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Back home today and Catie and I had a date tonight. We were going to the Hitchin Priory to see the Human League, Toyah and Roland Gift on an outdoor stage.
I don't go to many music gigs, but this one was right on our doorstep and I thought it would be fun to see these musical artists from my youth, even if I could only recall about one of each of their songs.
I spent much of the afternoon singing
"My Perfect Cousin" which is by the Undertones, not any of these bands, but includes the lines
"His mother bought him a synthesiser
Got the Human League into advise her"
It's a very witty song. And it's sort of cooler to be mentioned in another band's song than to actually be in a band,
Catie's parents came over to look after the kids and just as we were about to walk across town I looked at the sky and wondered, "Do you think we might need a waterproof?" But before the words were out of my mouth rain started hitting the patio outside. And suddenly God's bath overflowed and Hitchin was hit by all the rain we've failed to have this summer. Then there was thick hail. It was insane.
A skylight in the roof was cracked - possibly by the hail - it's not been a problem before and we had to put a pan down to catch the water coming down on the landing.
If we had left the house when I wanted to, five or ten minutes earlier, we'd have been caught in this. And I wondered how the early birds at the concert were doing. Doors had been open for an hour or so and the support was due on stage at this time. There would be no place to hide from this window busting hail.
A river of water poured down the road outside and as usual the bridge by the railway had a pond under it (and from social media reports at least one unfortunate driver who had thought they could get through the three feet of water but had been proven wrong).
There was lightning too, but as the rain softened a little we risked the walk to the Priory. It was pretty chaotic in town with traffic stuck in the roads and fire engines pumping water (they fight fire with water, so have to fight water with fire which is ineffective).
We had put on waterproof shoes and wellies, but those who had set out earlier were probably not expecting floods and there were lots of sad middle-aged people in Human League sweatshirts milling around.
At the entrance there was a bottleneck as a pool of water was blocking the way. Our footwear was good enough to skirt round the edge where the water was only a couple of inches deep. We made our way to the entrance and joined a couple of hundred people who were milling around the field.
Though it was no longer raining there was still lightning and signs on the stage warned us not to get close to any metal structures. The storm had taken out the electrics, which were now back on, but all the bars had lost their wifi connection and as the event was cash only the only alcohol available came from a self-service van on the other side of the makeshift arena that still had wifi.
The music hadn't started and as the curfew was 10.30pm the best we could hope for was shortened sets, but the general feeling was that the concert was unlikely to happen.
So it wasn't a surprise when it was announced that the gig was cancelled and we were asked to leave. We had some overpriced noodles and Catie had a pint of self-serve lager (though it was about 1/3 froth) so we finished those and laughed at the failure of our expedition. I go to so few music gigs that it's kind of hilarious that the one I attempt to go to is destroyed by God.
And somewhere behind the stage - hopefully in the hotel but maybe a portacabin- the Human League, Toyah and Roland Gift were waiting to perform a gig that would never happen. I think there might be a play in that. Or maybe a jukebox musical. If I knew more of their songs I could probably come up with a fantastic pun title.
I guess they will still get paid, but I felt sorry for the many people who had clearly travelled some distance to see their heroes and forked out for train tickets and hotels. And the people selling food from trucks who would also lose lots of money tonight (there are events all weekend so hopefully they can make some money then). It was good news for the pubs and restaurants of Hitchin which were heaving.
We were lucky in that we could just go home, though we stopped off for a drink at our local, which in spite of recent renovations had also suffered a major leak in the roof. We were pretty tired from the holiday and the drive home and were in bed before the gig would have ended and not feeling entirely devastated about that.
Even though we got no music, we did get an adventure and another demonstration of the raw power of nature.
