My night out began when I was picked
up by Liz (thanks again, Liz) who drove me to the station for 3pm. I was very
excited but also a bit nervous as this was the first time I had left my two
teenagers alone together overnight, and I was trying to think of every
eventuality!! Anyway, Once on the train, I relaxed and had, surprisingly, quite
a pleasant journey to Leeds.
I arrived at Leeds at 6.25pm. It was very crowded and took me several minutes to
get out of the station. I asked for directions to the motel where I was booked,
but nobody seemed to know!! After a few more enquiries, I got some vague
directions, but already I am late and starting to get nervous again! I
eventually found the motel and by the time I had checked in it was gone 7pm!!
The time the doors were opened at Fab! Must hurry.
I asked at reception how long it would take them to get me a taxi, and was told
almost immediately. So after very quickly unpacking, washing and changing and
applying a little 'war paint', I was ready at 7.40pm. Thankfully the taxi was
prompt, and pulled up outside the Fab Cafe just before 8pm.
It wasn't too crowded when I arrived and after scanning the tables I couldn't
see Shelly and Clive anywhere, or anyone else I knew come to that! So, I made my
way to the bar and got a drink, then found a table right at the front, where
there were some spare seats.
This venue was very similar to the last Fab, but nearly twice as big. It had the
same gray, cave effect walls and ceiling, with a display area featuring the
model Dalek (from Dr. Who) again. There was a lot more memorabilia on display
around the room, mostly in display cabinets around the walls, but also on
supporting pillars throughout the room. There was a huge model of Starship
Enterprise suspended from the ceiling, right over my chair!!! Pretty cool!!
At the back of the room was a small dance floor and disco facility. The stage area, was opposite at the front, behind bars!!?? Couldn't see the need for bars they simply got in the way! Maybe the *powers* will remove them in time. You'll notice them when I get my pics on the PC.
A bouncer sat in front of the stage at all times, guarding the instruments and
equipment. A few minutes later Shelly and Clive arrived. They first stopped to
acknowledge Eunice and her friends so I went over to say hello too as I had not
seen her before.
After getting some drinks we sat and chatted for a while. At about 9.10 it was
announced that David would be appearing between 9.30 and 10pm. so, since the
place was beginning to fill up now and the bar was getting busier I bought
another round of drinks for us all. I found my voice was getting unusually dry
probably due to the heat and smoke in the air (well,
that's my excuse!).
A TV camera was set up just to my left, and Shelly commented that it was going
to be recorded again. I commented to the fact that I hoped the camera man was
not going to get in my way!!! (well, gotta get your priorities right!).
It was about 10.00 when they finally announced David. He came on to much cheering and applause, which of course was great to hear. He wore well fitting black jeans and a loose brightly coloured overshirt, featuring palm leaves and bongo drums, (not to my taste, but then I wasn't looking at his shirt much!). He began by singing 'Ain't No sunshine' by Bill Withers, which David also recorded from 'The Dead Monkey. This is one of my all time favorites and I was immensely pleased that he had chosen to open with this. Hugh Burns did a lovely guitar accompaniment.
It was at this point that I realized there was quite a high level of 'white
noise' mostly coming from people in the background and at the bar. We could hear
David fine but it was very prominent in between lyrics. After the first song
David made a comment about keeping the noise down as he was having trouble
hearing himself! It didn't work.
The rest of his performance was a commentary about significant parts of his
life, interspersed with his
choice of songs. He followed with a Mexican folk song, in Spanish I think, Black
Bean Soup with Hugh doing harmonies, then as he jokingly said "The B side to
that record was this...."!! Don't give Up on Us, Hooray for Hollywood, ( I admit
I wondered if he could still breath through some of the vocals here, as some of
them are quite fast, he seemed to manage without a problem!!), Tattler,
Surrender To Me, a Blues song (can't remember the name), Help me make it through
the night, and a rousing version of Silver Lady to finish.
He got thunderous applause and whistles. It would have been perfect but for the
noise level, such a shame. I was appalled to see a couple of people even thought
they could walk across in front of the stage half way through the performance!!
They were quickly redirected by the bouncer!!
As soon as David had finished a very loud disco started, which made it
impossible to talk. I hoped that they would turn it down when David came out to
sign autographs.....but they didn't. Well, said Shelly, it's a good excuse to
get close!!
We waited until the queue had gone down a bit before joining ourselves.
When I met David this time I was very much more relaxed, (after first having my
bottle of orange juice confiscated by the bouncer!!!! HUh! armed and dangerous
with a bottle of Britvic!!! Honestly). I shook his hand, he invited me to
sit down...I got as close as possible...naturally! I congratulated him on a
fantastic performance, and said we looked forward to another tour. He seemed
surprised at that and said he didn't know.
I asked him to sign a card for a friend, and was trying to explain to him when
he met her, but the disco was just too loud, and he said, "It's no good. I
can't hear you". I had previously thought if he couldn't hear me, I would write
it down, and whilst standing in the queue I found an old receipt in my bag. So,
when he said he couldn't hear me, I pointed to the receipt and said, "read it"
and then it was so funny because he threw his arm in the air in frustration, and
said, "I haven't got my glasses! I can't even see what's on that screen!" There
was a monitor just above our heads!!
Anyway, he signed my card, and my Oklahoma insert, and I got a photo. The
bouncer was beginning to rush us a bit, so I gathered my stuff, shouted in his
ear "Can I have a kiss?" He smiled, nodded, I planted the kiss on his cheek, and
started to get up. I completely forgot to pose for a photo!!!!!!
The photo that Clive took looks like he was turning his head for the kiss, but I
was already getting up!! I'll get that right next time!!!!
Jackie