Blues Express - The Red Lion Twickenham

Saturday nights gig was with the runaway train that is Blues Express, headed up by train driver and chief engineer Leon 'How Clean Is Your House' Raffe.

I enjoyed a leisurely train ride over to the Red Lion in Twickenham, where I waited for the other members of the band to arrive in their various carriages. Roy, train manager, was the first to arrive, followed by the 'tour de force' of Leon and Jimmy - almost exactly as per the timetable! Eat your heart out British Rail!

This is my first venture in the freshly re-opened Red Lion, and its fair to say that not a great deal has changed! The massive Donnington Monsters of Rock PA has gone, as has the mixing desk area. Other than that, the general decor of the pub is the same, and I can't help feeling that it needs a re-fit or a lick of paint! Or at the very least the left hand cubicle in the gents 'sorting ahht', as they say in Hanworth.

Despite our train-ular music, the passengers were a little few and far between. In the second set, I think there must have been some local derailment as things started to pick up. That said, the musicianship on display from Roy and Jimmy was second to none.

As we finished the evening by the 11pm curfew, I packed up my sorrows, collected my possessions, and disappeared into the Twickenham night air conditioning a blazing!

Crikey I am tired!