Glasgow and Edinburgh

 Glasgow Accies was just as jolly as ever, in spite of the freezingness of the weather outside. It was stuffed to the gills and the Daintees put on a fabulous show, augmented at times by Jamie's harmonica, a fantastic fiddle player and Charlie Carruther's mad Donald Duck impersonations. Bruce Moreton did a short routine that had everyone in stitches. In spite of the talkers at the back (they come out every Christmas just to stand outside the Gents and yak all the way through) Martin's wit was to the forefront and they did some great versions of their songs. At one point the brothers Dunn did some very tasty harmonies that inspired Martin to quip 'Aha- the Alessi brothers!' which made Anth crease up so much he could hardly play. Later, Anth ran through some classic bass-lines, much to the audience's delight: they were all deeply uncool and therefore cannot be mentioned on this blog but the audience were delighted.
These photographs are from the sound checks at the Edinburgh gig, which was held at part of the Cafe Royale, the Voodoo Rooms. The Cafe Royale has well swanked up since the last time I was there, when it appeared to be visibly rotting. It's all been done up in black and gold, all the mouldings on the ceilings picked out in gilt, plaster swags swaggering, and teensy lights peeking like distant twinkling stars from the backdrop! They treated us like Kings (and a Queen) and brought out huge plates of grub, which we sat and tucked into round a black-clad table. McMum braved the ice to come to see The Daintees for the first time, and I sat with her at the side, where she was impressed by Martin's stream of consciousness lyrics and declared afterwards that she had wanted to dance. Not bad for an over-eighty, I thought! We did our best ever versions of Heaven Avenue and Loverman and the Daintees did a great version of Colleen, a brilliant Long Forgotten, and lots of others that I really liked (including The Lilac Tree).
I can't write much more- I am tired out after a train from Edinburgh to Glasgow and a very long journey back which took eight hours. It was a lovely Scottish trip- everyone seemed to be in really good moods and very relaxed, which melted a warm and welcome gap in the ice and snow.