An early start, a lot of traffic, a fantastic venue and a wonderful couple!
We've been looking forward to Saturday 27th May for absolutely yonks. We were asked by Larry & Katie to perform at their wedding, and keeping in touch with them over the months and arranging everything has been such a pleasure. Genuinely lovely people.
Most of us met up with Andy and his van at 10am to leave for Eastbourne. Teebs doesn't live near us so we met him down there.
There was SUPREME traffic on the way down. Apparently some sort of sport-ball was happening. There were a lot of people in light blue and a lot of people in Cadbury purple tops too. Allegedly they were going to Wembley. I have the map skills of a squirrel, so I wouldn't know, but it was hella busy, anyway.
The traffic started to move a bit more and we got off at some services, where we randomly bumped into a load of other Birmingham musicians, who were on their way to Croydon to perform for the theatre show 'King of Reggae', which is a performance honouring the great Bob Marley; both the man and the music. It was so cool to bump into some familiar faces on the long journey, and totally weird that we all stopped at the same services.
We listened to some Jazz Fusion on the way down there and talked a lot about music and who everyone knew, which is, in fact, everyone.
We arrived just as everyone was having their photos taken at the front of the hotel, so we lingered in the van until we could get in. The staff were absolutely phenomenal. I might be showing how used (or not) I am to 5 star customer service here, but they had a parking coordinator who came straight over and checked our names and directed us to where we needed to load in from, and then where to move the van to afterwards.
We were running rather late due to the traffic, but when we got inside, Brendon had done all the work ready to just plug us in and be ready, which was a huge relief. We discussed timings so that we wouldn't be in the way of anything with a lovely lady called Samantha, who advised us on what we could do and for how long before they needed us back out again. It was quick HELLOs to Teebs as well, who had also had a nightmare getting down!
Brendon was on hand to help get everything plugged in and ready, and then it was out of the place so that the wedding guests could have their Wedding Breakfast, and we retired to the green room for some refreshments. This is where we met Valentine, who was absolutely amazing at his job - so organised, nothing too much trouble, just great!
Anna, Lloyd, Teebs and I had a little walk around Eastbourne whilst the meal was happening and got to have a look at the sea and soak in the atmosphere. They'd had a carnival during the day and the whole place just seemed to be in that sun-soaked, relaxed vibe. Naturally Teebs and I got lost when we lost Anna and Lloyd, because their legs are too long and we're slow as heck.
When we got back, it was time to get stage ready, and then we had a short time to sound check, which Brendon did extremely efficiently. Honestly, he really excelled on Saturday - we were wowed.
We finally got to meet Larry! He introduced Terry, his son, to us and Terry was put in charge of looking after the band and making sure we had everything we needed, which included an order Dominos Pizza! Larry suggested that the evening food was only small portions and so offered to order in for us so that we weren't hungry, which was the sweetest gesture. Lots of drinks too, and Valentine sorted out the world's strongest coffee for us, which was much needed.
The set absolutely flew by, and the guests had free run of the hotel downstairs, so they were a transient group. As usually happens with weddings, there's so much going on and so many people to talk to that Larry and Katie were rather preoccupied in the first set, but they made sure they had time to dance after the break.
You could tell Larry was just head over heels in love. Katie looked absolutely stunning - a true classic beauty. We know Larry was happy but we hope they both had a wonderful day and evening.
On a side note, poor Sugar was poorly. He woke up with a sort of summer cold, all in his sinuses, and a sore throat, but he persevered through the performance to make it happen for the couple, and we are so proud of him. He was dithering cold on the way home and really didn't look well at all.
We also very much missed Grandad, who was at a different dB Acoustics gig on the same day, and we would have loved to be beside the seaside with him, but we got Dad instead, although we didn't see him much because he just went off and had a lovely time beside the sea while we did our thing!
Also, Teebs stopped over at another hotel down the road, and hilariously just outside his room the ceiling had half caved in. Bit of a jump off a cliff from The Grand Hotel lmao.
To finish it all off, there was a crash on the motorway on the way home and we got stuck in about 30 minutes more traffic, and there were definitely more than 3 little birds out singing sweet songs before we got home and into bed, but hey, that's the nocturnal life of a musician, and we absolutely love it.
A huge thank you to Larry and Katie for inviting us to be a part of your day - we absolutely loved it. I don't think any of us had ever been to Eastbourne before, either, so it was a great experience and one we won't be forgetting any time soon.
And finally, here's a picture of a giant Clive shadow up the hotel!
Peace and love,
The Reggulites
See where we played: Luxury Hotels in Eastbourne, East Sussex - The Grand Hotel Eastbourne (grandeastbourne.com)
Check out who we bumped into from Rush Theatre Company here: King Of Reggae - (rushtheatrecompany.co.uk)
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