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