Beady Eye - Wolverhampton Civic Hall

Beady Eye at Wolverhampton Civic Hall.  Clare booked this some time ago and although I've never been a big fan of Oasis or the Gallagher brothers I was looking forward to it.

Having booked an hotel for the night I had imagined the evening as follows.

A pleasant train journey to Wolverhampton. Once we'd booked into the hotel and got settled we would then take a pleasant stroll to City Bar for something to eat and drink before making our way over to the Civic for the gig. Afterwards we would head back to the hotel and maybe get a drink in the bar before heading to bed.

In reality this is what we got.

We arrived at New Street to find that the pleasant train journey I dreamed of was in fact a replacement bus service due to engineering works. 

Having arrived in Wolverhampton we booked into The Britannia Hotel and headed for the room.  Now, I'm all for a bit of faded glamour but what we ended up with was a run down and unclean room.  The bed linen seemed clean (despite the tears in the sheets) and so I just went with the flow. After all it was only for one night.

After we had settled in we headed to City Bar but as it was Easter Sunday it was closed.  The food and leisurely drink that I had hoped for became a Coke and a spicy veggie thing from McDonald's.  With plenty of time to spare we decided to head back to the hotel for a bit.

Once in the room it dawned on me that we backed onto some sort of conference suite which seemed to be holding an Indian wedding reception.  The music was so loud that, even though I couldn't understand the lyrics, I could hear them perfectly!  I figured that it would go on quite late but reckoned that by the time we got back it would be getting on a bit anyway and so it was nothing to worry about.

We got to the Civic and after a short while Steve Cradock took the stage (to an equal measure of cheers and boos).  I have never been a fan and on the strength of his performance last night I am yet to be converted.  In a nutshell it was bland and unimaginative and with a stage presence to match.  Oh, and the sound was terrible. Luckily his set passed by quickly.

As we waited for Beady Eye the crowd sang along to the tracks being played through the PA.  The Beatles, Stones, Sex Pistols, The Jam and The Stone Roses' I Am The Resurrection.  As that ended they took the stage.

Four Letter Word opened the set and as Liam swaggered onto stage the pints started flying as the crowd got into the mood.  What surprised me the most was their sound.  Compared to Steve Cradock it was crystal clear.   Liam already had everyone eating out of his hand but with each track the crowd got livelier.

The night flew by and in no time at all they were finishing their set. They played The Morning Son and were gone.  A couple of minutes later they were back. Wigwam and a decent cover of World of Twist's Sons of The Stage and the night was over.

Highlights for me Standing On The Edge Of The Noise, Kill For A Dream and Sons Of The Stage. I'm still not a big fan of either of the Gallagher brothers but if you want a solid indie rock gig you could do a lot worse than Beady Eye

We headed back to the hotel. With the bar closed we went to our room and lay there listening to the wedding reception guests  (in the conference suite adjacent) singing along to Bob Marley, UB40 and so on.  The party eventually wound up around 12.30 am. Peace and quiet and, at last, the chance to sleep.

Dropping off sometime between 12.45 and 1.00am I found myself jumping from my bed and running around the room grabbing what I could with the fire alarm blaring.  I dashed out into the corridor, passing old ladies in their nightdresses as I headed for reception.  30 minutes after going to sleep I found myself outside having a cigarette with two Dutch blokes as Clare tried to establish what was going on.  It turns out it was a false alarm. We all headed back to our rooms.  Lying in bed I was too wound up to sleep. It must have been about 4am by the time I eventually got off.  I woke up naturally at about 6.30am.

Showered, we headed down for breakfast. All you can eat for £5. The hotel went a little way to redeeming itself (despite the dirty crockery).  Back to the room, we packed and headed to reception to check out and fill in a complaint form.

At the station we found that there was a train back to Birmingham.  Getting home around 10.30ish I have spent the day lounging around.  I reckon I'll sleep well tonight though!

Set list for Beady Eye

Four Letter Word
Beatles and Stones
Millionaire
For Anyone
The Roller
Wind Up Dream
Bring the Light
Standing on the Edge of the Noise
Kill For A Dream
Three Ring Circus
The Beat Goes On
Man of Misery
The Morning Son
Wigwam
Sons of the Stage (World of Twist cover)

Bank Holiday

My long weekend is coming to an end, it's been fantastic, and as I write I can feel  the Sunday blues creeping up on me (albeit on a Monday).

The weather has been glorious and on Friday Clare and I decided to take our first walk along the canal this year. Starting in Knowle we headed to Hatton Craft Centre.  Although the canal was quite busy with boats, walkers and cyclists, a lot of them could barely manage an hello. 

As we walked our route took us past The Black Boy and so we left the tow path and had a quick drink before carrying on our way.  We seemed to be slower than last year (out of practice) but strolling along in the sunshine was a great way to start the weekend.

Nature wise we had a great day.  We had a Grey Wagtail and a Swallow. We also heard a cuckoo. At one point I heard a rustle in the bushes and upon closer inspection found a grass snake.  More rustling in undergrowth further down the path and a shrew appeared  for a split second before scampering back the way it came. Young rabbits, Pheasant, Speckled Wood & Orange Tip butterflies as well as all sorts of birds made for a lovely walk.

Eventually we came to Hatton and left the canal and headed to the craft centre.  There have been a few changes since last year.  Having paid the best part of a fiver for a baguette and a sit down we had a wander around.  It seems that some of the small shops have gone but the kids area, cafe and garden centre have expanded.  We left feeling a little underwhelmed.  We walked the short walk back along the towpath to the station and caught the train home.

Saturday was a complete contrast to the peace and tranquility of the day before.  Having started the day with a breakfast at Morrison's we went to see my young nephews who were in Birmingham for a few days.

Afterwards I headed off to the Stirrup Cup in Sheldon for the annual St George's Day Parade.  This was it's fourth year and has been growing steadily ever since.  Numbers were slightly down this year but there was still a decent turn out. After a drink in the sunshine it was time to take to the streets along with the marching band.  The parade itself lasts about half an hour and the amount of people in cars and houses who come out to applaud is brilliant.  This year money was collected for Help For Heroes and although we are still awaiting the final figure I reckon it will be around the £400 pound mark. 

After the march we stayed at the pub to watch the football but the less said about that the better (Blues lost 5-0 up at Liverpool).

Having said I would be home no later than 7pm I finally stumbled in over 3 hours late.

Sunday. After a sound sleep it was an early start. Clare and I were heading for Wolverhampton to see Beady Eye but before that I had to see my nephews as I'd promised them a water fight! 

Having spent the morning chasing and being chased around the garden (I managed to stay pretty dry) we headed home packed our bag and set off for Wolverhampton.

Eating Out in Solihull

I went to Jimmy Spices last night to celebrate a friends birthday.  There was about 16 of us in total with a few people I'd not seen for ages.  It was a really lovely night.

The place itself is pretty standard . All you can eat for £16.00.  The selection includes Chinese, Thai, Pizza, Indian and so on with fruit and desserts for afters. The drinks are a little on the expensive side but I've paid more elsewhere. On the whole a very good selection.

Weather wise it was a lovely evening and it made the place, which was busy but not full,  very warm. 

When the bill came they had automatically included a service charge which, as we'd served ourselves, seemed a bit much so we had the bill recalculated!

Wednesday night and a friend paid an impromptu visit.  As it was a nice evening we decided to go out.  We chose Zizzi's as we had a 25% off the bill voucher.  Again the place was busy bit not packed mainly down to one big party at the far end.  Luckily we managed to order before them! 

I went for the funghi mushroom pizza and, although a little on the small side, was happy with my choice.  The starter of garlic bread seemed a bit on the salty side. 

I really enjoyed the evening and think it was all the better for not being planned.

How Time Flies!

Blimey, over a week since my last post!  I'd like to say I've been really busy but the truth is I just haven't got around to posting anything.

After a relatively quiet week the weekend was upon me once more and Friday afternoon I headed over to Kings Heath to celebrate a friend's daughter's first birthday. 

Rather than a traditional party she had decided to have it at All Fired Arts in Kings Heath. This is a fantastic place!  The idea is that you can go and design your own ceramics.  You buy the pottery and paint the design. When you are happy with it the shop will keep hold of it and fire it for you.  You then go back and collect the finished project about a week later.  Parties are catered for and while some people create at the front of the shop the rest can sit around in the back room.  You can take your own food and from what I can gather music is provided courtesy of Spotify.  The staff are  friendly and really good with the babies that were having their hand and footprints plastered over the ceramics.  It's a great place and if you feel the creative urge coming on you should head on down.

http://www.allfiredarts.co.uk/index.php

Afterwards we headed to the park so the kids could play on the swings.  All in all it was a lovely afternoon.

Record Store Day.  Saturday saw an early start as we caught the 8.05 train from Solihull to Leamington.  Clare had shopping to do and was then heading back to Birmingham to go to the theatre. My plan was to buy records as part of Record Store Day and head home to listen to them whilst I had the house to myself.  Head Records was my shop of choice.

With over a hundred titles to choose from, many of them limited to small quantities, I decided not to have anything in particular in mind, although I quite fancied the Tallulah Gosh 7".  Unfortunately they didn't stock it but I still came away with a few good records including stuff by Deerhoof / Xiu Xiu, Toots & The Maytals, KORT, Clinic and Edwyn Collins & The Drums amongst others.  The record shop also threw in a couple of CD samplers as well including Terminal Sales Volume 4 (a Sub Pop compilation).

After breakfast we did a bit of shopping (where I picked up a Gorky's Zygotic Mynci single and a Tapes n Tapes album from a charity shop).

I left Clare on the train to go to the theatre whilst I headed home to spend an afternoon with my vinyl, cds and mp3s.

Speaking of mp3s, over at North Country Bhoy blogspot you can download Toots & The Maytals Live At Jamaica World Music Festival circa. 1982. Get it here. 

Sunny Days

Another great day weather wise and so, after breakfast (and a bit of a food shop) at Sainsbury's, Clare and I headed for Solihull Nature Reserve.

There were plenty of dogs (and their owners) over the Reserve.  We fought a losing battle with a Labrador who wanted the left overs from our picnic. A bit further on another Labrador, Chandler, bounded over and dropped his ball at my feet. We spent the next fifteen minutes throwing the ball and chatting to his owner.

We didn't see many birds today. Heron, Robin, Buzzard, Wren, a couple of Long Tailed Tits, Blue Tits and Great Tits. Butterflies were better with plenty of Orange Tip, Peacocks, Comma, a couple of Whites and Brimstone.

Bird Spotting

The RSPB were doing a free guided tour of their site at Sandwell Valley today.  Sunshine, blue skies and temperatures of 20 degrees made it the perfect day to head over to join them. 

Having started the day at the bookies in Solihull we headed for the train station.  A platform change at New Street meant we met a couple of RSPB volunteers heading there for a training day.

 They are a friendly bunch over at the reserve and whilst we waited for the arrival of others we chatted with the guides. Clare and I wandered down the path to the railway bridge and watched a fox trotting down the line.

The walk got under way with about 20 of us in all (including guides) and took about two hours.  The guides pointed out birds and told us which ones we could hear.  Prior to the walk starting we saw about 5 Bullfinch but on the tour itself we didn't see any! We did, however, see 30 odd species including Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting, Lapwing, Teal, Goosander, Gadwall, Common Tern, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe and Little Ringed Plover.  We also heard Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Grasshopper Warbler.  Butterflies were present with plenty of Orange Tip. We also saw Peacock, Comma, Holly Blue, a few Whites and what I think was a Red Admiral.

At the end of the walk tea and coffee was brought to us in the sunshine (and because the training session meant we were not allowed to use the hut).


We headed back to the train station and back into Birmingham.  After a quick diversion to do a bit of clothes shopping we headed back over to Solihull. Today was the day of the Grand National and although I had had  a bet my only success came in the 2.35 at Chepstow, Taste The Wine.  Having collected my winnings and looked at books in The Works (bought Clare a wildlife book) we headed home via the supermarket.

Oh So Quiet

It's been a quiet week although Clare and I took my parents for something to eat at Bella Italia in Solihull last night. 

Good food, reasonably priced makes Bella a nice place to eat. My parents requested we go there after we took them a few months back.  It was a really nice evening although once I'd eaten and had a couple of drinks I was ready for bed!

The weather was lovely yesterday and although it has been a bit colder today the mild conditions are expected to last over the weekend.  I'll have to make the most of it!

Hedgehogs and Warwick

Mother's Day and Clare and I have just got back from my parents.

It's been a quiet weekend, especially after last week, but it's been nice.  Yesterday we popped over to Warwick.  We browsed the shops and, after a bite to eat a cafe by St Mary's Tower  (De Ja Vue), bought a couple of things for Mother's Day.  Clare managed to pick up a nice dress and I found a book. 

As I said, a quiet weekend although I did have a nice surprise yesterday.  The postman arrived and, along with the junk mail, he brought my British Hedgehog Preservation Society Membership Certificate, Newsletter and Hogalogue!  Clare had signed me up without my knowing.  It was a lovely surprise!!  I was a member many years ago but my subscription lapsed.  I'd always meant to join again but never did.  I am now a fully paid up member thanks to Clare.

If you like hedgehogs or know someone who does you should join.  The website is below.

http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/