Charity Night - The Concert - Saturday May 6th 2006

[Matrix]

Sorry I didn't get to meet you steve. And infact, sorry to anyoe who managed to get to the lazerquest - the city centre was as expected - AN UNMITTIGATED NIGHTMARE to navigate, and we lost the chance to go.

Appologies to Merman for making him walk from Oxford St station (we couldnt find it, but did pass Picadilly several times in the attempt), to Piccadilly (which we couldnt find again, lost it, but found Oxford St station) - *Frustration ensues*

So just as a precursor - if anyone needs picking up from the airport to goto failsworth in future, no problem, if it involves the city centre in anyway - fraid i'm not your man. M'chester would test the patience if a saint - I would live there but for fear of turning grey overnight.

BIG Thanks to Paul for putting the event on (can you possibly send an unused ticket or two for me Paul, add to the collection ?), fraid we had to leave in a bit of a hurry due to time constraints.

Who was the Joe Longthorn/Joe Brown wannabe ? decent voice, he likes his Tom Jones - and we just cracked up when he did "Mr Blue Sky" following an incident in the car enroute

Mega thanks to Matt Cannon for stepping into Marcel's shoes during his absence, and t john hare who plays a well mean strumm on classical guitar - well - just for being more famous than Ben.... apparently.... seems very *sensible* to me

Big thanks for the pitifully few retroheads that actually showed to support SID 80's and the charity - once they came on, it seems outside our little group, nobody gave a rats ass, people talked as loud as possible and were hurling insults at the band... *nice*... behind me in the corner - where the kids were allowed to create a creche and scream the place down. At one point a drunk near me tried to get up and grab madfiddler as he went passed commenting "come here ya fidlding bastard"... amazing what a little booze can do. It didnt help and actually spoilt the night a little - why do I always manage to get seated next to the tossers ?

That aside it was a terrific performance and professionally performed - kudos to all concerned.

I think the main issue was that they simply had no clue what was being played, and no idea what category it would fall under, so they just talked over it - though everyone DID seem to get along with "that greek wedding music" (Rasputin) and Amy did her best to get people clapping and involved over in our "section".

Word to the wise re:Beefeater at the Inn people chose to stop at - the food has gone down in quality & presentation SERIOUSLY from last year - I saved myself for the feast from heaven, and instead landed a 4 person bill of over £70 for what looked like the equivalent of a £20 morrisons cafe spend; the sauce was even supplied in the sachets - very cheap looking... Lesson learned - Subway or Makkie D' next time Merman - BIT expensive that Beefeater nowadays

PS: if you have autoroute on a laptop - bring it - they only closed the sodding M62 didnt they.... (J20-J21), a nightmare without a map and no knowledge of the locale. Worth checking with the AA in future too.

A fun time had by all though despite everything and we all kept smiling till we either fell asleep, got groped, or got dropped off at home. My throat feels like it's been raped by a thorn bush and some friendly nettles - hope i'm ok tomorrow for amy's housewarming.

While not strictly being a retro event, it was still great to see everyone again and socialize. I very much look forward to the next gig, and hope all worked out ok for Paul and the charity.

A/A/S

[madfiddler]

Thanks on behalf of the band the "the crowd" who went. If it wasn't for your support.......

At one point a drunk near me tried to get up and grab madfiddler as he went passed commenting "come here ya fidlding bastard"... amazing what a little booze can do. It didnt help and actually spoilt the night a little - why do I always manage to get seated next to the tossers ?

If I had heard him at the time, I would have poked him in the eye wiv my bow

[PeeknPoke Lee]

I must say a big sorry sorry sorry for not turning up - Sorry Danceaway.

being the big retro geek that I am, living not a long drive away was rather silly of me - I got loads of work on the next month and needed Sat to do just that - please slap me hard next time. Which Jeff will do I think

It does sound like everyone had a good time - apart from the pissheads - and full cheers for Danceaway for doing something. hope lots of money was made.

regards,
Lee

[Kenz]

Really sorry me and Natz couldn't come along to show our support - but unfortunately the date clashed with some other commitments which I couldn't get out of (and believe me, I tried!)

Now hurry up and get the SID80s set online - Natz is excited at the prospect of seeing some madfiddling! (oo-er!)

[Slick2097]

Sorry I didn't get to meet you steve.

Thats ok matey, myself, mug and his two mates sat on the middle table near the front. As SID80's started some family sat infront of us and talked and smoked all the way through the set.

Even through the smoke and the chatter, it still didn't dull the experience os SID80's, we heard the creche noise from our table so it must have been mental for you lot.

Amy popped over and said hello earlier on in the night, she recognised my face from last year. Oh and hello to the two chaps from nottingham I was chatting to while SID80's were practising (think one of them was called andy .. i'm terrible with names and faces). We didn't join you all as we don't post on YakYak so we wouldn't have fitted in besides, we thought having more retro's dotted about might make the norm's join in more ... it didn't work :/

Danceaway, great event mate. Will be up for the next one as its only 30 miles round the M60 / 62 for me

Get that footage online and let us know the total raised Was nice of Jon Hare to bid on the Man U stuf .. few bob raised there.

Ste.

[Matrix]

Andy from Notts was Peltazoid from the yakyak forum - top chap

The guy who swore at mark on his rounds was so slaughtered he lost his balance and sat down again, but make several attempts to bust my eardrums "whooping" to Rasputin then claimed it was just shite afterwards... Turns out the lass singing at the end was with his party, and they just wanted SID 80's off stage to get her on - go figure.

Amy was trying to get us all together - I thought she had managed that.. but nevermind - a more concerted effort next time - get it ? *concerted effort* (groan)...

Ben was good enough to sign Armand's original toon, so both images will be scanned in now and make an appearence in the "post your artwork" thread.

Oh, and, they replaced the Mars Attacks barmaid with someone a little kinder to the eye - WHOOOF !! I'd say

A perverts report said:
-Barmaid kept bending down showing tops and tails - WHOO!!
-Barkeep came by to sweep up dropped glass, with no bra on
-Bird to my right with masive jabonga's, low cut dress and no bra proved entertaining.
-Ladies lying over us collectively was way cool
-I could go on but you get the idea.

Bwhahahahahahahahahaaa a a a ah hahahah aaa !!! Can't wait for the next one

hopefully next time I won't go "croak gribbit" during the performance and lose my voice in it's absolute entirity next day (today).. I can't talk, but I can type - and i'm tired.... sod it, 'm going back to bed.

[Vosla]

A perverts report said:
-Barmaid kept bending down showing tops and tails - WHOO!!
-Barkeep came by to sweep up dropped glass, with no bra on
-Bird to my right with masive jabonga's, low cut dress and no bra proved entertaining.
-Ladies lying over us collectively was way cool
-I could go on but you get the idea.

AND NO PHOTOS OF IT??! (For scientific research of course)

[Slick2097]

Andy from Notts was Peltazoid from the yakyak forum - top chap

Ah ok thanks.

The guy who swore at mark on his rounds was so slaughtered he lost his balance and sat down again, but make several attempts to bust my eardrums "whooping" to Rasputin then claimed it was just shite afterwards... Turns out the lass singing at the end was with his party, and they just wanted SID 80's off stage to get her on - go figure.

We left immediately after SID 80's ... we'd had enough of the smoke and had a 30 minute drive home and we didn't want to risk the DJ playing Agadoo or the birdy song..

Amy was trying to get us all together - I thought she had managed that.. but nevermind - a more concerted effort next time - get it ? *concerted effort* (groan)...

Don't give up the day job (unless you are a comic .. in which case ..)

Oh, and, they replaced the Mars Attacks barmaid with someone a little kinder to the eye - WHOOOF !! I'd say

It doesn't take much to find something more pleasing to the eye than "Babs" (as I seem to recall the mars attacks barmaid was called).

A perverts report said:
-Barmaid kept bending down showing tops and tails - WHOO!!
-Barkeep came by to sweep up dropped glass, with no bra on
-Bird to my right with masive jabonga's, low cut dress and no bra proved entertaining.
-Ladies lying over us collectively was way cool
-I could go on but you get the idea.

Bwhahahahahahahahahaaa a a a ah hahahah aaa !!! Can't wait for the next one

hopefully next time I won't go "croak gribbit" during the performance and lose my voice in it's absolute entirity next day (today).. I can't talk, but I can type - and i'm tired.... sod it, 'm going back to bed.

Rest up matey, see you at the next event.

Ste.

[StarshipUK]

Hi All,

I was audio taping this this from the Audience. Apart from alot of crowd noise (I moved closer to the front to a more quiet area after the first song the band played to try and cut some of this out), it has come out pretty nice - Compared to the last recording I made in Copenhagen which was unusuable.

With the permission of all involved I am happy to upload the recording and make it available in FLAC or MP3 or whatever is preferred.

Thanks,
Steve.

[StarshipUK]

A little report from the SID80's Charity Event Concert:

After it has been said there will be no more RV's or BIT's, and with only the Copenhagen event left, it was a great pleasure and surprise to see SID80's in Manchester at their first concert this year.

As always I drove with myself from Southend, Essex up to Manchester - Not through choice and if anyone ever wants a lift too and from one of these events please let me know - The long drive on my own can get boring. Although I had hoped to get to the the Laserquest, I had a long week at work with a few late fisnishes, and decided to head straigh to my £26 Travelodge room in Bury, about 15 mins from the venue.

I overslept slightly, but needed the sleep after the 4 hour drive, finally arriving at the venue about 7:30-ish.

It is rare to go to a concert at the same venue twice ever - And as a taper it is always nice to know what the layout of the place will be like, and where to set up.

This was the second time I have been to The Avenue in Manchester, the first time being the Retrovision BIT Lite event that was there last year - Although the layout was different with what seemed like a smaller stage and it was nice to see the soundboard where it should be (Not to the side of the stage).

After recognising some familiar faces, I set up on the left of the venue, so as to be able to place my mics high up on the wall.

The Morgan was a good singer- Does he ever play with a live band or just use Karaoke Backing Tracks... He would be great if he had a real band behind him. Interesting selection of songs.. Especially the ELO one.

The raffle was good. To my surprise I won a wide selection of cleaning products - I never normally win raffles, so this was a surprise!

The Buffet was excellent, although I am a vegeterian and was unable to identify some of the food as to wether it was vegeterian or not, the cheese rolls were nice - I am sure I am in the minority being a vegie.

Then came SID80's. After the first song I decided to move my Mic's closer to the stage, as the was lots of loud crowd noise where I had originally set up. Luckily there was enough talking from Ben between the songs to allow me to do this withough missing anything, but you will notice the mic pops between song1 and song2 when you hear the recording, and then slightly less crowd noise.

Now I am not moaning - SID80's play so rarely that it is a treat to see them in any kind of format at any time, but for this kind of an event and even without the drums, I think SID80's might have got a better response from the norms if they had played Electric - Or with Ben playing Electric Guitar. The softer accoustic version of Deflector was played, and it seemed just too soft- Perhaps the harder electric version should have been played... Perhaps I should have bought my small Bongo Drums along... I can't play them myself, but I think these worked well when they were played with the drumless SID80's at RV5.

The SID80's set lasted around 59 Minutes, and no new songs, but I enjoyed the organ sounds that Matt added to the performance - How about adding all three keyboardists to the next show with Matt, Marcel and Reyn? and perhaps a few from PPOT? and some Swedish Ladies?

After SID80's the bar soon shut and there was about 30 Minutes of Disco music played, and a woman from the drunken table who is gonna be on X-Factor got up to sing. I mean no offence, and did not like to say anything at the time, but was it just me or did she seem slightly out of tune?- I know that the sound setup and acoustics at The Avenue are not the greatest.

Hello's to everyone I met and thanks to Amy for cheering me up and for the Dance. I hope you were not too hung over today.

And from a loyal fan... a small request for the next SID80's Concert.... Can you play Ben's "Dark Fusion" Please?

On Sunday, I managed to make the 2 hour drive to Gretna Green to purchase some Bramble Whisky before the 6 hour drive home to Southend.

Thanks for a good night out and I look forward to the next one.

Steve.

[madfiddler]

Hi All,

I was audio taping this this from the Audience. Apart from alot of crowd noise (I moved closer to the front to a more quiet area after the first song the band played to try and cut some of this out), it has come out pretty nice - Compared to the last recording I made in Copenhagen which was unusuable.

With the permission of all involved I am happy to upload the recording and make it available in FLAC or MP3 or whatever is preferred.

Thanks,
Steve.

Consider the permission given

[madfiddler]

Although the layout was different with what seemed like a smaller stage and it was nice to see the soundboard where it should be (Not to the side of the stage).

Cos I made such a fuss about it last time. Pete (the sound guy) had never done a gig before BIT Lite, so there were issues to sort out. The desk at the side, plus him wearing headphones to mix the sound created a lot of problems. This time, the FOH was in the right place, and he used his ears... and it showed. Well done Pete!

The raffle was good. To my surprise I won a wide selection of cleaning products - I never normally win raffles, so this was a surprise!

I was stunned at the quality of the prizes, bar cleaning products... Congrats on that, hehe[/quote]

Now I am not moaning - SID80's play so rarely that it is a treat to see them in any kind of format at any time, but for this kind of an event and even without the drums, I think SID80's might have got a better response from the norms if they had played Electric - Or with Ben playing Electric Guitar. The softer accoustic version of Deflector was played, and it seemed just too soft- Perhaps the harder electric version should have been played... Perhaps I should have bought my small Bongo Drums along... I can't play them myself, but I think these worked well when they were played with the drumless SID80's at RV5.

This is prolly my fault to some extent. The lack of new songs is since I'm the only one who can be bothered to do arrangements, and frankly I've got to much else going on atm. We were going to do Think Twice, but I felt that if we did the audience would have fallen into a coma since it doesn't work acoustically. Jon did actually bring his electric and a pedal board with him, but a distorted electric guitar simply would not have worked with the instrumentation we had. In fact it was Jon who was rightly trying to get us to play quieter than we did, and add more dynamics to the set. As for Deflektor - we turned it into a swing style track until the end because we didn't want all of the tunes to be full on (or as full on as acoustic instruments could be) 4/4 tracks.

With regards to drums. I phone Markie on Thursday specifically to ask him if he would play drums with us, didn't know he was ill We had bongos at RV5 and it did work. Any kind of percussion works imo.

The SID80's set lasted around 59 Minutes, and no new songs, but I enjoyed the organ sounds that Matt added to the performance - How about adding all three keyboardists to the next show with Matt, Marcel and Reyn? and perhaps a few from PPOT? and some Swedish Ladies?

Um... no... but it would be good to get Mat involved in some way or another, now that our paths have met so to speak. The only reason Reyn doesn't play is that he was just too damn busy for it.

I mean no offence, and did not like to say anything at the time, but was it just me or did she seem slightly out of tune?- I know that the sound setup and acoustics at The Avenue are not the greatest.

I have a feeling that she couldn't hear the monitors, like the UK Eurovision entry a few years ago... at least I hope that's the reason. Slightly is not the word I would have used She sounded like Marcel's keyboards in Copenhagen... ouch... hehe

Can you play Ben's "Dark Fusion" Please?

???
m

[Matrix]

To my surprise I won a wide selection of cleaning products

Are you sure they didn't say "PAT" ?

[Sidman 64]

I wanted to do this on Sunday but I was totally knackered from the Saturday.
Right first thing I am glad to say is that we recorded the concert live onto mini disc through the mixing desk !!!.
Pete missed the first song but recorded the rest, and I can say it sounds great
I read above that permission to release the tape recorded versions from the crowd has been given so I will release these as well.
I've mastered them to give a better bass and top so it now sounds like it did on the night.
Next thing is I also recorded the concert onto digi camcorder so I will also be releasing this as well, just need to edit and upload.
I did miss the last few track know as my friend who was standing with the camcorder, opened the LCD screen and it drained the batt towards the end
I forgot to bring the bloody charger !!!.
Anyway you will all enjoy what we recorded, the audio will be released on wednesday / thursday this week so pop back here for the link.

I would just like to thank a few people,

Madfidder - Ben - Jeremy - Matthew - John for coming to the event and playing some great stuff once again
Madfiddler for coming upto me at about 6pm and saying he as just had a call and been offered to play in Chester tonight for more money and was going luckly he was joking as I was thinking oh shit no FIDDLES
John Hare for bidding & winning the Man Utd sign stuff top man
Matthew Cannon & his wife Nat for coming and helping
Pete "sound guy" for doing an excellent job, it sounded a lot better than last year and the full set-up was great
Matrix and co for turning out and supporting / Merman for coming and bidding on the snooker sign dvd etc !!!!
A certain person phoned the avenue at about 7.20pm to wish us all the best for the night ????
That person was Chris Abbott , thanks chris and a big thanks for the link on your site.
Thanks to Jeff for helping out on the night with raffles etc !!!.
my last thanks goes to RetroMarkie, he as help out with the website - paypal - getting the software from Idigicon and posting on the forums.
So a BIG GREEN THANKS goes to you mate.
Unfortantly Mark could not make it at the last minute as he is not well , you can watch the recordings and the audio !!!

Well all in all I think it was very succesful and we had a good turn out of around 150 people.
We have managed to raise £1,600 for Saddleworth Special Needs Playgroup
So a BIG THANKS TO ALL WHO TURNED UP AND FOR SUPPORTING AND DONATING
Well until the next gig I said I would not do another one but someone needs to keep the live events going and I love them !!!
It just takes a lot out of you organising the behind the scene stuff.
I do recall MR ABBOTT saying the same thing about 4 or 5 years ago
and he went on and did a few more events

Cheers

Paul

[merman]

I have pictures, I also have a PayPal account if you want to bribe me not to post them

Starship - thought I recognised you from my flight over to Copenhagen, which incidentally was the same price as my return rail ticket to Manchester from Cambridge

Matrix and Sandra - a blast as ever, and my voice was a bit croaky on Sunday too Oh and the rear view of that barmaid sweeping up was rather tasty too

Paul - top fun, will definitely make the effort if you put on another retro event/concert

Strongbow Cider - I love you