OBSESSION No 1 – THE ORCHIDS

Thursday 29 November 2007

WMESB™: You’ve guessed it, only one passenger again.
Driver: Same driver as yesterday. I suggested he pick me up at my front door as no one would notice.

All my meticulous planning for the trip to Glasgow went out of the window ten minutes before I was due to leave!

John phoned me and asked if I was still going. I picked him up at his house, which was nearer the Kincardine Bridge than the Forth Bridge so we went that way. It was a nightmare. In the dark, weaving between hundreds of cones on an unfamiliar road was not my idea of fun but, hey, this is rock ‘n’ roll. We only took one small wrong turn and got to the venue easily enough and parking was a doddle. In fact, we were right outside the venue.

As John is a well-kent face around the music scene he struck up a conversation with Ally Kerr, who is the resident turn at the Viva Melodia gigs. I was keen to get to the gig early enough to see Ally play as I’d only heard a couple of tracks and I’d really enjoyed them. He didn’t disappoint as he played four or five songs, accompanied by another guitarist, who John said was better than his normal guitarist. I was pleased to hear that Ally had heard of the Jock ‘n’ Roll website

Lead singer James was the first of The Orchids to appear. I thought he might have been at the pub watching the Celtic game with the others but he’d come straight from work. Guitarist Keith joined us as we watched support band The Recovery Club, a three-piece with more than a hint of Portishead about them; kind of ethereal and floaty but enjoyable nonetheless.

The rest of The Orchids turned up and were in a good mood (Celtic had won 2-1 with a goal at the death). The band was on fine form and played a semi-acoustic set, including two songs*:

You Could Do Something To Me
A Place Called Home
Johnny Loves Methadone*
Welcome To My Curious Heart
I Need You To Believe In Me
The Last Thing (On Your Mind)
The OK Song*
Obsession No 1

John had been never heard The Orchids before tonight so I played the “Striving For The Lazy Perfection” album on the way over. He was glad that he’d come out for the gig and I was glad to have a navigator. I’ve found in my short time driving that local knowledge is an invaluable tool. In fact we didn’t even bother with the Sat Nav. on the way home.

We shared a drink with the band, Elaine (James’ wife), Elspeth and Calum after the set and then we went our separate ways. But not before Ally Kerr kindly gave John and I a copy of the “Could Have Been A Contender” CD single, one of the two tracks I knew by him. The trip home was worse that the run over. Pissing rain, spray everywhere and too many drivers not dipping their headlights. After dropping John off, I drove through the empty streets of Dunfermline (it was like the place had officially been shut) and got home at 1am. Another rock ’n’ roll night had come to an end.

I thought I might feel like crap this morning but I wasn’t too bad. No doubt, due to supping soft drinks at the gig – something I’ll have to get used to.

There’s a new person to annoy me on the buses (except she doesn’t actually get on my bus). On several occasions, over the last two weeks, the same woman walks up to the door of the X57 at the Ferrytoll and asks the driver for confirmation that the X58 (sitting behind the X57) will be leaving first. She then gets on the X58. Doing that once is fair enough but it’s been three or four times now. Does she think the timetable is suddenly going to change overnight? I wonder what she would do if she took her seat on the X58 and the X57 actually left first. I was praying for the driver to leave early today, just for sport.