A powerful performance

NOW I've played some odd, strange and wonderful venues in my time.

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Wine bars, cathedrals, amphitheatres in German forests, the London Palladium, the Maerdy Workman's Hall. As I walked on to the articulated flatbed truck stage on Thursday afternoon I was suddenly reminded of concert I once played in Germany in the 1980s.

That invitation had come via a German agent who was a friend of some of the other players in the band. He’s a good guy, knows what he’s doing, and he always pays. Now you might think that last characteristic was a given, but let me tell you there have been numerous times I've come to the end of a concert and then had to find and chase the promoter around the building to try to get some money.

That concert, more than 35 years ago, was part of an outdoor festival at a US Army base in West Germany. When we arrived at the airport we were met by a platoon of enormous American soldiers in a couple of army trucks. My first thought at seeing just how big they were was I was glad they were on our side. The other good thing was the gear we had struggled to carry through customs was taken from us, loaded on to the trucks and we wouldn't see it again until we reached the stage.

Ah, the stage! As this was an outdoor army music festival, the stage was the back of a tank transporter. There was no cover, or back or sides. The sun was burning down on us, but we set up and played through the afternoon heat. They all danced, whooped and cheered and then we all went off to join the queue for the barbecue and beer.

Thursday's gig at H2 Bay on Fabian Way was part of the Hyppo Hydrogen Solutions EXP025 - a platform “designed to spotlight advancements in hydrogen technologies and their role in driving a sustainable future”