greetings pop pickers
over two years ago the human was lucky enough to get two of only 300 tickets for her and her sister (hs) to see the alarm (80s band) at a special ‘gathering’ to mark their 40th anniversary. it was originally going to take place in may (& june) 2021, but that got postponed to january this year – then that was rearranged for the beginning of march
finally we were on our way up north to rhyl (about 150 miles). it took about four hours including a short stop in stoke.
the purple palace was right by the seafront (ish) and we could see the sea (ish) from our first floor room – there may have been a car park and wall in between…
we went up the day before the first concert, so after tea we went to scout out prestatyn & dyserth ready for sunday – but more of that later.
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the first concert was friday night at rhyl town hall which was only a hop, skip and a jump from the pp (or a 3-4 minute walk as they decided on)
they were presented with a 40th anniversary rosette when they went in (not as naff as they were expecting). mike peters (mp) performed an acoustic set with songs from the years 2022 to 2010, then after the interval, songs from 2009 to 2000. i must admit i only knew about six of the songs…
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on saturday morning we had a walk to rhyl harbour and metal mickey (statue of mike peters)
walking back we went on the beach…
after an early lunch we were back at the town hall. most people had their photo taken with mp as they arrived – my human doesn’t have her photo taken thankyouverymuch. there was a big flag on a table that you could sign. the hs had already included the human so i signed me and wheatus’ names.
the filum was ’50 days in lockdown’ about writing, recording and releasing a new album in er, 50 days in er, lockdown…
five out of five
we were back later for the second concert and was presented with a flag on the way in – this time it was songs from the years 1999 to 1992 (i knew a few more), then after the interval, songs from the years 1991 to 1981 (i knew most of them and sang along). he was on stage for nearly four hours *applause*
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on the sunday morning we were rudely awoken at 7:30am by hs alarm going off #grrr
we had to check out and be off to prestatyn before 9:30am for a performance and presentation about the first ever Alarm gig, outside the now closed royal victoria pub (obviously their first gig was inside!!) his voice was a bit croaky!
afterwards it was off to dyserth, a couple of miles away.
mp & his wife jules own a chapel which they’ve made into apartments and had just bought the pub next door so we went for a nosey.
the apartments were very nice and even had one of mp’s guitars in each one. on the way out the humans decided to have a photo with the great man himself (purposely blurred!)
the second part of the 40th anniversary gathering is a concert in cardiff, originally going to be a couple of weeks after rhyl but it’s now been rescheduled for april…next year!
so look out for part two…