Day 3 - Stoke Sugarmill:

I awake bleary eyed in Stoke, hungry, fuzzy headed, and in desperate 
need for a drink. I had already got up once during the night, parched, 
fumbling my way to the bus fridge, only to discover to my horror, that 
there was no water! Anyone present would have then witnesses me stood at 
the fridge in my undercrackers, demolishing about a litre of orange 
juice in an attempt to quench my insane thirst!

Oh well, I didn't die from dehydration, but after seeing the weather 
when I awoke, I wish I had. A rainy, miserable day in Stoke isn't one of 
the nicest things our planet has to offer. So, to distract myself from 
the misery of our weather, I went to Marks and Spencer for some soup YUM! 
Only problem is that it was about nine quid!

Something that has been surprising me more and more when we revisit some 
of the venues that we graced over two years previous, is how small they 
are. In my head, the Sugarmill was much bigger, but in reality it is 
quite a quaint little room. This is no bad thing, as intimate gigs are 
great, it's just funny how your memory can become so flawed over time.

As far as the gig went, we were really paranoid that the crowd were 
really disinterested with the set. I saw a few faces, that in my opinion, 
expressed sheer boredom, so began to worry that the crowd consisted 
solely of club-goers, eager for us to sod off, so they could party. 
I later discover that this wasn't the case. Some of our colleagues 
highlighted that there was no noise through the set, and nobody even 
dared move to get a drink, so it was more like people were REALLY watching. 
This came as a relief, as I thought it had been a bit of a disaster, but 
it was apparently, bad news for the bar staff, as they took no money! 
Anyway, we pack up our gear, get it all on the bus, and then head out 
for the most amazing curry I have ever had! This was also accompanied by 
the biggest naan bread I have ever seen......about the size of a tennis 
court. Good food, and a few drinky drinks.........perfect before heading 
off towards Liverpool!!!


www.lewisslade.com/thirteensenses