Even before all that, we begin the whole shenanigans at the REWIND Festival, at Henley next Sunday (21st) with a nice intimate in-at-the-deep-end set for 20,000 people - so no pressure there. Rewind has already been one of the most successful of the year's festivals, having done their Scone Palace event 2 weeks ago, and this coming one, too, sold out in advance. We've had to pare down a number of songs to squeeze as many hits as possible into our allotted set time, and with TV and other media stuff all over this event like a swarm of bees, it'll be a fine relaxed afternoon for us down by the Thames, to be sure.
In many of the BBC radio interviews we've done recently, there's been the hint of a suspicion of a scintilla in the air of: "possible farewell tour?" bandied about, which I've been quick to quash given our continuing thirst for new conquests, and having nothing better to do than see the world for free, thanks to music. However, if there's one City that might just about qualify for that dubious attention, it seems to be Newcastle. I reckon our batting average of gigs there is close to one every ten years (or so it seems), so this may well be a 'Farewell' gig there, at The Riverside. If you Geordies have any interest in seeing this Flying Funk Machine before it gets bronzed and put out on display, I would suggest you get your tickets for Wed. 24th there on the bank of the Tyne.
We slide on South through the West Midlands, and The Slade Rooms in Wolverhampton - home of the Wanderers - and close to one of our initial triumphs at the old "JB's" in Dudley with AWB Mark One in its infancy. Haven't done this particular venue before, but I hear it's a good 'un, and we look forward to hopefully seeing some of our mates & stalwarts from the Birmingham Ronnie Scotts days there as well. It's not that far from The City, you know...you can make it!
On, then, to 'casual' Cambridge:
Always a pleasure (if the weather's decent) is a stroll around the University town on a rare night off - which we finally get, here, for perhaps a picnic by the river, or in a cosy bistro if there's a light drizzle instead. A civilized and well-deserved catching-of-breath before diving into the second half of the tour. The Junction is our gig there on the 27th, and it has grown in popularity since our first visit there about 5 years ago. It's a Saturday night, so you've no excuse for missing this one.
Beside The Seaside, etc:
Our one coastal event of the tour is back in Brighton - this time at a new (to us) venue, Komedia which seems to have an eclectic mix of media events and musical genres. We'll be the Funk 'n
Soul one on the Sunday (28th), and we'll be running up the engines for our impending 3-night swing into London's Jazz Cafe, so expect a decent jam-out there in the salty Brighton air.
Talking of the Jazz Cafe, this is a bit of a return to an old stomping ground that saw annual AWB multi-night residencies for close to fifteen years on the trot, from 1994 onwards. After a hiatus, and as it's once again in the 'Mean Fiddler' group of gigs, we are heading back to the joint for a fierce run beginning Bank Holiday Monday 29th, through Wed. 31st. Usual formula - standing room only downstairs, and tables, grub 'n' grog upstairs for the hungry & thirsty of North London. It's on the Northern Line (Camden Town), so you can come from the South, too! We take the red bus - it stops opposite.
Then, to conclude this mad tour of Britain-in-a-fortnight, we zip up the motorway again to Bonnie Scotland, and the final 3 dates I mentioned at the beginning: Glasgow's 02 ABC on Friday Sep. 2nd, Montrose Town Hall on Saturday 3rd, finishing up at the Dunfermline Alhambra on Sunday 4th with local friends "Lights Out" sharing the bill with us there. There are still tickets available
for these as they are just over a couple of weeks away yet, but from previous, when Edinburgh gets the sold-out notice up (as is the case again this time), these go fast too.
Pick your night(s), pick your venue, pick up the phone, and we'll Pick up the Pieces (Ouch!).
A.G.
