Why I've abandoned Graham's tour
Sept 18, 2023 18:27:01 GMT
herriot, thejanitor, and 2 more like this
Post by downriver on Sept 18, 2023 18:27:01 GMT
I've about 25 things I need Tony's and Graham's autograph on to complete my entire collection so I had been really looking forward to Graham and the current Hollies going on tour this autumn here in the UK.
I even saw very early on that The Hollies were in the exact same Glasgow venue the day after Graham!!! Now I never expected the 2 widly different acts to get together (and I wish dumb journalists would stop asking. We all know Graham would never even think about reuniting with an Allanless Hollies), but I at least wondered if Graham would just have a photo in the corridor with Tony and Bobby.
Like every other fan, I too got caught up in "Allan is gonna walk on and join Graham for a song!!" fever. Blackpool, Manchester, London and the yet-to-happen Nottingham are the places touted by fans.
Well, wishful thinking, sorry everyone. I realised early on into this tour that this ain't a-happenin'.
Anyway my plan was to buy a ticket for each and every Graham and Hollies tour (theatres only, no way am I doing festivals) and take a couple of items and wait for soundcheck and get them signed.
First day (Basingstoke) was AMAZING. I got there at 12noon and started waiting, not in anyone's way. A merch guy came over and asked "are you waiting for Graham" and I said I did not wish to overwhelm him, which he appreciated. He said "choose 3 items and I'll take them to him" which I was extremely thankful for.
When I got them back I was chuffed as all feck! A Henry Diltz photo where the band looked like Rubber Soul, a Swedish compilation LP with a fantastic 1965 photo of the guys and a copy of Would You Believe which the other 4 had signed and was now complete.
I thanked him and went to leave when Graham himself walked over, said "Hi! I'm Graham!" and shook my hand. "Did you get the things you wanted signed? Good!" I said "welcome back to England" and "Really looking forward to the show!" as I was walking away and he thanked me for both.
I then went away and thought "shit, I need to kill 6 hours now, what am I gonna do". I don't know that town and it seriously dragged.
The show was PHENOMENAL. He mentioned Allan (see JT's thread here, Graham basically repeats this every night) and every time he said "new album" there was a seriously cringeworthy total silence!
A Hollies diehard, I knew almost none of the songs but still enjoyed the show. He does only one Hollies song which he didn't even write! Bus Stop of course. However "King Midas In Reverse" was a lovely surprise in Manchester.
On the train home my buzz was harshed when I heard that some fans got there 2 hours later and Graham chatted to them for half an hour and signed 5 for one guy and 7 for another.
Anyway I went to Bexhill.
The theatre was very confusingly built and I couldn't see where to wait. I saw a door and waited, arriving closer to 4 after what happened the previous day. Graham came over, nodded at me but said "how many ya got" in a pissed off voice. I'm autistic so that flustered me big time and I couldn't answer. I was really hoping to luck out like those fans the previous night. I somehow managed to get out my 1967 Bravo Magazine with a Karl Ferris Evolution outtake and hand him my fine tipped blue pen as I DESPISE thick black marker. He refused to sign it "it won't show up". A colleague of his said "don't worry, I have one" and pulled out a thick black marker and I wanted to run away! Fortunately Graham spotted my metallic bronze Sharpie, said "that'll do", I held the mag open and watched him sign that very famous autograph I've seen a million times, it looked PHENOMENAL and really suited the psychedelic design and when I went to get another thing saying "I don't wanna disturb you as you're so busy" he said "see you in a bit" which is a Manchester saying for "look, I really have to go" and off he went, leaving me with 1 poxy item.
The show was a repeat, jokes and everything, but he did shake the set list up a bit and do 1 or 2 songs he didn't.
But I was too depressed and anxious so I went home in the interval, partly because it's a 3 hour train back to london.
The tour was not going well so far. I mean, the music was but the travelling and autographs weren't. Thankfully I had a week off to recover and plan.
London, Drury Lane. Arrived, saw some fans waiting and befirended them. This time a chap I recognised from my first night and the merch stand came over. He was very stern "it's 2 items each so pick your most valuable" but also really polite, nice and appreciative "thank you for waiting all this time".
This time I chose a 1981 reunion EMI promo card and a single from the Sundazed box set.
I was on a cloud and the show was even better! London went CRAZY for Graham, even cheering for his new album!! I love his new album by the way, and am surprised he only does 2 songs off it.
When Allan didn't appear that is when I knew he wouldn't at all. I already suspected he wouldn't.
Anyway yet again I found out that after I left more fans got more things signed, and some even got photos with him! I never wanted one but still I was a bit miffed. Anyway, Manchester next day.
And this is the beginning of the end. I've made a video about my experience which I will link below.
Staff can be such arseholes/assholes at times. I'm sorry but it is ONLY Graham Nash, he is NOWHERE NEAR, say, Paul McCartney level, he really is NOT that big and does not need protecting that much. For years now I have been hearing fans say how nice he is and the amount of tat I see on Ebay clearly demonstrates how happy he is to sign just about anything. The problem is you need to get him and not some jobsworth on steroids.
I agree with JT on his post re the onstage political rants, especially as Graham is spouting about justice and bullies while his damn roadie is being one to paying fans who are poor.
Graham also repeats a line every night about how great his life is because he is so rich, I mean, what a cock. My trip has made me overdrawn and on the way to his shows I lost count of how many people I saw who were sleeping on pavements.
When I tell people my story, so many people say "well, he is 81" and lots are probably going to here as well.
And so what? He has a wife half that, is rich, is mentally sharp, physically healthy, a high and crystal clear voice, a full head of hair and probably has more live shows left in him than I do and I turned 45 today.
I've emailed his manager about this roadie (Allan Clarke would be disgusted, he really would), I'm now too upset (and too poor) to even go to a Hollies show, never mind another Graham one and I'm posting about it on Twitter trying to make it go viral.
Here is the video I made, it is 10 minutes and does have one swear word, one rude word and one slur about Autistic people, so just be aware of that as you go in.
I even saw very early on that The Hollies were in the exact same Glasgow venue the day after Graham!!! Now I never expected the 2 widly different acts to get together (and I wish dumb journalists would stop asking. We all know Graham would never even think about reuniting with an Allanless Hollies), but I at least wondered if Graham would just have a photo in the corridor with Tony and Bobby.
Like every other fan, I too got caught up in "Allan is gonna walk on and join Graham for a song!!" fever. Blackpool, Manchester, London and the yet-to-happen Nottingham are the places touted by fans.
Well, wishful thinking, sorry everyone. I realised early on into this tour that this ain't a-happenin'.
Anyway my plan was to buy a ticket for each and every Graham and Hollies tour (theatres only, no way am I doing festivals) and take a couple of items and wait for soundcheck and get them signed.
First day (Basingstoke) was AMAZING. I got there at 12noon and started waiting, not in anyone's way. A merch guy came over and asked "are you waiting for Graham" and I said I did not wish to overwhelm him, which he appreciated. He said "choose 3 items and I'll take them to him" which I was extremely thankful for.
When I got them back I was chuffed as all feck! A Henry Diltz photo where the band looked like Rubber Soul, a Swedish compilation LP with a fantastic 1965 photo of the guys and a copy of Would You Believe which the other 4 had signed and was now complete.
I thanked him and went to leave when Graham himself walked over, said "Hi! I'm Graham!" and shook my hand. "Did you get the things you wanted signed? Good!" I said "welcome back to England" and "Really looking forward to the show!" as I was walking away and he thanked me for both.
I then went away and thought "shit, I need to kill 6 hours now, what am I gonna do". I don't know that town and it seriously dragged.
The show was PHENOMENAL. He mentioned Allan (see JT's thread here, Graham basically repeats this every night) and every time he said "new album" there was a seriously cringeworthy total silence!
A Hollies diehard, I knew almost none of the songs but still enjoyed the show. He does only one Hollies song which he didn't even write! Bus Stop of course. However "King Midas In Reverse" was a lovely surprise in Manchester.
On the train home my buzz was harshed when I heard that some fans got there 2 hours later and Graham chatted to them for half an hour and signed 5 for one guy and 7 for another.
Anyway I went to Bexhill.
The theatre was very confusingly built and I couldn't see where to wait. I saw a door and waited, arriving closer to 4 after what happened the previous day. Graham came over, nodded at me but said "how many ya got" in a pissed off voice. I'm autistic so that flustered me big time and I couldn't answer. I was really hoping to luck out like those fans the previous night. I somehow managed to get out my 1967 Bravo Magazine with a Karl Ferris Evolution outtake and hand him my fine tipped blue pen as I DESPISE thick black marker. He refused to sign it "it won't show up". A colleague of his said "don't worry, I have one" and pulled out a thick black marker and I wanted to run away! Fortunately Graham spotted my metallic bronze Sharpie, said "that'll do", I held the mag open and watched him sign that very famous autograph I've seen a million times, it looked PHENOMENAL and really suited the psychedelic design and when I went to get another thing saying "I don't wanna disturb you as you're so busy" he said "see you in a bit" which is a Manchester saying for "look, I really have to go" and off he went, leaving me with 1 poxy item.
The show was a repeat, jokes and everything, but he did shake the set list up a bit and do 1 or 2 songs he didn't.
But I was too depressed and anxious so I went home in the interval, partly because it's a 3 hour train back to london.
The tour was not going well so far. I mean, the music was but the travelling and autographs weren't. Thankfully I had a week off to recover and plan.
London, Drury Lane. Arrived, saw some fans waiting and befirended them. This time a chap I recognised from my first night and the merch stand came over. He was very stern "it's 2 items each so pick your most valuable" but also really polite, nice and appreciative "thank you for waiting all this time".
This time I chose a 1981 reunion EMI promo card and a single from the Sundazed box set.
I was on a cloud and the show was even better! London went CRAZY for Graham, even cheering for his new album!! I love his new album by the way, and am surprised he only does 2 songs off it.
When Allan didn't appear that is when I knew he wouldn't at all. I already suspected he wouldn't.
Anyway yet again I found out that after I left more fans got more things signed, and some even got photos with him! I never wanted one but still I was a bit miffed. Anyway, Manchester next day.
And this is the beginning of the end. I've made a video about my experience which I will link below.
Staff can be such arseholes/assholes at times. I'm sorry but it is ONLY Graham Nash, he is NOWHERE NEAR, say, Paul McCartney level, he really is NOT that big and does not need protecting that much. For years now I have been hearing fans say how nice he is and the amount of tat I see on Ebay clearly demonstrates how happy he is to sign just about anything. The problem is you need to get him and not some jobsworth on steroids.
I agree with JT on his post re the onstage political rants, especially as Graham is spouting about justice and bullies while his damn roadie is being one to paying fans who are poor.
Graham also repeats a line every night about how great his life is because he is so rich, I mean, what a cock. My trip has made me overdrawn and on the way to his shows I lost count of how many people I saw who were sleeping on pavements.
When I tell people my story, so many people say "well, he is 81" and lots are probably going to here as well.
And so what? He has a wife half that, is rich, is mentally sharp, physically healthy, a high and crystal clear voice, a full head of hair and probably has more live shows left in him than I do and I turned 45 today.
I've emailed his manager about this roadie (Allan Clarke would be disgusted, he really would), I'm now too upset (and too poor) to even go to a Hollies show, never mind another Graham one and I'm posting about it on Twitter trying to make it go viral.
Here is the video I made, it is 10 minutes and does have one swear word, one rude word and one slur about Autistic people, so just be aware of that as you go in.
