Vibe 2003: The Pilgrimage!

This is the story of myself and Paula's visit to the Vibe 2003, it's more a personal account than a review, so please understand if I spend some time recalling what we were doing rather than being objective about the bands. After all, the Vibe is a celebration, not a competition, so reviewing the acts in a critical way isn't particularly appropriate, all the acts were great and helped to make a memory for themselves and everyone else who attended what turned out to be a fabulous weekend...

It was with anticipation that I'd been monitoring the Vibe and Ticketmaster sites during the run up, and the day finally dawned when the tickets went on sale, I think we ended up with tickets numbered 8 and 9 :-) yes, we were keen! With hindsight there are probably quite a few other people who wished they'd done that, because the weekend turned out to be a complete sellout, more on that later...

Next we needed flights and the internet duly furnished us with 2 Aer Lingus Glasgow/Dublin returns for 60 quid (90 Euros) each, which included tax, landing fees etc, which was effin brill! The final requirement was digs. For the previous years Vibe, and because it was only a couple of days, we splashed out and stayed at The Shelbourne on St Stephens Green (which is pricey, but very old fashioned, comfy and classy, a bit of an institution - you should do it at least once, trust me). However this time we decided to try something different which we'd found on the net: Eliza Lodge. It's above a restaurant called Eliza Blues in Temple Bar, right on the quayside next to the Millennium Bridge.

The room was very nice, but it also got a bit chilly with the wind blowing down the Liffey, I guess the place doesn't have the most draft-proof windows/doors. However the view from the bay window along the Liffey was very nice, especially at night. Anyway, just as Spinal Tap do with their Marshalls we racked the heating up to, erm, 11, which made it comfortable enough ;-) Not when you went to the toilet mind you, f*ckin baltic in there!. I kinda felt like Scott of the Antarctic when going to the bog - “I'm just going to the toilet, I may be some time…” ;-)

So that was us sorted for the Vibe: tickets, flights and digs, a pair of happy bunnies indeed :-) There was, however, one other wee thing that had been fermenting in my mind since the previous Vibe...

I'm the kind of person who can get a bit thoughtful, sensitive and emotional about things, I was also celebrating(!?) my 40th year, so I had been thinking that it would be really nice to be able to pay my respects to Phil, kinda say thanks etc, by singing one of his songs at a gig for him in Dublin. Now this is not something you can just do off the cuff, but understanding that the Vibe is, obviously, run by people who care about Phil and his music, I thought I'd get in touch. So I recorded a few song clips and sent an email to Fluffs & Smiley asking if I could play at the pre-Vibe. The songs I prefer to play are older ones which I play in a more reflective, sensitive style that suits the 12-string guitar I play them on, and I attempted to explain that in my email, along with the fact it was my 40th etc. To my surprise they replied and said yes, please come along and play a song or two! Boy was I chuffed!, I was gonna get the opportunity to do something which would mean a GREAT deal to me...

Anyway this was a good excuse to get my 12-string in shape, it hadn't seen new strings for yonks (which came as a bit of a shock: £7.50 for a set of Martin 10's FFS!), I also discovered it needed some soldering done to the output jack, a new battery, the nut needed glued back in ('cause it fell off when I removed the strings!) and the bridge needed some spacers replaced, and a wee polish of course. In case there are any guitar anoraks out there it's a Yamaha FG420E-12A, one of my favourite toys... ;-) Well, what a difference when I put it all back together, it sounded great. Wish I'd did all this before recording the demos mentioned above actually, because it was, ahem, slightly out of tune in them, that's not to mention the fact I had a wee drink in me when I recorded some of it ;-)

We arrived on Friday 3rd, pre-Vibe day, and got to the City Centre about 11.30am. After checking into Eliza Fridge - sorry Lodge ;-) , we went for a wander up Grafton St and a few beers in the pubs along Merrion Row area (Doheny & Nesbits, O'Donoghue’s, Toner’s etc), then back to the digs for a kip for an hour or so. Once refreshed we went to the Side Door for a meal (part of the Shelbourne Hotel) which was nice - though we thought it wasn't quite as good as it used to be - quaffed a bottle of wine etc, then back to the digs to pick up the guitar and on to the Music Room above the Firestone (formerly Plough I believe) for the pre-Vibe...

It was about half-eight when we got there and as it turns out I'd only had the one email from Fluffs saying I was to turn up (there was no other info or confirmation) so it was with a deal of apprehension I said to the guy (Kevin?) on the door “I think I might be on the list, John Bell plus one?” and he says “Yeah, that's fine” and proceeds to give us some beer vouchers and two passes for the Vibe the next night, awesome!, top bloke, thanks Kevin! Anyway, we were in and the place was mobbed, and I mean totally rammed, so thank f*ck I'd arranged to play because otherwise I doubt we would have got in!, indeed I think they were turning people away actually.

It was hot and sweaty in there folks, believe me!, so Paula and I headed straight for the bar to get a couple of drinks in, just in time as 'I Can't Believe It's Not Lizzy' promptly appeared to kick things off in good style, well and truly setting the mood. Then down from the Far East Glen came The Japanese Men (!): namely 'The Lizzy Boys'! They played a blinder, albeit the singer was doing his best to blow the FOH Bose 802's up ;-) When they finished the place went nuts, a Vibe-team lady made a very brave attempt to pronounce their names, introducing them individually, and they each received a well deserved cheer!

I'm on next, not an easy task following The Lizzy Boys! especially as I'm trying to (re)present a different, much quieter, more sensitive side of Phil. Anyway, it was understandable that a fair number of folk took the opportunity of this relative lull in the full frontal Lizzy assault to have a quick blether, go for a piss, buy a beer etc. However, there were still a lot of people who seemed to appreciate the different angle I was coming from and who came up to me afterwards, and at the Vibe the next night, to tell me how much they enjoyed it, which was very kind of them - I wasn't sure how re-arranged acoustic versions of some 'lesser known' songs would go down - and the positive feedback was very much appreciated.

For the record I played Little Girl In Bloom and then Remembering, both heavily re-arranged as I mentioned. When I finished Remembering I was looking at a picture of Phil posted on the ceiling and I ended the song on the line "we will always remember him..." which brought a lump to my throat folks, I must admit. But that was what it was all about for me, singing a Phil song, for him, at a gig for him, in Dublin. A very special feeling which I'll never forget, and I could never thank Smiley and Fluffs enough for making it happen... (Fluffs, I still owe you a beer or two!)

On the subject of Smiley, there's a funny wee tale involved. I had briefly introduced myself to him when he turned up at the pre-Vibe, which was about half an hour or so after us. He asked if I had my guitar and was up for playing a couple and that he'd let me know when I was on etc, so during The Lizzy Boys he came over to say I was on next. When it came to introducing me he said I was from Wales and that my name was George! George from Wales FFS! Well, at least he got the Bell bit right ;-) As it turns out Paula found this MOST amusing and spent the rest of the weekend takin' the piss and calling me George all the time, so thanks ever so much for that Smiley, ya bastard... ;-)

Back to the gig, next up: Grand Slam, who went down a storm, playing a strong set with Dedication being the standout for me. They were briefly joined on stage by young James McIndoe on sax, which is not an easy instrument to play, so for someone so young it was a fine effort and duly rewarded with generous applause. Parris then came on for a well-sorted and well-received short acoustic set containing some of the more 'popular' numbers. It had crossed my mind to play something a bit more 'popular' and I was gonna do Borderline, well I'm glad I didn't cause the Parris boys had the crowd singing along with a very nice version! Finally the '...Can't Believe...' boys came back on to round off the musical night in fine style.

I guess it must've been about one-ish (I may be wrong, things were a bit, erm, hazy by that stage!) and the bar announced it's closure... sort of... It was 3am before we left, arf! Those bloody bar staff just would not stop serving, the bastards! ;-), heh!, top blokes! Never leave a Scotsman near a bar that doesn't close ;-) And there we have it: the pre-Vibe, an absolutely brilliant night and we'd made a memory, a very special one. We headed back to the hotel, a tad tired, somewhat pished, but with a grin as wide as the Clyde!

Saturday 4th, Vibe day.

We had to be at breakfast no later than 10.30am so we got up, did breakfast, and then went back to bed for a long lie! When we finally got up for real we headed to the Dame Tavern in Dame Lane for a pint. This is one of our favourite Dublin pubs, it's not trendy, and it's not old and famous, it's just a bloody good down-to-earth type pub, it's also recently had air filters put in - like a lot of Dublin pubs it got ludicrously smoky - and they make a massive difference, a very welcome addition. From there we headed to the Bankers just along the street, and we were watching a bit of footy in there when my mobile rang, it's a girl called Kim...

Whilst at the pre-Vibe the night before, a bit later in the evening after the bands had finished, we were chatting to Smiley (who by now knew my name was John, and that I was from Glasgow ;-) when Kim came up and asked him if there was any way he could help her and her partner get tickets for the Vibe - she explained that they’d come over from England without tickets only to find it sold out, unfortunately Smiley had to tell her that it really was completely sold out and there wasn’t a lot he could do. Anyway, realising that we now had passes and tickets we offered Kim the tickets we'd bought. She was well chuffed!, but we didn't have them with us at the pre-Vibe so I gave her my mobile number and that's why she was calling me the next day, to arrange getting the tix. It was really nice to be able to help them like that, and they were suitably appreciative.

From the Bankers we went to McDaids for a couple and then back to the hotel for a wee rest. For grub that night we’d made a reservation for half six in Bang on Merrion Row. It was very nice indeed, the surroundings were of a very minimalist trendy type, and we had great food and a nice bottle of wine, we were well impressed, recommended. A taxi then transported us down to Vicar St for 8pm, outside of which we were meeting Kim to hand over the tickets. Having handed 'the package' over ;-) we entered Vicar St and were quickly impressed, it's a fantastic venue. There was a video playing on the big screen, it was a Lizzy gig from the Sykes/Wharton era line-up, suffice to say that the Phil on that video was not the Phil I'd idolised at the Glasgow Apollo, it somewhat saddened me and I didn't really enjoy seeing that to be honest and said so to Paula, we headed to the bar...

The Vagabond Kings from Boston got the ball rolling and I thought they did a great job, the attitude was good, they sounded good, and the gig was well and truly ON! I really enjoyed them actually as we watched from the floor of the main hall. This was followed by some nice acoustic numbers from Ronan Byrne which we watched on the big screen in the bar to the side of the main hall, they could've done with turning the sound up a bit on the bar feed mind you. Next up was the Leanne Harte band who I didn't really see to be honest, I heard it through the piped music in an upstairs bar (yes, we were bar hunting!) and the rhythm section were pretty solid, and the vocal was strong, but there seemed to be a few problems with the guitar, might've just been the feed we had in the bar. They went down well enough with the crowd, which is the main thing!

Midge Ure then made his first appearance for a short acoustic set which sounded great and we really enjoyed watching it from the balcony. It was quite spooky actually because he sang Little Girl In Bloom, as I had done the previous night, and that kinda made me feel like I'd been his stuntman or something the night before ;-) I doubt you would ever again get two Glaswegians singing LGIB at both the pre-Vibe and the Vibe!, maybe it's a song which has particular appeal to us Scots :-) Now I have to say that I thought this was followed by Dublin, but I've ammended this review after reading the (excellent) 'official' review on the Vibe website, as on there it says he played a self-penned tribute to Phil, guess I need to get off the sauce!. He finished off by satisfying the desire of "two big Dubliners who were gonna beat him up if he didn't sing it" by performing a great acoustic version of Vienna, with the crowd drowning Midge out in the chorus! Wonderful stuff.

Time for The Lizzy Boys to storm the Vibe! Great songs, great playing, great crowd, marvellous! We were back in the main auditorium for most of their set and then back up in the balcony to enjoy Midge joining them for a few, which was well received, and after the bows they left to thunderous applause (now where have I heard that before...)

Grand Slam would ultimately be the band to finish the night off - and as I said they played a belter at the pre-Vibe - but the real headliners for me (or should I say the band I wanted to see the most) were Thin Az Lizzy, and boy did these guys play a blinder! They completely rocked the place and it was so obvious they've been doing a lot of gigging together because they were as tight as your proverbial duck's arse in water! Funnily enough, last July, when it was my 40th birthday, we headed over to Ireland in the car and were planning to see TAL in Waterford but the gig got cancelled :-( Fortunately Jake from their website let us know beforehand and we diverted to Galway instead - after spending my birthday in Dublin - for the Arts Festival, where we saw The (reformed) Undertones one night and Buddy Guy the next, Galway's a great place incidentally! Anyway, John Earle and Midge also came on for a quick blast with the TAL boys and all that's left to say is that they were totally AWESOME! Thanks lads!

Philomena made her customary, elegant speech, what a lovely lady, Paula and I would really like to meet her one day. Then, due to wear and tear (yes, we were gnashed again!), we headed back to the hotel, which meant we missed Grand Slam unfortunately, but by that time it must've been the back of one (I think…) and we really needed a lie down!. It was another fantastic night, if you're reading this and have never been to a Vibe but are thinking about it, all I can say is, GET YER ARSE OVER THERE!

On the Sunday we had breakfast and lounged about a bit. Then we went to the Palace Bar for a few, nice old pub kinda at the start of the Temple Bar area. This was followed by The Temple Bar itself (the boozer, not the place!), and then up to Kehoe’s off Grafton Street. After a wee siesta at the hotel we plodded up to Rubicon (Merrion Row) for a meal. This place is absolutely fantastic, the food was brilliant, the wine list extensive and the service was impeccable, a really fabulous restaurant. We finished the night off in the Dame Tavern where there was (as usual) some good live music on. It was a nice chillout sort of day, we didn’t even know that there was a post-Vibe party back at the Music Room that night, we only found out about that when we got back home.

Monday, time to go home, but we had enough breathing space to slug a last few pints of Guinness in the Dame Tavern before heading off to the airport for the flight back to Scotland in mid-afternoon. Descending towards Glasgow we could see the snow on the hills and realised that, whilst Dublin had been chilly, Scotland had been practicing it’s best Siberia impersonation. On the final approach into Glasgow Airport, and I mean we were just a few feet from the ground, the fog suddenly rolled in over the Clyde valley and the runway just disappeared, the pilot had to abort, the engines roared, and we suddenly found ourselves soaring back up into the icy heavens. It was at least 15 minutes before we could attempt another landing and in that time it got very quiet and tense in the cabin, but the pilot played a blinder and made a super-smooth landing in the swirling fog & mist, which prompted a spontaneous round of applause from the passengers, in a funny way it seemed the perfect end to a wonderful weekend…

Cheers
John & Paula.

Any comments, thoughts or retorts please email: john@johnbell.co.uk

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