NICKS TOUR DIARY

Friday 26th February: Leicester Little Theatre

This was our fourth gig this year and a return to one of our favourite venues: a medium-sized venue in the city centre with a lively and enthusiastic audience. A quick and painless soundcheck was followed by a quick Guinness and a bite to eat, on with the suits and straight into “How Long” at 7.30.

There was a fantastic sound onstage and the new line-up now sounds like we’ve been playing together for years, thanks to Steve J’s air tight drumming and Steve A’s fab harmonies (and strumming!). Actually Chris and Steve A have been singing together since about the time they both learned to strum an “A” chord. About seven years is that guys? The sound onstage and out front (as far as I can gather) was excellent as usual with our new sound guys Ged and Freddie doing their jobs with impressive efficiency.

The first set went really smoothly, highlights for me being “Wasted Time” and “Boys of Summer”; “Take It Easy seemed to particularly kick backside tonight. It genuinely rocked and at one point it even seemed to roll. This year’s set takes in all of the tracks from the Hotel California album apart from one song (Which one? Come and see us then answers on a postcard). “The Last Resort” is still new to us but has been a longstanding request from audiences for a while, so we thought we’d give it a go and it’s now a highpoint of the set for all of us.

Also new is the “Hell Freezes Over” acoustic section at the start of set two, which takes in “Heart of The Matter”, “Tequila Sunrise” and “Best of My Love” sung by Chris, Mike and Steve A respectively. This is actually just an excuse to sit down for 10 minutes as certain members of the band need to give their bunyans a rest. Also Steve J gets to show off his superior shaker technique. Nevertheless, the band is really enjoying this “quiet” moment in the set before amps are set to stun for “Dirty Laundry” and “Life’s Been Good”.

Plenty of friends were present in the audience tonight which gave rise to some lively heckling and banter-all good fun. Overall, a great evening from the band’s point of view and the audience seemed to leave in good spirits. Bring on New Brighton tomorrow!

Saturday 27th February: New Brighton Floral Pavilion.

Driving through Liverpool and under the Mersey onto the Wirrall, a musician can’t help but think for a fleeting moment of certain musos of days gone by from this neck of the woods. You know, they built the musical road that everyone playing rock or pop in any shape or form now drives on. No, not Gerry and The Pacemakers. Actually George Harrison is a massive hero of mine and created the mould for the dark- horse-mysterious-lead-guitarist type that we all aspire to being in our ever so tiny little humble way. Anyway enough of this dreaming and nonsense; these are just the kind of random thoughts that keep you entertained on the way to a gig while stuck in traffic.

The Floral Pavilion must stand as one of the most stunning venues in the UK. It’s a sort of recreation of a 1930s Art Deco theatre, of which there’s many a tired and shabby looking example around the UK, but this one’s brand spanking new. There’s a stunning view of The Mersey from the entrance of the theatre and just a great vibe in the area in general.

Our old friend Pete Lovekin did sound tonight and Pete knows the set as well as we do, having traversed the length of these Isles with us on and off over the last couple of years. It’s always good to see him grinning from behind the desk-that’s when you know it sounds great out front. Having said that, the venue’s pretty immense so he’s just a small dot (a bet you’ve never been described as that, Pete) at the back about a quarter of a mile from the stage.

The gig has to stand as one of our best ever-it’s in my Top Three Desperado Gigs Ever, I reckon (with Dubai and Pitlochrie!). A great crowd turned up tonight: really enthusiastic and appreciative with plenty of true Eagles fans out there I sense. I felt like the band really took off tonight and hit its stride. The size of the room and the attentive crowd really brought out the best in the band, allowing us to really explore the dynamics of the set fully. The standing ovation from the 500-strong crowd was an unexpected but perfect end to the gig. A huge thanks to those that came out to the gig as well as the friendly helpful staff at the venue. Also thanks to our old buddy Dave Thompson who stepped in at the last minute to help us out; it’s always a pleasure, mate. Can we play here every month please?