Songs for S.O.P.H.I.E.

A VICTORIAN VALENTINE......

    People sometimes say to me "Sherlock's Dog....get off the couch!" and at other times say things like "are you an old romantic?", well I suppose I am and a very happy old dog I was when I traipsed up to Stoke-on-Trent with my old mates Gladstone, we were heading for The Underground in Hanley and what a crackin' venue it was. The event was hosted by Ceri Roberts and Rich Starkie of Neon Tiger Productions and was in aid of The Sophie Lancaster Foundation.

Sam & Cal of Hex.

    After a quick load in and sound check it was doors open and away we go.....first to tread the boards was a great band called Hex, these guys are usually a three piece Heavy/Glam rock band but they had been reduced in numbers to two and so armed with acoustic guitars they still rocked the place, they are massively talented and huge fun.

    Next to launch themselves into the spotlight was Gladstone (hurrrahhh!!), Spook, his face hidden within a mask for the sake of public decency, began proceedings with the intro to the first song "Five and twenty ponies trotting through the dark, brandy for the parson, baccy for the clerk ect......" and so Night Creatures began, this was closely followed by Bluey, Newgate, William Winter, The Madness of Tilly Matthews and a new song that was played here for the first time, Springheeled Jack. They then went on to play Twisted Lip, Dr Dexter's Dream, Mountain King, The Curse of Tutankhamun, Metallica's For Whom the Bell Tolls and Sex Pistols God Save the Queen, for an encore they belted out TMTWNBBFN's Boilerplate Dan and ended on a rip roaring version of Jack Hall.

    A superb night, Amy Teacake, Mr Evil, Mr McBuggerballs V, Spook and Paul Shovelhands would like to thank everyone for the warm reception you gave us, Paul had quite a romantic surprise when his fiancee Evie turned up out of the blue (well actually smuggled up there by Spook!), he'd already bought flowers, nice work Mr Shovelhands.

    Finally the awesome BB Blackdog rounded off the night with an incredible performance, their blend of blues/psychedelia/funk creates a sound that BB have made all their own, it was great to catch up with these guys  again, we hadn't seen then for soooo long, we finally got to meet their new bassist, a fine lady called Molly and blimey can she play bass!!!!

    Sadly the night ended there, many thanks to Neon Tiger for letting us play and also many thanks to the very talented photographer Mr Steve Morrey who has kindly given me permission to use his photos here, cheers mate you are a star. You can see more of Steve's work here http://www.capturedfocus.co.uk/ and if you wish to find out more about The Sophie Lancaster Foundation or if you wish to donate to this very worthy cause then please click on this link https://www.facebook.com/thesophielancasterfoundation.

Please give us a "like" on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GladstoneUK

See you again soon playmates, here's some more photos.....