a good sized crowd. The first set flew by, very tidy, very tight. I spoke to the club members during the intervals and they all remarked how good the show was, how different from the usual acts they have, and how much they were enjoying it.

Towards the end of the night we played a song that we hadn't had a chance to rehearse. I won't say which song it was, because some might say that there were a few like that....but when I spoke to Chris after the show he told me that when Nicki sang this particular song he noticed half the audience on his side of the room were filming it on their phones. Hmmmm, we might have a winner here.

Once the show was finished I was exhausted, so sat with Evelyn and Pam, two of Bob Howe's friends who had come to shows on each of the previous tours. They really enjoyed the show, and were pleased as punch that the venue was only a bus ride from their home. I think they enjoyed themselves so much that they'll be back there again. The people who run the Western Avenue CMC are a really friendly bunch. They made us very welcome, kept us supplied with tea and brought out sandwiches for the band once we'd packed the kit away. Thanks for being great hosts.

Once the van was loaded it was time to head back home. We drove back to the M1, stopped at London Gateway services for some more tea- yes, more tea- and then drove back up the M1 in convoy. just before Luton the traffic slowed to a standstill and we switched lanes, drove up the exit ramp and down the other side, saving us a good 15-20 minutes on our journey, as four lanes of traffic were funnelled down to single lane as they installed a new bridge over the motorway. When we left the motorway, we swapped around a bit and Chris drove Cozy and Lee home while I carried on to our home. I'd just made yet another cup of tea when Chris arrived back. He'd had two hours sleep since the rehearsal on Thursday night, so we got to bed at about 3.30. I was up at about lunchtime the next day, still tired from the previous day's exertions, but looking forward to tonight's show in a tiny picture postcard village near Evesham.

First night tonight

Well, that soon came around! Nicki's here in the UK, we've met up and run through the songs and we're ready to (country) rock! There's been a change to our lineup this tour and we welcome Lee Goodwin to the band. I worked with Lee on the Patsy Cline tour a couple of years ago and he's an excellent player.

Tonight's show is in West London, and anyone with knowledge of the UK traffic will know that travelling anywhere near London on a Friday night is going to be slow and congested, so we're having to set aside three hours to travel the 60 or so miles to the venue. I'll try and get some pictures of the new band lineup in the next day.