Maya29 – first shows in Ireland. We experienced some magic at the weekend and it happened in Northern Ireland.
Jon (Maya29 bass player) and Seamy (A Little Bitter bass player) got chatting about bass guitars and Rush on a popular forum that you might know. One thing led to another and before I could turn around, Seamy had two gigs sorted for us to go and join them in Derry and in Belfast!!
So thank you Jon and Seamy for starting something that we all enjoyed tremendously. In July, A Little Bitter will join us in Scotland to play two gigs in return. If all goes well, this could happen again perhaps? We would love it to.
Friday 18th May Karen, Jon Mark and Nick meet at Mark's and set off in the ( rather unreliable at the moment) Pug fully loaded with instruments, maps, toothbrushes and a bag of enthusiasm and anticipation too. The Pug is not good with cold starts at the moment. Once she warms up then everything is fine, but cold starts and stalling is becoming a problem. We all had our fingers crossed and fortunately we got there and back again just fine, a bit spluttery, but fine.
The ferry was on time and we had a good crossing to Belfast. Karen drove around Belfast once before finding the right road to Derry. (just for luck she reckons) and they were on their way. Approximately 75 miles later, we arrived at our accommodation for the night. The Iona Inn – Derry was warm and friendly, with hot showers waiting. We needed to get to the venue for around 9ish and we were due to start our set at around 10.30pm. After a gorgeous takeaway plaice and chips from along the road we set off. Bound for Boston is a lovely venue with a good mix of customers and is well known as a rock venue, so that explains the high concentration of appreciative audience members.
Bound for Boston
The sound was good, the stage was spacious and the people friendly. We have been encouraged to go back again, so I think they liked us. We made a decision beforehand to play a completely different set each night. Our set for Friday was…….Tonali, Neck, Head, Elysium, Breathing, Monkeys, Journey of Gods and our favourite closer – Akhaisha.
A Little Bitter worked hard for this gig as they provided full backline and organised the PA and sound too! They have their own rig and will set up anywhere and everywhere! We played well and there was not much in between songs banter, but we were on form and all enjoyed the night. Thank you A Little Bitter for doing a fine job and thank you for letting me pretend to be the sound engineer for your set. I think I was convincing. We had previously only heard A Little Bitter from their recordings and it was excellent to see their live set. They are energetic, tight, they have very good songs with interesting arrangements and are very nice people indeed. We felt welcome and we were in great company. Our fist impression of Northern Ireland will stay with us and it was a warm, welcoming one with a very healthy rock scene. We took it easy after the gig and enjoyed a 2am bed time to get enough sleep for the gig the next day.
The Limelight – Belfast
We negotiated a diversion and got into Belfast with time to spare. After arriving at The Limelight we dropped our instruments and headed off to check into the amazing value for money – Paddy's Palace.
The gig had originally been planned for Katy Daly's and fortunately for us, was moved into the Limelight, which was a fantastic opportunity for us to play a great quality venue with a powerful PA. Our set was………Bitter, Below the Salt, Stupid Little Question, Belovodia, Omega, Under Side View, Colour of Skin, Undivided and closed again with Akhaisha.
Hello to Tommy and Karen (Twisted Sister child of '72) and everyone else we met and talked with and shared drinks with. Jon found some graffiti in the toilets which read "oh my god, they all want sweets!" Fortunately for us, we had lots of sweets and proceeded to share lots of little packets of juicy lips with everyone and anyone including the sound man, who worked hard and helped us to sound better than we have in a while.
At the end of the show, there was much hugging and story telling and we received some excellent advice on how to spend the rest of the evening. Off we went to Auntie Annie's on Dublin Road to sample the local brew and play a random "name that band" game until the early hours.
We had a decent sleep and made our way home today looking forward to July when A Little Bitter join us in Scotland.
Why? Because we can. Do it again? Hell yeah!!