Day 14: Hit the north… one more time.

Although today’s gig is in Edinburgh, in that soon-to-be-independent Kingdom of Scotland, we are returning after the gig to our Newcastle Travelodge and so we travel light. As has been so often the case on this tour, Dave ‘Big Dave’ Wassell opts for a selection of Northern Soul tracks to accompany the band on the journey, and as we leave the precincts of Newcastle, Larry ‘Twiglet Thighs’ McCallister is warbling through the immortal dance floor favourite “My Baby’ll Sit On My Lap (But She Won’t Sit On Yours.” (Ringletone Records, 1968. Cat. No. 7335/224a35b. Produced by Alvin ‘Al’ Philibuster. Engineered by Walter ‘Faders Up’ Johnson. Billboard Chart Position 97 for two weeks.)

We arrive in good time and, such is the discipline which the band has developed over the previous two weeks, they load and out and are soundchecking within minutes. We are almost at the end of the tour, and Paul ‘Carpet’ Squires is in reflective mood this evening: for the first time on this tour, the band finish soundchecking without shedding a single tear amongst them.

As support act Paul Vickers and The Leg arrive for their soundcheck, the Nightingales depart in good spirits for a nearby restaurant where they will dine this evening on a local delicacy – Deep Fried Haggis Kebab served with battered potato wedges and pan-fried peas, washed down with pints of Edinburgh’s finest ale: Rob Roy’s Revenge (ABV 5.6%). The only sour note occurs when Mark ‘Ace’ Jones takes to flicking his bullet-hard pan-fried peas at me across the dinner table, but I shrug it off and leave to take refuge in the dark recesses of Big Dave’s van.