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mad_andyOK, I'm knackered. But I had a blast at the drum show!
We got there ridiculously early, and there were two things I noticed right from the word go:
1 - Lots more people in Maiden shirts. By orders of magnitude.
2 - Different atmosphere - or at least, different reaction to me.
You see, yesterday I was having a bit of a crisis of confidence. So I left my jacket on, kept close to Slay, kept my head down. Felt quite self conscious. Got more dirty looks than I expected with that many musicians around; lots of 'what does she think she looks like?' type stuff. I was glad to get out of there.
Today? Different story. Now, I actually don't think that the difference was in the crowd, despite the increased number of Maiden fans.
I think it was me.
Today, I was narked with His Nibs due to his fretting and fussing like an old woman before we left. So when we got there I still had what I call my Attitude head on; I fully intended to take zero shit from anyone and fuck 'em if they couldn't take a joke. Same shit and trousers as yesterday, but a better bodice (one of my Take-No-Prisoners ones) and my beyootiful Fuck You boots.
Oh, and no huddling behind Slay. Head up, tits out, jacket in the car.
Well now, what a difference.
My ink got admired, guys on stands spoke to me, not Slay. We were asked if we had a business by various chaps looking for distributors; I dunno, I must have been having some sort of a professional vibe going on! All very gratifying, anyway.
And...
Nicko recognised me!
We were sitting down at the front, before a couple of guys (the Drumbassadors; Dutch, wonderful, wonderful drummers) did their set, watching Nicko doing his compere-bit and general rambling to the crowd. He strolled along to our end and stopped, looked down at me and Slay, cocked his head and said:
"'Ello sweet'eart, ow y'doin', alright?"
Oh, did I grin. I'm very well Nicko, I said. He nodded, grinned, said "Good!" and went on to do his next bit.
Well, that made my day.
They threw us out while Nicko was setting up. Everyone in the hall that is, not just Slay and I! We waited outside and as soon as they let us in I was scrambling for the front. All the front seats looked full, so we headed for the side, then spotted a couple of seats on the front row. Over the rail I went (seriously!) and dived into one; a chap said he was holding one seat, which meant Slay would have to go over a row.
Well, my dearly beloved husband flew at this guy, cursing him out. My eyes almost fell out of my head - WTF?!
I couldn't believe it. The guy was only staying there to video Nicko coming on, and then Slay could move back but no...
The chap (who turned out to be a friend of Nicko's and a guest at the event in his own right, *groan*) tried to explain but Slay just snarled at him, flipped him the finger. I was... ashamed of him, I'll admit. This wasn't Hammersmith. The guy was being more than reasonable. I apologised for him, but eventually he gave up in disgust and went and sat somewhere else. Trust Slay to ruin things.
Anyway, unpleasant behaviour aside Nicko's performance was awesome. I managed to get some pics, although how good they are remains to be seen! He did make a point to mention that it was 25 years since John Bonham's death, and had a short silence so we could ponder this fact and pray (sorry?! Me?). Hmmm. He mentions God rather a lot. I'm happier when he's playing the drums or talking about them.
Or doing a skit with Sooty... which he did at the beginning.
He played Moby Dick (Zeppelin), doing a large amount of the solo with his hands - which, he said later, hurt! The beauty of it being a drum show was the cameras set up to video him (all of the performers) from several angles - it's amazing to watch the movements of the feet (Nicko plays barefoot) or see them play from above.
Awesome stuff.
So off we wandered once more, well chuffed, and who should we bump into...?
Chris and his mates. Now, Chris is the lad (oh, fifteen years old and cute as all get-out) who got to Hammersmith before us - 6am, to be precise. He came over, said hello, shook Slay's hand and was about to shake mine when I told him not to be a twit and hugged him instead. He didn't seem to mind, and we chatted for a bit before joining the line waiting to get stuff signed by Nicko. Slay went off to see another drum clinic, and I waited with the boys - passing a delightful half hour or so in Dreadful Old Tart mode!
Chris was a bit shy when we got to the man himself, so I told Nicko that he, Chris, was the nutter that had been there since six in the morning at Hammersmith. That broke the ice, and they had a bit of a chat - the lad was beaming when he moved off. I gave him my camera, and got a very nice pic of me and Nicko; I'll upload it when Slay wakes up and downloads the pics off the camera!
I got a lovely hug, and my tatts admired. *Sigh* Nicko is very sweet. I'm such a fangirl.
Hung around with the boys for a bit longer, then gave them a hug in farewell - Jan, Chris' friend, practically climbing up me he hugged back with such gusto - and off I toddled to meet up with Slay.
And that was it, really.
Oh yes!
While I was waiting I spotted the Drumbassador guys doing a signing, and looking a wee bit lonesome. So I strolled over, told them how much I'd enjoyed their set and got them to sign a drum head (that we'd got when His Nibs signed up for a magazine, handy for signatures - it's got Nicko's on too). One of them grinned at me and said "ah yes! I recognise you now. You were the one at the front with the--" and he waved his hand at his chest. I laughed and said yes, the one at the front making a lot of noise?
He chuckled and agreed. I don't think he was talking about my t shirt...
*Snort*
So a super day, on the whole. Of course, because it was a good day Slay had to spoil it; when we got home he said how he wished we weren't coming back there, and wanted to just sell up. This ended in me snarling that if he wanted it so bad then get the valuers in.
I think he's worked out that there's a subtext to that, but he doesn't know exactly what it is. To whit, you find out how much it's worth - and I'll either buy you out or split the money 50/50...
You don't win so easily, rat bastard.
But other than the sour ending - it's been a fun day. Amazing what a direct stare and a decent pair of tits will do, isn't it?
Ah, Nicko...
We got there ridiculously early, and there were two things I noticed right from the word go:
1 - Lots more people in Maiden shirts. By orders of magnitude.
2 - Different atmosphere - or at least, different reaction to me.
You see, yesterday I was having a bit of a crisis of confidence. So I left my jacket on, kept close to Slay, kept my head down. Felt quite self conscious. Got more dirty looks than I expected with that many musicians around; lots of 'what does she think she looks like?' type stuff. I was glad to get out of there.
Today? Different story. Now, I actually don't think that the difference was in the crowd, despite the increased number of Maiden fans.
I think it was me.
Today, I was narked with His Nibs due to his fretting and fussing like an old woman before we left. So when we got there I still had what I call my Attitude head on; I fully intended to take zero shit from anyone and fuck 'em if they couldn't take a joke. Same shit and trousers as yesterday, but a better bodice (one of my Take-No-Prisoners ones) and my beyootiful Fuck You boots.
Oh, and no huddling behind Slay. Head up, tits out, jacket in the car.
Well now, what a difference.
My ink got admired, guys on stands spoke to me, not Slay. We were asked if we had a business by various chaps looking for distributors; I dunno, I must have been having some sort of a professional vibe going on! All very gratifying, anyway.
And...
Nicko recognised me!
We were sitting down at the front, before a couple of guys (the Drumbassadors; Dutch, wonderful, wonderful drummers) did their set, watching Nicko doing his compere-bit and general rambling to the crowd. He strolled along to our end and stopped, looked down at me and Slay, cocked his head and said:
"'Ello sweet'eart, ow y'doin', alright?"
Oh, did I grin. I'm very well Nicko, I said. He nodded, grinned, said "Good!" and went on to do his next bit.
Well, that made my day.
They threw us out while Nicko was setting up. Everyone in the hall that is, not just Slay and I! We waited outside and as soon as they let us in I was scrambling for the front. All the front seats looked full, so we headed for the side, then spotted a couple of seats on the front row. Over the rail I went (seriously!) and dived into one; a chap said he was holding one seat, which meant Slay would have to go over a row.
Well, my dearly beloved husband flew at this guy, cursing him out. My eyes almost fell out of my head - WTF?!
I couldn't believe it. The guy was only staying there to video Nicko coming on, and then Slay could move back but no...
The chap (who turned out to be a friend of Nicko's and a guest at the event in his own right, *groan*) tried to explain but Slay just snarled at him, flipped him the finger. I was... ashamed of him, I'll admit. This wasn't Hammersmith. The guy was being more than reasonable. I apologised for him, but eventually he gave up in disgust and went and sat somewhere else. Trust Slay to ruin things.
Anyway, unpleasant behaviour aside Nicko's performance was awesome. I managed to get some pics, although how good they are remains to be seen! He did make a point to mention that it was 25 years since John Bonham's death, and had a short silence so we could ponder this fact and pray (sorry?! Me?). Hmmm. He mentions God rather a lot. I'm happier when he's playing the drums or talking about them.
Or doing a skit with Sooty... which he did at the beginning.
He played Moby Dick (Zeppelin), doing a large amount of the solo with his hands - which, he said later, hurt! The beauty of it being a drum show was the cameras set up to video him (all of the performers) from several angles - it's amazing to watch the movements of the feet (Nicko plays barefoot) or see them play from above.
Awesome stuff.
So off we wandered once more, well chuffed, and who should we bump into...?
Chris and his mates. Now, Chris is the lad (oh, fifteen years old and cute as all get-out) who got to Hammersmith before us - 6am, to be precise. He came over, said hello, shook Slay's hand and was about to shake mine when I told him not to be a twit and hugged him instead. He didn't seem to mind, and we chatted for a bit before joining the line waiting to get stuff signed by Nicko. Slay went off to see another drum clinic, and I waited with the boys - passing a delightful half hour or so in Dreadful Old Tart mode!
Chris was a bit shy when we got to the man himself, so I told Nicko that he, Chris, was the nutter that had been there since six in the morning at Hammersmith. That broke the ice, and they had a bit of a chat - the lad was beaming when he moved off. I gave him my camera, and got a very nice pic of me and Nicko; I'll upload it when Slay wakes up and downloads the pics off the camera!
I got a lovely hug, and my tatts admired. *Sigh* Nicko is very sweet. I'm such a fangirl.
Hung around with the boys for a bit longer, then gave them a hug in farewell - Jan, Chris' friend, practically climbing up me he hugged back with such gusto - and off I toddled to meet up with Slay.
And that was it, really.
Oh yes!
While I was waiting I spotted the Drumbassador guys doing a signing, and looking a wee bit lonesome. So I strolled over, told them how much I'd enjoyed their set and got them to sign a drum head (that we'd got when His Nibs signed up for a magazine, handy for signatures - it's got Nicko's on too). One of them grinned at me and said "ah yes! I recognise you now. You were the one at the front with the--" and he waved his hand at his chest. I laughed and said yes, the one at the front making a lot of noise?
He chuckled and agreed. I don't think he was talking about my t shirt...
*Snort*
So a super day, on the whole. Of course, because it was a good day Slay had to spoil it; when we got home he said how he wished we weren't coming back there, and wanted to just sell up. This ended in me snarling that if he wanted it so bad then get the valuers in.
I think he's worked out that there's a subtext to that, but he doesn't know exactly what it is. To whit, you find out how much it's worth - and I'll either buy you out or split the money 50/50...
You don't win so easily, rat bastard.
But other than the sour ending - it's been a fun day. Amazing what a direct stare and a decent pair of tits will do, isn't it?
Ah, Nicko...
