Soon to be Mavericking

I’ll soon be seeing my all-time favourite band, the Mavericks… and I am very excited! Every time I see them they are amazing, and the gig is part of a whole brilliant experience involving friends, travel and fun – as well as music.

In 2013 we were in Glasgow:

I’ve just returned from a magical few days in Glasgow, which I now realise is a city in which dreams really can come true. I posted yesterday that I was off to see the Mavericks in concert as part of the Celtic Connections celebration in Glasgow, and going with and meeting up with some dear friends. I knew the gig would be tremendous and I just hoped that I might have the opportunity to meet up with a couple of guys… Imagine my delight when we spotted this charmer!

The concert was fantastic, but more of that another time; we met up with the band afterwards and Raul bought me a drink; someone remarked that surely this was the wrong way round, his fans should be the ones doing the buying… not according to Raul. What a gracious man.. I was so lucky to sit with him for a few minutes and speak to him as I enjoyed the Highland Park he had bought me.

In 2015 we were in Manchester:

You see the date, February 27th, you see the venue, the Bridgwater Hall, Manchester, you see the seat number, the time, and most of all you see the band, yes, the Mavericks!

The story behind this gig that never was is that just after the interval having listened to the support, a member of the ‘management’ came on stage and told us the gig was off, cancelled, done with… some problem with water… They were then crass enough to play ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’… I know in the grand scheme of things with all the trouble there is in the world today, a cancelled gig maybe doesn’t seem like much… But for everyone who had travelled there, from all across the country and other countries too, it was a huge disappointment with very little apology. People had had to pay for travel, pay for accommodation… and to be asked to look on the bright side… herumph!

Well, boo the management, but hurrah, double hurrah, thrice-times hurrah to the Mavericks themselves who came out to face the disappointed concert-goers, and more than that, to give a little impromptu concert with a grand piano in the foyer… In the end, this magic moment, for twenty or so of us, was something to be forever remembered and treasured…