Simon Rushworth
The Quireboys might be back in the UK for two back-to-back shows this weekend but Paul Guerin‘s diary entries still keep on coming.
Check out the news from the Canadian leg of the band’s hugely popular North American tour.
And don’t forget you can catch the guys across the UK and Europe later this year.
We headed out of New York pretty early as we had to negotiate the Canadian border and who knows how long that could take ??
How long is a piece of string…
My only concern was that I was carrying fourteen boxes of cake mix which was a present from Jerry and Sandy to Trish.
I’d flat packed them in freezer bags to save space and 14 bags of white and brown powder in my bag looked very dodgy to say the least!
We arrived at the border and of course they took the bus apart including my dodgy looking stash (I can see the headlines now..’Geordie cake smuggler banged up in Canadian jail’).
But I have to say they couldn’t have been more pleasant and wished us the best probably laughing their balls off at my cake stash. Rock n Roll.
First port of call was, of course, Niagara Falls and it didn’t disappoint. I remember as a kid watching the news reporting on some loony going over the falls in a beer barrel – probably supped the contents before they climbed into the bugger haha.
Many photos were taken but unfortunately we couldn’t stay too long as we had another four hour drive to the gig.
Rockpile was a great venue. The backline was top notch – Marshal 800. We couldn’t go wrong, the sound engineer was first class and basically everything was first class.
We were presented with some good old home cooked food which was very welcome before we headed back to the hotel for a spruce up and then back to the show.
We knew we were gonna be down on numbers as it was Labor Day weekend so everybody had left town on vacation! Never mind – 10 or 10,000 we still give everything we’ve got.
It turned out there were more than I’d expected but to top that, second song in I look down and there are my mates Ian and Beverly Brotherston from my village back home!
I really thought I was hallucinating but no, they were really there. My mind was completely blown. They had flown in to surprise me and foowk me didn’t they just do that! I was over the moon and for one moment I thought Trish might be there too but unfortunately she couldn’t make it. The show was a humdinger, great fun, and everyone was happy.
A few frothies were sank after the show where I find out that Al, Maria and Lisa were in on the surprise and it had been planned for months. A very well kept secret – well done everyone. I’m impressed.
PG
* The Quireboys’ new album Black Eyed Sons is out now!
* Click here for a full list of tour dates in 2014.