Gig report: Aidy @ The Sun Inn, Stockton-on-Tees

Band: Aidy
Venue: The Sun Inn, Stockton-on-Tees
Date: 03/12/11
Audience: Venue half-full, enthusiastic crowd
Set: Make It Happen, Pain In My Heart, Down Like That, Dirty Little Cannibal, Not Your Day, Edinburgh, Washing Machine, 3 Years (encore)
Notes: Following our success earlier this year in Stockton, we headed back up north for another performance in the town where we seem to be building quite a following. It's not that long a journey to be honest - just under four hours, and I think we were all happy to get back on the road again, personally I'm bogged down in projects here and welcomed the opportunity to get away for a day and a bit. Having checked in at the Middlesborough Travel Lodge as before (I swear it was even the same room, then again they all do look the same), we made a quick visit to the stupidly cheap CD store we found last time we were there (my purchases this time were mostly Britpop-based, with two albums from Space and one from Catatonia, plus a much sought-after Christmas compilation, the criminally underrated album from The Holloways and, ahem, the best of Simply Red as we like to listen to that in the Aidy car, ironically, of course, the whole lot came to £9 - as I say, ridiculous, in a good way) and grabbed a couple pints in a local pub with our Stockton friends whom we met for the first time at the last gig. Back to the hotel to dress and look like a band, and then we were picked up to make the fifteen minute trip down the road to the venue. The Sun Inn reminds me a little of The Portland Arms in Cambridge - it's a lively bar, with the music in a separate back room, perhaps slightly bigger than the Portland, but with an equally nice vibe. We were the opening act which, even though we have a nice little following in the area, we were happy with considering we're still an out-of-town band. The headliners, The Lemondrops, kindly let us use their drums and bass amp, and the kit itself was lovely - a nicely tuned Pacific set-up that was so comfortable to play. Having performed acoustically the last time, it was nice to rock out with an electric set this time, and that aspect of our set has really started to gel. The thing is, as well as becoming good friends over the year, Aidy, Dave and I have really got used to each other's playing too, not wishing to sound arrogant or anything but last night we were effortlessly tight and played as a unit, a real force, this is no longer just Andy and a rhythm section, this is a band. New song, 'Dirty Little Cannibal' - which we're currently working on ahead of recording the new album early next year (which is to be called 'The British IBM') was really good fun to play, and the whole set was generously received by new and old friends alike. After doing the mailing list round with Aidy (in which once again my cuddles are pimped out in return for an email address, one woman hugged me three times which I swear was against the rules), we drank the local beer and enjoyed the other bands before politely declining the kind offer of a trip to a late night rock club because we were tired and slightly jaded. A long day, but a most enjoyable one, and we felt incredibly welcome; I have no doubt whatsoever that we'll be back up that way again very soon.