New year with Bellowhead

What an amazing New Year's Eve! Having got the train down to London, I met up with a friend and we spent a couple of hours browsing round the shops before heading off to find the Youth Hostel. This would be the point we got ourselves very lost by getting the bus in the wrong direction before we managed to get ourselves orientated. Finally made it to the Youth Hostel at the same time as the other friend we were sharing with who had still been on the train when we set off. Anyhow, we got changed into our gear (for me this would be, hat, ruff, ears and tail which I finally managed to get finished the night before. And trousers and top cause it would have been chilly and disturbing else) and set off to meet everyone else at a Dim Sun restaurant beside the Southbank Centre called Ping Pong. Food was very nice but I still have no idea of what it actually was I ate. Anyhow, I quickly gave myself a black doggy nose with eyeliner (hadn't wanted to before I ate in case it made everything taste of make-up!) and off we went to queue to get in. A couple of our group did a bit of morris dancing to a melodeon while we were waiting which seemed to amuse everyone a great deal.

The first act was the Baghdaddies who were pretty good (their calypso/reggae version of 'Keep Your Feet Still Geordie Hinny' made me laugh a lot) but got a bit of a subdued reaction just, I think, cause they were the first on and everyone was waiting for Bellowhead. I think the audience warmed to thema lot more later in the evening. Then Bellowhead came on and everything really took off. Their first set was great fun and I finally got to hear 'If You Will Not Have Me' live. Worth the ticket price alone, in my opinion. The songs were also interspersed with short circus acts which were fun. After Bellowhead's first set, I wombled upstairs to see the session which was being hosted by Mike Wilson and Damien Barber. Got to hear them do 2 songs (1 of which was 'Shiney-O' which I love) and got to sing a long to a few songs before headingdown to the silent disco where I got to dance to 'All Around My Hat' and 'The Floral Dance' (another ambition I never knew I had until I accomplished it). After this, it was back to see Bellowhead and, after having said they wouldn't do a covers set due to lack of practice time, this is precisely what they did. This time they were all dressed up as clowns for the most part and it was hilarious to see them playing 'Amsterdam' so seriously. We also got versions of 'Take on Me' and 'Baggy Trousers' from Mr Spiers, 'Mack the Knife' and 'Close to You' (complete with very dodgy wig) from Mr Sartin and 'Foxy Lady' by Mr Kirkpatrick, made all the more memorable by the 2 comperes who came on as a huntsman and a fox whereupon the 'fox' started to strip until he was down to his tail and a thong. Bad enough really until the other lad made one of his socks disappear and then whipped away the thong to reveal where the sock had gone, shortly before whipping the sock away as well. The most disturbing bit in all this was that he was still wearing the fox's tail. Really, really glad that I wasn't right at the front and that I'm quite short (although a lot of the band's expressions were priceless!). I also liked the acrobat dressed as a rabbit (and the very odd but good accompanying music from Bellowhead). Very effective and just slightly bizarre. I think my favourites in this set were 'Baggy Trousers' and 'Mack the Knife'.
We managed to get up to see O'Hooley and Tidow do a couple of numbers which was lovely before we headed out onto the balcony to watch the fireworks which were pretty impressive (and chilly). Then it was back in for Bellowhead's last set and they pulled out all the stops with some of the new songs and a lot of old favourites and we all bounced our socks off. Just a brilliant, brilliant night and I hope they do it again next year (although where they got the energy from I have no idea!)
We did get a little lost on the way back to the Youth Hostel but we sorted ourselves out and I managed to make it back to Edinburgh the next day with only a minor problem with temporary loss of power on the train just past Berwick.
Great fun all round really.