Bradford, Bradford and Brotherton

Hi Debs, Before we played our last carnival of the season, Foxwood Steel did a couple of charity busking slots at Bradford Interchange bus station. On both occasions we made nearly as much as it cost us in transport and babysitters to get there. The first time we played was the day before Manchester Carnival and two days after Manchester's riots. The station had never been as empty. "Ah, well," someone opined, "you've picked a bad day for it, what with the riots." Hmmm. Still it was a lovely venue.

At Brotherton Carnival we played at the arena entrance welcoming carnival-goers as they came down from the big main road. We were Foxwood Steel [you, me, Bex, Nat, Diz, Gig, Mig, Lizzie, Katie,Vicky, Charlotte], Doves [Amy, Varshika, Sophie, Joe], Steel Rising [Karen, Ruth], South Steel [you and Charlotte in dual role, Caroline, Neil]; we played two long sets, only repeating Dead or Alive, while the hurdy gurdy played the Archers in the not-so background. What is it about sounds mingling in the air: when does it stop being charming and start being irritating?

Anyway we [Bex and Vicky] put up our fabulous events tent [think we should be getting a commission from Go Outdoors for all this product placement!], whereupon it didn't rain, and only the drummers didn't mind being in the shade; everyone else was trying to escape back into the sunshine. We played until it was time for the rock band to take to the stage. They got half way through their sound check before somebody cut through the mains lead up on the main road. After that we only competed with the hurdy-gurdy for sound attention. and left just as the electric was being reconnected and three would definitely have been a crowd.