Record Store Day April 22nd 2017

Before going on to the Record Store Day Haul I must mention a very intimate gig from the 3rd December 2016. As a thank you to their North East Followers Lanterns on the Lake were to play a special gig at The Mining Institute in Newcastle - it's a place very special to me as it was the venue for my daughters wedding. Following on from their excellent gig at the Sage earlier in the year this was a lovely special event and would have been a great ending to the year had it not been for the sad death of my Mother in Law just a few days later. In fact I've not been to another gig since then, so it's time to move on and put that right!

On to Record Store Day 2017, now in it's tenth year and this time round I actually got the list and made my selections well in advance, giving in to temptation just once for a last minute addition! Arriving outside Reflex at just after 8 am I was surprised to see a queue that had snaked around the corner and ended half way along Grainger Street. Oh dear, this is going to be a long wait, but I wasn't prepared for the 2 hour 45 minute wait it turned out to be!

At this point I'm somewhere back round the corner and a couple of hours away from getting to the front!

Luckily the monotony of queueing up was happily broken up by engaging in conversation with my fellow, patient queuers and an unexpected request to do a brief interview with our local news network ITV - must have been a quiet day news-wise as the short clip was actually aired!

So what did I buy, well top of my list was the 1966 recording from Pink Floyd of Interstellar Overdrive, packaged with poster and postcard, next was a double album of some Psychedelic rarities from the late sixties, add in some singles from T. Rex, ELP and Hawkwind and there you have my shopping list. The spur of the moment purchase was David Bowie No Plan, the final recordings on clear vinyl.

Lots of releases to look forward to for 2017 including Roger Waters album out on 2nd June and a new Steven Wilson album later in the year. I'll no doubt be discovering some new music along the way as I'm off to the Green Man Festival, my first festival for about 15 years, in August of this year. Roll on Summer.