Mike in full acoustic flow as the opening act on The Resurection Tour 99

BOSTON AVALON OCT 16 1999 - The Resurection Tour

SIMMO's (BRIEF) TRIP TO BOSTON MA I had not had much luck with the timing of my annual home leave trip from Asia this year. I missed Coloursound at The London LA2 by three days and would also miss The Resurrection Tour hitting New York by two hence desperate measures were called for!!! After calling in some credit points from the wife (you married men know what I mean) I persuaded her to delay our departure from NY an extra day so we would have time to make the trip up to the beautiful city of Boston. This way we would at least get to see the inaugural date on the tour. Even though we knew Mike would only be playing for 30 minutes or so we decided we deserved a treat….. Little did I know (even before the Red Sox / Yankees Baseball game came into the equation) how hard it was to get a hotel room hence the "cheap break" suddenly started to add up. But what the hell you only live once and after fulfilling a dream to see Mike playing in NY last year (with Coloursound) Boston was next on the 'been there done that list'. LA next would be great plus of course New Orleans to see Mr. Sharp too methinks. Anyway Saturday morning saw us explaining to our three year old son we were going to see 'the man who plays guitar' and would be back tomorrow. Arriving at La Guardia early enough to get on the flight before our scheduled one I noticed many hardy souls in Yankees caps on board who were soon to witness their team getting absolutely hammered (for one night at least). Soon we were up and then we were down and en route in a taxi to our hotel, which was very nice indeed. We headed straight out for Faneil Hall and some liquid lunch in the sunshine after the little lady had treated herself to some new shoes (as you do!!) Next I ensured I got some of Boston's finest seafood plus some more beers before we realised it was already mid afternoon and we needed to get back and to the hotel en route to the venue. One shirt change later we were on the T blindly following the directions we had been given eventually finding the designated bar only to realise there was not a MP soul in the building. Starting to worry as it was getting closer to showtime and I had absolutely no idea how to find the venue my panic was allayed by my old pal Dougieieie's grinning face at the bar - where else would he be ?? With him was the always lovely and resident Bostonian Macca. A swift brew later (in the midst of the Yankees getting whacked and hundreds of locals yelling 'Yankees Suck' - which my native New Yorker wife appreciated) we left the 'meeting place' and headed down past the throngs of people past the stadium and into the venue. We arrived in the nick of time and after quick hugs and HI's with Jules we got into the show as Mike was mid-way through his first track. The show has been detailed previously by other attendees but needless to say Mike gave 110% as per usual though Imo the drumming of Scott Garrett distinctly showed a lack of rehearsal (as Mike alluded to on-stage and perhaps subsequently by dropping the electric part of the set) All too soon he had been and gone and before we knew it he was with us at the bar !! First words upon seeing me where "Peter did you know Man U won 4-1 today" accompanied by a big smile !! Bastard J He did also share with me how much he had enjoyed the recent list Q&A session and how well the London Coloursound show had gone. Funniest thing though was his reaction to my reaction when he told me there were no covers in the Astoria set. "Great" said I. Even bigger smile and "good good" said the man. Funny how he was almost seeking the fans approval for dropping "rain", "sanctuary" and "strength" J GLJ were better than I expected and my wife liked them, probably something to do with the singer I guess. One thing I know for sure however is that Mr Aston wont ever be playing for The (almost) legendary FatBoyz !!! The Mission were good. Loud as hell, tight and seemingly well up for it. Plus point was the encore of "1969" which Dougieie and I 'wooooooowed' along to at the bar. Downside was no "Hurricane" which always was one of my faves. Now I had some time to catch up with as many people as possible, "Mad" Michelle G (hope the chopsticks are getting good use) "Lil" Josh resplendant in his signature hat, "Even Madder" Leah, Lyn, Becky, Jess and even Indy and Scurvy all were around at some time. Great to see you all again. It has now passed into folklore that Simon Batty came all the way from England to arrive fashionably late, so late in fact he almost missed the Mish !!! Good to see you again Batts !!! So before you could say "Man U lost the league at West Ham twice" the bouncers were herding us out onto the street. For once in my life I did something sensible and took my better halves advice of no crazy beer marathon as we had a 20 hour flight to Hong Kong to catch on Monday so I bade my fond farewells to all and headed back through the manically partying Boston. It was great being there again, look forward to getting back there soon, next time for a 'real' MP show though now im back in Singapore it literally seems a million miles away. Great memories though….
,p> High On The Hill at The Avalon Boston - October 99