Category: Gigs Abroad

Gigs from Abroad Part 10 – Puerto Del Carmen

As cited previously in my Gigs from Abroad Part 4 blog I have undertaken several trips to the Canarian Island of Lanzarote and mainly visited the Puerto Del Carmen resort, which lies about five miles from Arrecife airport.

On the island In September/October each year they hold the Arrecife En Vivo over four weekends over four stages in the capital and the person who guides you to the next stage is an Elvis impersonator with a large foam hand! I have not yet managed to time a visit to coincide with this event but hope to rectify that in a future year.

Many of the gigs that follow below are generally low-key cover acts but adopting a completist mode I must document every single event that I have attended, otherwise my story would be unfinished!

We had one separate holiday in the other resort of Costa Teguise in 2012 and whilst in residence we visited Costa Teguise La Vida where we saw Dale Sullivan play.

There is a coastal path/cycle route that runs from Costa Teguise, through Arrecife town, past the airport and Matagorda to reach Playa de los Pocillos. This is a sleepy resort and I witnessed here a chap called Joshua play in the Lanzarote Chill Out Bar and Pedro perform in Lanzarote Rocos Blancos.

We walked back one evening from the resort to Puerto Del Carmen and there was a late set on from River Mills in a restaurant called Lanzarote La Avenida. Between the resorts is the Lanzarote Plaza de Nationale, which has a mini amphitheatre where on one occasion there was a local festival taking place and on a temporary stage the Desi Jockeys were performing.  

After walking past the excellent yet challenging crazy golf course you enter the mile long strip at Puerto Del Carmen and at the Lanzarote California Bar, I saw Hazel White play. Beyond there you reach the casino and Lanzarote Café De Ola which sits behind it, and you can watch the sea and the sunset. We have twice seen Storming Thunder who were half decent, but their stage banter was distinctly lacking in charisma, I have also seen a saxophonist called Jake Hanson play there.    

Cafe de Ola. Image Credit tripadvisor.com.sg

Next to the casino resides the first ever bar we entered on our inaugural trip to the island called Lanzarote Golden Corner, where I have seen Mark Spulzenberger and Pete Edwards play. Across the road is the Lanzarote Goofy Burger, outside of which they have a regular singer called Carlos. He may be in his elder years but has a terrific voice and I recall him doing an excellent cover of Buddy Holly’s ‘Rave On’.

Five minutes’ walk away, opposite the Tourist Information resides Dos Mil, an unprepossessing supermarket café, but they serve the most wonderful pastries and cakes. Just beyond is a fantastic oriental restaurant called Asia Delicious where we have frequented many times, and that is where we sampled the local liquor Caramello for the first time!

A doorway next to there takes you down into the dingy den of Lanzarote Mulligans where I have seen Brian Duke, Los Handos and Nigel Hardacre perform. Back on upper street level brings you to one of my favourite bars Lanzarote Africa Bar, where you can play pool, sit on beer barrels facing the sea or watch the pretty good bands on stage. I have seen the Usual Suspects, Aftershock and Africa United there.   

Africa Bar. Image Credit tripadvisor.co.uk

Continuing down the strip and you arrive at Lanzarote Tequila Bar where I saw a ‘Spinal Tap’ inspired band called Question play. Beyond there is the Lanzarote American Indian Café which is a restaurant by day and then converts into an enjoyable music spot in the evening. We have spent a few nights suppling ice-cold Mahou’s and munching on Frutos Secos, I have witnessed Perfect Circus and Alanis Band perform there. I recall once our waiter suddenly scampering off and the reason for this action then became abundantly clear as he walked up to the microphone and undertook the guest vocals on the next track!   

The end of the strip is signified by the famous Linekers’s bar, though in reality it is bit of an uninspiring establishment. Shortly after you locate Lanzarote Lava Bar. When we were in residence there was some fine-looking tucker arriving from the kitchen and Gerry and Gina were tinkling away on the piano.

Subsequently, you then arrive in the old town and harbour where there are restaurants where you can watch locals playing some very high-quality boules in the adjoining sand pits. You can also undertake the hour long walk across a very dusty and warm cliff top path to the resort of Puerta Calero.

In the old town there is a more traditional music venue called Lanzarote Electric Island which is a fun place to visit. We have attended there twice watching the Electric Island house band and supping their Malagan beer which for some undiscernible reason makes us sway on the walk back!   

Electric Island Bar. Image Credit tripadvisor.ca

Finally, some steps take you up one of the resorts best fish restaurants, namely Lanzarote Mardeleva. It is constantly booked up but one night we managed to fortuitously grab a walk-in table and it was worth the effort. In the doorway there was a highly traditional artist called Monty Montana playing and we were hoping but ultimately without success that he would play ‘Quando Quando’!

Gigs from Abroad Part 9 – Brussels

On the annual lad’s trip in 2014 we decided to visit a new European country; hence I made my debut foray to Belgium and the city of Brussels. For time saving purposes based on an overall 48-hour jaunt, we took the flight and discounted the Eurostar option.  

Brussels is the capital of Belgium and has grown exponentially since the Second World War and has become a major centre for international politics and the unofficial capital of the European Union. The Grand-Place in the centre is a UNESCO World heritage site, and it is a very impressive sight when lit up in the evening and we frequented a couple of bars surrounding there. Jez Catlow and I, who is a fellow connoisseur of foreign dramas kept referencing Salamander, a fine drama about a bank heist based in Brussels that we had both recently watched.

On our meanderings, we passed the same shop window a few times, where they had on display gold waving maneki-neko fortune cats, which we obviously had to wave at on each passing, the last time when returning rather late at night! Around teatime we found a restaurant where I had possibly the biggest bowl of spaghetti sauce ever, it was rather delicious.

Maneki-neko cat. Image Credit pinterest.com.mx

In the afternoon, one of the chaps had noticed a sign outside a club advertising English psych rock that very evening, so we stored that away for future reference. With me as a cheer leader we returned later to investigate and identified that the club in question was Brussels Madame Moustache.

Madame Moustache is a neo-cabaret venue located on Place Sainte Catherine in the Ste-Catherine area. There is a sun terrace bar outside where you can sit on beach chairs by the canal during the day, and have a cold beer served through a hatch.

At night, it transforms into a club open until 4am, with the musical slant being in the hip hop and funk and soul domain and they hold occasional gigs. I read on recent reviews that they have bizarrely begun to charge punters for the sheer temerity of wanting to visit the lavatory. I also gleaned that the venue is currently shut due to a recent fire.

Brussels Madame Moustache. Image Credit flickr.com

I am assuming the club is named after Eleanor Dumont (born Simone Jules) in 1829, who was a legendary gambler on the American Frontier, especially during the Gold Rush. Perhaps it is a surprise that Neil Young didn’t pen a tune about her! She was known as Madame Moustache due to the appearance of a line of dark hair on her upper lip and she owned a gambling parlour in Nevada, California and became known as ‘the woman dealer’.

We decided to take a punt to enter the establishment and I am so glad we did as the band playing was the Cult of Dom Keller from Nottingham. We caught about three quarters of their barnstorming set and had a brief chat with them afterwards. They were lovely lads and informed us that this was their final date on their first ever European tour.   

Cult of Dom Keller. Image Credit ents24.com

On Day 2, we escorted one of the crew Tony Dewhurst on the train down to the port destination of Ostend, as he was off to see Killing Joke in a leisure centre near the town. Ostend had a beach and a seaside faded grandeur vibe about it and there are still ferries available to the town from Ramsgate, Hull and Dover.

We located a bookies, which is unusual for a European city which enabled us to have a bet on the Scottish Grand National taking place that day. We watched it in a nearby bar and got chatting to a group of football fans whose team was playing Ostend. They were fascinated by our reaction to our local rivals Blackpool being hammered and we ended up teaching them some radio ‘unfriendly’ anti-Blackpool chants.

At a later point, returning from the afore mentioned bookmakers I heard these lads unprompted singing one of the newly learnt ditties whilst heading down the street, thus let it never be said that I am not a fierce advocate of fostering good relations and shared interests with our European counterparts! 

Tony headed off to his gig and we jumped back onto the train and grabbed the opportunity of one more stop on the line to take in the sights of the pretty town of Bruges. It was a proper chocolate-box place, and I would like to return at some stage for a more extended visit.  

We did however struggle a tad navigating a route from the train station as there didn’t appear to be a natural path through to the town unless we completely missed it! On our return journey we followed a chap with an old-fashioned beat box who led us like a pied piper back to the station and then onto the ongoing train returning to Brussels.