TOUR DIARY: Brighton [BACKSTAGE PASS: The King Blues]

Backstage Pass: On tour with the King Blues

TOUR DIARY: Brighton

Posted on March 4, 2008 10:18 AM
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Brighton

Set off again to Brighton all very excited. It’s become like a second home to us because it’s close by, has a brilliant punk scene and a rich activist history. And the best burger shop in Britain. We made room on the merch table for our friends Jo from Schnews and Fabien from the Smash EDO campaign who joyfully filled it up with political newsletters, books and DVD’s. I bought a Smash EDO T-shirt to wear onstage. EDO is an arms manufacturer based in Brighton and we’ve been supporting the Smash EDO resistance group for a while now- our b-side to the ‘Mr Music Man’ single is entitled ‘Smash EDO dub’.

Our friend Tim the Tech turned up to tech for us and it made the gig great. From the word go the crowd were just going mental, creating a massive pit with kids climbing up on stage. We again had Pat and Leon join us for ‘The Streets Are Ours’ and we planned to be joined onstage by rebel poet Attila The Stockbroker, but he turned up 5 minutes too late! As we were on stage we noticed a familiar face in front of the barrier, it was our friend Ashley Maile who was one of the photographers for the night, a treat to see him too! The set continued with the crowd getting madder and madder and by the final song there was a mass stage invasion as the kids took over the stage. The show, as they say, must go off. I ended up finishing the set on top of someone’s shoulders while the bongos got taken over by some of the kids on stage, it was a really great, one love, party vibe.

We proceeded to get very drunk and really didn’t want to leave the venue. We were the last ones there when the doors were finally locked and we made our way to Grubbs, our favourite burger bar. By the time we got there it was long shut but Fruitbag didn’t notice and excitedly opened the van door and fell flat on his face, still holding a can of beer, onto the cold Brighton pavement. It was freakin’ hilarious. Fair play to him, he didn’t try and style it out or nothing he just lay there on his front laughing at himself along with the entire street.

We arrived at the hotel still in high spirits but the receptionist took an instant disliking to us. It didn’t help matters when I managed to spill red wine all over the carpet pretty much as soon as I got there. We were arguing over who’s turn it was to host the party in their room and he threatened to bar us. Luckily he had a last minute change of heart and let us stay. I was gutted we were staying so far away from the centre of Brighton cos we wanted to party with our mates but we made the most of it when we managed to outsmart Fruitbag and Johnny Rich into letting us party in their room. By the time I finally stumbled back to my room I slept VERY soundly.