Shepherds Bush & Beyond

Whatever made me assume that stopping in a hotel at Shepherds Bush would make this an easy and non tiring week I am not sure... lets face it gigging does take its toll and you just make a judgement call as to whether its worth it .. in this instance I can say without a shadow of a doubt it was, there were great highs and pretty massive lows and it took a lot of effort for me to put the lows on the back burner for a few days and although they were always there at the back of my mind great music transends ( sorry Danny) most things.The support acts for the last 4 days of this residency were all pretty good but of course they were never gonna measure up to the first night and Will and The People but then I am totally biaised and proud of it.As always the Dublin boys were charming, chatty and just the greatest people to meet with, and although the security was higher than previous tours I actually understood the barriers in between bit( well I am a trained Health & Safety Manager) dont get me wrong I do not like this but I did sense that these were a different more rabid set of fans probably from when they ripped Danny's shirt from his back.The music itself was all pretty standard with no surprises which does not mean it was not all fantastic as of course it was and the crowd just went wild for these young men who in such a short space of time have come so far ,however the work did not start from when they first came to media attention there has been years of hard work before and I sometimes think people do not see beyond the 60 minute show.
The thing that saddened me most were the people who booed the guys after the last show on Friday because they did not come out to sign and chat but drove off, yes it was handled pretty badly as people should have just been told the guys would not stop and then they would not have waited 2 hours, myself I was in the pub anyway, but whilst I understand them being upset lets be honest your ticket gets you a show and if you are lucky you get to meet the guys but its never a guarantee, any artist worth their salt will stop and these guys from my experience are top at this but these have to be the hardest working band around and their feet never touch the ground yet they go on night after night giving a top notch performance, whether they have had zero hours sleep or have been throwing up all night they are professionals and deserve our respect.Sorry lecture over.
A big thank you to my gigging buddies Elissa & Kathyrn, I suspect I was not the best company in the world apologies for that, and great to meet up with lots of old friends and meet new ones as well
Of course Saturday morning after a week of very little sleep we were all a bit weary on the trip home back up North.. my big decision was should I turn around and make the 4hr trip down to Brighton to see Will & Co... this was never up for negotiation I was going, the question was how many speed limits I would have to break to make it in time..just got there in time for end of first set ...was it worth the hassle of getting there.. well there has never been a time when going to see these guys have not been worth it.. please guys could you not be crap or even average then my poor little piggy bank and energy bank would not be so empty..but thank you so much I started this mad time with you at Shepherds Bush and ended it in Brighton and whilst everything inbetween was fantastic you were the people who actually made it all worthwhile..