Hey all its yer ol pal warpangel!
Well, this has been a very fun and entertaining weekend!! I have spent the last couple of days following the exploits of our intrepid band of musicians and there have been many great moments!
Lets start with Manchester!
I got to the venue pretty early, I waited around with Felicity and Gemma for the tour bus to show. During this wait a multitude of frogs turned up. Claire, Loz, Brigie, Daniel Zieba and Jude turned up, as well as Sonja and Edda who had flown over from Germany for this weekends gigs. One thing I can say about the wait.....it was bloomin cold!!!
The tour bus turned up and at first the girls came out alone. Vanesa was with them and it was wonderful to see her again!! She got a huge warpangel hug! Shortly the guys made an appearence and after brief chats they went inside and it was a case of waiting for soundcheck.
Soundcheck was great! BBB seems to have become quite attatched to his Kilt and he has worn it at every show since he bought it in Scotland, he wore it all day during the Manchester show.
there were a HUGE amount of frogs at the soundcheck!! there wasnt a spare place at the front barriers as the guys got a little rehearsing done. I spent most of soundcheck just catching up with Vanesa, she had brought some photos over with her from my time with them in New York and it was really nice to see them. I cant believe its already been a month since I went!
the guys were sounding great and they were onstage for around an hour soundchecking, when they finished they went off to eat and Jude, Sonja Edda and I just hung around waiting for the show to start a little later on.
We took our places at the front and as the hall started to fill up, we were joined by Claire and Loz. Relish soon hit the stage and I have to say that they are the best band Wheatus have ever had with them on tour, every night they have a different setlist and different songs, so its not a chore waiting for them to finish and the main act to come on. they are pretty funky, in a Lenny Kravitz kinda way! I hope they do well!
Wheatus hit Manchester shortly afterwards...and man did they ever put on a show!! This gig marked my 11th show and I had never seen them as animated or exciting on stage! Phil was tremendous! He really went all out this time and gave everything he had. The man never stopped! Brendan also sounded fantastic and Pete, Mike, Liz and Kathryn were also at their best! The crowd was great also, a lot of entheusiam and cheers, but without the irritating slam dancing. Being at the front wasn't so crushed and I came out pretty much unbruised! Bonus!
There were a couple of comedy moments during the night, which just added to the fun of the whole show. Both were caused by Phil of course!
Anyone who has seen Phil perform knows that he does not keep still onstage. And as the guys use ear pieces to monitor their sound instead of monitor speakers onstage, he is constantly losing his ear pieces during the show and its a common sight to see them flailing around behind him as he performs. (Hopefully when he gets his specially molded ear pieces this wi 6d0 ll be a thing of the past!)
Anyway..at Manchester, during one part of the show, he didnt just lose his ear pieces..his whole monitor radio pack that he has clipped to him also came off, and he didnt realise. so he's dancing around and this pack is flailing around on the end of a wire. Its quite a heavy little piece of equipment and it was flying around with some force. He neared the edge of the stage and this pack was making circling sweeps around him, as he neared, Claire, Loz, Sonja, Edda and myself flinched as we realised that this thing was getting very near to a security guards head! and we visably ducked as he made one sweep that went right over the guys head and missed him by only an inch or so. Phil was oblivious to it, and so was the guard! Kathryn and Liz also noticed what was going on and Liz mouthed 'Did he hit him?' after Phil bounded off to another part of the stage. The lot of us were in hysterics! Phil eventually realised what was going on when his pack got caught up in his bongo setup and he couldnt move anywhere! He soon got himself sorted and the gig carried on as ever!
Another funny but very very cool moment was right at the end with 'Dirtbag'. Phil has all the 'scratching' effects stored on a little drum machine but when he tried to get the intro to the song going..he announced that there had been a 're load error' and there wouldnt be any samples. Not to worry, though. Phil said he would do the effects personally and started to beat box into the microphone. He made all the effects..including the car crash sample and it sounded awesome and just added to the show! I hoped he would do it the next night but it seems that it was just a one off. But it was great and showed that nothing sto 1000 ps these guys during a show!
The show finally over,everyone cleared out and the guys spent a good time outside signing stuff and chatting to the fans. When they had all gone back inside the bus Edda, Sonja, Loz ,Claire and myself walked into Manchester and made our own ways home.
soon enough it'd be morning and I'd be...off to Middlesbrough!
Middlesbrough gig report to follow...
Take care all!
Glenn
