It's been a while. Teenage Fanclub's tour of Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Ireland & UK was amazing. Long but fun. But long. But fun.
Let's not talk about the time I screwed up the ending of The Concept or brought Everything Flows to a halt *slightly* early while everyone else was expecting to play on. Or the time I ventured to the front of the stage for once in my life at the end of a gig to offer to my set list to a young lad in the front row only to be politely turned down cos he already had one, leaving me looking like a right 'nana! I mean - we all survived.
I had my first visit to The Louvre. I saw Guernica in Madrid and a Velazquez self-portrait in Valencia. I had an amazing roast tomato in San Sebastian, Kolsch in Cologne, Guinness in Dublin and Turkish food with Harry Pye in Hackney.
As ever I did my best to take in some art that I may never get the chance to see again.
In Porto/Lisbon I was in danger of turning into a Pasteis de nata.
The local aguardente wasn't three bad either.
And this was a new one on me:
I (re)visited the Museum Nacional Soares dos Reis:
Aye good. How about a drink...
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| Paula Rego |
We had a couple of days in Ciudad Real, home of the Quixote Museum...
Even our hotel had pictures of Sancho Panza and The Don...
So I paid my own tribute...
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Cervantes
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We were reunited with some Juan Gil in Murcia.
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| A glass of Juan Gil recently. |
And here's a wee aide-memoir of the wonderful city of Granada.
Oh and I did send a postcard home...
Visited the Reina Sofia in Madrid..
A wee souvenir of Madrid...
I took in the Thyssen-Bornemisza:
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| *burp* |
On to Gijon.
(We should acknowledge that the Osborne Bull was designed by Manolo Prieto.)
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| Manolo Prieto |
The Museum Of Juan Barjola was closed. So this will have to do..
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| Juan Barjola |
But I did stumble across the Museo Casa Natal de Jovellanos..
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| Delicious! |
Museu Belles Arts...
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| Golly. |
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| Velazquez! |
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| (See what I did there?) |
And on to Barcelona, La Rochelle and Tours.
Our gig in Paris was cancelled due to industrial action. So I went off to visit the Mona Lisa in the flesh.
From France to Germany...
The Comics Art Museum in Brussels was nice.
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| Not a self-portrait of Hergé - ahem. |
The Centraal Museum, Utrecht had an exhibition of Statement Chairs.
To quote Neil Armstrong, you had to be there. There was also a space recreating the studio space of Dick Bruna.
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| Dick Bruna - not a self portrait... |
I saw a Warhol exhibition in Dublin...
The Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh...
On to Gateshead...
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| (Nice seafood here) |
Sheffield...
Our last shows were in London where I made it to the National Portrait Gallery...
Audiences were great (thank you, audiences). We played 9 out of 10 of the songs on the new album. Stephen 'Sweet Baboo' Black was a pleasure to tour with as were Norman, Raymond, Dave and Euros and our crew: keith, Johnny, David & Martyn. Let's do it again sometime.
Book recommendation: 'One On One' by Craig Brown.
TV: 'Picasso: The Beauty And The Beast' (BBC) and 'Two Doors Down' (especially the one about Billy Connolly and the last episode of the latest series).
*ROLL UP!* You can buy one of my posters
HERE.
So, bye for n-
What's that?
Not enough art? Ok - here come some more of my own efforts. Extra points if you can pick out Peter Nardini... x
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