location de bicyclette à Clermont Fd....
A
French tour. We seem to be spending more and more time in France, which is no bad thing for me, and completely contrary to the prevailing conditions here in Germany, it really was pretty much perfect Spring weather. A packed show in
Lille (Rioja reserva I think) was a great way to start, then on to
Lyon for a day off (vin blanc, organised by the man from Barnes, not for me that one, too sweet. Honestly, I ask you, calls himself a bon viveur.) before the Sunday gig, where we'd sold 2,500 tickets, not bad you'd think. Only trouble was you could get 30,000 in there, so it was a weird experience. Mother's day as well, and I wasn't at home. 'Er behind the doors birthday as well, not exactly Percy Popular. Bugger that though, BRENTFORD LOST AT WEMBLEY!!!!! AAAAAGH!!!! Nuff said about that anyway, I'm over it now... Just.
Clermont Ferand, went for a cycle ride with that Andy May, panacher (shandy to you riff raff), no recollection of the gig. Actually it just came back to me. The audience were intently listening to each song as opposed to the overall vibe of the show, so some went down better than others. However by the end mesdames and messieurs were 'aving ze ball. Spell check is a real bastard when you talk foreign or cockney geezer y'know. Marseille, róse at lunch, bought a shopping trolley for the country seat, really! let's fucken rock eh? Met some lovely French Billie walking along wiv me trolley, which I've this minute named Offme. They didn't say a word about it, which was nice. Rocked out.
Day off just outside Toulouse, small town called Lavour, Crepes and Sauvignon blanc order of the day there plus brilliant cycle ride through la belle France. No memory of show but great venue, really oddly shaped on the outside. Day off in
Poitiers, Côtes du Rhône, reading in a park, blinding show next day.
Caen, beautiful beautiful city, thoroughly recommended for a holiday, cycle ride, more sauvignon blanc and a calvados, bought some Cider as well. when in Normandy eh?
Nancy, day off. I loved this city. By total chance found the cafe where Edith Piaf used to sing as a little girl, great experience, which of course called for a celebratory drink (Côtes du Rhône villages).
Rouen, last show, drunk the cider and went home. Do you think I might be running out of things to say about the gigs? Me, the third Earl of Twickenham? Or is it because I was vewy, vewy, drunk at the time.
My mother in law tells me I have the life of Riley and she ain't far wrong. So there you have it, that's our latest foray into France. We are actually having to work really hard to get back to where we were some years ago, which is where we want to be. So we play to smaller crowds, and it costs us to go there, but we want to take the full production with us, we never shortchange the Billy, that's not fair. You know there is still a shitload of ambition in this band, and long may it last. Amen.
One more thing re the French tour, the opening act for the tour, Willie and the Bandits. What lovely guys, really into their music, they and their crew did a great job every night warming up the crowd for us, look forward to catching them at a gig of their own.