I’M STILL on tour this week with The New Beautiful South, or simply The South as they now call themselves.
Let me begin by giving a huge shout out to the Aberdeen audience at the Lemon Tree on Saturday.
Cheers to everyone who braved the horrible weather to come see the show, it was a fantastic gig, made all the more special by having a killer audience in attendance.
It was great to be playing in The Lemon Tree once again too and I’m so glad that this most excellent venue was saved from financial ruin. I’ll be seeing you again.
I hope I did you justice – I’ve been battling a seriously sore throat which hasn’t had the chance to heal and is made worse by performing night after night with no real down-time.
I ended up at G-Docs for antibiotics and was seen by a dude I used to go to high school with, Dr Vorenkamp.
I always knew he'd become a doctor, he was a very bright lad.
Anyway, at the end of the current tour, which wraps up in Cambridge tomorrow, as opposed to a day off I have a day of intense rehearsals and then it’s straight back out on the road again supporting the fabulous American blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa.
I reported in an earlier column how he lost his voice mid-tour and drafted me in to cover six of his shows in France and Germany while his tired and stressed vocal cords healed up.
I was opening for legends like BB King and Steve Winwood and it was a total gas!
This next tour begins in Llandudno in Wales, and goes all round the UK before ending in the Irish town of Cork. I’ll be touring with my full band instead of the stripped down three-piece I’m playing with just now. And I’ll no doubt be travelling the accursed system of congested roads overflowing with average-speed cameras and under constant repair. Only this time I will be in the luxurious surroundings of a double-decker bus.
It definitely beats the battered, gas guzzling minivan we’re calling home at the moment.
On a different note, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank a lady named Barbara from the Willows Animal Sanctuary in Strichen near Fraserburgh.
She and her team currently care for around 200 animals – 100 of these being cats and horses – and they are desperately short of funds.
I lost my beautiful little cat Toots earlier this year and I used to have a horse called Tigger when I was a teenager that I adored.
I love all animals and am extremely honoured to have been asked to become a patron of this sanctuary.
On behalf of the Willows and every other charitable organisation that cares for animals, I ask that those who can afford to donate, do so generously.
And with the festive season now fast approaching it is time for everyone to be mindful of that old adage – “A pet’s not just for Christmas”.