OCD Roadtrip to Lille and Ittervoort

Here’s the Adventure that was the OCD Roadtrip to Europe, March 2009 viewed from different perspectives!!

Steve, Pealo and Sarah share their Memories….mine will be up soon!

Setlist for the 2 Days :

Eraserhead�
Babylon�
Comatose�
The Mask�
Queeen of Hearts�
The Freakshow�
Breaking the Spell�
Nostradamus�
The Voyager�
It’s Only Me

Indigo�
The Wishing Well

Slftb1′s Adventure……from the Pendragon Forum!

brief rundown of the last few days spent on this crayzee adventure!!!

Weds PM: Pealo and Pealer arrive at my place about 8:30pm the old smoothie already has a box of chocs and flowers for Mrs L…nice!!!  . A nice meal and beer and wine plus a good chat.

Thurs AM: Up and at em!!!!, John arrives and off we go!!! early tunnel and over to France. Can’t find the bloody hotel but did find the venue 

There was a strike on so couldn’t get to the other side of town so we offered John the floor of our €37 hotel…nice it was not…Pealer, photo please 

We decided to walk to venue so a quick burger en route and we met in the nearest bar, met up with some French guys and Rach, Did, Clive Peter and Scott for pre gig drinks 

(Thanks to Daniel Plessis for the last 2 Pictures)

The venue was really good and packed, got right near the front and loved the whole of Pure being played, Nick dedicated Indigo the the OCD!!!, Pealer did a sterling job on the merch desk.

AFter the gig our partly plus Graeme and his driver (Simon!!)  went back to the same bar and thats as far as I am going…back to hotel around 2am, how cool is that!!!

Friday: Up again slightly unfresh!! brekkie at a supermarket and after a litre of smoothie and another of water we are off!!

By now we have developed Dutch accents, right Timo  several hilarious stops en route paying to go to the bogs, interesting food and dogs in dining rooms!!

Off motorway we noticed this huge music shop in Ittervoort so OCD passes on we have a look round…was amazing!!!

I am sure Scott would like to live there!!!

How clean is Holland??? it’s bloody lovely where we stayed 

Found B&B in Neeritter but as it was a bit early we found the club and chattted to Rachel and then Sarah and Gareth turned up. We stayed at this lovely place.

Checked in and got John a room…result!!! hit the bar in Ittervoort and then to the venue met Heike and watched what we feel was the best Pendie gig ever they guys were on fire and Nick dedicated Breaking the Spell to the OCD!!! 

It was really hot but it did not stop us jumping around like lunatics..especially Pealer me and Sarah.

Those stories of the French and Dutch crowds being wilder than the English???…maybe but not as wild as the OCD, us mad band of brothers and sisters!!!! 

The beer flowed and my voice disappeared (when has that happened?)  the Frickadel was excellent, Timo was on great form and although tired at this point we still had a great time.

Chatted to Peter, Scott and Nick after the gig and escorted John back to the B&B as he was a little merry  .

Slep through alarm (did it ever go off???) breakfast and then a convoy back to France but those Dutch accents have stayed!!! fer schoor!!!

A quick trip to the supermarket in Calais to get rid of the Euros and home by half two.

A big thank you to Andy, Steve, John, Sarah, Gareth, Timo, the Manu’s, Did, Heike and Rach NOT FORGETTING GRAEME!!!!!  .

The guys from the band were approachable as ever, they are so friendly!!!, they played so well Nick’s solo in Indigo in Ittervoort was simply superb!!.

Plans already afoot for roadtrip 2 the more people who go the better!!

I am so sad I will not be at the Peel but it won’t stay quiet for long so enjoy!!!!

Pealo’s Adventure…… (abridged version….!!!)

Ok -- Trying to sum up this weekend…

Wednesday 4:30 pm -- Me and the boy pealer load up the car and following AA routemap make our way up to Barns green, where the delightful Littler family have offered to put us up overnight -- Schplendid fer schoor - 4 hours later, we tuck into grub and beer…. Sleep some, then ready to roll in the AM.

We make it over to lille in good time, finding the venue without any trouble -- but it takes us about 2 hours to find the hotel. I say hotel, it was not great 

We find a local bar to drink in, very nice  the excitement builds, and then we head off to the venue for a great gig.

A nearly full house, in a large venue. I would say upwards of 400 easily. The stage was large, giving the band plenty of room, and off we went.

The sound took a couple of songs to settle, but all was well. The OCD were on top form, jumping, singing, moshing etc… the french crowd strangley quiet — I think we scared them off  but I guess for some, to stand still is to immerse yourself in the sound.

Scott was electric, peter was moving around, Clive was solid as ever, and Mr Barrett made that guitar sing and sing… Awesome.

2 1/2 hours later we hang around and wait for the queues at the merch desk to die down, and then head back to the bar  …… Lets just say what happened next will go down in OCD folklore, and will never be spoken off again -- but boy, did that escalate quickly!!

I now know for future reference which bar to avoid in lille 

a stroll back to our cupboard for a reasonable nights kip. and then off to Holland. Its all as steve has already said, so I wont repeat all that..

I was very impressed with Ittervoort, what a beautiful town, so clean, quiet, a strange place for a rock gig you might think, but it went down so well 

The band played even better here than in Lille. The place got really hot, as 450 people crammed in, but not as hot as it can get in riffs.

For the first time in a pendragon gig, and Ive seen a few! I could feel peters bass vibrate through my body…. Fantastic! My only constructive comment would be that I couldnt clearly pick up some of the backing vocals and samples. but I knew they were there, just for my taste I would have liked the volume up a bit 

All in all, such a laugh was had, and then on saturday , after 10 hours of sitting in a car, we make in home -- exhausted but chuffed, and convinced that to see this band play to packed venues is an experience that we in england dont often get to see, and that the next time there is a tour, We intend to find a way to do as many as we can 

I could watch pendragon play every day -- I would never be bored

Thank you to -- ( in no particular order  )

Nick, Rachel, Peter, Clive, Scott, Mark W, Paddy D, and the rest for making the gigs happen. Janine, Kieran, Grace, Daisy, Liam. Steve, Graeme, Simon, Sarah, Gareth, John the gun, The boy pealer, Timo, Did.

Oh, and Sylvan were not all that good. apart from the bassist. it was ok, but they are nowhere near the level of Pendragon 

scores out of 10

Travel -- 10/10�
Lille Accomodation 2/10�
Lille as a place -- 4/10 ( smells of poo!)�
Lille Venue 8/10�
Company 10/10�
Band performance 20/10 ! fer schoor!�
Ocd performance 10/10�
After show activity -- 0/10 

Travel to holland 10/10�

Accomodation 10/10�
Ittervoort 10/10�
Venue 10/10�
Company 10/10�
Band performance 100/10 Oh Yeah!�
Ocd Performance 20/10�
after show activity 10/10 -

Sarah’s Adventure!!

Thursday 19th March

We arrived at Le Splendid in good time and, once Amartia had finished, we made our way down to the front in readiness for Pendragon. The excitement was overwhelming, and the band were once again utterly AMAZING! It was fantastic to hear Indigo and Comatose for the very first time live! 

Friday 20th March

We spent the first half of the day travelling to Maastricht (to check in to our hotel) and then on to Ittervoort to find the venue.

Later in the evening, we returned to the venue and started getting excited all over again at the prospect of more Pendragon! After we showed our tickets, Gareth went to find food! and I went straight to the front of the stage to make sure I had a good vantage point for Sylvan and Pendragon. I was joined shortly after by Steve and Andy.

Sylvan were very good live (I was very impressed!), and they got a good reception from the large crowd! 

Then it was Pendragon’s turn, and I can honestly say it was the most enjoyable of any gig I have seen (and I’ve seen a fair few!) To hear the whole of Pure AGAIN was just unbelievable. It’s Only Me had me in tears, and the Indigo guitar solo was utterly magnificent! 

There was a lot of jumping around and singing going on (especially by pealer, Steve and me!) Steve was struggling not to lose his voice completely!

The music was over all too quickly, and we got ourselves more drinks and found a table so that we could reflect upon what we’d just seen.

I went off to get one of my Sylvan CDs signed, and then we all generally chatted about this and that!

Towards the end of the evening, Gareth and I met up briefly with Rachel, Nick and Scott.

It has been an unforgettable couple of days -- special thanks to Steve L, Andy, Steve P, Graeme, Simon, John, Proggin’ Pete, Rachel, Timo and of course to the band who outdid themselves yet again!

From one very happy OCD member!

Meanderings, musings and rambles of Graeme….

Thursday 19th March, 4:45am, the alarm sounds….snooze, 5:10am alarm, snooze..sleep….6am, knock at the door 

We have a 10:40 check in time at dover and I’m answering door in my mankini and no packing has been done 

6:19 -- packing complete, washed and ready -- facebook updated, PURE in hand, we set off for the 270 mile trip to Dover -- arrived at 10:39:46….14 seconds to spare, great (had a call from Proggin Pete…he’s on the road too)

Breakfast on the boat….full english and bottle of becks, washed down with a strongbow, nice.

Arrived in Lille around 3pm, sun shining -- everything looking good  , Hotel was next door to a cash machine , which was next door to a pole dancing bar  …..please don’t let me come back to drunk!!

Lille was great -- the town centre, nice bars -- saw a couple in the afternoon, and 56 different strikes on the same day  Lille had come to a standstill and we wondered how we were going to get to the gig.

Metro and walk through the bronx later, we arrived at what seemed to be a great little bar with welcoming barmaid, Sluftubs stood outside and greeted our arrival -- inside were the OCD crew -- complete with t-shirts. I handed out the OCD passes -- this completed the look and confused the afformentioned barmaid/owner into thinking we were official roadcrew!

It was great to meet up with Steve, Andy, Steve, John, Sarah and Gareth, and the European Pendies of Manu and Manu, Noni and Did!

Being in the remote part of what can only be described as the underbelly of france, and knowing that we somehow needed to get back to the hotel in 1 piece without being manloved through a few concerns our way…we need a taxi, the Barmaid had local knowledge and invited us to the safety (!!!) of her bar after the gig and she would order us the aformentioned vehicle trip home….

….Jupiler, 1664……..

The gig was awesome, what can I say that hasn’t already been said? Indigo was a personal highlight especially as it was dedicated to us…video clip (2 mins 54 secs in!!!)

link to vids from youtube…..

After the gig until back at the hotel (3am) OCD Folklore -- boy, that escalated quickly…..yeh really jumped up a notch 

Woke at 10:30 after Pealo rang to say good morning, and wondered why I had a bowl of water next to my bed…..turns out there were no drinks at the Hotel at 3am so emptied the ICE machine and ate ice for 10mins…. the rest melted……had a quick triple “S” and left to meet the dudes at the Splendid, bought 2 baguettes with ham, crisps and a cake from an old lady’s front room and prepared  for the convoy to what was to be a journey of a lifetime and an introdction to the Dutch language……..ITTERVOORT HERE WE COME……

Friday 20th March 2009, best gig ever, best Roadtrip, laugh, relaxing and chilled day I’ve had in a very long time….it started on the road from Lille across Belgium….