LoGOz - 4 Gigs in under 24 hours weekender REVIEW!!!

Our weekend gig-a-thon got off to a good start on Saturday night as we rolled into The Teams Club in Gateshead bang on time, 6 o'clock as arranged, for our set to open COCKNEY REJECTS’ 35th Anniversary Tour. We were greeted by our genial host for the evening and general all round punk rock entrepreneur Steif A Billy. Warm handshakes and banter were exchanged as we watched main support band GIMPFIST soundchecking. The venue itself put me in mind of Phoenix Nights, a kind of big old school traditional style concert hall. We liked this. And not a wheelchaired Chairman drinking beer out of a vase in sight!

Time for our soundcheck, and the place was already starting to fill up. Not for the first time in this band I was getting electric shocks from the main vocal mic.  Paul Spicer Sawyer is convinced I've got Alien implants! Even after changing mics, leads, power cables etc I was still getting belts. Not good. But hey this is a punk rock show right? So I suffered for my art and adapted my vocal delivery style, making sure I kept a safe distance! As we kicked into 'Long Time Dead' at 7:50pm there was a cracking crowd in and plenty of Harrington jackets and Dr Marten foot tapping going on as we blasted through a solid 40 minute set!!! Job done. Shame we couldn’t stay to watch GIMPFIST and of course THE COCKNEY REJECTS, but we already had another gig commitment remember?? So as we shook hands and embraced new friends it was time to head back to our native Northumberland for gig number 2 of the evening. 1 down 3 to go!!!

We pulled up at the Roxbury in Blyth as COLLiSiON were enjoying a sneaky tab at the main entrance as lead singer Tony Houghton asked " Did yi git here on ya fuckin Space Shuttle?" Still buzzing on the adrenalin of our gig earlier we were well warmed up and after a great soundcheck we were ready to hit the stage just after 10pm. Again a great crowd in as folk sang, danced, clicked their phones and punched the air, some still even in fantastic Halloween gear, as we tore through our second 40 minute set of the night! Get in!!! A great sound too, so thanks to Vince Race for that. Finally we could relax and enjoy a well deserved beer or 6 as COLLiSiON ripped into punk classics including 'New Rose' by THE DAMNED and 'Pretty Vacant' by The SEX PISTOLS. They also played some of their original tracks from the New E.P. which went down well with The Roxbury brigade. What a night and we had it all to do again on Sunday. This is the life!!!

Sunday morning began with my best Barry White. I meant my voice by the way, that wasn’t cockney rhyming slang! Anyway we were due at North Shields Rugby Club Walk of Life Charity Gig for 2pm soundcheck so we had to get our arses in gear sharpish. So Clemmy, Mizzii Bee and me arrived at said venue in good time as Clemmy went to investigate. This place was a tad too quiet with not much noise going inside for me. A few minutes later Clemmy returned with the news that this was the wrong fucking Rugby Club in North Shields, but they were actually having a charity event as well. What were the chances of that? HELLO CLEVELAND!!! So after our mini Spinal Tap moment and blaming the Sat Nav we rang Paul & Carlos who, after stopping laughing guided us to the RIGHT venue. We were first band on kicking the event off so Soundcheck was a breeze and not an electric shock in sight. We opened things up at 3:15pm after exchanging my usual Sunday dinner for pints of Carling we were a well-oiled machine and tight as ever as the appreciative all aged Charity crowd lapped up our LoGOz sabbath matinee. A few familiar faces had made the journey and was great to see and hear their support, not only for us, the bands but for the charidee too :) Thanks to local MEEEEEETTTTAAAAAAAAAAL Singer, Soundman, Painter and Decorator extraordinaire Mark Evans for arranging this event and asking us to play. A great afternoons work indeed even though we won nowt on the Domino cards ;)

lt was just starting to get dark as we headed out of North Shields and on to The Golden Lion in Jarrow. On the way we got News that out of the 4 acts on this acoustic event, 1 had already played, and 2 had pulled out!!! To say we were disappointed was an understatement!! To cancel so late and leaving the Promoter in the shit was a bit harsh, but hey, I can’t speak for the other bands. So basically we wanted to make the best out of a bad situation. And do that we shall. With aplomb :) So I decided on a total unplugged set. Let’s just sit with our guitars in people’s faces and just sing our songs!! This ended up being one of the strangest intimate best ever performances we will probably ever do. Maybe you just had to be there! Just ask Iain Bartlett! As Carlos took a well-earned break, Paul and me played almost every single LoGOz song we knew and some we have never ever played acoustically before as folk joined into be part of something quite unique and a bit special. One refreshed local gentleman even started a 'Friggin in the Riggin' acapello version which l was more than happy to join in with. Rob from Spitfire Bullets joined in the action as we covered 'God Save the Queen' and 'Blitzkrieg Bop'. Then Jordan from Black Bloc got in on the act with 'Alternative Ulster'. It was just one of those great nights and a cracking end to a hectic non-stop weekend. I'm kind of proud that we helped resurrect a night that was dying on its arse. We headed out of Jarrow tired but more than happy we had achieved what we set out to do, play 4 gigs in under 24 hours, and we did it. No big deal, just saying :) Thanks to everyone who came to support us over the weekend you know who you are! No sleep til Bed time!!!

Cheerz

Peesh