Anorak & Chips, Please.....

I’ve already noted in previous blogs that I get a bit of stick for not having talked about the actual show enough, and as I said before I’m trying to describe the weird, boring, exciting, funny, sad, exhilarating, tiring, invigorating daftness that is life on the road….I’m NOT reviewing the gigs. However, I HAVE been asked to list the songs which were played, so I’ll just don my best anorak and we’ll get started….

Set 1
Please Please Me
Don’t Throw Your Love Away / I’ll Keep You Satisfied
Hippy Hippy Shake
Go Now ( once ! )
Little Deuce Coupe
Not Fade Away
Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
Pretty Woman
Catch Us If You Can
You’ve Got Your Troubles / Tobacco Road / For Your Love / She’s Not There
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Mr Tambourine Man
Look Through Any Window
Keep On Running
Don’t Ever Change / Walk Right Back / Rhythm Of The Rain / Breaking Up Is Hard To Do / Do You Wanna Dance
You Really Got Me
You Were On My Mind
Apache / FBI
Out Of Time

Set 2
Feelin’ Groovy
What A Day For A Daydream / Happy Together / Mellow Yellow / Lazing On A Sunny Afternoon
Itchycoo Park
Hole In My Shoe
Strawberry Fields
Whiter Shade Of Pale
Light My Fire
California Dreaming
Handbags & Gladrags ( once ! )
Proud Mary / Mighty Quinn / Got To Get A Message To You / Suspicious Minds
Star Spangled Banner
Pinball Wizard
He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother
Green Onions
I Wanna Hold Your Hand / All Day & All Of The Night / When You Walk In The
Room / Gimme Some Lovin’ / Satisfaction / Mony Mony
Daydream Believer
Spirit In The Sky ( twice ! )
You’ll Never Walk Alone.

As the tour progressed, another very important list was made up, too….this was the Bootleg Sixties Crew Top Tour Grub Chart, and competition to make it onto this was fierce indeed, as we know that restaurants, pubs, fast food outlets and blokes with dodgy whelk stalls all over the country avidly await the results each year to see where they’ve come. We HAD considered a sub-chart for fish and chip shops as we had these no less than seven times, but in the end we just incorporated everything into one big smorgasbord of wonderfulness. As a result, we have a tie for the top slot this year, so take a bow Busy Bees ( Bridlington ) and The Gourmet ( Scunthorpe )

Busy Bees is without doubt the best fish & chip shop we’ve ever been in. The fish is all cooked fresh and by weight, the batter is light and crispy and the chips are firm and chunky. The portions are huge ( fnaar fnaar ) and eating there really is an experience not to be missed.

The Gourmet is a very fine Indian restaurant in Scunthorpe. Although billed as the best in the area, prices were very reasonable, and the chicken tikka was especially good, tasting as it did of proper tandoor oven cooking as opposed to being just meat smothered in red tikka sauce to disguise possible feline or canine origins. Even the spices, relishes and raithas were excellent, and the staff were exceptionally polite and helpful given that they were invaded by twelve hairy – arsed pissheads on a quiet Monday night.

Also worthy of mention were :

Dominos in Worthing who delivered our pizzas direct to the bus after all, even though they originally said they wouldn’t

The Golden Ringpiece in Andover who not only supplied us with a mouth-watering array of Chinese dishes, but also plied Arthur with booze as he waited for it to be cooked

The Marlborough fish and chip shop in Weymouth which NEARLY made the top slot had it not been for the fact that I’d almost died of exhaustion by the time I eventually found it

Wetherspoons in Weymouth for their superb, and incredibly good value “ train smash on a plate “ full English breakfasts.

Beales fish and chip shop in Porthcawl, whose delicious fish and copious chips were marred only by a slight excess of grease., most of which I ended up wearing

We must also, unfortunately, give a Golden Raspberry to McDonalds in Scunthorpe High Street for not having realised that it’s supposed to be “ fast food “ ( the clue’s in the name, you morons…) and for employing a cloth-eared bat who managed to get BOTH of my very simple orders totally arse-upwards. May she drown in a vat of ketchup.

A final word of thanks must go to Kay Howell for a seemingly endless supply of carrot cake and the fearsome chocolate confection which goes by the name of “ Tank”, both of which helped the bus travellers ( well, mainly me, to be honest ) to stave off hunger in the middle of the night.

To all of the above, our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation ( except Scunthorpe McDonalds, of course, which needs to be razed to the ground, especially if the soap-dodging, benefit –scrounging , chavvy oxygen-thieves who congregate there are still inside )

As ever, Faithful Blogreader, thankyou for your continued indulgence. We’ll be back in August for tales of Whitley Bay, Skegness and Liverpool……