.
|
22nd June 2005 Well we got away with it!!! (Boat Party Review) The
River police didn’t arrive, no one got arrested, and we're all recovering
from big hangovers, and knackered from the longest day & night in
rock n roll history!! Having been knocked up for breakfast at
8am at the Gillingham hotel Saturday morning, we set off the hour drive
to London with Ed' Tenpole Tudor keeping the band's spirits high, &
entertained with tales of past exploits all the way to the 'Spice of life'
pub in Cambridge Circus, central London, Sid Vicious' chosen hang-out during
his pistols days in London, where he met Nancy, also used in filming of
Alex Cox’s Sid & Nancy' movie. The Sex Pistols Experience met up with
Alan Parker (Sid biographer), Ray Morrissey, Phil Singleton (www.sex-pistols.net) for a few 'liveners',
before all heading down to the Thames to board the 'Queen Elizabeth' to set
up the equipment for the 2005 Queens Birthday Boat party.
It was good to see so many familiar faces in the queue, many
coming back for more after last year, as well as welcoming aboard well known
Clash roadie 'Rodent', 'The Bips' all the way from Holland,
Neal, the top guy, & staff of Sony music, responsible for
the re-release of the 'Swindle' film, (thanks for the freebies!) Brian
Jackson (also thanks for the Freebies!), Vic of Punk F.M., Mick O'Shea (go
buy his pistols book!) The Daily Star newspaper group (see at the bottom of
this page!) Channel 5, who are producing a tribute documentary about the life
of Dave Goodman, who as you may know became a friend & guiding advisor
with the Sex Pistols Experience early day's also, Craig, of Anorachy in the
U.K (see links page) Steve Diggle of the Buzzcocks sent us a text message to
"wish us luck" with the gig, unable to make this years trip
after having been whipped off to Spain on a surprise holiday, so his
ticket was up for grabs & quickly taken by one the 20 odd followers
who came down from the 'kings Arms, Acton, (cheers Lee!)
We were
soon loaded up, with every ticket gone, 150 capacity of Sex Pistols
fans, and sailing off west along the Thames, under Westminster bridge &
past Big-Ben & (arses at the ready...) the parliament buildings, into the
sunset. Time for a few beers and catch up with everyone since last year, Ed
Tenpole Tudor started the warm up spot for us, but was cut short after
busting a couple of strings, worked loose no doubt from last nights show in
Gillingham? He turned out a cracking performance as ever, full of
energy, jokes, quips & one liners, "25 years later, and STILL NO
FUTURE!!", & "If there was No Future then, - what we all doing
here!??". His new single to be 'Made it this far' began proceedings,
followed by more new songs, expect a new album out later this year, he's
writing new material now, and the boat party punters were the first people
to hear some of them. A 20 min interval whilst Nancy fleeced fivers for
the 'raffle', look out for Nancy in Alan Parkers Channel 4 film 'Too
fast To Live', the documentary based on his last book, revealing new evidence
surrounding the life & death of Sid & Nancy. The Leading role's going
to the Sex Pistols Experience's 'Kid Vicious' & merchandise girl 'Nancy
spunked'on', filming begins in London & New York this summer, and once
the Sex Pistols Experience had fired up into 'Wanna be me, Lazy sod, New
York, it was easy to see why Alan was so impressed he decided to use the
whole of the band for pistols footage & soundtrack recording!!
People
were soon falling around in the tight confines of the Queen Elizabeth, beer,
spit & saw dust, bodies slipping over in a heaving sweating mass as 'God
Save The Queen' blasted out, quickly followed by No Feelings, Pretty Vacant,
Liar, it was soon too hot, lights throwing out more heat, the low roof
leaving little room for jumping about, piles of sweaty bodies tumbling over
the monitors down the front, E.M.I, Problems soon followed, & by the
time the band got to 'Anarchy in the U.K' it had all reached fever pitch,
Johnny knackered, clothes all torn, retired out the back, as 'Kid
Vicious' had to strip off, bare chested, with padlock swinging, ripped into
'Somethin' Else', 'Come on Everybody', Steve Clones was next with 'Silly
Thing', "'Where's my Nancy'" echoed out the P.A to the opening
chords of 'Wanna Be your dog', Sid joined on stage once again by Nancy,
Rodent (Clash roadie & old friend of Sid Vicious) stood right at the
front, looked visibly moved seeing his old mate there in the dim light once
again, skinny, & snarling out the words with Nancy swigging out of a
vodka bottle & joining in on the chorus..." I just Wanna Be you Dawg...".
'Born To Loose' was next, the old Heartbreakers song from the
'Sid sings' album, reminding everyone how it must of been in 1978 at the
Electric Ballroom, Nancy wrapping herself around Kid, sharing the mic on the
chorus again.
Just as
everyone thought that was it...out came the opening bass line and massive
drum roll from 'Paul Crook' as 'Swords of a Thousand men' took
everyone by surprise, Ed' Tenpole Tudor leaping out on stage, full of
energy, everyone aboard singing along, echoing under parliament bridge
into the city lights once again as we docked back at embankment, that was
it...time had ran out, there was still songs to do, 4 or 5 more had been
penned onto the set list, but they'll have to wait now until the next
Sex Pistols Experience show!
The trip
seemed a massive success, full to capacity, many leaving before even checking
their raffle tickets! All the prizes being quickly handed out, as everyone
began to disembark the 'Queen Elizabeth', much of the night’s events captured
on film by channel 5, and various video cameras during the night. As
the people wandered dazed, sweating, up embankment pier, the band staggered
into the van, called in at a late night off-licence & kebab shop, then
headed out to 'Tenpole Towers' to begin what was to be an all night party,
digging through Ed's record collection, knocking back wine by the bottle,
laughing, getting pissed, before falling into various states of
unconsciousness in the daylight hours all over Ed Tenpole Tudors house!
Thanks to everyone who came along, especially those who'd
travelled so far from the likes of Aberdeen, Holland, Bolton, Italy, Ray
Morrissey, who had tickets to see Download festival with Black
Sabbath & Velvet Revolver, but chucked em in to come on the Sex Pistols
Experience boat trip!! Cheers to you all.... Will it happen next
year???? ....Fuck knows!
|
