Ori at the 100 Club, and the long awaited Cropredy.

Hardly had time to get tour withdrawal, before it was time for Orianthi's gig at the 100 Club. Steve and I arrived there at about 2 o'clock - completely deserted. So we went to a pub round the corner, sat outside and watched the world go by. (random info - I saw a guy wearing a Knock, Knock, Knock, Penny Penny Penny T shirt just like mine!!)

Brief stop at Bourton on the way

                                                                                        

Anyway, after listening to some bloke playing the same few notes on a banjo OVER and OVER, we abandoned that pub and found another one -  and then later on,  met up with Steve and Yvonne, and Jean-Yves, and went off to eat.

Also met up with Peter Woodrow and friend - great to meet you guys!! I think we went to another pub then, but things a  bit blurry at this point :). Anyway, eventually we went back to the 100 Club to join the Q. Now, my memory is full of holes because of my advanced age and over use of alcohol, but I don't remember queuing much -  but I do remember getting a great position right in front of Ori's mike. Practically on the stage. All 2 ' 6 " of it - it's a teeny weeny venue.

 I usually use all my photos to help me recreate the night in question as I am writing about it, but unfortunately about 2 minutes before she came on I discovered I had forgotten to put the card back into my camera,.
FFS. It's official, I am a moron.

So I have about 8 blurry pix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oh well, such is life.

Actually, it  made a change to watch a gig without looking at the camera screen - and it was AMAZING! A lot of the time my nose was about 6 inches from Ori's guitar. Cool or what!!! Bloody fantastic to be so close, watching her play so brilliantly. (Maybe she needed to renew the nail varnish, tho, it was a teeny bit worn, lol).
Her set was over far too quickly, she played lots of stuff off her new album, Heaven In This Hell, and According To You, and lots of other stuff too.....and,  true to 100 Club form, it got hotter and hotter until we were all dripping - except Ori, who doesn't seem to sweat. But for us it was more Hell in This Heaven. . . . . . . . . .

Foxy Lady was last, and Alice came on to sing- he had actually told us in Hanau last week that he would be coming (although Toby told him off!....and he said...'They know! They know everything!!) So we knew he was coming, but it was still amazing to see him. . . . .

 My camera memory does hold a few pics without a card, so did get some shots of Alice luckily. He was pretty laid back, obviously not wanting to take the limelight off Ori. But of course, he did as far as I'm concerned

Then it was rush to the bar and drink 2 pints of water followed by another 2 pints.Tommy and Ryan were there to watch and Chuck and Glen were backing her, so they were all hanging around after the show.  Managed to get a pic with Ryan, but I do look like a drowned rat. . . . . .












Another GREAT evening, and then we all went home to catch some zzzzzzzz, before the main event the following day. OH YES, it was Crapredy at last, after all the waiting and whingeing, whining and wondering WHY?   . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . .

With much trepidation, Steve and I  set off to arrive mid afternoon. Never really been to a festival before - apart from the camping thing, there's all that drunkeness, heaving bodies, queueing to get in, queueing for the smelly loos, queueing to get out, people nicking stuff, camping, crowd surfing, huge crowds, rain, mud, 300 bands you're not interested in but have to watch cos you want to be at the front, did I mention camping? All of which have combined over the years to put me off festivals BIG time. Especially the camping. Thank god we didn't need to, as there was only Alice on worth seeing, and it's only an hour to get home.

Steve and I attempt to fit in with the crowd

First surprise was how easy it was to park. Then, it was a short walk to the stage field, and after getting an extremely nice wristband (still on, btw :) ), we got to mingle with a very civilised and sensibly middle aged(!)  crowd sitting in their chairs having picnics with the kids. Lots of nice proper food for sale too! And about 200 reasonably ok loos. I liked the fact that the stage is at the bottom of the hill - you can see it wherever you park your butt!!. So we parked ours and chilled out for a while - how nice! Could still hear the dreadful music unfortunately, but at least we didn't have to watch it all afternoon. We did go round the back at one point to meet Bill with new snake Scarlett.

Evil Bubbles

 

Gig buddies Steve, Steve, Yve, Yve, and Ben!

Nice hat Steve

Eventually someone came on who didn't sound too bad, so we decided it might be time to get our barrier spaces. Which we did, quite easily! Steve went off to get changed and it took him an hour and a half to get back - so many people stopped him for photos. Claire and Mandy managed to muscle their way in and also Sparky ( and Mr Sparky!) so we had a little barrier reunion!

The band on was Romeo's Daughter - vaguely remember the name, bit poppy, but certainly the best thing so far. Unfortunately they went off all too soon, and a 'folk reggae fusion' band arrived next. Wasn't too bad to start with but after 20 minutes I started to lose the will to live - they went on and on and ON, ARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH same beat, same song, didn't hardly move around the stage at all, CHRIST  they were so BORING. And they went on for an hour and a half. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

You're really boring, go away

Eventually, they went away THANK GOD and things started to look more interesting with the familar curtain going up, and all the usual stage goings on. At this point I should mention that the stage was a very VERY long way from the barrier - no way we were going to get any pics/beads/dollar bills. Still hopeful for a cane though. I am EVER hopeful .  I had brought along a lovely bouquet of corn stalks to lob on stage, but unfortunately I had to abandon it, I woulda needed some kind of giant catapult to make sure it reached.


                        

Cropredy crowd seemed very excited when Alice came on. In fact he seemed to go down really well in spite of all the folky types there. He put on an absolutely blistering performance, even better than usual - maybe there was something about the atmosphere  that made a difference, I dunno, but it seemed extra specially good to me. None of the stage booty came my way - as usual- except for one cane that landed on the grass near me.....but of course I didn't get it. Til later. . . . . . . . . . .

What a show! The audience seemed to love it all, especially Nice Guy,  and Billion Dollar Babies ( he just threw the dollar bills all over himself)  and Caffeine (he tipped all the bits over a nearby cameraman), and Dirty Diamonds (they all went WAAAAAAYY over my head) and Nightmare, Goes To Hell, (great to see him wearing that fabulous jacket and hat for more than one song), and Man Behind The Mask, and Frankenstein, (even tho the poor old monster is falling apart) Dwight Frye, with Nurse Sheryl stabbing him at the end as he tries to strangle her, and Eighteen, and Poison and of course Schools out. Kai was doing the balloon gig, and it was an awfully long way from the stage to the audience. Don't think it bothered him, he looked like he was having fun!
           

  

 All to soon it was over and we went off to get some food before getting kicked out. Unfortunately, during our wanderings, Steve C managed to lose his Iphone.........Spent a long while looking for it.. . . . . in a field. . . . . in the dark . . . . . . Unsurprisingly we didn't find it :(.

We went back to the car, and on the way, I noticed Jean- Yves had snagged a cane.......I offered to buy it off him, and he GAVE it to me, bless his cotton sox. THANK YOU JY,  - You made me very happy. Would still like to catch my own one day, but at least I have one now, and it has pride of place in my little Sanctuary.

As we got back to the car, my phone rang - it was a guy who had found Steve's phone and wanted to return it!! Don't think that would happen at a 'normal' festival!!! After all the hype leading up to it, Cropredy actually turned out to be pretty good. Well except for some of the music.We all had a brilliant day - and then Steve and I came back to my place to sleep and get ready for out trip to see Gallus Cooper the following night. In Scotland. And we're driving.

Alice gets up close and personal with Scarlett