It was a dreich old day on Wednesday in Glasgow. It wasn’t much better in Edinburgh. That’s where I was headed, more specifically to Assai Records in Edinburgh for an in-store acoustic set and album signing by James and Andy of The Twilight Sad. Their new album, It’s the Long Goodbye, was released last Friday.
A few weeks back Assai in Edinburgh announced that TS would be making an in-store appearance on 1 April. I had seen nothing announced for Glasgow and decided to have a look. I could pre-order the CD and gain access to the show for £18. Sounded good to me! Alas, a few weeks later Monorail announced details of an album launch for It’s The Long Goodbye happening the night before the Assai appearance. James and Andy would be there, but there was no talk of them performing, only a Q and A taking place, a signing session and a raffle? Tickets were £5. I thought about going but by that point I had arranged to meet up with my mate Ronnie and his pal Ian for breakfast that day. It would be a loooong day and I thought if I went to the Monorail thing I’d probably have to forgo Edinburgh. With no talk of their being a performance I decided to stick with going to Edinburgh.
The weather was great on Tuesday. It started a bit dreich but that soon cleared off and there was quite a bit of sun around thereafter and the rest of the day was dry. In the wee hours of Wednesday morning I checked my phone to see footage on Instagram of James and Andy PERFORMING at Monorail! Man, I was pissed! I was kicking myself that I didn’t end up going. To rub salt into the wound, the weather was bloody awful on Wednesday. As we made our way to the bus station to get the coach to Auld Reekie, the rain was spitting down. Cathedral Street was closed to traffic so all the buses were having to divert from their usual exit out of the bus station and go down along Killermont Street. That junction at Killermont/Renfrew Street with West Nile Street was frigging shocking! It took us TWENTY MINUTES to get from the bus station to the M8 junction at Charing Cross. Thankfully when booking the coach, I allowed time for this kind of scenario.
The whole reason for booking the coach was price and convenience. I had the Other Half accompany me and as an official old git with a NEC concession, she can travel on the buses all over Scotland for free – the lucky sod! The coach is cheaper for me too. Not loads compared to the train, but with the two of us travelling together, it is certainly cheaper than the train. It was also convenient as there is a stop at the end of Shandwick Place which meant we were at the far end of Princes Street, nearer to Usher Hall which Assai is just around the corner from.
The motorway flowed well traffic wise but the weather continued to be appalling. It seemed to be getting worse as we travelled along. By the time we got to Edinburgh there was a little respite in terms of it just mildly raining. We took refuge in a cafe/bar that I had ordered a Too Good To Go bag from. We stayed there for a bit, ordered a hot chocolate and then headed round to Assai. When we got there, there was already a short queue. There were maybe six people ahead of us. Shortly after we joined, I spied Mark joining the queue. It’s amazing how often I meet up with Mark (also Marion) when in queues. It’s usually a Hamish Hawk queue, but lately it has been at others. The last time was at the Del Amitri gig at Christmas. Lots of chat to while away the time queuing. Other people joined the queue – people that Mark knew of – more Hamish Hawk fans. There was a wee bit of rain on and off but for the most part it was mercifully dry during this spell of queuing. Mark had a spare ticket as his partner Marion was too ill to attend. He offered Em to use Marion’s ticket which was very kind of him to do.
Assai are very prompt with their organising of these in-store events. We were led into the store right on cue at 5.30pm. Just a few minutes wait and then James and Andy were on stage and under way. They performed six songs, I believe (I can’t rightly count the number of songs in my head, it might have only been five). Some songs from the new album, of course, but some from the back catalogue too. They did one of my faves from It Won’t Be Like This All The Time – ‘Vtr.’ They also performed ‘Cold Days from the Birdhouse’ from their first album, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters. OH MY GOD – James Graham’s voice is FREAKING AMAZING! It’s so powerful and so emotive. You could see the pure joy in him performing as well. The nerves were there too but each time a new song began and he started, the nerves would just melt away and he’d just deliver this powerhouse of performance. After one of the songs he was saying how happy he was to be back out in the world, performing and playing and you could just see how much it all meant to him. Properly! No falsehoods. No false modesty, no pandering to a crowd, no telling folk what you think they want to hear – just pure, deep gratitude and – it was emotional to watch.
After the set, the store staff had us queue back outside for the signing session. Of course that was when the weather decided to be shitty once more and the rain fell quite a bit heavier for a period there. As I got closer to the front of the queue I had no idea what I was going to say to the guys. I’m such a new fan – so that’s basically what I said … a very new fan and that I couldn’t wait to see them again at the Barras next month. James asked me if I had been to a gig there before. I said I had. “Great. Then you know what a great venue it is.” I’m starting to think I should have a piece of paper with my name spelled out on it because I feel so awkward having to spell my name out. James was very attentive as I spelled it out to him and he made no mistakes, bless him. I love it when bands are happy to dedicate and personalise signings.
A final wee chat with Mark, thanking him again for the ticket for Em to be able to stay at the store instead of having to head to a Greggs and bide time waiting for me. We said our goodbyes knowing that we’ll no doubt bump into each other either at the TS Barras gig, or at Hamish’s Oran Mor gig a few days after that. The rain continued to tumble down as we left. The stop for the return bus had no shelter so we were getting dripped upon. We didn’t have too long to wait, thankfully. Once on the coach, it was obvious how soaked we were. Trying to remove our coats and then being stuck to us. Yuck! Back through the central belt the rain lashed until we reached Bailleston. As we approached I could see clear skies in the distance and a fading orange sunset. What?! Glasgow was DRY?! WTF?! Aye! The skies were clear when we got to Buchanan station. I could actually see stars as we made our way to Queen Street. Typical isn’t it! The one time I go to Edinburgh for something, Glasgow has better weather. Oh, but it was so worth it. I still wish I could have gone to Monorail. There were some fans at Assai that had been to Monorail the night before. Lucky sods! Now to count the days until 6 May. There are plenty of gigs in the meantime though.
Next up is Suzi Quatro at the RCH on Tuesday night.