Not Gonzo Writing: Wild Paths Festival 2025

By -

Day One, Morning

 Fear and loathing on Elm Hill this is not.  Transport, no fabulous red Chevvy, just the number 14 bus into the city from the N&N Hospital.  Drop off is under the looming, refurbed Norman castle, then a stroll round the corner to the Maid's Head Hotel.  There no sign yet of a festival, although the receptionist assured me the Edith Cavell Room would be functioning as a ticket office from Thursday. 

I went back up through Tombland, once the site of a Viking market place, past Voodoo Daddy's Showroom, where a small street sign was tucked into the doorway announcing this week's events, to the bus information office to buy myself a week's bus pass, as it looks like I'll be tripping back and forth over the next few days for various reasons. Good value I thought, that bus pass. 

Talking of taking trips, the bus will be the only type of trip I'll be enjoying this week. Gonzo's Tea Room as close to Gonzo journalism as this gets.

Tonight and tomorrow, pre-festival parties are on at Voodoo Daddy's Showroom.  This evening, Feasts, Magnolia and The Empty Threats (band name of the day), tomorrow, Chest, Canned Pineapple and the irrepressible bunch of boys in blue, Pleasure Inc. 

Spencer Ide

14/10/2025  



Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for reading Spidewriter. Please get in touch with your observations or any questions you have. I look forward to hearing from you.

Popular posts from this blog

The Gleaves Issue Quite Possibly (Country) Album of The Year 2025

By -
Image
Quite Possibly (Country) Album of the Year Like an Echo  -  The Gleaves   Every now and then, perhaps once every five to ten years, you discover an album that completely knocks you over.   Buena Vista Social Club ,  Definitely Maybe , and  Seventeen Seconds  are good examples.  The genre is unimportant, but the overall impact of the album, which is a record studded with jewels, makes you want to listen to it time after time.  While each track has its own appeal, it is the complete package that makes it special.  I have played The Gleaves debut album,  Like An Echo  so many times today   that I have lost count of how many plays it's had.  It is a quite beautiful, complete album of Country & Western songs that, even if you were into Metallica, you could proudly hold in your music library, justifying your ownership of it to sceptical friends with a phrase like, “So what if its country, it’s a clas...
Read the full article here »

Ross Stewart and Band - Sells Out Voodoo Daddy's Showroom

By -
Image
Ross Stewart Steps Up Sold Out Show Worth The Wait  Voodoo Daddy's Showroom. Tuesday, 28th January, 2025 Ross Stewart at Voodoo Daddy's  It took him a while, but at last a headline set from Ross Stewart for which the audience had to pay to get in.  I first saw Stewart playing in the Walnut Tree Grapes when the Norfolk Blues Society returned to action after the pandemic.  The Walnut Tree in Old Post Office Court was a godsend to fans of quality live music.  My life in the city was transformed by the place, introducing me to the local music scene, in which Ross was just becoming established because of his truly outstanding ability to rock a guitar, make it weep, make it sing.  Astonishingly, the young Scot's talent with the guitar is matched by a voice that he has managed to nurture and develop in tandem with his playing.  Ross has played at The Champion, The Lamb, The Reindeer, The Brickmakers, (amongst other pubs) as well as being an opening act at Nor...
Read the full article here »

Floral Image - Home Coming Gig 2025

By -
Image
Indelibly Stamped Images Floral Image at Norwich Arts Centre Saturday, 31st May, 2025    The boys are home! Floral Image have landed.   I’m so excited about tonight!  said Nancy.  As was everyone who bundled into Norwich to see the city’s finest band come home.  There has not been such a wildly anticipated home town gig for any Norwich band for many months.  There was even a ticket scammer out there for this one, fleecing the ticketless, so keen was everyone to be at Norwich Arts Centre to attend the final gig of Floral Image’s 2025 European tour.   By all accounts the dates in Nantes, Agens, Tours and Eindhoven were very good nights for the band, but then the Green Door Store, Brighton proved exceptional. My god, all those nights would have had to be out of body experiences to better the transcendental power of the Norwich show.  What a night this turned out to be.   The city’s music lovers were out in force for this...
Read the full article here »