THE TALE OF A CARDIGAN

This was another flying visit arranged at the last minute, in a hurry with very little planning just the certain knowledge that I could not miss all of Will’s European tour, missing any had felt like an act of treason, but even I sometimes have to interrupt my love of music with the day job, with the bonus of Mr Nutini the man who just oozes talent from every pore how could this weekend fail to be a success.

The problem with last minute plans is they inevitably lead to lots of miles and little sleep, however I have long subscribed to the view that you can never travel too far or loose too much sleep for great music and in Mr Rendle and Mr Nutini this is certainly the case, although to be totally honest it was for Will and Tills I made the journey and this is no disrespect to Paolo & Co as they were also worth every effort ,and more than we made, and as The Vipers contain my favourite guitarist no hardship is too much.

I have to say this is one of the worst venues I have come across as far as actually locating it, we must have walked for 2 hours and asked 20 people and still could not find the place, but then I am the person who went to NY and could not find The Empire State Building :-)… , however in this instance the only clue to the location was a sign in a car park and not a physical building, and later to our cost we were to discover why.

At last the entrance found we settled down for a long wait, a waste of a great city I know but given the choice of seeing The Coliseum or Paolo’s neatly clippered chest from the front barrier it’s a total no contest, but to me its all about the music really it was my gigging pals who were just wishing those buttons to come undone… not me ( OK even I did not believe that totally… Paolo is just the icing on the cake for me after seeing my favourite people perform )

The actual entrance was the nightmare you so often find in Europe.. it was open the gates and just run like hell in this instance for what seemed like ½ a mile, with the rest of the crowd having an average age of 12 it was a miracle I made it at all, and at times during the marathon it was only the thought of Mr Rendle’s great music and smiley face that stopped me from sitting down and saying ***** it and giving up, but there was just no way I was giving up on that front row spot and by some miracle I ended up on the barrier dead in front of Donny… bummer that was a real shame :-)

Will as ever was incredible, odd to see the change from full band to just Will with his guitar but to be honest I totally loved it totally unbiased person that I am, it worked, in fact it worked very well judging by the crowds reaction, however I was pleased when Tills came out as it really would not be the same without him.

Paolo gave a faultless performance aside from a couple of technical issues which seem to follow him wherever he goes, but I have never failed to be blown away by this young man and lets be honest he is very young but his professionalism and talent totally belies this, of course its not all about one person and Paolo has a great band behind him, no beside him and they complete the total package.

The rest of the trip consisted of , a few beers, no sleep, cold airport floors and arriving homes after 35hrs totally exhausted, was it worth it, you bet your bottom dollar it was, thanks to Lis,Jacq and Jane for being great gigging companions, but girls you have got to get your minds above those cardi buttons.. right I am off to view a video from Zurich , I am reliably advised it is well worth a watch ;-)


Finally a big thanks to Will & Tills for confirming my faith in you, and proving that being brave, independent and following your heart will eventually achieve what you so rightly deserve, recognition for being talented and focused and never prepared to compromise when it comes to your musical belief, this tour could not have been easy but you conquered Europe and found the positive in the negative