Oh my stars, what an amazing weekend! On August 19th/20th we teamed up with Ste McCabe and Maria and the Gay (please check both acts out if you haven't already) to storm the Cornerhouse in Cambridge and Toska's Temptation, a night held at the Sundowners club in Margate to mark Toska Wilde's 50th birthday.
We hadn't heard or met M+tG before the Friday so it was a fantastic surprise when they hit the stage and blew us all away with their set. Our own set went pretty well although there were only the other bands and a few pub regulars to hear it, Ste was singing along with '82 from the audience which was quite a boost, and the Cornerhouse is such a lovely venue we had a great time. Poor Amy ('the Gay') got a little manhandled by one of the regulars which we all tried to laugh off, I mean, it isn't actually funny, but short of starting a bar fight, sometimes women have to put up with this crap at gigs. Sort it out, general public!
We were then quite hyped up for the rest of the evening, and it was little surprise that the crowd fell for M+tG as much as we did and answered the call for lighters during one of their power ballads.
We hadn't heard or met M+tG before the Friday so it was a fantastic surprise when they hit the stage and blew us all away with their set. Our own set went pretty well although there were only the other bands and a few pub regulars to hear it, Ste was singing along with '82 from the audience which was quite a boost, and the Cornerhouse is such a lovely venue we had a great time. Poor Amy ('the Gay') got a little manhandled by one of the regulars which we all tried to laugh off, I mean, it isn't actually funny, but short of starting a bar fight, sometimes women have to put up with this crap at gigs. Sort it out, general public!
After Ste got everyone dancing with his wonderful mix of politics, humour and beats we went outside to checkout M+tG's tour vehicle, a really cute camper van called Bambi. Manda fell in love with all the mod cons. I tried to stay loyal to our van Freda, as she's been through the wars lately, but I had to admit my head was turned. Then we got thrown out of the carpark and travelled in convoy to Manda's house for NICE BISCUITS. I had promised everyone NICE BISCUITS but not warned Manda, so we stopped for petrol and NICE BISCUITS and had great fun watching Ste's boyfriend Lukasz wandering round and round the petrol station, somewhat drunken, while we played Ennio Morricone to soundtrack him.
Maria had driven all the way from Manchester that day and it was stupid O'clock by this point so we gave her a cup of sugar with some coffee in it and then drove in convoy all the way back to Tiger Towers. After much chatting, sleep and breakfast Manda helped package some of M+tG's albums, we all swapped badges (our new ones arrived that morning), did a lot more chatting and then realised we were already running late for the soundcheck in Margate.
Sundowners is situated right on the beach, and it was a beautiful, baking hot day. We got in a fluster getting there and then getting up the stairs, but when we opened the door we were hit by this view and all stunned into silence.
The night was an absolute riot! We got to see our old friends The Get, who's Lamacq-endorsed single 'Hit!' lived up to its name and caused quite a lot of excitement at the bar, and it was clear as soon as Toska wheeled out his cross-dressing anthem 'Hard as Nailvarnish' that this was a crowd ready to sing along and party! The theme of the evening was 'punk, glam and drag' and there were many different interpretations of this. The music was great (and varied) and there was a tasty buffet, but the real charm was the fact that everyone was totally free to be who they wanted, and everyone seemed to be really encouraging each other. Manda had our shoes photographed by one lady, my hair by another, all in all we felt like stars. When it came to our turn to take the stage we were very nervous, but Ste, Amy, Maria, and Gary from the Get all started singing and dancing to 82! It was the best gig moment to date, although I did feel oddly like I was leading an aerobics class. Then, after 'Tiger Who Came to Tea', they started chanting 'Tiger, Tiger, Tiger!' Absolutely amazing.
Pauland CK with Gary from the Get, a man who usually gets referred to as our biggest fan :-)
We were then quite hyped up for the rest of the evening, and it was little surprise that the crowd fell for M+tG as much as we did and answered the call for lighters during one of their power ballads.
Ste, I think, was a bit of a revelation to the audience who hadn't seen him before. He has a real way with words and somehow manages to address the serious issues in a way that makes everyone feel unified, strengthened and positive for the future. In some ways I guess the whole night was a punkish stand against societies 'norms', but Ste really summed up a lot of big ideas and reminded us that we had a lot worth fighting for. If someone else had done a similar set it could have been a sobering moment but we were all too busy dancing and chanting his name to be brought down. It's easy to be angry and dissilusioned but sometimes someone finding the words to express it for you can change your world.
Toska then arrived in the last of his many outfits to sing his final song, followed by the incendiary
Louis Drayton (frequently flashed genitals not pictured), and somehow it was all over before 11pm.
Thanks to everyone involved for an amazing weekend, where we got to travel, dress up, be entertained, educated, surprised, intoxicated, licked, worshipped, meet people we'd only spoken to online, remembered things we'd accidently forgotten mattered and most of all made new friends.
