3rd May 2009 > The PEEL – Kingston

Morning all…. bit of a hangover from being sponsored by Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, but I’m up -- packed and ready to roll, waiting on Sess to arrive at 9ish and then hit the road, at least I’m awake this time!

Plan is to get to Kingston around midday, check in at the hotel and find a bar to watch Newcastle v Liverpool, spot of dinner and a few beers….

As I’m waiting….listening to the Nick Barrett Interview by Dwayne on Edge Radio… here’s a link to the Interview

More later as the day unfolds!!!

9:30am, we hit the road, sun shining, stereo blasting the opening bars to Pure…all the signs of a great roadtrip….and after 15mins the sign says M6 closed at J14!

We should have known that this would be the start of a trend

We cut across country from Stoke to Derby and join the M1 (stopping at Uttoxeter McDonalds for breakfast….where everything had cheese attached so I was left with 9 nuggets….a 3 course dinner!).

Pendragon on the Road…

We got to london at around 1:10 -- not bad given the diversions and then made our way to Ealing on the North Circular to pick up Kirsten…which took 45 mins to travel 1 mile… and then it took another 1 and a half hours to get from Ealing to Kingston to catchup with Colin who by this time was a total billy no mates drinking alone… (don’t drive in London on a Sunday!) Missed the match (a blessing) and caught up with Col and the Wheelright Arms…6hrs after leaving home.

Few beers and Sunday lunch in O’Neills and it was back to the hotel and onto the PEEL after geting stuck in the 1 way system and seeing Kingston 4 times!

Arrived at the Peel to be met by a few familiar faces!! Pealo, Pealer and Pealo’s mates (including a George of the Jungle lookalike), Sarah (OCD Pinup & Queen of Hearts), Gareth and Proggin Pete were all there talking to Scott and Clive. Pealo had kindly made some t-shirts on the South Park design and gave me one..(ooer)…after a quick change in the toilet, I was ready to continue the drinking! Met Heike and Rachel and had a quick chat before going back outside. Manu from Paris was there, the last time I saw him was in THAT BAR, that fateful night in Lille….. Mick, Dave and Helen all arrived…closely followed by what must have been 200 more revellers! The queue was massive and stretched out of the Peel all the way round to the Chicken Place!!

Think Kirsten had been finishing a soggy biscuit in this shot!! (Hob Knob )

Waited for the queue to shorten and then into the Gig

Met up with Sid the Sloth from Ice Age -- he was on Top Form!!

Then, armed with Guiness, took my position (at the back next to the mixing desks) the Place was completely packed, so much so, there must have been 30 people in the bar/merch room watching the Gig on TV!!

Setlist….

Eraserhead,

Walls of Babylon

The Mask

Last Man on Earth

Freakshow

Breaking the Spell

Comatose

Nostradamus

The Voyager

It’s only me

——

INDIGO

The Wishing Well

2am

——--

Masters of Illusion

here’s a video of Nick welcoming us and thoughts on Swine Flu!

The PEEL was so packed, people couldn’t get to the bar and had to resort in ordering their beer via Nick -- what a fine job he did too!

>

The Guiness arrived later….

2am starring Pealo and Pealer….

Young Pealer lost in the moment!!! Photo courtesy of Ian Hemingway!

after the gig…Rachel, Craig, Heike and Nanda!