On a very wintery 30th January
Becky Roberts and Four Day Hombre made the treacherous 60 mile
journey from Leeds to Blakey Ridge. After a five hour battle through
snow drifts, road blocks, blizzards and mini-tornados they arrived
at our little venue. A few stiff drinks later, they played a storming
gig to a small, but enthusiastic crowd of dedicated music fans,
each with their own tales of adventurous travels to tell. A fantastic
gig that will go down in Blakey folklore. I'm sure we'll all remember
it for a long, long time...
Snipets from the band's website:-
1st Feb 2003 "The Blakey Ridge gig was an amazing experience. The snow was so bad that the last 8 miles took us an hour to drive as visibility was only 2 foot. Just about everyone we know turned back so what should have been a sellout was populated by only 25 hardy souls. Was still great fun though. Many thanks to Becky Roberts for providing support again, Paul the landlord for such great hospitality and Ben, Nicky, Mark, Sally and Kelvin for actually making it all the way from Leeds against all the odds. (Thanks also to the man who drove the snow plough, the snow drifts which meant we couldn't turn back even if we wanted to and Adie from Drowned in Sound who came all the way up from London to see us and had to turn back about 6 miles away from the venue). We still did the gig and we stayed up enjoying the hospitality til 6am and we could not have asked for more..."
9th April 2003 "We're making our way back up to the finest real ale gig in the country tomorrow. Yup, up to the Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge which has, after only a couple of visits, become one of our favorite haunts. The last visit was very nearly completely lost due to adverse weather conditions but was STILL great fun. This time it'll be nice and sunny so make sure you get in early because we've heard it's going to be really busy."
12 April 2003 "Blimey, you'd have thought we'd have learned
by now. I mean come on, we're all grown ups. We know what our
limits are, we know we have to get up the next morning and pack
the gear down, load it in a van, DRIVE back home and then unload
it before taking the van back, then we've got work to do after
that, it's not as if it stops when the band say bye-bye to each
other. Knowing all this, knowing EVERYTHING there is to do, why
oh WHY in God's name did we get SO damn drunk at Blakey Ridge?
We're not the best looking band in the world, we have a clear
understanding of this, but when we gathered together in the morning
for breakfast we could have been mistaken for The Elephant Man
Convention. I've never seen such suffering around one linen dressed
dining table. And as for driving later that morning...well really...
Many thanks to all of you who came along to the Lion Inn gig.
Although we've only visited there on a couple of occasions it's
already whittled a niche in our hearts. Not just because of the
great service and perks the bands get mind. But because it's nice
to visit a venue where the people are genuinely passionate about
their music. We'll see you all at the festival there later this
summer."
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