Hyde Park - Olympic Closing Ceremony

Shug wrote: As usual the Corby Order were late. Very late. Didnae get to the pub until gone 4, which gave us very little time to say hello to everyone and only managed to get a couple of lagers in. To be fair there was a pretty large turnout of Vikings, not as big as Hyde Park 2005, but still pretty impressive. Unfortunately we didnae have the new Veritas badges ready in time due to infighting between us all, Col really wanted the dog, JG and Al wanted the columns, I can't remember who nominated the olympic rings, possibly Hibster or myself but DoN was worried about us getting sued. We ended up with the dog but didnae give the badgeman enough of a lead time. The Latin was Jarvo's choice, inspired imo but not so much for JG...lol

Had a laugh with DigiMike, DoN, Hibster, Jarvo, Leggy, Sandra, Wolfram, Hibster and his sister, the German Order, The Milkies, Ness, Will and Simon from Re-order/The Smythes, Johnny and a few other then news got back to us there was a 40 minute queue to get in, so aff we trundled, got to the park....Absolute nightmare! I seperated from John & Lorraine before the gig as the Guest List was a seperate area, a 20 mins walk from where we were and a queue bigger than the one that everyone else faced to get in.

I finally got in during BLT, what a nightmare getting through that fookin crowd, it was worse than the Move festival in 2002, but I eventually got to Nobby and Ze Germans, you couldnae miss Nobby, standing at 6ft 10 with a 4 foot inflatable microphone! Also bumped into Hibster, Capt Solo and a handful of others. The gig itself sounded fucking great to me, but as i couldnae get to the bar I was not the happiest of bunnies down the front. The lads we were with created their own mosh pit much to the amusement of several of the teenagers stood near us. We managed a wave from Gillian, she always notices Nobby and his mic and she looked radiant in an all white outfit. Temptation got the crowd excited, but the show stealer was Love Will Tear Us Apart, even the Specials fans were joining in the singing and the screen backdrop of Joy Division was great with Forever Joy Division and a massive pic of Ian. The band left the stage to warm applause and a few minutes after the band had gone, the crowd started up their own version of LWTUA. Quality.

Said hello to Andy Rob after the gig when he came down to the front of the audience and said cheers for the Guest List pass. Then it was a mad scramble to try and find John & Lorraine, I did find Nickos Kingos, Hibster, the Milkys and a few others, then off I wandered again looking for John & Lorraine for the next hour whilst the specials were on, which was a shame cos they sounded good. There was no signal at all in the park, which is ironic as all the billboards and advertising were for Ofucking2. Tried endlessly inside the venue and outside to contact John & Lorraine. No joy.

I gave up and headed to Finchley where the car was and as soon as i got to the Turkish Pub at Finchley ma phone went mental with messages/missed calls. John going mental cos I had the train tickets and I had a go back explaining there was no signal and was on ma tod. I ended up downing 6 pints of Fosters in about an hour and a half whilst I waited on them. I was the only white guy in the pub, Galatasary were playing Fenerbache, fuck knows what the score was though.

Total shambles of a gig, the band were good, very good, but everything else was shite. Mad queues for both the bars and bogs, I got in the VIP area before the gig, but it was round the side and you couldnae see/hear the band. Bugger.

Another quality read

Shug wrote: Unfortunately we didnae have the new Veritas badges ready in time due to infighting between us all, Col really wanted the dog, JG and Al wanted the columns

Unfortunately we didnae have the badges ready because some wee radge only decided he wanted tae dae the badges two weeks before the gig ... when turnaround is typically four weeks. You ken?

Anyway, I was with Col and the dog. What columns?

Hibster wanted a snowflake. 👍

Shug wrote: I said columns, I actually meant the Three I's on the Ceremony single cover. They have always looked like columns to me

There's only one column in Missy Jem's tattoo.

It's smudged. Only noticed that last week.

I have always liked the Bloke with his fingers in his ears (use hearing protection) !

Smashing read, Shug. Don't worry about it being right.

Shug wrote: We managed a wave from Gillian, she always notices Nobby and his mic and she looked radiant in an all white outfit.

Didn't she just.My thoughts exactly

Bumped into yer Uncle John and Lorraine immediately after NO's set, they were leaving there and then,, said they'd had enough of the Hyde Park shambles and weren't even staying for The Specials.

A good read that, Shug