Gigs – Page 15 – Ferocious Blog

The not so Jingle Bell Ball..

Just how do you follow up a sell-out show these days? Well, two consecutive sell-out shows in Kenny’s case, well – Ken and Dan gave up their time for free to support a charity event set up by Georgi and Heather from Chesterfield College. They were raising money and awareness for FairPlay, who support children and young adults with disabilities or other needs across the North Derbyshire area, as part of their Health and Social Care studies. So far their fundraising total is over £900 – which is awesome, huge well done!

I didn’t think I was going to be able to make it to the event at Chesterfield’s Proact Stadium but as work took me to Leeds on the day it seemed like providence as that made the gig pretty much on the way home. So upon leaving our office just north of Leeds into the mysterious and misty weather it turned out the M1 was a bit of a nightmare – my sat nav came up trumps and diverted me round the back of Meadowhall and through a labyrinthine route around the backstreets of Rotherham and Sheffield to eventually spit me out on the road to Chesterfield past Dronfield.

Now as a proud Stag being asked to play at the home of the Spireites is a big ask for Ken. It’s a new ground so it’s very shiny – and The Spires restaurant is a cracking venue, it was going to be a bit odd being at a Ferocious Dog gig – albeit a two-piece one – and sat in dinner party table arrangements! Whilst Ken and Dan were sound checking I settled on a table with Karen, Bev, Emma, Jamie and Dylan – it was good to have a natter, and coo over Lacey-Lee a bit who was with Leanne and family on the next table.

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Freeborn Al / 16th December 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

True, Fast and (mostly) balanced..

Nights like last night are the kind of occasions that you simply won’t forget – to coin a phrase from one of the acts in question, I can’t stand the thought of lying on my death bed with regrets, but I’m pretty sure this evening’s fun and games will be one that I relive when that time comes. Okay, a bit morbid, sorry. For a mere £8 something Andrea had bagged not just Funke and the Two Tone Baby and Gaz Brookfield, but Maelor Hughes and Ken Bonsall in a Ferocious Dog one-piece guise too.

Any one of those acts in my admittedly slightly biased opinion are worth that fee – throw in a bonus song from Brian Stone, the awesome Rock and Blues venue in Barnsley and friends too numerous to count in attendance and I don’t think I’m exaggerating at all to say it’s one of my favourite gigs of this year. Ella and I headed up to Barnsley from Loughborough and had treated ourselves to an inexpensive Premier Inn room a ten minute stagger down the road, and were soon battling through the wind to get there.

Upon getting into the venue and wrist banded up it was already pretty full of familiar faces, we had plenty of time for mingling and getting a few drinks down us before the doors to the venue proper were opened. Maelor was up first with a slightly poorly throat – it didn’t take away from a top opening set though, Morning Sun was the second song in, by the time he’d moved into Better Day the crowd were already shouting the ‘Oi Oi’ bits without him asking them to, he treated us to Won’t Fight Your War before offering us the bonus of a guest appearance.

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Freeborn Al / 12th December 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos, Videos / 0 Comments

Weston-Super-Stars..

The day for us started in Doncaster post-Levelling. We’d arranged to meet Becky, Pete and Rachel in a Toby Carvery for a spot of all you can eat breakfast. Unfortunately we hadn’t clarified brilliantly which one, so the Hotel Campanile crew all piled into the wrong one – a quick google later we’d located the right one and headed there for a plate full of greasy goodness to stave off potential hangovers. It was a nice way to start the day off reminiscing over a great evening, not least updating the non-Campanile folk of cheese-party disclosures.

Best still, as a potential neat sideline for the MeadEvil bar, Pete had been sourcing some drinking horns – after expressing my excitement about owning such a vessel they very kindly gifted one to me. So that shall be making plenty of appearances at festivals next year – mmm, meeeead! I just need some kind of holster for it, or maybe my Dogfest lanyard thing will do the job! Perhaps I should’ve thought a bit more about the photo I posted on Facebook that John must’ve spent all of five minutes gleefully ‘adjusting’ with, well, I was going to say Photoshop but I think it might’ve been MS Paint – haha! I’ve not used that picture in here!

Then for Ella and I it was time for goodbyes and hitting the road to Weston-Super-Mare via Donny station where Andrea joined our merry road trip to go to The Leylines christmas party. We had a pretty clear run all the way down, arriving at the windswept town with plenty of time to get checked in. Andrea’s hotel had free parking so we used that – she checked in to Room 101 initially, but swapped it for one with a sea view, in the meantime we were just round the corner in a different hotel which was pretty comfortable too!

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Freeborn Al / 6th December 2015 / Gigs, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

Levelling the Dome..

Of course being in dire need of a rest from a fairly relentless few months of going to gigs, what better way to wind down from the crescendo of last weekend than going to see the Levellers on their Beautiful Nights mini-tour last week? Ha. After finishing up work Ella and I hotfooted it up to Doncaster to check in to the slightly sinister Campanile Hotel which is right next to the venue, and looks a bit like an American motel with the rooms in a block on two levels separate from the reception and bar area.

As well as us numerous friends were also staying there – Dave, Caroline, Dave, Nadine, Naomi, Kev and Magz. Dave and Caroline were already there, and once we’d got ourselves sorted the first order of duty was to head round to nearby Brewers Fayre for some drinks, socialising and food. Eventually everyone had arrived including Becky, Pete, Rachel so we headed on over to the venue shortly after it had opened – and well, frankly it was a riot of people we knew which was great.

The Doncaster Dome is an interesting venue, a multi-functional space you’re assaulted immediately with a chlorine smell from the swimming pool, enticed tantalisingly by a children’s play area as you head to the dome itself and descend to the floor level which housed a bar and the merchandise stall. I resisted a splurge and instead just nattered to the countless friends assembling – the sound insulation was pretty good too as by the time I’d thought to check the time I’d managed to miss Ruts DC which was a bit annoying – I’ve seen highly appreciative comments on Facebook about their set.

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Freeborn Al / 5th December 2015 / Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

Dogfest 2016 – going, going… gone!

If you blinked you might’ve missed the window of opportunity for ordering tickets for Dogfest 2016 which went on sale shortly after the Rock City gig. Dan announced on Facebook he was putting on sale the remainder of the tickets for the event on 13th February 2016 – which will once again be hosted at The Black Market Venue in Warsop – and it’s now officially sold out in a matter of days.

The line-up is all but confirmed – with one slot remaining for prospective bands to vie for – there’s been some amazing suggestions on the thread in the Facebook group already, so if any of those are successful in getting the final place it’ll be a fine addition to what is already a stellar line-up. Gaz Brookfield isn’t available for the date sadly, although y’know, you need to mix it up a bit – he’s done the last two Dogfests after all!

Quite a change from the first Dogfest I attended back in 2012 – that definitely wasn’t a sell out, and my own attitude was less committed too. We hotfooted it up mainly to see Ferocious Dog finish the day off having been at the football in the afternoon. Fast forward to 2013 and there was merchandise and a lot more people, 2014 I think was sold out and amazing, of course 2015 was skipped to make way for Rock City and a change of date for February in 2016.

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Freeborn Al / 2nd December 2015 / Band, Gigs, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

Sell outs..

.. in the best possible sense, of course – it took until the day but Ferocious Dog were indeed successful in capping off the tour by selling out home town (ish) venue Rock City in advance – the first unsigned act to do so in the 35 year history of the venue. 28th November 2015 is a day that history was made. For me it felt like a real watershed moment for a band I’ve had the pleasure of following for the last few years.

I spent the evening before making my hair look a bit more silly than normal. It turns out I should’ve probably checked in with Spike and Chris who would end up with the same coloured hair as me for the evening, but never mind, eh? I’ll probably regret it more when it starts to fade out to pink! I even managed to get it spiked into a pretty good mohawk without the assistance I often get from Ella!

Come Saturday morning unusually the postman turned up before midday bringing me Gaz Brookfield‘s new acoustic album to provide the soundtrack to my fairly short drive into Nottingham. More on this at another time, though! I got parked up near Rock City and found Cerebus being unloaded, so time for a few greetings with the band and crew who were all looking suitably excited about what was to come. Simon and Ella arrived which meant for us it was time to head for food.

Dave and Bettina had done a great job in organising the whole of the downstairs of Annie’s Burger Shack to be reserved for a group of fifty or so of us to be fed a fine array of burger goodness in a buffet style. Very filling it was too, handy stomach lining for what was to follow and a chance to have a nice leisurely chat with a section of the wonderful folk we’d be coming into contact with over the course of the day!

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Freeborn Al / 29th November 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Lee Bonsall, Music, Other Bands, Photos, Thoughts

Run with the wolves while I hunt like a hound..

I’d booked tickets for Prodigy ages ago and kinda forgotten about it – subsequent Ferocious Dog tour marathoning has rendered me pretty much without holiday now so it was a straight-from-work driving job. Ella and I met up with Phil in Nottingham and headed on to the venue, Nottingham’s Ice Arena, a fairly characterless carbuncle of an arena. Once in we were directed outside to join a monstrous queue for those of us with standing tickets (one of the bouncers inside did clock my Ferocious Dog hoody though!)

Seeing Prodigy at the G-Mex centre in Manchester back in 1997 was my first ‘proper’ gig really – I was with Phil then too, funnily enough. We had naively made our way to the front for a good vantage point, getting smashed around the mosh pit during the support act – some band called the Foo Fighters – before Prodigy took the stage. My then girlfriend passed out at some point during their set meaning we watched the second half from the medical area while she recovered.

But well, you live and you learn – whilst I’m a fan of being up close and personal in my general gig going this one was always going to be one to appreciate from a distance so upon gaining entry past the zealous and unfriendly arena staff we were faced with a pretty packed floor space and Public Enemy already underway. Eventually we settled in a spot not far from the exit around level with the mixing desk, occasionally being impolitely compelled to move in by some jobsworth harpy with a radio.

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Freeborn Al / 25th November 2015 / Gigs, Other Bands, Photos, Videos / 0 Comments

Stroud and Cardiff cancelled..

I’m sure you’ll have seen the news already, but with regret Ferocious Dog have been forced to pull out of this week’s shows at Cardiff and Stroud. Ken has been suffering with laryngitis and under doctors orders has been told he needs to rest his voice to have any hope of being able to perform at Rock City on Saturday.

Listening to Ken practically miming through rehearsals on Sunday, and having been privy to some of the deliberating over the decision I know how gutted all the band are. They have been agonising over the possibility of needing to let down those folk with tickets for the two shows – but well, medical mandate has made the call for them.

The Cardiff gig has been rescheduled for 6th February 2016, and tickets remain valid – if folk need to get refunds then get in touch with the ticket provider you used. It’s really regrettable and nobody is more gutted than the band – I know how excited they were about all the gigs on the tour.

Freeborn Al / 24th November 2015 / Band, Gigs, Music, Photos, Thoughts / 0 Comments

A Grand day out..

A relatively early night and a lateish check-out time saw us exit Manchester around lunchtime for a frankly stunning drive through the wilds of Lancashire up to Clitheroe – I wish I’d taken some photos really, but I didn’t. I’ve never ventured beyond the urban areas of the red rose county before – it really is quite pretty, suddenly I don’t think Maelor Hughes is telling fibs when he extolls its virtues in Milltown Boy!

I must admit I didn’t know much about Clitheroe aside from it being up a bit from Manchester – so it was lovely to discover a scenic town. The hotel was duly located, but without parking – so we eventually found somewhere to dump the car over night and got our stuff up to the hotel. The Swan and Royal is a cracking traditional pub and our room was decent – it even had an extra bed, which would come in handy later…

We had something to eat downstairs (delicious it were too) before heading upstairs for a nap in my case (and accompanying inevitable photo on Facebook) before getting ourselves sorted and downstairs to join Matt and Mick for drinks. In the meantime John called as he and Les had decided to stay over rather than travel on the night, the hotel only had one single room going spare – so after a quick conference we booked it and donated our spare bed to one of ’em. Job’s a good ‘un.

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Freeborn Al / 23rd November 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

Songs for the deaf..

It was a leisurely drive up to Manchester from Telford with no real incident, news of the extent of Gaz’s throat infection filtered through from Facebook so we were feeling a bit glum – and set about researching a bit about Sammy Battle, drafted in to replace him as the support act. It looked promising, so whilst of course we were both gutted to be missing out on some Gaz action, it’s always good to get a chance to take in a new act too.

Checking in at Ibis in Manchester there was a suspicious package waiting for me at reception – highly dubious it turned out to be from the good folk at Laterooms – I hadn’t used Laterooms since the debacle at Stamford earlier in the year, so I guess this is their way of dealing with customer complaints – and well, I quite like it! Clearly they’d had a look at my Twitter bio and picked a few presents compliant with that. Really nice customer service!

Kind of wish I’d complained via my @FerociousBlog account rather than my personal one now to see what kind of gifts that would’ve inspired! In the hotel we caught up on snoozing, as well as exciting news from The Leylines who’ve launched a crowd funding campaign to pay for their new album next year – take a look at the campaign and see if any of the rewards tickle your fancy. I’m a big fan of these ways of raising capital without resorting to begging for record labels.

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Freeborn Al / 23rd November 2015 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Music, Other Bands, Photos, Videos / 0 Comments