SHEFFIELD

So, mammoth drive back down the motorway to Sheffield. We stopped for brunch and bumped into Jean-Yves in the services!

It was dark when we arrived in Sheffield, we had no hotel here as Steve wanted to carry on home afterwards. We had to change in the car, in the absence of any other suitable place -  it was such a mess after 10 days of tour, stuff all over the place,  so we had trouble finding everything. My hair was a total mess, as there was no time for showers before we left Scotland,  and the bags under my eyes were practically down to my knees, so I decided to slap on the Alice make up and apply a ton of hairspray to make my hair an even worse mess! Somebody else came into the car park whilst we were finishing off – must’ve been a funny sight, the 2 of us peering into the RV mirror, painting excessive amounts of eyeliner all over our faces, lol.

Haven't put the 'eyes' on since I was about 14

And here I am aged 14 , lol

 

Seated venue again, and I only had row 5 sadly, but as there was loads of room at the front – and NO BARRIER, YIPPEE, I abandoned my seat after about 5 minutes, and went to enjoy Ugly Kid Joe whilst leaning on the stage. They were excellent again, and I snagged their setlist when they finished.

At this point, Fate intervened in my favour, as the security guards became all authoritative, and started  moving people back to their seats if they weren’t front row. But they didn’t ask for tickets! And they didn’t move me!! Bloody brilliant, I thought, keeping REALLY quiet, another stage to lean on AND I was right in the middle. HAPPY HAPPY!!

No way I could ever get this off.

We get Caffeined

So close......

The next hour and a half passed in a happy blur for me. I tried to prise one of the ‘Spider eyes’ logos off of Alice’s step, I am such a vandal, but no joy, they were securely fixed. When Alice was on the step I was so close, I could’ve kissed his boot. . . . . . He had a new giant mug for Caffeine, and it was filled with confetti and bits of paper which he upended right over me, Sparky and Kate at the end of the song!!

Sadly, I didn’t get to catch a cane, looks like I gotta wait til next year. But I did get a drumstick, bits of streamers, and balloons (don’t think I have room for another whole one) and best of all, Alice’s whip! I hadn’t noticed it lying on the stage after the band had gone off, and I asked Pat to give me a dollar bill that was near it – and he gave me the whip!! Needless to say, it has pride of place in my little Sanctuary. Afterwards and the trip home is a bit of a blur, although I do remember meeting up with Whit Crane of UKJ outside as they were getting on the tour bus. I don’t think Steve got home til early morning, and it took me about a week to recover, not helped by the fact that I went with friend Maria to see the Killers after only one day off (They were great, btw and I dragged her right to the front – she actually got hold of Brandon at one point!)

Lots of great stage stuff, inc the whip and loads of pics

My VIP stuff. Still got loads more things I'd like him to sign

What a blast, I had a brilliant BRILLIANT time, and I am DESPERATE to do it all again next year – lets hope I get the chance, Alice is nearly 65, and although he has masses of energy, I guess he will have to start slowing down sometime soon. 

Major thanks go to Bill and Rachael for putting us up, Kate, Jean-Yves, Sunila, Sparky, Jenni, Si, Sarah C and Sarah S, Janice, Peter and loads of other Alice friends I met on the way, and to Andy who smuggled in my camera on more than one occasion, oh sorry I wasn't supposed to mention that, Andy you are a God, oh how can I ever thank you? and to Claire, Steve L and Steve C for being such great company, And extra special thanks and big hugs go to Steve C for driving me everywhere and looking after me. Can’t wait til next time guys xxx