The Gig To End All Gigs

Well, Stead had his Tsunami Benefit Gig at the George in Chipping Sodbury last night. And it ROCKED!!! There's very little more I can say.

Well... Alright then, I can think of a few more things.

I took the afternoon off to give The Stead a hand preparing the venue for an evening of hard rocking. Stage Electrics had given us the use of a PA which turned out to be far more than we needed. It took us about 3 hours to set it up and get it working.

There were 3 bands – Diamond Joe, Reservoir Hoggs, and of course The Torr.

Diamond Joe went on first. They were pretty good, although Vic didn't rate them as apparently Fabian (the lead singer – sounds like a made-up name to me!) was singing flat all the way through it. The important thing, though was that I enjoyed their set. They had some good songs and that's what counts, isn't it?

Next, the Reservior Hoggs went on. Unfortunately, their guitarist had called off – not sure why – so Bezz from the Torr filled in for him. This was actually a pretty dull set. Nothing memorable. Although her singing was fine, their lead singer (other than her most impressive thighs) was pretty forgettable. Sorry. That's just the way it is.

And then the highlight of the evening. The Torr. Wow, did they kick ass. I've heard a few of Stead's recordings and I've been to a handful of their recent gigs, but this really was the best I've heard 'em. They certainly blew the other two band out of the water! The rocking went on until well after 11 and they had to endure three – yes, three – encores.





An amusing incident occurred early in the evening. While the bands set up for sound checks, Stead and I nip over to the newsagent for a few cokes to keep us going. After serving the woman in front of Stead with her cigarettes, the girl behind the counter suggests to this woman that she could get her 200 fags for £30 as her dad is a lorry driver and brings them into the country on the quiet. Just come back on Friday, she says, with £30.

When the woman leaves, Stead looks at the girl behind the counter and says "You can't do that!"

"What?" assed the girl, clearly bewildered.

"Offering fags like that. It's completely illegal," says the Stead, "I'm a police officer and you're under arrest"

The girl visibly pales and mutters "oh my god…."

Fortunately for her, the Stead isn't a policeman. But she was truly terrified. I know it's not right that intelligent and reasoning individuals like us should take such pleasure in the discomfort of other. But still…