WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?

The Prologue.

It was early January, I finally decided “treat yourself to The Faces BBC sessions album” so I ordered it for collection from Banquet Records in Kingston, just a bus ride away, after all did I really want to trust the post?

On the 1st February, having been told a few days earlier it had arrived. I took the three-quarters of an hour bus ride to Kingston (Upon Thames – not Jamaica!).

Banquet Records is a pretty typical “back street” record store, mainly dealing in vinyls and mostly filled with music that has no appeal to myself at all.

I walked up to the counter and said “I believe you have an album I had on order, The Faces BBC sessions – Had Me A Real Good Time”. The guy behind the counter with his halfway down the back cork screw hair said “Oh yeah, I’ve seen that one somewhere” which somewhat alarmed me to thinking – “looking at this joint it may take half an hour to find!”

But fortunately he quickly retrieved it and said “I’ve been listening to some of their really early works recently, I guess you would probably know it, the stuff when Jeff Beck was part of the group”!!!! –

As he handed me the album, I couldn’t help but notice the bright green nail varnish whilst he was talking to me, but I then instantly stopped him mid-sentence to put this young man straight by reciting to him at least a 10 minute history lesson on The Faces, including the band members separate careers post-Faces.

He sort of looked back open mouthed taking it in, but got his own back once I had finished my history lesson 1969 to present day, by saying “You will no doubt be interested in this” pointing at the record store poster on the lower part of the counter.

It listed Monday 26 February – Rod Stewart & Jools Holland. Time for my mouth to open… “Where? How can I get tickets? How many people could I buy them for?” – “Oh it’s not been officially announced” he said “there is nothing we can do from here, you have just got to keep checking out our website”. Grateful for the notification, excited but nervous thinking would I be able to get hold of 4 tickets he said that were likely the maximum to be on offer per person, the anxiety had just begun?

The Hustle.

By 10 a.m. the next morning my guarded secret was circulating everywhere online – Tickets on sale at 5 p.m.

A quartet of us opted to see if we could win the “Fastest Fingers First” battle that would bring us elation just after 5 p.m. A strategy adopted, but as we viewed the website it seemed to change like a chameleon every 5 minutes, from an offer at first of a ticket and CD, to then add a vinyl album, followed by just a ticket … then they even added a further option to buy 4 tickets not just a single purchase option.

Between the 4 of us, our What’s App messages were going back and forth, I was logged on to my laptop and my phone, I wasn’t the only one of us trying to see if multi-tasking would help secure this precious prize.

As we moved within an hour of the launch the website revealed the number of people viewing the site. At 4:15 it read 1553. That viewing number soon changed to 3499 and still 20 minutes to go. Before 5 – we recorded 13715!

Dead on 5 I refreshed both my screens only to see the 4 options flick over with the wording “SOLD OUT”. I was gutted.

Two contacts came back with the same grumbles, but one had got lucky and secured four tickets with the CD’s. A great result, but a worst case scenario, who would those four tickets go to?

In frustration I looked at the website at twenty past five to see it say 45628 had viewed it in the past half hour! And lamented, did we really have a chance?

The Reckoning.

Banquet Records would soon issue a second offer – a 6 o’clock show also on 26 February with tickets available from 10 a.m. Saturday morning. But these would disappear like hot cakes before you could be given any option to buy them as well.

They would soon realise the demand was so great for such a small venue that they must have persuaded Rod & Jools to perform two shows on 27 February to perhaps get more happy customers – they obviously knew they were onto a winner.

As the next few days passed, it became obvious that tickets were out there at far inflated prices, a £31 ticket only was on offer for £170 and a £38 ticket with CD for £230 – I just hope all the criminals got their fingers burnt. A game we were not going to encourage.

But reaching out via various contacts, drip by drip we started to hear that tickets for the main players within our regular concert excursions for the original 9 p.m. Monday night show had been secured.

There was still frustration from some either because they couldn’t get tickets or they had considered late February was a quiet period and had pre-booked holidays that they wouldn’t be prepared to cancel.

As the next couple of weeks went by and the event became nearer, plans were afoot on where to meet and what time should we get there.

But to add to that confusion, some people that had thought they had allocated tickets for the Monday night show, had now been emailed to say “Due to overcrowding, your ticket has been switched to the Tuesday evening show”. Which wasn’t a lot of good for one guy travelling from Glasgow!

Yet just a couple of days before the event a question came up “I’ve been offered tickets for the 6 p.m. show anyone fancy that as well?”

Personally it was a non-starter as an important golf match that I was committed to was taking place in the morning with an after match lunch thrown in. I simply couldn’t commit nervous given the time I thought I had, however my wife quickly said she could still go and I could meet up after the 6pm show. A case of “Some Girls Have All The Luck” you could say!

The Anticipation.

Monday 26 February 06:15 alarm – The rain had stopped, but boy there was a cold wind blowing. As I drove to a local golf course that my club were playing against, I decided “Let’s be positive today and wear my Rod Stewart beanie hat to keep out the cold”, and you know what, it worked a treat, I played well, as did my colleague alongside me – who laughed and said “I was thinking, I’ve never heard of a golfer by the name of Rod Stewart!” – Winning our match with still 5 holes to play is a very unusual result in an away fixture.

Shower, Lunch, small talk then by 2:30 head home to put on a change of clothing appropriate for the “Real” main event of the day, and after that morning, I was already buzzing.

The 3:15 bus from my high street would take longer than normal as it was prime school leaving time. I thought I had got everything in place for an evening I was so looking forward to only to check my phone once on the bus to realise it was now drained to under thirty percent and I had forgotten to pick up my charger, so I switched it off until I reached Kingston.

By 4:15 I was jumping off the bus opposite Kingston station, I looked across the road at the nightclub Pryzm and a queue was already well formed, including my wife, sister-in-law and Yve Paige – they looked frozen, and no wonder they had started to queue before 2 o’clock!

I crossed the road to have a chat, they were very excited, there were probably no more than 25 people in front of them. They told me they had been told “No pushing, No running and No petting! – Or you will be thrown to the back of the queue”. I explained my dilemma with my phone, but I had a plan for that, said “Enjoy it” as if they wouldn’t! – then went to kill time till it was my (our) turn to see the original show advertised.

Kingston thankfully is for this day and age, still a good size shopping area with key major retailers. One of those being an Apple store, so my issue with my phone would be resolved by asking if I could re-charge my phone in there – The guy said “You really do need a new phone, we don’t stock these products anymore, but no worries take a seat, but it will take awhile as the old batteries in this type of phone only charges up at 75% of current ones”. And sure enough, it took a full hour to get full capacity again, but I did have that time to kill after all.

Time for a bite to eat then off to the Wetherspoon’s pub – a typical slant on exactly where we were by naming it “The Kings Tun” !! – And it was situated directly opposite Pryzm.

Now back in the real world with a fully operational mobile (whatever did we do without them?), I could message each party we were due to meet up with and state exactly where I was. By 6:55, as I looked across the road, I could see people filtering out of Pryzm. Show number one over, now to get a reaction.

Soon my wife, sister-in-law and Yve would appear with smiles beaming, proclaiming how magical it was, they were on the front barrier, the queue and frozen feeling had been all worth it, the photos I saw afterwards certainly left me with a tinge of envy.

We would soon join up with our mates including Neal, John Gray, Perry, Mark, Mitchell, Debbie, Denise, Maggie and Daniel. Some that had already seen the earlier show, others like myself eager to witness what all this exuberance was all about. A photo shoot, then join a very long queue at 7:30 that stretched back half way down London Road.

It’s Showtime.

t’s Showtime.

I have to say, the venue was brilliant, three different tiers to it with the standing area in front of the stage which was packed to the rafters. The girls had obviously played their cards right earlier, but also had done their homework and said “Let’s go straight up to the first level balcony”.

We found a great spot, that was side on to the stage where the sound technician was sat. Maybe a little restricted, but I wasn’t disappointed.

Jools band slowly came on stage, there must be at least 25 musicians with half a dozen trumpeters stood at the back of the stage almost hidden away.

Then Jools himself came on stage and announced we would be entertained by a session of music and a Q&A in between with a very special guest who will come on stage after this number.

The band broke into a tune that instantly gave you that tingling feeling of joy that you use to get as a young boy when watching the local carnival band march through your high street, your feet tapping and yes, your body swinging.

Jools would then introduce our special guest for the night “Sir Rod Stewart” – dressed in a golden dark jacket, with a dark claret flowery shirt. Rod would thank us all for coming along but would say “This is the first time we have played these numbers live to an audience, well apart from a couple of hours ago that is, so forgive us if we fuck it up at any point”.

Our view was side on to where his three backing singers (Holly, Joanne and Becca) stood, but we had a clear vision of Jools. Rod would lean over and take objects from the audience, signing various items during spells when the band would play instrumental parts to songs or whilst Jools was announcing what was coming up next or reciting a question.

The set list (below) was just 8 numbers, but my wife had said they were told it was 9, frustratingly, there was a list just below where I stood, but I didn’t think to take a photo of it as a recorded proof.

The Q&A actually worked really well, Jools Holland is not just a magnificent pianist and band leader, but a superb compere.

Questions ranged from “What do you use to clean your railway set”, “What’s your favourite song on the album”, “How did you come about getting together to make this album”, “Is there a possibility of a Blue’s Fever album as a follow up”, “Would you come and play at my wedding” and “Do you fancy joining us in The Spoons over the road after the show”.

Humorous responses came back in the following order – such as Jools – I generally tend to use a brush, whilst Rod said, I get someone to do it for me!

These are all wonderful songs that I will let Jools tell you the history of, but they were the lead up to when rock ‘n roll started and I will never give up singing songs that relate to rock ‘n roll. If I could remember all the stages of history Jools recited of the music era I would but I can’t!

Jools would tell the story about the Christmas phone call from Rod asking if he was interested in trying to put together a few songs to make this album. He told his wife that he thought it was a prank caller. But of course it wasn’t. Rod would say as soon as we started playing these numbers they fell into place straight away, we just hit it off with one another.

On a follow up, “We will have to see how well this does and if it’s possible, maybe see if we can fit in a few more shows together, but I am rather busy you know!”.

The funny thing about the guy’s question of playing at his wedding was when Rod asked “When is it?” The guy replied “We haven’t fixed a date yet”. Which brought laughter all round. Rod did say, you will have to leave me a number so I can get back to you.

As for joining everyone in The Spoons after, Jools would say “I’ve already had a text from my wife asking what time will I be home for my tea, so I’m guessing it depends on the time of my last train”. Which Rod quickly added “Too late for that my old mate, it’s already left” – of course this question was a perfect plant to lead into the song Night Train.

The Summary.

By 9:50 it was all over, 8 maybe 9 songs. A fantastic band, with both Rod & Jools in the best of moods and everyone buzzing with what they had just witnessed.
For me, this is probably the best album Rod has produced in the 21st. Century. Sadly I never really took to the Songbook era, even though Rod pulled off a masterpiece with them. His follow up covers albums had good and poor moments, whilst his 4 newly written albums deteriorated from the first being refreshing to the last being almost embarrassing, which probably was reflected by the sales.
As a double act Rod and Jools are in perfect harmony, you can see that simply by the interviews they have given. Rumours of the album being a smash no.1 already seem to reflect a similar view throughout the music industry, how brilliant for them both if it does reach no.1.
If for some mad reason you haven’t bought or downloaded the album “just because you feel it’s not likely to be your cup of tea” – I suggest you think again, you may well be pleasantly surprised.
in life you rarely ever get an opportunity to see your superstar musician play that close up in such great tiny venue. So, I feel blessed that I did, thanks to Yve’s being quick off the mark, plus it was so good to share such an event with the great friends around me, all thanks to Rod.
It may not have been my fastest finger that got me this great opportunity, but after that show, my final answer had to be a feeling close to being like a millionaire as I swung my home chuffed to bits.

The Set List.

Almost Like being In Love, Them There Eyes, Good Rockin’ Tonight, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Pennies From Heaven, Night Train, Have I Told You Lately and Oh Marie – with possibly Walkin’ My Baby Back Home squeezed in there…. (I just had to add that bit!)

Main photo Wendy Keelan

Other photos Yve Paige