The trip to Dundee for Punktoberfest 7 last weekend was a hoot. The six hours in the van on the way north reinforced our impression of the northern weather: drizzle from Gretna to Glasgow, but blue skies over Perthshire and Angus. It also whetted our appetite for the frivolities to follow, and we were not disappointed.
Beat Generator turned out to be an excellent venue: two rooms, pro sound gear and engineers, impressive collection of old Dundee flyers decorating the toilets and classic album and magazine covers on the walls – anywhere with a shot of Phil Lynott at the top of the stairs is ok with me. It was nice to see some old friends again (*waves at The Mispelt and Billyclub*) and to meet a lot of lovely people for the first time. We enjoyed our set, The Guinness, Strongbow, Jim Beam Honey, Black Sheep, whiskey (Irish, this time), Hobgoblin Gold and my flask of restorative tea very much, before getting stuck into the Kopparberg and classic rock at a club on Union Street.
Andy Cochrane did an excellent job organising the event, from first to last, and played a really good set with The Eddies. Our thanks to him for all his hard work, good humour and all-round help. I’m sure he will agree that the highlight of the whole weekend was him joining me and Sharrock for a spirited rendition of Iron Maiden’s ‘Wasted Years’ – he has missed his calling as an operatic metal singer.
We recovered on Sunday morning by enjoying several firsts: it was the first time we have seen statues of Desperate Dan and Minnie the Minx; the first time we have visited RRS Discovery (the ship that took Scott and Shackleton on their first expedition to the Antarctic); and the first time we have driven all the way through the Central Belt without seeing rain. Splendid.
Despite good weather and Sunday traffic the drive home took us seven hours rather than the usual six, courtesy of the M6 near Lancaster. We used the extra hour wisely by discussing curry. Between courses we talked about plans for November: a trip to the Netherlands has fallen through, so we are now available for gigs from Wednesday 22nd to Saturday 25th (and are already booked for the Alma in Bolton on Sunday 26th). If you would like us to play, can squeeze us on a gig you are putting on or know someone else who can, please give us a shout: we can travel to anywhere on the UK mainland, can bring a full back line and will be very happy with some fuel money and a good night – we just want to play. I will be on the case with booking for that in the next few days and will post updates as necessary.
Meanwhile, thanks again to Andy and everyone in Dundee: we had a great time and hope to be back next year.
Ste & FB4
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