A Head Full of Wishes is a site for Galaxie 500, Luna, Damon & Naomi, Dean & Britta and Dean Wareham. With news, articles and lists of releases and past and future shows.
Dean & Britta in Durham and North Shields
So… at about 11 o’clock last night I was standing on Tynemouth station waiting for a Metro back to Whitley Bay knowing that my week following Dean & Britta around the north of England was over… but… what a week, and what an ending!
Durham was the one show that Hazel decided to pass on, so I headed off to Durham on my own on Monday evening. The Metro was full of Newcastle fans heading to the match (early). The train from Newcastle to Durham takes almost no time and I walked from Durham station to the venue and arrived half an hour before doors. There are two pubs nearby, The Angel, a metal bar with (appartently) a great jukebox, and Ye Old Elm Tree which was more traditional and seemed the better option, and I thought, the most likely place to find other fans. Sure enough Joakim and Ulrika were in the back room, we killed time with beer and chat and then headed to the venue.
The Holy GrAle is a pub, and the stage was at the front of the bar and not really a stage just the corner of the pub. A few rows of chairs had been laid out and were still unoccupied so we occupied them.
Dean & Britta positioned themselves on the stage and opened, as they had at the two previous shows, with I’m So Bored With The USA and then played through a lovely set of Dean (solo), Dean & Britta, Luna and Galaxie 500 - they finished the set with a beautiful cover of Galaxie 500’s Tugboat:
They then retired backstage (or into the street outside the pub, which is where backstage is in The Holy GrAle) before being summoned back for an encore of Bonnie & Clyde and Strange.
Show over, and an hour or so chatting with other fans, and the band, and then headed off to get the train/Metro home.
The Metro was full of Newcastle fans heading home from the match (late).
When it was announced that Dean & Britta were playing in a tiny venue in North Shields I was taken aback for two reasons:
- North Shields is really close to where I live in Whitley Bay - why would they be playing there!?
- The venue, The Engine Room, is tiny!
It made no sense that they were playing a tiny venue near my house!
On Tuesday morning Dean messaged me asking for fish and chip shop recommendations and I pointed him to Whitley Bay’s finest chips (we weren’t in a position to pass opinion on the fish) and so at lunchtime Hazel and I met Dean and Britta outside Fisherman’s Bay, acquired our lunch and sat on the prom eating it. I had previously mentioned that they shouldn’t leave Whitley Bay without sampling the finest ice cream (gelato) in the area and so we wandered up to Di Meo’s to enforce that.
We then walked along the prom to The Rendezvous and then back along the beach, at which point Britta couldn’t resist the urge to get her feet into the North Sea.
Dean & Britta then headed back to their hotel in Tynemouth.
At 6:30 I arrived at the Low Light’s Tavern around the corner from the venue for a pre-show meet that had been arranged at the last minute, and then on to the venue.
The Engine Room is tiny, a lovely little room, mostly standing although with some high stools around the edge.
Dean & Britta, perhaps being aware at the not inconsiderable number of folk who had been at the previous night’s show in Durham, played a very different set. Opening with Mystery Guest and Dear Betty Baby from Dean’s latest album, followed by He Dines Out on Death from Quarantine Tapes, and then more picks from catlogues of Dean solo, Dean & Britta, Luna and Galaxie 500. The set finished with Blue Thunder, and an astounding Don’t Let Our Youth Go to Waste.
… ok, it of course didn’t finish there. Without bothering to leave the stage Dean asked if anyone had any requests and someone called out for The Sun is Still Sunny - thank you who ever did that - and despite not having prepared it the song was worked out on stage and beautifully performed. They then played Ceremony - and that was it! An exquisite end to an evening right up there with the best.
Once again we hung around afterwards chatting to whoever wanted to chat, and just wallowing in the aftermath,
I then said my goodbyes and made my way to Tynemouth station and waited for the next Metro to take me the two stops to Whitley Bay, and home.
