I forget the circumstances, but on a cold and wet afternoon in December 1990 I found myself being picked up by Rid as we headed off to see Mr Idol in concert. In Birmingam. Not a short journey then but one that was relatively simple - dual carriageway all the way. A19 - A1 - M62 - M6. Cruisin'.
The bonhomie and euphoria lasted until we turned onto the A1 and headed south and gave way to getting the journey done and, as it was nice and warm in the car and we had a long night ahead of us, I did the only thing that a loyal travelling companion could do..... I went to sleep. This rock and roll lifestyle was tiring stuff. After what can only be described as a decent snooze, I awoke to see the blue of motorway signing flash by.
"Where are we?", I enquired.
"On the M62", came the reply.
Ahh, we were making good progress, I noted to myself and tried to doze off again; the rhythm and rumble of rubber on concrete as my soundtrack. Well that and the loud rock music booming from the car stereo. Sign after sign passed the car window as the junctions counted down to our destination. But something was bothering me. I couldn't, in my dozy stupor, put my finger on it....but why did that last destination sign have Hull on it? Strange that they would chose to sign Hull on a road towards Manchester. I must've misread that last sign. And then there was another one, this time with Hull as a closer destination. It didn't make sense.
"Neil?"
"Yes mate?", came the reply
"When you turned onto the M62 did you go left or right?"
"Errr left I think.... no wait it was right. Definitely right....or maybe it was left"
"Mmmmmm I think I was left"
"How would you know - you were fast asleep!", scoffed Rid
"True, but it might explain why we ARE HEADING TOWARDS HULL!!"
And so after a short discussion about the relative locations of the great cities of Hull and Birmingham, we agreed that we were indeed heading east instead of west and turned around at the next exit. Now the pressure was on - there was every chance that we'd miss the start of the gig. But Rid was determined and he pushed is car to speed that was not only highly illegal but also threatened the very fabric of the time space continuum. Thinking about it there must have been some time travel involved because we got to the gig in plenty of time. Miraculous.
It is fair to say that I was not a huge Billy Idol fan as I always thought that he came very close to becoming a characterture of himself. Having said that, the gig was fantastic. And very theatrical. He'd recently been in a motorbike accident so he came on stage with the aid of a walking stick. The band started up and with a shout of "I don't need this to rock!", the stick was thrown into the crowd. We were off and, if you pardon me the expression, we had a rocking good night.
You only really need to own one Billy Idol album, and that is this one. Yes it's a greatest hits album but are there any better songs on his other albums? I know at least one person who would disagree, but with 'Rebel Yell', Mony Mony', 'White Wedding' and 'LA Woman' in one place why look any further? I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the album this morning and I'd forgotten just what great songs they were.
My travelling partner that day is getting married this morning so as the final notes of 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' drift off I raise a cup of Earl Grey and say "Congratulations". I only hope that his sense of direction has improved (or he has a better co-driver) so he doesn't get lost today! Although I hear Hull is nice this time of year......
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