A Bit of U2 in Falkirk

I've purposely not travelled anywhere this year because I was lucky enough to do a lot of travelling last year and needed to recoup some of my finances.  I've really been getting restless and pretty desperate to have a trip away though, and this weekend my friend Debbi and I went on a trip to Falkirk in Scotland.  The purpose of the trip was to see our friends in the U2 tribute band NU2 play, they are the best U2 tribute band we've seen.

Debbi came up from Stoke on Thursday, it was great to see her again and catch up.  As we are both on diets I made a very sensible, low calorie meal and we didn't have a lot of wine - almost unheard of for us!  Next day we drove up to Falkirk, a place neither of us had been before.  It only took two and a quarter hours to get to our Travelodge on the edge of the town.  My room really took me aback, very clean and obviously new, but very sparse.  No drawers, no bedside table (just a tiny niche in the wall), the "wardrobe" was just a short pole with a few coat hangers, a small wall mounted table with a white plastic chair, On the pale grey walls were a small TV and small picture and a mirror.  There was only a roller blind on the window, a duvet on the bed, but no bedspread.  It felt very cold and clinical and there was bags of unused space as the room itself was a normal size for a hotel of that kind.  But, having said that, it was fine for our purposes.

We got a taxi to the Behind the Wall club in the centre of Falkirk where the gig was being held.  It was a pub, restaurant and gig venue, bustling and loud with lots of different seating areas.  We found a table in the quietest area, the conservatory.  Our friend Alan, "Boner" in the band, came from the gig room upstairs to have a chat.  It was nice to see him again, it had been a long time since we'd met up as NU2 actually disbanded three years ago as one of the band members moved to the south of England, and we hadn't seen Alan since.  The band hadn't played at all during the last three years, but had got together again for this one off charity gig.  They were nervous as they had little opportunity to rehearse for this gig.

Later Deb and I went upstairs and caught the end of the Bladdered!, the first band of the night.  We could hardly believe our eyes to see middle aged men in make up dressed as schoolgirls in P.E. dress playing punk songs! (complete with wigs, vest tops, short white gym skirts - thank God they wore shorts beneath these! - and white socks, a sight to behold I assure you LOL!   Apparently this band has different themes to accompany their set, they've done the royal family and Dad's Army amongst others.

Later NU2 started their set with Vertigo.  During the first few songs the band were a little rusty, but by time they got to In God's Country they were in their stride and all the NU2 magic was back.  Alan's voice is so good and like Bono's that at times you think it is Bono himself singing, and though Mark (Edge) had not played guitar in three years he did amazingly well and the rhythm section backed the other two up very well.  I especially liked hearing In God's Country as U2 themselves never play that any more.

NU2 got the crowd behind them as they did a mainly U2's greatest hits set and went down a storm, Alan dedicated With Or Without You to Debbi and me which was really nice - I think Debbi must have travelled the furthest to be there and it's nice that was acknowledged by the band.  But it was well worth the trip, and it made us realise how much we'd missed seeing them play.  We had a chat with Alan afterwards and he said it was probably the last performance by the band, but perhaps a yearly reunion could happen, let's hope it does!

At 1am we ran the short distance in the pouring rain to the rank and got a taxi back to the hotel.  Once back we had generous glasses of wine and some Quavers.  The Quavers was like the best steak, we were so hungry, having not had a lot to eat that day because of our diets!  We chilled and chatted eventually getting to bed at 3.30am.

Next day we laid in as long as we could, leaving just before the midday checkout  - we still have the stamina to stay up a long time, but we don't bounce back to normality as quickly!  We had a light lunch at a place beside the hotel and drove home and then went to bed for a nap to fully come recover LOL!

By 7pm we felt relatively back to normal and looking forward to our forget-the-diet treat night.  I went to get a Chinese takeaway, we enjoyed that and then opened a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Champagne.  We'd been looking forward to that for ages and it was well worth the wait!  Nectar.  I love the good things in life.

I really enjoyed my little jaunt into Scotland, great to see NU2 again and spend time with a good friend.  It's only 55 days until my next jaunt - a holiday and U2 gigs in Canada - not that I'm counting.......

The Original Achtung Baby

My friend Dawn and I went to see a U2 tribute band called The Original Achtung Baby on Saturday night. They were playing at The Venue in Dumfries, Scotland 30 miles from where I live.

The Venue was quite a small club, and had black leather sofas and armchairs scattered around the floor, I've never seen that before in a place like that! But they were very comfortable and we sat in a raised area close to the stage. There weren't that many people there, maybe 40-50, and most of them were aged 35+, which maybe says something about the Dumfries crowd or U2's fan base.

The band took the stage at 9.10pm and opened with Where The Streets Have No Name. "Bono" looked strange because he was quite tall with long legs, nothing like the short, stocky real version! Facially he wasn't much like Bono either. "Edge" was actually quite like the real thing, but played the guitar left handed. "Adam" did have a bit of the look of Mr Clayton and he had his mannerisms off to a "t" as they say. "Larry" looked nothing like the real Larry, but I've found most Larry's in tribute bands are unlike him - maybe that's because "It's all about the drums".

The set only consisted of songs up to Achtung Baby, there were no songs from later in U2's career which I thought was very strange and disappointing. "Bono" could sing, but his voice didn't really sound much like the real Bono's and he didn't really establish a rapport with the audience either. "Edge's" guitar playing was quite good, but sometimes the mix wasn't brilliant and the guitar wasn't as upfront as much as it should have been.

However, on a positive note it was really nice to hear some of the old songs again. A treat was when they did A Sort Of Homecoming and One Tree Hill, both rarely performed by U2 in the past, and both favourites of mine. They also did my all-time favourite song Bad, I never tire of it and I find it hard to believe it's 25 years old! Hearing all those songs from The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby made me realise the sheer brilliance of those albums and I feel U2, though still relevant, will never attain that level again.

The Original Achtung Baby were ok, but I wouldn't go to see them again, ZU2 who we saw last year were much better, and the now sadly disbanded NU2 were the very best. But it was nice to hear U2 songs played live again and it's an exciting thought that when we next hear some of those songs they will be performed by the real U2!

Edinburgh - History, Music, Culture and Horror!

Friday 18th April 2008

Debbi, Julie and I were up quite early, originally we were going to get the 10.10 bus to Edinburgh but we quickly changed our mind and got the 11.10, less of a rush!

The journey was long, three and a half hours, we chugged through the Border mill towns, Langholm, Hawick, Selkirk, Galashiels and then finally chugged into Edinburgh’s bus station. But we can’t complain about the long trip, the return journey was only £9.90, the bargain of the year!

We got a taxi to our hotel, the Haymarket Travelodge, which, unusually, was a Victorian building on the corner of one of Edinburgh’s beautiful, quiet crescents. The building was gorgeous inside with oak panelling, carved staircases, marble fireplaces and ornate cornices and ceiling roses, not your usual Travelodge! Our room was huge, so large it had an echo! There was a large bay window that looked out towards the crescent, and the ceilings were very high and beautifully ornate. It was an amazing room!

Later we set off for the city centre using the suburban railway to Waverley. We walked up many, many, steps up to The Mound, between lofty buildings and having glorious views down onto Princes Street and the Victorian Gothic Walter Scott monument. We came out on the High Street close to the castle right opposite George V Bridge where the restaurant we were going to eat was. Once again I marvelled at just what an extraordinarily beautiful city Edinburgh is with it’s grand buildings, narrow closes, and meandering steps.

We quickly found the restaurant, an Italian called Vittoria’s, and had a delicious meal there accompanied by an equally delicious bottle of wine!

Afterwards we had a short walk to Victoria Street where The Liquid Room is where we were going to see our friends in the U2 tribute band NU2 play a gig. Victoria Street is another of Edinburgh’s amazing sights, a gracefully sweeping crescent with an upper level of buildings with it’s own walkway on one side of the street. Plus the myriad of closes and steps to others levels and streets.

Alan (Boner the lead singer) had kindly left three tickets for us at reception and in we went to the darkness, we were the first in, we must have been keen! We got drinks and waited while the club gradually filled.

The Debut, a young band from Falkirk (where NU2 are also from) were the support, I’m afraid I wasn’t too keen on them, the music often drowned out the singer and it was hard to make out any lyrics. But young bands have to start from somewhere.

Alan had told Debbi by text that the had a really bad throat infection and had struggled with his singing, especially the high notes, during the sound check so we didn’t really know what to expect. Debbi and I have seen the band play a few times and they have always been brilliant. Julie was a NU2 virgin, so we hoped that she wouldn’t be disappointed if Alan didn’t quite get all the notes tonight.
We needn’t have worried, just like Bono would have done in the same situation, Alan soldiered on and his voice actually improved as the gig progressed and he did amazingly well. As usual The Egg, Adam Claypole and Larry Mullet Jr were a tight musical unit. They did The Fly and then went into Ultraviolet and then back to The Fly at one point, which worked brilliantly. Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own gave me goosebumps, Discotheque really rocked and I thought Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses was fantastic! I can hardly believe how like Bono’s Alan’s voice is, if you close your eyes it could be Bono singing. The set list was well balanced and the audience in The Liquid Room were great. NU2 are certainly the best U2 tribute band I’ve seen by a long way and I'm looking forward to the next time I see them live.

After the gig we waited outside for a while, I turned round and right behind me was the tall, white-faced, cloaked figure of Dracula smiling down a me! I did a double take then I saw lots of people following him and realised this was one of the many creepy tours that Edinburgh is known for. "Dracula" headed down a steep close right beside The Liquid Room which I heard him call "Stinking Close"! You never know what's around the corner - or behind you in Edinburgh!

We met up with the lads from NU2 for a while, chatted and said thanks for a great gig. Then we set off back to the hotel. We would have had a 45 minute wait for a train to the Haymarket so we decided to get a taxi back to our hotel. We had a drink in the bar there before going to bed.

Saturday 19th April

We had a lie in (again!) had breakfast and then checked out of the hotel and headed into the city centre. We had seen a advertisement for an exhibition of Ansel Adams photographs at the City Arts Centre and decided to go to see it. His themes are primarily landscape and nature, all in black and white with amazing clarity. He captures the majestic, big horizon landscape so indicative of America perfectly. Yet he can also make a picket fence with peeling paint look special. His eye for composition is stunning, and some of these photos must have been the result of a lot of patience waiting for the perfect light and effects. One photo that I found especially beautiful was the one I've reproduced here The Tetons and Snake River, taken in 1942.

After we left the exhibition we had two hours to spare before our bus was due to depart. We crossed the road to Waverley Station and saw a sign for the Edinburgh Dungeon and decided to to go in. It was expensive, £12.95, but it was good fun, consisting of various scenes with actors who were really good, lots of audience participation. It was very dark inside and first we posed for a photo with Debbi in the stocks and Julie and I wielding an axe and sword! Then we all moved on to a hall of mirrors and walked in circle for a few minutes, amazing how disorientating it was. There was a group of five young girls who jumped at every sound which made everything all the more entertaining!

Next was a courtroom and the "judge" picked people to go on trial. Who was picked first? Yes, me! I don't really like being in the limelight but you have to play along with things like this, so I went on trial for witchcraft! Mercifully I wasn't on trial very long and didn't have to go through any punishment !! We passed onto other scenes, the plague in Mary King's Close, met up with one of the daughters of the cannibalistic Bean family, the body snatchers Burke and Hare, various torture methods, were the scenarios we were taken through. I noticed at times that we seemed to be going into the real vaults beneath Edinburgh, as sometimes the manmade scenery gave way to real stone and high vaulted ceilings, now that felt scary knowing the reputation the vaults have for ghostly happenings!

The Edinburgh Dungeon was good fun, the acting was good, you learned a bit about the nastier side of the history of Edinburgh and it lasted an hour, so we felt it was worth the money.

We blinked as we stepped out of the darkness into the sunshine of the afternoon. We decided to head towards the bus station and find somewhere to have a drink on the way. As we sat drinking our coffee we vowed to come back for a few days and "do" Edinburgh, and really explore all it has to offer. It really is an extraordinary and unique city and one day we hope to do it justice by taking the time to savour it's many delights.