7 Nights in October

A few days ago, Whilst checking my E-Mail as usual, I found that fellow fans of Eleanor McEvoy, Martin & Sue Hutton ( who I met in Wolverhampton) had posted an account of their trip round Britain, to the followers of Eleanor McEvoy. With their kind permission, I am reproducing it here. It just goes to show what fans will do in the quest for seven pleasant evenings, great music, and friendship.

We're back home, and recovering from a holiday of a lifetime.

We can hardly believe that eight days seemed to pass so quickly especially when you consider all that we packed in. Yes, if you haven't guessed by now, we are the folks Eleanor talked about in her recent pod cast. The planning started some time ago when we decided that the joy of seeing Eleanor and the destinations on her UK leg of her tour had us hooked.

The adventure really started on Thursday 5th setting off from deepest darkest Essex and driving the 213 miles to Chester. Despite the rain we managed an open top bus tour of Chester and had the full devoted attention of the tour guide as we were the only one's on tour. Alexander's in Chester was an excellent location and a very well attended evening. We were both worried and amused when in the second half she declared that after a conversation with the promoter in Arran no tickets had been sold. Of course we knew that at least two had been sold or at least that's what we hoped as the arrangement was to collect at the venue.
We could hardly resist at the end of a superb performance letting her know that we too were Arran bound. Much to Eleanor's amazement.

The journey to Arran was long and took most of the day on Friday, but we managed to get there in time for the 15:00 ferry. On arrival we had some more concerns, a notice that ferries may be delayed or cancelled due to bad weather greeted us. Something that wasn't accommodated in our tight schedule! Fortunately the ferry was prompt and we just hoped that the 'Tour Bus' had made it too. If we were thinking of a song to sum up Arran on Friday it was definitely
'The Rain Falls'. Torrential rain fell most of the afternoon and drenched us on our way to eat at a local restaurant.

The McAlpine hotel, venue for the concert and our room for the night was just yards from the ferry terminal. The highlight of the hotel was the hospitality and the enthusiasm of Tam the hotel manager and promoter for the evening. Tam had an incredible sense of humour and this was evident in the sign displayed at reception -
'Any unattended children will be sold as slaves'
The audience was small but not exactly just the two of us, about 30 people in an airy ballroom in the hotel with a magnificent mirror.

We managed to fight through the crowds and get a table in the centre at the front and our quest for the day was rewarded with a fantastic performance including our request from the Chester Set of
'To Sweep Away A Fool'.
The audience were very appreciative and it was pleasure to have no background distractions of a bar in the same room, which usually brings with it washing glasses and stocking up.

Saturday morning the sun shone on Arran revealing the true beauty of the Island and encouraged us to take a short walk along the coastal path. But no time for resting when you're OUT THERE on tour!

We boarded the ferry and bid farewell to Arran. Next stop Coatbridge.
A much shorter journey once we had reached the main land but complicated by a SatNav failure. Resorting to a manual option of a map book and road signs we successfully reached the Georgian Hotel. Once again venue and our bed for the night.
We had expected to eat in the bar before taking our seats but had taken no account of Scotland playing France at football and a 5pm kick-off didn't make eating in the bar a peaceful choice.
So we set off to see what Coatbridge (small suburb of Glasgow) could offer and the best we could find was a kebab supper (i.e. with chips). We guessed that France had scored with the roars and cheers from the bar, but the match ended 1-0 to Scotland.

The venue for the concert was a large function room at the side of the hotel with a bar. The audience were the largest and the noisiest of the tour and the promoter even had to ask people to be quite during the first support act. (well done that man)
As Eleanor took the stage they were far quieter. She was brave enough to sing 'C'est bien' in the second set, but it was well received particularly as the Scots had won.

The journey was getting shorter each day. Sunday 8th October and Edinburgh was our destination. Just a 40 minute drive and no boats! We had decided that Sunday required some luxury for us and we checked into the Sheraton Spa and spent most of the afternoon indulging in pure relaxation in the Spa.
After dinner in the hotel we walked the rain drenched street of the Holyrood district and after asking directions from a couple of students we found the Cabaret Voltaire club. A small venue with no windows, which appeared to beset in the vaults of a tall granite building. The audience were quiet and very appreciative and some had travelled far. A man buying CDs after the concert had travelled down especially from Aberdeen (about a 4 hour drive) and was quite a recent follower. In fact he had heard the Out There CD in a music shop and was immediately enthralled.

Our own discovery of Eleanor had been while she was supporting the Homespun tour in 2005, and we were delighted to hear an acoustic version of 'Effortless Cool'. We were also surprised to hear her sing

'I Hear You Breathing In' from Yola, which we hadn't heard live before.

Monday 9th October and heading back to England. We had more travelling today to get down to Doncaster and the A1 provided us with a scenic journey through the borders. Unfortunately not both of us could attend the concert in Doncaster as an Open University exam needed Sue to be in London. We had told Eleanor in Edinburgh, so she wasn't too surprised when Martin attended with another woman - his sister who lives near Doncaster. She had a wonderful evening and got her copy of 'Out There' signed for her birthday.
Recognised a few people from the Wath-Upon-Dearne festival in April and Ruth joined Eleanor on stage for a duet of 'Only a Woman's Heart'.

The Hull venue was the smallest. The New Adelphi Club is situated in a residential area of Hull quite close to Pearson Park. The crowd was few in number (about 35), but they were appreciative and there was plenty of banter, particularly when Eleanor asked if an Irish woman with a van would be required to pay a parking ticket. We were rewarded for our request in Arran and Eleanor finally played an excellent version of 'Trapped Inside' -a delight!
Perhaps in recognition of the local connections with Homespun she also played a Homespun number, 'You Are Here'. We had hoped that Dave Rotheray would make an appearance but unfortunately, he wasn't in town.

Thursday 12th October. And we had finally reached the last destination of the tour (for us anyway) in Wolverhampton. We thought it only right that just before the concert, at The Little Civic, that we presented Eleanor with a token of our appreciation.
And the most appropriate gift was a 'Set List bag'.
The bag contained a bottle of Beaujolais Wine, Jameson Whisky, Champagne, Coffee, Milk and of course Bread. In return she played
'Its mine', 'My Own Sweet Bed Tonight' and 'Biochemistry'.

We were also thrilled to hear 'Memphis Tennessee'

and 'Stray Thoughts' for the first time on this tour.

We never tired of seeing Eleanor play for 7 nights and there were always changes to the set list. In total we must have heard about 40 different songs with regular appearances of 'Fields of Dublin 4',

'Suffer So Well', and her latest single 'Non Smoking Single Female'.
It was all the fun we had expected it to be.

And of course the finale was to arrive home, and find that we had even got a mention on Eleanor's latest Pod cast.
What a holiday!

Sounds absolutely Great.

So like Martin & Sue and my self you'd like to become a follower, go to the Eleanor McEvoy site and join.
You can also hear some of her music and the mentioned pod cast on her MySpace site before you go and pester your local record shop.

And of course if you'd like to join us and see her 'Live'.She will supporting Homespun on some of their gigs in January 2007 in the UK.