Caedmon Hall, Gateshead

Tomorrow evening I will be supporting Martin Stephenson at The Caedmon Hall in Gateshead. It is a lovely, unusual venue with its own atmosphere.
We played there on Valentine's night last year; McMum was supposed to travel down from Edinburgh to come to the gig and stay in a lovely hotel by the river with a view of the sparkly Tyne, but she didn't feel up to it, and that was the start of her illness.
So quick, from A to Z; we all know that our parents can not live forever, but it is still shocking when it all ends.
Newcastle used to be my first home and now it feels like my second. I love playing in the north-east; if only Newcastle and Gateshead had embraced artists and musicians as much in the 1970s as it does now! I remember hearing about Kitchenware starting up when I lived in Brighton and thinking, 'Where were they five years ago when I needed them?'.
Mind you, I would not have started playing bass in the first place if I'd not left home and gone to art college, but I'm pretty sure that somehow the wave of northern activity would have been irresistible.
It will be an odd anniversary, a bittersweet night, but perhaps there will be a kind of closure afterwards. That is what I am hoping for.