Wagon Wheel

We’re away in Northumberland for a few days as it’s our wedding anniversary on Tuesday. Tonight we’re in Newcastle and have been to see one of Mrs C’s favourite artists - Darius Rucker - at the O2 City Hall.
Some of you may know him as lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish, but we came to him as a country artist, when we saw him supporting Brad Paisley in London several years ago.
We’ve seen him a couple of times since then, and he doesn’t half put on a cracking show. The support act tonight was a fairly run of the mill singer/guitarist from somewhere in the US. I can’t remember his name, where he’s from or any of his songs. So, pleasant enough but not memorable!
Darius was on fine form and treated us to a very energetic 1 3/4 hours of great tunes. He did a couple of Hootie and the Blowfish numbers amongst a few other 90s tunes, and did a cracking version of “Folsom Prison Blues”, for which he was joined on stage by the support act (no, still can’t remember his name!) There was one slightly weird moment when he did a cover of “Champagne Supernova” I mean, he did it very well, and we all sang along enthusiastically, but it’s not exactly a country song, is it?
We had to move seats halfway through though as we had people standing up and blocking our view on one side and three lads talking at full volume in front of us. When asked not to talk they just shrugged, said “it’s a gig innit?” and carried on talking. Leaving aside the selfishness of it all, why pay £40-£50 for a ticket and then ignore what’s happening in stage? It really annoys me, but we spotted some empty seats on the other side and moved over. Not quite as good a view, but at least we could hear everything.
All in all, an excellent night out. Back in the hotel now for a good nights sleep - and a hearty breakfast in the morning - before we head to Beamish tomorrow.