Tag: Teenage Fanclub

Connect Festival 2007

Alongside my favourite ever festival, which were always the Wickerman events, I have always endeavoured to attend other festivals in Scotland so was intrigued to hear of a new one called Connect in 2007. We decided to attend the debut event as for us it had a dream bill of four of my favourite ever bands, (if Carlsberg did festivals!) and three of which appropriately were Scottish. Unfortunately, the festival only lasted one more year and was scrapped thereafter due to high running costs, which was a shame as it turned out to be a belting event. 

The setting was the idyllic Inverary Castle, located on the banks of Loch Fyne in Argyll and was badged as the first ever ‘boutique’ festival and was aimed at a more mature audience with the bonus of a real ale tent saving you from the ‘delights’ of Tennents Lager!  

Inverary Castle. Image credit johansens.com

The first conundrum was bagging accommodation and Uncle George played a blinder by finding us some digs above a pub on the main drag in Arrochar. We then decided to undertake the trip by train as we always like to avoid driving if there is a viable alternative. The Preston to Glasgow leg was easy but the second part needing planning as there were very sparse trains onwards to Arrochar.

So, on the Friday, we arrived in good time for the 12.22 from Queen Street to Oban, because the next train was not for another four hours. Once the train traversed through the industrial area north of Glasgow it turned into a very scenic route with a steep uphill section bringing us into our destination of Arrochar and Tarbet. 

The pub owners very graciously picked us from the station as it was a good mile walk into the town. We grabbed some hearty food and a couple of cold ones and then headed to the nearby bus stop for the ‘regular’ buses to the site…

An hour later we were still stood there and there was a small group of us now gathered but no sign of any transport. One of the brethren rang up to complain and astonishingly a taxi arrived which I think was free to take us to our destination.

As we walked up to the entrance, we encountered a young lass with the heaviest most overladen backpack I have ever seen replete with pots and pans (literally the kitchen sink!) who it transpired had travelled in from Manchester. Chivalry kicked in and we took in turns to carry the lead weight into the site, joking afterwards that we could have been inadvertent drug mules!

We watched Aerogramme’s last ever show on the Guitars and Other Machines stage, they were a very decent post-rock band from Glasgow. We also saw Vector Lovers, Baillie and the Fault, Numbers DJ’s and an enjoyable set from electro band Cansei de Ser Sexy (CSS). 

The first of the big hitters on the main stage was Jesus and Mary Chain, who I was seeing for the sixth time, but for first time for nine years since a chaotic Liverpool show on their final tour in 1998. Despite the inclement weather, they were excellent. We also witnessed a little of the headliners Beastie Boys before an infinitely smoother return journey to our digs where we were allowed to take a ‘one for the ditch’ Guinness upstairs at last orders.       

On the Saturday, we managed to pick up a standard bus that dropped us in the small town of Inverary with its two pubs, the George Hotel, and the Anchor Inn. The George particularly was a lovely establishment with lodgings that Gill and I utilised a few years later whilst travelling to Mull. On the way to catching the ferry at Oban, you pass Loch Awe which lives up to its moniker. Mull itself was a beautiful island and we had one of our best meals ever at Café Fish in Tobermory. The restaurant looked like a transport café from the outside, but the food was astoundingly good.

Back to the festival, we arrived early specially to see my new favourite band the Hold Steady who I only caught for the first time a month early in Manchester and they did not disappoint. This time, we only got a truncated thirty-five-minute set, but they were still compelling viewing. We also witnessed Rilo Kiley and a segment of Primal Scream’s headline set.

The two acts prior to the headliners were of infinitely more interest to us, the initial one being the hardy perennials Teenage Fanclub and the latter the ever-magnificent Mogwai. More chaos then ensued at the coach pick up point, but we made it back eventually.

Arrochar and Tarbet station. Image credit geography.org.uk

The Sunday consisted of a leisurely walk back to the station to await the opening train of the day back to Glasgow which landed at 14.09. In the interim we began to hear the distinct sound of a steam train hauling itself up the hill into the station which is always a sight to behold. It then sat on the platform for a spell, and we could see many contented punters being treated to a fine Sunday lunch and accompanying wine.   

2021 Gigs – Part 2

I am continuing to look at the post-apocalypse year of 2021 where I somehow managed to attend 33 gigs. There is a suite of new venues in this year which will be featured in future blogs, however I am going to focus on the venues already visited and covered in previous articles.

On the 21st of August, I managed to finally return over to Preston and have my first night out there for 18 months. After watching PNE in the afternoon, Uncle George and I met up with John Dewhurst and we had a sally down the pubs on Friargate. This included a visit to the ever-unchanged Preston Olde Black Bull, where there was a thunderously loud band called Law and Order playing in the main room. It was low quality fare, and its only relevant significance was the fact that it was my 200th gig in Preston.

We also headed up to Preston Market where they have now put in place a deserved tribute bench to commemorate Preston’s very own Nick Park, the abundantly imaginative creator of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep, now I have mentioned it please try and stop yourself humming the theme tune to Wallace & Gromit. He also coincidentally attended the same secondary school as myself though he was a few years above me.

Nick Park bench with the chap himself. Image Credit wallaceandgromit.com

As we walked up Orchard Street, we could hear the unmistakeable rumble of a live band, and therefore bonus gig said I! As it was a balmy August evening, they had erected a stage at the Lancaster Road end of the covered outdoor market just beyond the Orchard Bar. After purchasing a cold craft beer, we witnessed a young local band called the Avenhams, named after one of the main parks in the city. They had an enthusiastic friends and family crowd supporting them and despite veering into lad rock at times they were enjoyable.

On the 7th September I attended my first indoor pay gig at Manchester Academy 2, the venue now clearly rattling into second place on my most visited venue list. Prior to the event and as it was a pleasant Tuesday evening, we purloined some outdoor seats at a pub that remarkably I had never visited before, which was the Ducie Arms buried behind the Manchester University campus.  

The gig was a sell-out, but I surmise that post-pandemic sold out capacities are less than previous restrictions as it clearly felt there was room to breathe in the venue, and that appears to be a sensible continuing ongoing action in my experience of the gigs I have attended since. They operated one-way systems and there was a very civilised queue at the bar, and everyone was understandably noticeably considerate of others and their own personal space. 

The band on stage was the timeless Teenage Fanclub who were in peerless form and Norman Blake had a manic grin throughout, no doubt as relieved as all of us to be back on the tour schedule. Many travelled from far and wide including Stephanie (@peripixie on twitter) who travelled in from America prior to her watching them at their spiritual home Glasgow Barrowland the following week.

Teenage Fanclub. Image Credit Tiny Mix Tapes

Post gig we went for a cold one at Big Hands further down Oxford Road. Whilst Marcus and Gill were ensconced in the roof top beer garden upstairs, I was at the bar waiting for a lengthy beer barrel change when one lad at the bar inadvertently came out to his mate, which was a slightly surreal occurrence to witness.

A month later I headed into town on the No 50 bus to Manchester Club Academy to see the scouse band Red Rum Club. It was a gentle foray as I was departing the next day for a family gathering at a large house we had rented in Matlock. I had seen them three years earlier at Peer Hat and I thought they were excellent there as the sound was so crisp. They didn’t quite scale those heights this time, and I do think seeing a band for a second time is a tester of their ability and potential longevity, much like the second viewing of a movie.