Phil Sky - Bedford

Bedford is a baffling place to try to drive a tour bus around. It’s got a road system known locally as a “one way system” but as a Milton Keynesian, it made no sense at all though somehow Olie managed to direct us through the maze of tangled streets and houses all the way to the White Horse and the third stop on the Six String Theory Tour. This is closer to home turf for Scott AKA Seeking Salvation Through Love, but for the rest of us Kansas has never seemed so far away.

Last night’s headliners The Further Adventures Of Vodka Boy opened the evening with a dependable set of originals and covers that would hopefully help ease us into the hearts of the local Bedford pub goers - I’m sure the covers went down well enough but for me the set was all about their performance of Humanist Love Song from the new album. I played second again for another solo performance without the band and it seemed to go down well enough with the guys and girls on the front row. Then third up was our first special guest on tour - Bedford local Darcy (though she’s actually from Scotland confusingly) who performed a lovely set of ethereal folk songs on guitar and vocals while a guy from Newcastle played the fiddle. Their set was full of songs named after birds, jigs and Celtic vibes and I really enjoyed her original song Shetland Boy.

YC Olie was fourth on stage with a genuinely rocking set that finished with an epic performance of new song Wake Up from the forthcoming CD currently entitled Flying High when it comes out next year. I’d recommend for everyone to look out for it. Then Scott AKA Seeking Salvation Through Love headlined with one of his strongest performances to date. Opening with Destined To Fail and featuring such highlights as It Was Always You, Take Me Away, The Finger Song and Crush On You, it was just awesome.

And now we’re all heading home for Christmas and a well earned break before heading to Buckingham in January to continue the tour. Outside the pub, the tour bus was thick in ice and winter had definitely set in and as the lights of Bedford faded behind us and thoughts of home began to creep in, I found I was already looking forward to the cold, dark days of January when the tour would begin again….