July 8th, 2006
Such a Night
Over a year and a half after their Dutch tour it was
about time for us to see the band playing live again. Therefore Anita and myself
left for Zele (Belgium) this afternoon. Of course we took a wrong turn and ended
up in Lokeren. We had a meal in a street-side cafe and after that we drove to
Zele. The venue had just opened it's doors when we arrived.
It was scorching inside. We had a quick look around and
decided to go and sit outside the neighbouring pub, waiting for what was going
to happen. I knew that Pascale was coming over from France, but I hadn't caught
sight of her yet. I decided to go inside to see if she was there. Hermans
Hermits were playing their set. Most people were neatly seated, but a few were
dancing. I was called over by a Rubettes-fan I hadn't seen in a while. It is
always nice to see the same fans at gigs. I am slowly getting to know most of
them by name and it's the same thing the other way round. In the darkness it was
hard to see if Pascale was there. When Hermans Hermits had finished playing I
went back inside because the lights were on now. I spotted the band's road crew
and went over to say hello. I knew the Rubettes were still in their hotel,
so there was no point in going backstage. As I was chatting to someone I saw Pascale,
so I went over to her to greet her. After that I went back to Anita, who had
been wise enough to stay outside. The temperature was so much better there!
Pascale joined us and we were having a good old chat when we saw the Rubettes
drive past in their bus. This was reason for us to go inside. Security was very
strict. We were not allowed to go upstairs to the canteen where the Rubettes
were. This in contradiction with what the organisation had promised us
beforehand; that we would be allowed to speak to the band.
With Alan I had more or less agreed that we would be
responsible for selling the merchandise. Alan came downstairs and we looked for
a good place for our table. The only spot was beside the stage, behind the
security fences. Alan went to talk to someone from the organisation to talk
about us putting our merchandise-table there. He soon came back and told us that
everything was in order. We would even be able to sell the merchandise without a
table if we had to. Before the show started we went to stand right in front of
the stage to be able to see everything well and of course to shoot some photo's.
John had finished the fine-tuning of his drumkit and he gave us a cheery wave
when he saw us. When the band came on and Mark spotted us, he also gave us
a wave. Mick reacted very enthusiastically to us standing there and asked us how
we were, of course this had to be done in sign language, but we understood each
other perfectly well.
We saw the set list lying on the stage and noticed that
some adjustments had been made. Ooh La La, Julia and The Sha Na Na
Song had been deleted from the list. Pity, they are my favourites. I have
never heard them play Julia live, so I was doubly disappointed. But Baby
I Know and You're The Reason Why came in their places, so that was a
good swap.
When they were playing I Can Do It , Alan had to
make some adjustment to his pedals. He went to sit on his heels and when getting
back up he lost his balance and fell backwards. During his fall he looked back
to see where he would end up. He fell towards the amplifier and managed to
unplug his own and Mick's guitars. Neither John, nor Mark had seen any of this
incident, so they were looking kind of bewildered. Luckily it was only a matter
of plugging the guitars back in and they could play on, but I thought it was
rather comical that this had to happen during I Can Do It, of all songs.
During Happy Days in the a capella medley John
was mumbling some nonsense, which made Alan burst out laughing. John always
manages to make someone laugh onstage.
It struck me that the dance floor was full of people
now, so much so that there was no room left for dancing.
The drum act was of course phenomenal as usual, but how
it drowns the guys from all their energy! You could clearly see that they had to
catch their breath afterwards. Of course it was all over much too soon.
After Sugar Baby Love Anita and I went to the
side of the stage to get the merchandise ready for sale. But the security guard
was adamant, we were not allowed behind the fences. Strange, because Alan had
explained it to him and even pointed us out to him. You would begin to wonder if
he understood a word of English. When Alan came back down, assuming that we had
started selling, he was flabbergasted to find that there was no table, no
merchandise and we were on the wrong side of the fence. He started looking round
for his bags of merchandise and I decided to just slip behind the fence. Again
someone tried to stop me, but I just wasn’t going to let that happen
again. Someone handed me a table, Alan was given his merchandise and Anita and I
set about unpacking. There were CD´s, the live DVD and photo´s. We did manage
to sell some of the stuff, but I am certain of the fact that it could have been
much more if we had been allowed to come into action sooner. John and Mick also
joined us to sign autographs and pose for photo´s. I chatted a bit with Mick.
John was at the end of his tether. He was there, signed what was put under his
nose and obediently posed for the odd picture, but that was all. When we were
just about finished, Alan, Mick and John went back upstairs. Just as we
were about to start packing up, Mark came down. Just in time to make a few
people happy with his autograph. After we had packed everything we went upstairs
to hand everything back tot Alan. Upstairs we were met by the same person who
wouldn’t let us pass through before and again he wouldn’t let us go and see
Alan. I explained to him that I would just hand Alan his stuff and be off again.
We had a chat with Alan and he apologised for the way things had worked out. He
said he had arranged everything beforehand, but things didn’t go as planned.
We asked him about the gig in Belgium that is planned for August 28th, but there
was nothing he could say about it. As soon as he gets the information he will
let me know. He also explained about his fall onstage, he had lost his balance
and was afraid to fall on the amps. Luckily he hadn’t hurt himself.
It had become rather late by now and we decided to say
our goodbyes. Mick and John had already gone, so we weren’t able to say
goodbye to them. Mark was downstairs and we had a little chat with him. He told
us that he had expected us to be there, but hadn’t caught sight of us until he
came onstage. He said he would have a few days off, which he would be spending
in Germany. Also he said he hopes they will be playing in Holland again soon. Of
course we wholeheartedly agreed with him on this. We said goodbye to Mark and
Pascale and got in the car. Two hours later I dropped off Anita at her front
door. A little before five in the morning my head hit the pillow, tired, but
also very happy to have seen the Rubettes after all this time!
Lucienne
Translation by Nannette