Saturday 6th November 1999Chelmsford - Army And NavyThe first great thing about today was that top band Leisure (see Wolves tour diary) have agreed for us to use their lovely van for the rest of the tour. It is going to make so much difference to have the van for the remaining dates as it is cleaner and much more comfortable than the hire vans that we have been using so far. It feels like a proper tour bus! The second great thing about today was that Skin, Leisure frontman, drove the van all the way from Lichfield to my front door, and then after a quick cup of tea, took a train all the way back to Lichfield to take his boy to the football. What a nice fella. The third great thing about today was that my good friend Kev had agreed to do the driving honours for today's show. Kev soon got the hang of the van and after a few minutes we stopped clipping curbs and jumping over sleeping policemen (Glam Rock Cops). We did the usual driving and loading in New Cross and then headed East into darkest Essex and on to Chelmsford after a few near misses we eventually found and parked outside the Army & Navy. We were bleedin' freezin' so we were glad to warm out buns on the roasting central heating. The stage at The Army is a very good size and we set up with plenty of room to rock through the soundcheck. If I say so myself, the soundcheck was pretty rockin'. We did Baby Food, Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll and Benjamin and Jumble and they all sounded...wicked. Pharmacy and Esoterica had a few problems with their soundchecks but eventually all was done and it was time for the Abdou boys to hit the town to check out the pubs of Chelmsford. We wandered around town stopped in a pub for a swift half and then cruised into Burger King where I got my usual Spicy Bum Burner with regular fries. When we got back to the venue, weren't that surprised to see a less than heaving venue, but we optimistically hoped that more people would turn up. First on were Esoterica, who appeared to be doing their first or second ever gig. They looked unfeasibly young and were accompanied by photo snappy Brothers and Daddies. Their youth wasn't so evident in their music though and there were indeed a couple of great songs in the set. I can just remember the bands that I was in at their age and they definitely have the edge. Next up were Pharmacy, who are our regular Essex opening band it seems and very glad we are to have them as they just get better and better. Tom, Tim, Nina and Ben weren't all that happy with the gig but from where we were standing they sounded great, both Tom and Nina's voices are getting stronger and stronger. Due to a few technical sound type problems we got on stage only a half an hour before the pub was meant to shut. This meant that we had to play a short sharp set and miss out the quieter songs in favour of a ball busting blockbuster that even AB/CD (AC/DC cover band, playing at the same venue) would've been proud of. Personally I think it was one of the best Abdou gigs ever. Even though there weren't many people there (about 60 I think), I had a great time chatting to friends old and new who had graced us with their presence ;-) Big Thanks to Esoterica, Pharmacy, Sean, Soundman Andy and everyone else from the venue for a good night out. See you next time, Love fruity xxx |