Abdoujaparov, Big Boy Tomato – The Holroyd Arms, Guildford

With restrictions starting to ease, I was excited when I found out that socially-distanced gigs are coming back. So excited that I was prepared to drive all the way over to Guildford to the Holroyd Arms for the pleasure.

Nice sunset too!

What was less exciting was finding out we had to sit down at a table (hooray) at the back of a very long pub (boo). Visibility wasn’t great. Still, we could hear it all fine, and they also had TV screens of the stage in our section too, although that’s not quite the same. Not being 19 years old any more I’m not quite as excited spending all night in a pub as I used to be, especially when I’m driving and not drinking.

Our view of Big Boy Tomato. They’re there, somewhere

Still, for all my whinging here, it was actually a good night out. It was my first gig of the year – and my first for nearly six months. Abdoujaparov were as fun as ever, and it was my 20th Aboud/iDou gig too – I’ve only seen Carter USM and the Sultans more. Big Boy Tomato were a new one on me, even though they’ve been around since the late 80s, so it was good to catch them live as well.

This was about the best picture I took of Abdou, after walking to the toilets and then “not returning to my seat immediately” – I did actually go back to my table after a minute, although towards the end a lot more people were ignoring that which was a bit worrying. Great T-shirt too!

Friday 4 June 2021, 521 views