BARMY ARMY, HOWARD JOHNSON'S, NORTH BERGEN, NJ.
(The Indie Tele Tubbies)
So Mark, Kellie and I took the red eye to New York on Friday night and arrived at JFK at 5.30am the next morning.
We caught the subway (E train no less) and then the 125 bus and arrived in North Bergen NJ at 7.30am. A slight problem as we couldn't check into our room until 3pm.
We tried calling Harry but there was no answer, I even battered his hotel room door but he obviously wasn't in there, bummer.
Luckily the lady on the front desk found us a room that was ready and let us check in 7 hours early, we later found out that Harry had gone into NY early so he could watch Celtic on the telly
They lost, that'll teach him.
Seeing we got zero sleep on the flight in, Kellie decided to have a nap while me and Mark took off on the hotel shuttle to Manhattan to meet Derek and help him with 3 boxes of Bizarro t-shirts that he was carrying for the band.
We met up and carried the boxes for about 3 blocks until we decided that they were so heavy we must have a pint or two or three in some lovely Irish bar we found.
Fast forward several hours and our group moved onto Hoboken for the gig.
While we were waiting for our cab to the venue a car load of knobs looking like extras from the Jersey Shore drove by and screamed "Irish niggers" at us before racing off.
Well me, Mark, Derek and Harry might be a bit pasty and non-Italian looking and we can handle being called "niggers", but we take great exception to being referred to as Irish.
It was very amusing though.
OUTSIDE MAXWELL'S
We found a decent enough bar, had a few drinks and arranged to meet the others.
Kirk arrived with suitcase in hand and was soon followed by Ian and Steph from Ian and Steph, Phil and Jen and last but not least, Gavin and Sally.
We necked down a few more beers and discussed how shit the pub juke box was.
It was truly dire, so bad in fact that after making a few picks, Derek gave up and asked me to take over as he was stumped.
It was hard worked but I managed to pick out 7 or 8 songs that while "not good", weren't too horrible.
The venue (Maxwells) just might be the smallest I have ever seen. It was literally just slightly bigger than the average living room with a tiny stage at one end and a bar at the other. I guessed it held anywhere between 200 and 250 which explained why it was the first venue on the tour to sell out.
I insisted that the barmy army check out the support band The Jet Age and the ones that watched were very impressed.
The Wedding Present came on and delivered for a captive audience, the barmy army were on form as well bouncing about like rabid easter bunnies, other members of the audience were only too eager to join in and a fine time was had by all.
The highlights for me were No and Bewitched.
Graeme's strumming on No is very impressive and I'd just like to remind you that he is onstage to do just that and not to upstage DLG by leaping about and doing the windmill like Pete Townsend in his prime, so stop f**king moaning about it.
I would also like to state that Charlie Layton is the best, I repeat, the best drummer I have seen in The Wedding Present.
I know that may upset Simon Smith enthusiasts, but it's my opinion and my blog, so there.
We chatted to the band and other fans after the gig, then headed off for a few slices of pizza down the road.
Beer, a great gig and tasty pizza, it really doesn't get any better than that.
To be continued...
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