Consortium Tour - Birmingham Set Lists

Ryan James

• Fistful
• Breath & let go
• Machine
• Jerusalem
• Whoa
• Gaga
• Over the River
• Mountain
• Trouble
• River of Bones
• Serenade
• Yo!

 Noterminus

• Tarnished Halo
• Hilary
• Muted Creatures
• Fast One
• Hell No
• Crawling Seasons
• Haselupkers Ink

Sankara

• The Harm Principle
• Full Flow
• In God we Trust
• Enigma
• The Dolls House
• Lullaby for a Lost Boy
• Guilded by Gaslight
• Chasing the Sun
• Light Your Journey Home
• 
  
• (Precious Things)

Sankara - Asylum 2 - Birmingham

Friday morning ...  Early call to India for work.. I was up and in the van by 8 am, and listening in while eating some Welsh cakes from last night. The calls went on until noon, although I did get another hour sleep in between the early calls.

During this time Jay had picked up the van, and after a quick stop at Tesco's for food, by 1 pm we were on the way to Birmingham.

A short comfort stop at the M5 motorway services and some rolls, and before long we were driving into the heart of Birmingham. not really sure where we were heading, just following the "idiot box". we effectively traversed the middle and past the bullring, before ending up in an industrial area. It is hard to tell whether this was empty because of Friday half day early finish, or just run down clothing and manufacturing.

The Asylum was an industrial building turned into a couple of venues and a suite of rehearsal/ recording studios. There would be no entry until 5 pm, so we parked up in the impressively convenient car park, and waited for the others.

Gareth arrived next with Noterminus in his car, we occupied ourselves while the time past waiting for the venue to open and the van to arrive.
Simultaneously the van and the sound guy arrived. SO we all traipsed into have a look at the venue. Upstairs (again), with a tight turn on the stairs (again). This lead into a reasonable length room, with a low stage at the end ... so no worries about being cramped into on corner. The other notable thing was the floor ...  stand still for five minutes and you would be glued to the spot...  even the carpet by the door was in such a state that the stools were permanent fixtures, impossible to move once they settled into the gooo.

Load in was easier, as  now everything was in the van, and with the logical order of things, it was simple to move from van to floor to stage.

During Soundcheck, KT and I went off to find something to eat, and also the local supermarket, for late night snacks.. after wandering around and asking a few people we found the local Tesco's and then back via the Chippie (where we bumped into Gareth and jay doing the same thing).

For the first time this tour there was actually a dressing room .. and was large enough for all bands. I must remember in future to carry some disposable mugs for Coffee/ Tea as there was a kettle, but nothing to put it into.

The show went similar tot he night before as the pattern settled in, and it was soon time to load up the van again. This was equally as simple as load in ... the van was right outside the front door.

After everything was packed up, some idiot (to remain nameless for now - but would crop up again) wanted to go to the pub ...  the nearest likely looking place as no longer a pub but a Lebanese restaurant. After walking up past the Tesco's we ended up in some place, which I guess would be OK in Daylight, but all I really wanted was some sleep. The party fiends were still at it at 1:30 am before I gave in and announced I was leaving and the person needing a lift needed to leave with me or walk ....  suddenly everyone was going - I wish I had made the statement and hour earlier!!!

We walked back to the van in pouring rain - another reminder we should have left earlier, and then negotiated our way tot eh Travel lodge on the M5 services. We have 3 rooms and 11 people, Jay and I would sleep in the vans, top keep an eye on the kit, and KT opted to stay with us too .. it was a bit obvious to put the roof up so we arranged the seats to face each other and slept across them.... not entirely successful, but meant the next night we would try plan B. I was so tired I did not care and was asleep very quickly.

Tomorrow Sheffield.

Sankara - Full Moon - Cardiff

So the first date has come around ... all I have is a post code, I have never been to this venue, (or any of those on the tour), so it will be an adventure. We arrive early and pass the end of the road the pub is on, but this end is blocked off, and in our attempt to come back a different way we circumnavigate Cardiff at "going home time", so it is gone 5 pm by the time we finally get there.
 The Full Moon being down a side street was not an easy place to load/ unload, no immediate parking, and several venues all protecting their own turf expectant for the (hopefully) coming crowds.
Negotiating a short term unloading spot, we took out the camera kit, but left the lighting on-board - the venue was too small to be cluttered with lights. Once emptied the search for a parking spot was on, we moved over the bridge and searched around the back streets for an empty not reserved for residents spot. Eventually finding one, but I would come back several times during the evening to check it was OK!

The Venue is upstairs, round several corners, down a bit, and into a back room, the (very small) stage huddled into the corner between the Bar, the fire exit and Gents. The boys will be huddled together tonight fighting for space.

Loading was a little chaotic, as this was a "home"
venue, everyone arrived under their own steam, and the kit was loaded and dumped. Then Vinden went to work building the kit.

Once everything was loaded on stage the sound check process went under-way.  KT and I left in search of some food, and snacks for later.
Around the corner we found a "express" market, and stocked up on "goodies" and water. The food of choice was Chinese ...  an oriental fast food place, with eat in facilities.

Back at the venue KT had the merchandise stall on a table by the bar, with Jay manning the entrance table downstairs.

We started on time and by curfew all three bands had successfully negotiated their sets.

Breakdown was relatively straight forward, and although there was many more people around, we got the vehicles up close and loaded quickly.

KT and I were crashing with Jay and Ruth's along with Ryan. It was 2 am before we finally settled down amongst the cats and sleep. Tomorrow would be a long old day, bit we did not know this at this time.

Consortium Tour - Cardiff Set lists

Ryan James

• Fistful
• Breath & let go
• Machine
• Jerusalem
• Whoa
• Gaga
• Over the River
• Mountain
• Trouble
• River of Bones
• Serenade
• Yo!

 Noterminus

• Tarnished Halo
• Hilary
• Muted Creatures
• Fast One
• Hell No
• Crawling Seasons
• Haselupkers Ink

Sankara

• The Harm Principle
• Full Flow
• In God we Trust
• Enigma
• The Dolls House
• Guilded by Gaslight
• Precious Things
• Chasing the Sun
• Light Your Journey Home

The Consortium Tour

Sankara is finally making a national tour ...  7 dates over 2 weekends. The tour will be a collection of 3 acts (Sankara, Noterminus, and Ryan James) ..  they have all played a one off gig at the Globe in Cardiff a few months ago, but this was the real thing.

to keep costs down and retain flexibility, we were all travelling together, and apart from Vinden being shared between Sankara and Noterminus, they would also share the Back line of bass rig and guitar connections, including pedal boards.

KT will be with me for the first round of the tour helping out with the merchandise, and door entry where we have to manage.

I had never met Ryan Before and the first time he started the proceedings off it was a surprise. Essentially he is a one man band, in the old fashioned sense, but with a piano rather than guitar/ banjo, etc. He certainly had some eclectic tunes, and was committed to entertain.

Noterminus were up next ...  again new to me, I had heard one track, and knew of Maria from her solo work also when she also supported Sankara at the EP launch.

Noterminus are very hard to pigeon-hole, and this is something they seem to be very proud of. Underlying are hard rock/metal riffs from guitar and bass, with a melody line straight from the Matt Cohen school of song writing. The package generates highs and lows, and I suspect each person will have different one.

Changeovers would be swift with the shared back line, and the additional fact that Vinden was playing drums for both Noterminus and Sankara, so no drum kit to change, no dual loaded stages, just a swift change and line check.

Burns Night - Forresters Kirdford

I was asked to pipe in the hggis at Kirdford for the Forresters celebration ..  got a meal for Sue, Steph and myself for my sins ... no pictures

Burns Lunch - Guildford

I did a couple of sets for the lunch in the canteen at work ..  got my photo taken outside for the magazine.