Day 6: Brighton
Welcome
Yesterday we returned to the seaside resort of Brighton to play a show at the beachfront venue Concord 2.
Our journey had us retracing the steps of the previous day, heading East through the suburbs of Northern London before boarding the London Orbital Motorway and using it to slingshot onto the A2 and the A23. On the way we stopped off in Dalston at the famous Dusty Knuckle bakery where I grabbed a fennel, sesame, feta, and honey pinwheel.
The city of Brighton and Hove is made up of two adjoining settlements with the aforementioned names, both starting out as fishing villages and coming to thrive as seaside resorts in the Georgian and Victorian eras. Located on England’s Southeast coast Brighton and Hove has a population of 300,000 making it England’s most populous seaside resort. It was officially granted city status in 2001 and since then has also been granted the title of Britain’s Hippest City by The Guardian.
It was only a few minutes past 1pm when we pulled up outside the venue on the famous Madeira drive right on the waterfront. We were two hours early for load-in but this was by design. This was soundie Spike’s hometown and Tristan had spent the last week begging for a ride in his Porsche 944, a racing car.
Miraculously after an hour both Spike and Tristan returned from their speedy jaunt without a single scratch largely thanks to the prayers and godspeeds we sent them.
The Ferarri 244.
At the venue our load in experience was considerably improved when we met Yuri, the dog of our promoter, Andy. Yuri kept us company for the whole night intermittently popping up to the green room and exploring the backstage area.
Liz and Yuri.
Originally the Madeira Shelter Hall, Concord 2 is a Victorian era building that began it’s life as a tea room but served as a biker bar and an amusement arcade before becoming a venue in 1999. It is part of the unique Madeira Terrace structure that consists of 151 separate cast iron arches along the 865m walkway that was originally constructed to facilitate promenading.
Madeira Shelter Hall (Concord 2).
The rest of the night went very smoothly in large part thanks to the live run-sheet that was proudly displayed backstage. Concord 2 was a hugely enjoyable room to play in and the Brighton crowd had a unique energy that was accentuated by the several individuals that intermittently created lanterns by lighting up their pints of beer with their phone torches.
Concord 2 with it’s distinctive stained glass windows. Cherym are pictured mid sound check.
Liz warming up the voice with some fresh steam.
Sadly we had to bid farewell to our sound engineer Spike who has been traveling with us for the past couple of weeks. He came into the touring party with zero notice and did an incredible job whilst being very easy and fun to hang out with. Thanks, Spike.
Brighton Beach with the Brighton Pier visible in the background.