Tag: Crazy Horse

Gigs from Abroad Part 18 – Madrid

I have discovered I have a particular affinity to visiting Spanish cities as I love the vibe, bustle, ethos and cuisine and my personal favourite would be Madrid as the buildings and architecture to a degree remind me of Manchester. Our first visit was as part of a backpacking trip across the country in 2003 encompassing visits also to Seville, Zaragoza and Barcelona.

Our trip to a staggeringly hot Seville took place about a week after the Uefa Cup final between Porto and Celtic and I think the Irish bars were probably still restocking and recovering! Zaragoza was intriguing despite the train station having moved location since my Rough Guide tome was published, however we had a couple of challenging circumstances in Barcelona that probably meant we didn’t see the city in its best light.

The history of Madrid dates back to the ninth century and the extensive Ferrocarril Metropolitano (Metro) was subsequently introduced in 1919 which now provides easy access to the Aeropuerto from the city. They suffered a terrorist attack in 2004 when 118 people perished from bombs placed on busy morning rush-hour trains. Famous madrileno include Penelope Cruz, Placido Domingo, Julio Iglesias and the excellent garage rock band the Hinds.

Our mode of transport on the 2003 trip was the uber efficient trains including the AVE on the Seville to Madrid leg completed in under 2.5 hours, a train so punctual they begin to compensate you if over 10 minutes late! We visited the Prado Museum, had an aperitif on Plaza Major and basked on the vast El Retiro Park. The cultural highlight though was via a train trip to nearby Aranjuez where we visited the Royal Palace there which was an astonishing place to behold.

We stayed near the Puerta del Sol suburb which contained a rabbit warren of dusky streets with a suite of fabulous bars and tapas restaurants to weave in and out of. We also paid homage to a superb rice restaurant called Arroceria Balear Pozuelo.

A young David Beckham in PNE shirt. Image Credit www.bing.com

Whilst we were in the city there was blanket news coverage of David Beckham transferring from Manchester United to Real Madrid. Quite often forgotten is the fact that his first ever professional appearances were when he was briefly on loan to my team Preston, a fact he graciously referenced within his Sports Personality of the Year acceptance speech. We chortled though when the reporter referred to them as ‘Preston Norte End’!

We visited again a few years later and this time ensured we included a trip out to the old walled city of Toledo. As you exit the train and peer up the hill to the city you could imagine you are on a ‘Game of Thrones’ set.   

In May 2019 we returned for our third and most recent visit though the trip started in chaos from the point we landed, as our suitcase had the brazen temerity to not arrive with us. Emergency shopping trips and considerable hassle ensued, but after many phone calls, we finally managed to reconnect with the missing suitcase three days later.  

Our carousel looked like this! Image Credit bigstockphoto.com

Just prior to traveling I identified that the prestigious Madrid Open tennis tournament coincided with our visit, so we headed out to La Cala Magica to attend. It was a superb set up and we saw Petro Kvitova and Elise Mertens competing, however we unfortunately could not gain access to the court where the best named tennis player ever, Juan Martin Del Porto was playing. I had a close sighting of Novak Djokovic and a more distant sighting of one of my sporting heroes, Rafa Nadal. One thing Gill and I both observed and commented on was that all the players were astoundingly lean and generally very tall.

As ever, I scoured the lists and managed to locate a gig taking place at Madrid Sala Caracol which is located in the Palos de Moguer suburb.  Prior to the gig we visited a terrific bar across the road, where on a muted TV they were showing Liverpool’s remarkable comeback in a Champions League semi final against Madrid’s arch enemies Barcelona. In those circumstances I thought the locals might be animated, but they were very chilled and almost ambivalent about it.  

Madrid Sala Caracol. Image Credit ideasala.blogspot.com

The Caracol was a small stylish venue with vibrant lighting and an unobstructed view to the stage. Previous bands to have played there over the years include New Model Army, Editors, Suede, Mark Lanegan and even Mogwai on an early tour way back in 1999. It operates traditional Spanish opening hours from 5pm to 5am, but thankfully our gig didn’t have an am start time attached to it.

We were there to see a six-piece country rock band from Texas called Whiskey Myers who released their debut album ‘Road of Life’ back in 2008. They received a significant boost when they were featured on the ‘Yellowstone’ TV soundtrack and were also in one episode playing on stage. They put on a decent set but were a tad country lite when I was hoping for a bit more of a ‘Crazy Horse’ crunchy sound from them.

Preston Venues 37 to 38

At the tail end of 2005 I read an article in the Friday entertainment section of the Lancashire Evening Post which provided detail of an interesting sounding gig in January 2006. The gig was to take place at Preston St Bede’s Club. I had never heard of the venue and located it on the map to the bottom of Brownley Road off Chorley Old Road in Clayton Le Woods, above five miles outside the centre of town.

I still had limited familiarity of the area so decided to undertake a field trip in the car beforehand to case out the joint and work out feasible travel plans and surrounding hostelries to visit beforehand. I found the building nearby to the Church and attached Presbytery of St Bede’s, the latter sites having been Grade II listed since 1984.

The 125 bus was decided upon as the most practicable commute option. So, on a particularly baltic Friday night I met Uncle George at the main bus station, and we boarded the bus that traversed its meandering way through Bamber Bridge, past Junction 29 off the M6 to our drop off point very near our first watering hole the Halfway House.  The bus continues past Chorley Hospital and eventually arrives at its end destination of Bolton a week on Tuesday!    

The 125 bus with Preston Bus Station in the background. Image Credit flickr.com

We visited a couple of other pubs, but I forget their names, I recall in one the jukebox had Husker Du ‘Don’t Want to Know if You Are Lonely’ on so that was obviously selected. In the other I encountered local comedian and Phoenix Nights star Dave Spikey in the lavatories!  

From there, there was an alley that cut you through to the venue. The concert area was a large, packed room in a social club setting where the audience was very respectful, so you had to tiptoe to the back of the room. George said it resembled folk clubs of old.

The support act was Corb Lund who is a country and western singer from Alberta in Canada. He has been on the scene for many years and a long-standing member of the Corb Lund band. On the night he played a solo set and was very engaging and enjoyable. 

The main act who had originally sparked my attention was Chuck Prophet. The Californian had first crossed my radar as a member of the 80’s desert rock band Green on Red. I used to play their records a lot, especially their debut album ‘Gas Food Lodging’.

I recall an interview at the time with Neil Young on the Old Grey Whistle Test where Andy Kershaw played some of the record to Neil, who listened for a few seconds and then drawled ‘sounds like Crazy Horse’! I got a chance to see them once supported by Steve Earle at Manchester International 1 in March 1987, but they produced a crushingly disappointing set.

Obviously, lessons were not learnt as unfortunately, this was little different as the gig was limp and his banter was surreal and unamusing. We left prior to the end of the set and arrived at the bus stop and prepared to wait more in hope than in anticipation, though the gods were smiling on us as a bus arrived within a couple of minutes to take us back into the city. The evening ended with a late drink in the Roper Hall club.

Nearer town on the same bus route on Preston Road, you would find the Preston Pines Hotel.  The venue was a famous local establishment and had been open for fifty years for cabarets, functions, school proms and weddings and I had personally attended a couple of weddings there myself and stayed overnight in the thirty-five-room hotel. It was owned throughout this period by the Duffin family before eventually closing in February 2017 and making space for 40 apartments and a Lidl supermarket.

Preston Pines Hotel. Image Credit pinkweddingdays.co.uk

They had a large function room where in 2006 Gill and I were roped in to attending a friend’s birthday party. The ‘entertainment’ on the evening was a local Abba tribute band called Mamma Mia.