Saturday at The Keys in Huddersfield

On the way there, I spotted this hilarious seedy duo: tattoo parlour next to a laser removal clinic. Perfect twinning of activity!
We got to to the soundcheck  early, and Tina (one of the promoters) had made piles of sandwiches and biscuits with our names iced on to them- bless! Mike and June were there; they are Martin's greatest fans and do a great job selling Martins CDs (and mine). Happy birthday June for next week; 21 isn't that old, you know! The audience got pie'n'peas, and this pic shows Mike and June tucking in. The Keys in is a huge crypt, five times larger than the Eyre Chapel, but it was still packed out with people and buzzing with anticipation; they sat at tables on alpine-looking carved pine chairs, all dressed up in Saturday night finery.

Steph Stephenson played first: her family had all come along and they were sitting next to her cheering her on. She has a beautiful voice and turned in a great set.

Next up was Gary Stewart, a Scottish lad who had a distinctive vocal sound, a very powerful sound. He is a nifty guitar player and he debuted a song he had written for his new-born niece which was a truly lovely song. He is a gentleman, pointing out that Martin's guitar was sounding buzzy at the soundcheck and offering to lend me a tuner because mine had conked out. As chance would have it, Mike had brought one along and he gave it to me. I was on next and although I reckon people were hungry, I got a good reception and Martin joined me for Heaven Avenue and Loverman, before playing another really blazing set which he finished on the Green Goddess herself, because the yummy Takamine decided to got to bed and not play any more. Although I say so myself, the Gretsch sounds amazing (you see, I never hear myself play because I am playing) and I was pretty impressed by its sound. There were a lot of really friendly people there and it's not every day that you play to a man whose past activities include sawing people in half (it's absolutely true, believe me!). So it was a really good evening, and again a great promoter. Thanks to Andrew and Tina for being great hosts, and I want that biscuit recipe please.