Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

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Emley v Silsden, Friday 8th August 2025, 7.45pm

August 27, 2025

I’ve been making reasonably progress at ticking off the grounds in the East Division of the Northern Premier League, mainly due to the efforts of Northern League clubs in gaining promotion to it. As I had a Friday night with nothing planned, I thought I’d head down to Emley for their opening game of the season against Silsden.

In an update of other stuff, Jen and I had been to the Old Courtroom at Middlesbrough Town Hall the night before to see local band Weathership. They were ok, but I preferred one of the livelier support bands.

The drive down to Emley was more complicated than it needed to be with multiple road closures. Nevertheless, I made it on time to the Fantastic Media Welfare Ground and handed over my tenner admission just as the teams were walking out. There was a decent programme for a couple of quid.

Emley were favourites for the win having just missed out on promotion last year whilst Silsden were playing their first ever fixture as high as the eighth tier. I watched for a while from behind the goal, then found myself a seat in the main stand where I ended up in conversation with a fellow groundhopper about some of the other grounds in the division.

Next to the main stand was a cabin with a rooftop viewing area. This was where the people who had opted for the thirty pounds hospitality package watched the game from. The stands behind the goal looked as if they had all been erected at different times with little regard to an overall design. I liked the look of it though, it was a sort of shanty town.

The game went as expected, with Emley two up inside twenty-five minutes and then adding a third midway through the second half. A fair few of the near five-hundred crowd were from Silsden and their team showed enough to suggest that, despite the result, they will do ok this season.

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FC Ilves 2 v Atlantis FC Akatemia, Monday 2nd June 2025, 7pm

June 7, 2025

The Duran Duran gig that had brought us to Finland was in Tampere which is two hours drive north of Helsinki. It was a scenic route with frequent deer sightings in the nearby fields. We’d booked an apartment close to the Nokia Arena venue and didn’t move too far away from it, so I’ve no real idea whether I saw the best bits of Tampere or not.

Jen enjoyed the gig whereas I struggle a bit to appreciate their music. I don’t mind listening to Planet Earth or Girls on Film, but the other eighteen songs could be vastly improved by condensing them all down to a five-minute medley.

I had a more enjoyable evening the previous night when I went along to the Tammelan Stadium which was a short walk further on from the Nokia Arena. The game was a fourth-tier fixture between Ilves reserves and Atlantis.

I hadn’t expected much difficulty in getting in, but tickets were required and they could only be bought online. A very helpful steward identified the website and two minutes and ten euros later I had my seat.

The Tammelan stadium is just a year old and has an eight thousand capacity. I like the design which includes downward curved roofs on the stands behind the goals. There was a possible flaw in the stand opposite to me though with the uprights for the floodlights going straight through the upper tier. If the seats behind them were sold then it would have been a very obscured view for those people.

There was a concourse area behind me with bars and food. Some people watched the game from stools through the glass. I could see the appeal in poor weather, but this was a sunny evening and perfect for sitting outside.

There were around two hundred people in my stand, including half a dozen or so from Atlantis. The only other spectators were twenty home ultras who had a dedicated section behind the goal my right. They all looked to be fourteen years old and were dressed in black with five or six flags between them. A constant drumbeat accompanied the game

The first half was goalless, but Atlantis might well have had a penalty early in the second. The outraged Atlantis number nine soon made amends though, getting a marginal touch to a lofted cross. The visitors quickly doubled their lead with well-finished half-volley.

Ilves pulled one back with twelve minutes to go and then pressurized the Atlantis goal. It paid off in added time when a great through ball split the defence. It was squared and tucked away. I shared in the joy of a last gasp draw that feels like a win.

I was less joyful when I popped into the supermarket on the way out to find that alcohol sales finish bang on the stroke of nine o’clock. I’d missed the deadline for buying a couple of cans of beer by four minutes. Maybe I should have made an early dart from the game to ‘beat the traffic’.

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IF Gnistan v FC Ilves, Sunday 1st June 2025, 4pm

June 4, 2025

Fortunately, Jen and I have similar tastes in music. Actually, we seem to have similar tastes in lots of things. One slight difference though is Duran Duran. They were one of Jen’s childhood bands whereas I’ve always seen them as talentless tossers. However, Jen accompanies me to plenty of events where her focus is on knitting rather than whatever I’m interested in and so when I saw that Duran Duran were touring Europe, I booked us tickets for Tampere and Copenhagen.

First stop on the way to Tampere was two nights in Helsinki. It’s somewhere that I visited back in 2009 with Paul for a Hanoi Rocks gig on their farewell tour. In the battle of the bands, I’d say the Finns beat the Brummies hands-down.

Our apartment was only a few minute’s walk from where I’d stayed the previous time, but I remembered nothing of the area. On that first trip Paul and I did some salmon fishing, popped into a castle and drank in what I recall as being old bloke pubs.

This time Jen and I wandered along to the harbour. There were plenty of food stalls, most of which sold reindeer meatballs or salmon soup. It’s probably like every restaurant in Teesside sticking a parmo on the menu. We had neither, as we ended up eating in a Georgian establishment, so it was mince dumplings and some fried potatoes. That’s a win.

As you might have expected, I scheduled in some football. Finland is somewhere that I’d yet to see a game, so the visit would take the total countries where I’d watched a match to sixty-four.

We caught a train from Helsinki station that took us four stops and twenty minutes north to the suburbs. Everyone was very helpful, something that I now associate with Finns, and we arrived at the Mustapekka Arena with around twenty minutes in hand. It’s a ground with just a 2,600 capacity, which struck me as being on the small side for a top-tier fixture.

I’d bought tickets in advance that morning at twenty-two euros a pop. It was as well I did as there were very few empty seats. We were in what appeared to be a temporary stand made of scaffolding, whilst there was a more permanent structure on the other side of the pitch. A few people stood behind each goal and watched through netting.

There were beer and burgers for sale and an old bloke manning a barbecue. I got a hot dog at half time which came without a bun. That’s ok on the basis that the hot dog is the best bit. I’d have been less impressed if it had just been a dogless bun.

And the match? Well, not very much happened at all, at least for the first eighty-seven minutes. Visitors Ilves had most of the territorial advantage with the Gnistan goalie keeping his side in the game by making some decent stops. The home side couldn’t hold out though and to a collective FFS from the crowd, Ilves nicked a goal three minutes from the end. They sealed the win with a second goal in added time.

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De La Salle Devils v North Manchester Kaizers, Sunday 25th May 2025, 11am

May 30, 2025

Our third gig in three nights was From The Jam at Manchester Ritz. It was supposed to be Bruce Foxton’s final appearance before a health-driven retirement but unfortunately he wasn’t well enough to attend. That meant that there wasn’t actually anyone on stage that was ‘From The Jam’, but it wasn’t a big deal. Hastings is pretty good as a tribute act and has played with all three past members of The Jam at different times. It was a beery singalong with a crowd of predominantly sixty-odd year old blokes wearing Fred Perry polos.

Next morning Jen and I headed out into the Manchester suburbs to Whalley Range’s ground in Chorlton-cum-Hardy. It was hosting the final of the JA Kennedy Cup, a competition for teams in the Manchester Amateur Sunday League. It’s a league that claims to be the oldest Sunday League in the world.

It was three quid admission, which surprised me, as it’s rare that Sunday League footballers play in front of a paying audience. There weren’t any stands, but there were a few picnic tables with benches. We found a padded bench at a table in front of the bar.

The finalists were De La Salle Devils and North Manchester Kaizers. There was an online programme available via one of those QR codes that gave some of the history of the teams. All I can remember is that the Kaizers were formed quite recently. Both sides had support there, mainly family by the look of it. I’d been expecting there to be parties of lads on a Bank Holiday weekend sesh, but it was all fairly subdued.

Most of the action was in the first-half. Devils went a goal up early on, only for Kaizers to equalise twenty-five minutes in. It was a short-lived parity as within two minutes Devils were back in front. They held the advantage until shortly before the break when Kaizers levelled again.

The winning goal came a few minutes into the second half. It looked offside to me, with a Kaizers player tapping in an effort that would have gone in anyway. The Devil’s protests went unanswered and it was enough to clinch the cup.

We hung around for the presentations which went on longer than they do at a World Cup.  I suspect the subsequent celebrations will gave gone on well into the afternoon.

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Littletown v Wyke Wanderers, Saturday 24th May 2025, 2.30pm

May 29, 2025

The football season is just about over in England but there are still odd games remaining, usually where one of the sides has ran up a fixture backlog due to extensive cup runs or trouble with their pitch. Jen and I were heading over to Manchester for a gig and so we broke our journey by calling in at the final game of the season in the West Yorkshire League Premier Division.

We were doing pretty well for gigs. Two nights ago we’d gone up to Newcastle to meet up with Paul to see Michael Monroe. He’s the former frontman from Hanoi Rocks, a band that Paul and I first saw over forty years ago. This one was in the Newcastle University Student Union and was very little different to the Hanoi Rocks performances that we saw in the mid-eighties. At one point he came down off the stage and ended up jumping onto the bar. Monroe is a couple of years older than us but I doubt I’d be able to clamber around with such ease.

The next night, Jen and I saw The Snuts at Middlesbrough Town Hall. We’ve seen them a couple of times before including their gig at the same venue three years ago when it seemed likely that they might be the next big thing. I’m not sure that they’ve progressed as much as I’d expected but there was a decent youngish crowd, most of whom appeared word perfect on all the songs. It was a good show, with it all over in an hour and without an encore. That’s as it should be. Play your best stuff for sixty minutes and then clear off.

The Saturday afternoon game was between Littletown and Wyke Wanderers at Beck Lane, Heckmondwike. I suspect that Littletown were the cause of the fixture pile up as they’d won three trophies, including the league. They posed behind their cups before kick-off.

The crowd of around one hundred and twenty was likely bigger than Littletown’s usual attendance as it was boosted by at least forty groundhoppers. We are easily spotted, with cameras, notebooks and backpacks, although I can often pass for a normal person simply by taking Jen along.

Littletown missed an opportunity to cash in on the groundhopper influx as it was free admission. They probably dipped out on catering profits too as we only paid a couple of quid in total for two coffees and a bag of crisps.

There weren’t any seats anywhere, other than the camping chairs that people had brought themselves. There was a covered standing area, although it just had a dirt floor. As there wasn’t any prospect of rain, Jen and I were content to lean on the rail behind one of the goals.

Not a great deal went on in the opening half-hour. It all got interesting though when some handbags led to two red cards. What made it notable was that both of the players sent off were from Littletown. A Wanderers player picked up a yellow for his part in it all and I imagine that he couldn’t stop smirking at how it all played out.

The two man advantage was enough for Wanderers to take the lead before the break when a corner from the left was volleyed home.

Littletown regrouped after the restart and defended deep for most of the second half. As full-time approached, they threw off the shackles and pushed forward, putting one chance just wide of the post and then hitting the bar in added time.

Wanderers held on for the single goal victory, but with three trophies to parade it was still Littletown’s afternoon.

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Murton Colliery v Seaham Island Social Club, Sunday 20th April 2025, 10.30am

April 27, 2025

With the Boro’s Easter fixtures taking place on Good Friday and Easter Monday, I’d normally have filled the Saturday gap with a lower-league fixture. However, Saturday was also the date for Stockton Calling and so we went to that instead.

As ever, it was worth the visit and it’s always good to discover new bands. Highlights this year were Sister Madds from Glasgow and a Liverpool band, Casino. No doubt we’ll be going along to see them again playing their own shows.

As I hadn’t been to a Saturday game, I nipped up the A19 on Sunday morning to the Murton Welfare ground for a fixture in the Premier Division of the Peterlee and District Sunday League. Murton Colliery were taking on Seaham Island Social Club in a clash between second v third in the table.

Murton Welfare is only twenty minutes or so up the A19. I’d turned up there a couple of years ago for a game only to find out that it had been postponed. It’s got a covered stand with benches in, a raised standing area and a toilet. All very impressive features at Sunday League level.

There were maybe thirty or so spectators and a few dogs including a pair of shih tzus and two sausage dogs. I passed three lads behind one of the goals who were taking the piss out of their absent mate, who apparently spends a fortune on fake tan but rarely brushes his teeth.

As I stood behind the benches, I noticed a sub who couldn’t have been far short of my age. I was hoping to see how he performed but unfortunately, he didn’t get a run out.

Seaham went a goal up early on and then added a second ten minutes before half time. I must have smiled or something when the second went in as a fella inquired as to whether I was an away fan. Perhaps an unfamiliar face is noteworthy in Murton.

The first half was pretty much one-way traffic, and the visitors could easily have been five or six up by the break. The second half was more evenly contested. Murton pulled one back on the hour and then the sides traded goals for an eventual four-two away win.

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Middlesbrough v Plymouth, Friday 18th April 2025, 3pm

April 26, 2025

Four wins needed. After the defeat at Millwall, we pretty much had to win our final four fixtures if we were to make the play-offs. I’d come out of the New Den accepting that we weren’t capable of doing that, but getting on for a week later, some of my usual positivity was returning. We’ve won four games on the trot before, so why not again?

It has been a good week for doing stuff. Jen and I had been to a talk about murder given by a retired detective, and we’d seen John Bramwell in a pub in Durham. It was our third Bramwell gig in the past three weeks and we’ve at least two more scheduled for later in the year.

On paper, you’d think a home fixture against bottom of the table opposition should be a near-certain three points, but it’s a tight league this season and Plymouth could easily stay up with two or three wins from their final four games. Despite centre-backs Fry and Edmundson being fit enough for the bench, Howson kept his place at the heart of the defence, whilst Forss got the nod over Burgzorg on the right of the three behind Conway.

Boro controlled the game with three-quarters of the possession and made three passes for every one that Plymouth completed. We took the lead when Azaz tapped home a Conway dink over the keeper that came back out off the inside of the post. Plymouth were level within minutes after another instance of playing out from the back going wrong and if Travers hadn’t pulled off a couple of good saves we’d have gone in behind at the break.

We didn’t really look like scoring in the second half, but Plymouth’s timewasting led to eight minutes of added time and as we entered the final stages a light touch on Conway’s back earned us a penalty. He took it himself and picked the right side to roll it home. A lot of the Boro fans had already left by that point, but Harry and I celebrated, not really believing our luck and reflecting upon how moments like that make it all worthwhile. Three wins needed.

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Oxford v Cambridge, Sunday 13th April 2025, 2.30pm

April 16, 2025

There were a few options for a football game today, but none of the fixtures or grounds were particularly appealing, so Jen and I went for a walk along the Thames instead. We’d picked an idea day for it as the Boat Race was taking place.

I’ve not really got much of an interest in rowing, despite having what I’d consider to be the ideal body shape of short legs and a long torso. I’m not sure I’d appreciate having callouses on my hands though. I dated a girl from Carlton when I was twenty who rowed for a club on the Tees, and it was like being tossed off by a scaffolder. Or so I imagine. Albeit rarely.

The four-mile course runs from Putney to Mortlake and so we took a tube to Richmond, with the plan of walking six miles along the Thames Path before reaching the race route in time to walk the course whilst watching the action and take the total distance up to around ten miles.

The early part of the walk took us around the edge of Kew Gardens on the southside towpath. Unfortunately, there had been some subsidence, and we had to cross the river and follow a detour that took us down Brentford High Street. There were some interesting sections where boats were either moored, being repaired or simply rotting away, but I think that it’s probably one of the less scenic parts of the Thames path.

We reached the Chiswick Bridge finish line around half an hour before the first of the afternoon’s races began. Whilst we’d hardly seen anyone else on the previous six miles, both banks of the river were getting busy. We stopped for what was billed as ‘German Sausage’ but was really just a hot dog. The pubs along the route were packed, but there were also plenty of quiet areas where people had brought a picnic and were able to sit quietly with nobody within fifty yards either side.

I got talking to a bloke who was supporting Oxford. I’m not really sure why he felt the need for an allegiance, as it strikes me as the sort of event that you can just let drift over you without the need for any tension. Maybe he liked a bet.

As we walked towards Putney, the boats went past at twenty-minute intervals. First was the women’s race then each of the reserve crews and finally the men’s boats. Each time Cambridge were well clear of their rivals, spoiling the day of their Chiswick Bridge supporter.

We finished the evening off with a Withered Hand gig upstairs in a pub. It went well, with plenty of early stuff and only the best tracks from the second and third albums. His new songs were well-received as was the support act, Darren Hayman. All in all, a good day.

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Millwall v Middlesbrough, Saturday 12th April 2025, 3pm

April 15, 2025

I initially had some university stuff on in Chelmsford this weekend and so Jen and I booked up for three nights in nearby London. It subsequently turned out that there wasn’t much benefit to me in attending and so that freed up my Saturday to go along to the New Den to see the Boro instead.

There’s always plenty going on in the Capital and our visit also coincided with a Sea Power gig at Islington Assembly Hall. They like to mix things up and on this tour they are playing songs from soundtracks that they’ve done, such as Man of Aran and From the Sea to the Land Beyond. They’ve also done one for a computer game, Disco Elysium. It won them both a BAFTA and a fresh set of fans, mainly young gamers. The crowd for this gig had far many younger people, than I think I’ve ever seen at a Sea Power gig, even twenty-odd years ago.

The track selection made for an interesting change, although I was hoping that they’d encore with something a bit more raucous. I think Sea Power are at their best when it’s all a bit chaotic, in the old days it would be Eamon off on a frolic with a drum, Phil knocking his teeth out stagediving or the bear on the loose. More recently it might be Noble crowd surfing, whilst Paul the guitar tech steps in for him. These are all things that I’d like the young gamers to see.

Jen and I also had time for a pre-match walk along Regents Canal. We were staying in Camden and went from the market area to Little Venice and back. We watched a couple with a boat navigating one of the locks and some monkey business in the London Zoo enclosure that backs on to the canal.

It was interesting to see the lifestyles of the people on the permanently moored boats along that stretch of the river. I’d happily live in one of them, I think, although I did feel the same about camper vans until we spent a week in one in Australia. Maybe I should try it for a short period first.

The match was easy enough to get to with a tube to London Bridge and then a five-minute overground journey to South Bermondsey. There’s a dedicated walkway for away fans arriving by rail and I was into the ground with plenty of time for a couple of beers in the outdoor area behind the stand.

It’s always a good feeling pre-match when the sun is shining and your team is still in with a chance of the playoffs.

My ticket was in the upper tier, in the second row and central. Carrick had made one change, taking Iheanacho out of the firing line after his performance against Leeds and bringing in Whittaker to the front three supporting Conway. We had most of the ball in the first half but didn’t do a lot with it. We rarely do these days, limiting ourselves to keeping possession and recycling it in the hope that the opposition defence might drop off to sleep.

Things got worse in the second half when Millwall stepped up the tempo. We couldn’t cope with the pressure and conceded on the hour. Even after going behind nothing really changed, but then again, that’s how it is with the players and system that we have. It might have been different if we’d hadn’t flogged off Akpom, Rogers, Latte Lath or even Jones. But when you sell your creative players whenever a bid comes in, that’s what happens. We will likely lose Hackney in the summer too.

Highlight of the day was bumping into Carl outside afterwards as we were held back to allow the Millwall fans first access to the trains. It was his first away game since the win on penalties at Old Trafford a few years ago. I suspect that after that performance it might be his last trip for a while.

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Peterlee Catholic Club v Horden JDB Wanderers, Sunday 6th April 2025, 10.30am

April 13, 2025

The night before this game Jen and I broke our journey home from the Northern League game at Alnwick to watch War of the Worlds at Newcastle Arena. It was ok, I suppose, but I wasn’t too taken with anything that differed from the original. There’s no need for new songs or guitar solos full of twiddly bits in the original tracks.

It’s probably the least-cool gig that I’ve ever been to, both content and crowd-wise, but that’s ok. I wasn’t ever a cool kid, and I’ve carried that into adulthood. Whilst I’ve so far managed to resist being a two-strapper or a four-striper, perhaps I’ve found my tribe.

I continued my uncool behaviour the next morning when I drove up to Peterlee to watch some football at Helford Road. Peterlee Catholic Club were taking on Horden JDB Wanderers in the second-tier Division One of the Peterlee and District Sunday League.

The Peterlee and District is an easy league for groundhopping. Most of their pitches are listed on the futbology app and the league’s website is well-maintained. The catchment area is just far enough from Teesside to be unfamiliar without requiring me to drive for any more than half-an-hour or so.

The area around Lowhills had a mix of housing including some of those flat roof houses that date back to Peterlee’s new town origins, and which have subsequently been converted to let the rain run off properly.

Horden went into the game in second place in the table, with the Catholic Club fifth in a nine-team division. The goal posts were old school, without stanchions and with the nets fixed to the ironwork with tape.

Horden held the advantage early on and the Peterlee manager had to instruct his keeper to feign injury so that he could reorganise his side. It wasn’t enough though and Horden took a first half lead with a goal that the home side vehemently protested was offside.

Both keepers were having decent games and there wasn’t a second goal until the hour when a Horden striker lobbed the advancing keeper to double their lead. Peterlee hit the bar and post before Horden broke quickly and sealed the points with twenty minutes to go.

The third goal provided an opportunity for both teams to give some of their fringe players a run out and with five minutes remaining a mazy run from deep resulted in a fourth and final goal for Horden.

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