Brighton Rock

                        

So, there I was, trolling t'internet one day, and I noticed that Black Star Riders aka Thin Lizzy were doing a gig in Brighton Sun 20th , and I thought 'why not go?'........... as you do. Be good to see Damon again, as he left Alice quite a while ago now.  AND, as luck would have it, Lee Pryor  (from Whole Lotta Led) was also doing an acoustic gig just down the road from his house in Hove on the Sat before, so that sealed the deal - and a weekend in Brighton it was!.



Jax and I left rather later than we had planned (as usual), but we arrived at Blagdons Manor, Southwick, in good time, and actually had quite a bit more than the usual 20 minutes to get ready. Blaggies is our chosen place of residence when staying anywhere near Brighton, for many reasons ;  its general quirkiness, Dennis the owner's general quirkiness, (Av you got the caaaashshshsh??) the free parking, the close proximity to Brighton, Hove et al, and the fact that we can make toast and raid the fridge when we get in, post gig, tired and hungry.



We leisurely showered and put on the slap. Shame I lost the shower gel out the window (I was using it to prop up the sash, as it's broken). Ann brought three dresses with her which she was determined to wear -  tonight's was a floaty green number. I of course, brought a number of cocktail dresses and high heels and was SO spoilt for choice.....not.  I ended up wearing my shorts and a t shirt. As usual.


 

Helluva set list

 

Fran and Lee's beautiful barn and garden

We set off to the The Captain's.....er, the Mariner's Captain.......er, the Pirate's Captain's Ancient Mariner's Arms or whatever it was, and when we arrived, Lee was just setting up and was very surprised to see us, bless him!! We met up with Fran, (his wife) and some other friends, and had some fab homemade burgers, and then thoroughly enjoyed listening to Lee playing his guitar, and singing a humoungous amount  of old favourites! (Meet Me On The Corner!! American Pie - the long version!!))

All in all a lovely night out, with great company and great food.

Sunday morning, we got up and went to visit Lee and Fran, who live just round the corner from our hotel. They have a fabulous garden, which they have spent 10 years developing, Lee has built many, many sheds and outbuildings, a kennel type house for the dogs, one for the cats, another one for the chickens, and a beautiful 'barn', which has open sides to the front, a home built pizza oven, barbeque et al. They both admitted they spent more time in here than in the house, and I can see why.

Parking in Brighton is a nightmare, so we decided to get the bus. Except that Lee kindly offered to drive us, which saved us so much trouble! Thank you Lee!!xx
We walked around the  Lanes for ages, lots of  great individual shops, (including ChoccyWoccyDooDah! -  are you jealous younger Bearcrofts?!!!) cafes and bars, had lunch and wore out my feet. Getting the bus back was pretty easy, and then all I wanted to do was have a nap. But in time honoured tradition, we only had about 20 mins to get ready before we had to go find the gig.  Tonight, Ann's dress was a brown leatherette number, which of course she looked stunning in. I had brought me leather trousers etc, but it was flipping hot, and the idea of putting boots on filled me with horror, so I settled for leggings and my Bitch Bitch Bitch T shirt, in honour of Damon (who always wore one when playing with Alice)

Of course we didn't make it in half an hour but it didn't matter - the queue was small and was just for people buying tix. So having bought ours earlier, we got in first. I like that, makes me feel Speshul..

Second row for the support - Tax The Heat - who I have heard muchly on Planet Rock and was looking forward to seeing. And they were great! Half time, I headed out to the merch stand to talk to them and buy something, (got a vinyl EP which they all signed for me!) and when I got back, the people in front of us had gone, so Ann had smoothly claimed their place on the barrier, sweet!!

Unfortunately, we were not on Damon's side, but Scott Gorham was in front of us and came over and gave me a couple of picks. He offered Ann one too, at which point she had some kind of sign language convo with him about getting a photo together later.

They were really, REALLY good. I've seen a Lizzy tribute band who were pretty good, but these guys woulda blown them away. They were also extremely loud. Louder than loud, bloody deafening really, not that I noticed til afterward when I couldn't hear properly. Still can't 2 weeks later.
 
 

Tight trousered guy (Marco?) has left and been replaced by Robbie Crane who was brilliant, Damon was amazing, (good to see him playing again, ) and they have a new drummer too, Jimmy DeGrasso, who also used to place for Alice. Played lots of their new songs and quite a few TL hits too, inc Jailbreak, during which singer Ricky Warwick pointed straight at Ann whilst singing 'hey you, good looking female'. Because she is..
 


So, after the gig, Ann and I were hanging around like complete stalkers, and even though the guys at the venue were trying to clear the room, she was pretty determined - 'Sorry we are meeting with Scott'....and let me tell you, when Ann is determined you'd better just go along with it! She took no prisoners, so we were still hanging around whilst the packing of equipment was going on - met a couple of nice peeps who had actually paid for a meet and greet! They said it was sometimes hit and miss, dunno what they paid, but they  seemed happy when the organiser (actually the drummer with Tax The Heat) came and took them upstairs to meet the band. At which point,  Ann told him that Scott had agreed to meet with us....., so he came back for us and we went upstairs and met up with the guys, who were all lovely - Damon saw my Bitch Bitch Bitch T shirt and said 'I have one of those!' He told me how Alice was like his family and how he thought the current band were great..........

Scott had a separate dressing room, but he welcomed us into it, and signed stuff and let us take pics - a guy came in and told him his driver was waiting but he said 'Come back in 5 mins wanna talk to the girls', bless him. We chatted about where he lived ( London),  and touring ('I don't know where I am sometimes' he said), and he admired Ann in her plastic dress, lol.

Back to Blaggies, for toast and a nightcap. And then, in the morning the drive home (via Steve's in Southampton to pick up my leather jacket which I have AGAIN  left behind in his house - I swear it's been there more than it has here. Brilliant weekend, can't wait to do it all again in August.