Belfast trip

I last saw Graham Parker in 1978 at the Roundhouse, London and have been urging him - via Facebook and his web page - to come back and tour over here again, so when I heard recently about him reforming the Rumour and coming to tour in Europe again, I was on to the web immediately looking for tickets.

I was a little crushed initially to discover that his gigs in the UK with the Rumour are all at the end of October - the week I am away golfing in Tenerife. However, I then found out he was also doing some warm-up solo gigs before then, so this was the reason for my trip to Belfast this last weekend.

We stayed at the Europa Hotel, "the most bombed hotel in Europe/the world", where Bill Clinton stayed when he made his famous speech in favour of the peace process at the nearby City Hall in 1995. There was an advert outside for an upcoming supper gig - £200 per head:

I think I'll pass on that one.

GP's gig was at the Limelight, a Lemon Tree type venue close to our hotel. His support act was a lively Irish singer by the name of Eleanor McEvoy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_mcevoy):

Her closing number was appropriate - a great version of Nick Lowe's I Knew the Bride When She Used to Rock and Roll.

The joint was packed and Graham Parker came on to great acclaim - it seemed that most, like me, were fans of a certain vintage who knew all the old songs by heart - and he didn't disappoint. Just one acoustic and one electric guitar - no other back-up. It was slightly strange to hear all the old GP & the Rumour songs without the band - but great fun and lots of sing-along opportunities:

Two encores, including a great version of Hey Lord, Don't Ask Me Questions when the whole place joined in - totally different from the original version - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7NlS-f29xM

Just over 2 weeks to go until our next Headbang - looks like a virtually full house again.

In other news, some recent music-related press articles: