RIP Jimmy. I only ever met you very briefly just the once, but I shall treasure it always. ❤️
After all that “Jim in ties” posting yesterday, and sorting through them all, I forgot this one. His lovely dad, being most obliging, wearing one too :-)) Thank you, Jimmy. Have words with your son! Tell him to wear more ties :-))
New in at No. 9 ….
So…on Tuesday night, I’m sitting on the bed, thinking about the Simple Minds gigs next year. Thinking of the wonderful venues and experiences I’ll have.
A soundcheck in Copenhagen.
Centre seats 12 rows back in Paris.
A lower floor block seat in Leeds.
Standing ticket in Dublin.
A soundcheck and close seat in Glasgow.
“Oh, but Paris. What a venue! Wouldn’t it be wonderful having an Ultimate Fan experience in Paris?! Oh…why not?!!! How many more opportunities like this will I have left? Make hay while the sun shines and all that. LET’S DO IT!”
So I go to Ticketmaster France and book Ultimate Fan experiences for….NOT PARIS! All too late once I had realised my faux pas (something rather evil about that phrase being French!) – because although I had found my way to Ticketmaster France from going to simpleminds.com tours page and clicked on the Paris gig, once at Ticketmaster, the gig at the top of the list WASN’T Paris but Bordeaux. This I had neglected to take in and so I went and erroneously booked for Bordeaux instead of just upgrading Paris.
Fuck! I was in a panic. I was absolutely freaking out. I DID NOT WANT TO GO TO BORDEAUX! I had my gigs. I didn’t want to do any more.
I sent a completed “contact us” form to Ticketmaster saying what happened and pleading that the tickets could be exchanged for Paris or refunded…knowing in my heart of hearts the huge mistake I had just made and there being literally NO CHANCE of any refund or exchange happening. I was just sick with worry and just…ssooo down on myself for making such a stupid mistake. WHY wasn’t I being more observant?!
I could use their ticket resale feature, but I had tried that earlier in the year when I realised I wouldn’t be able to go and see Mott The Hoople at Barrowland. I put my ticket on the resale site but there were no takers with only a few days until the gig. I passed it on to a friend who said he had a friend that could use it. I’d rathered it be used than have it sit here in a drawer going to waste.
So…I just slowly resigned myself to the fact that I’d made a fucking MASSIVE mistake and that, well, on the upside…I’d have myself an ultimate fan experience in Bordeaux and an extra Simple Minds gig that I had not planned. This venue is quite literally the Hydro in Bordeaux…
And so five become six and Bordeaux is now on after Paris.
Jim, do you think I could hitch a ride on the tour bus now, please? Lol
I decided to watch the SM 2020 Tour promo video on SMO FB…just for shits and giggles and OH MY GOD…I spotted myself and Françoise from the Aix-Les-Bains footage used in the ad. Lol.
Aawww! Somewhat softening the blow of how bad that gig felt.
Weird that it was used and not any footage from the US gigs or something.
Still…kind of weirdly cool to be in a Simple Minds tour ad…albeit for a nano second.
This week I have been mostly…working out which gigs I wanted to go to…and then making the plans for a preliminary reccy to Glasgow.
I started with the UK first and working with the notion that Glasgow will be a local gig so grabbed my soundcheck experience there first. After that, the next nearest UK venue would be Leeds, so that was booked. Then I really wanted to get myself in a smaller venue and I looked at venue sizes. I considered other factors too. How early the gig would be – date wise in the tour – and how easy it would be to get to the city from the nearest airport and how well located within the city centre the venue would be. Based on those factors, I decided to plumb for Copenhagen. It’s a gig in early March. Copenhagen is further south than the other European cities with dates before it, and hopefully less susceptible to suffer any inclement weather. Also, the city is relatively small and easy to navigate. Plus the venue itself is small with only a 1700 capacity.
La Seine Musicalé as an architectural structure looked stunning to my eyes. And, with it being on the Seine, it quickly became a favoured option. I tried to book it next but when I went to choose the seats on the screen on the laptop it said there were no seats to choose. So I went and booked my Dublin ticket instead.
After I had secured a Dublin ticket, I tried Paris again on my iPad, this time the site seemed to allow me to choose seats, I grabbed to two, one for me and another for a friend.
I was done with my choices and happy with my lot. Time to relax! At least from the anxiety of making ticket purchases for SM gigs anyway!
So now today while everyone else scrabbled to secure their tickets in the general sales, I was booking flights and hotels – those flights including a trip to Glasgow in the next week or two on a reconnaissance mission of rental properties…and perhaps maybe one or two actual views of houses on the market.
It all hit at once!
The timing really could not have been more perfect!
I still have some things to consider. When to go home and see mum, for example. For several weeks now I have pretty much had February in my head. I’ll get there soon enough. I’ll work it out.
In the meantime, here’s to pastures new! 
It’s a bit more spaced out than 2017 and the Acoustic tour. A little bit more like the stop-start of last year’s gigs.
So…on the menu we have…
Copenhagen (and OMG I can take in some Hans Christian Andersen history too!)
Paris (the venue is a stunning building right on the Seine…I mean…IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RIVER – it’ll be akin to going to the Sydney Opera House. Oh My God!!!)
Leeds (really enjoyed last year’s gig at Leeds – though this is obviously a different venue and experience this time round)
Dublin (had to go back to Dublin – just a regular GA ticket there)
A finale in Glasgow and I have gone for a soundcheck experience. Yes!
Can’t help feeling I’m “persona non grata” BIG TIME right now.
Oh, well.
Let’s still go to a few gigs, eh? I still love him even if he disnae love me.
Leeds ✔️
Dublin ✔️
Glasgow ✔️
And… one mainland date… but which one?
And I need to bear in mind my King Creosote gig on March 12th, so…
I’ll mull it over for the rest of the day.
