As there were quite a few photos taken (by my eldest daughter Cassandra), I've decided to devote a seperate page for this gig.
After an hiatus of 6 years to the day, Manifold were invited to participate in a rock concert as part of the fiesta of San Bartolome in La Galga. We were the second band on stage and started to play just before midnight! Such is the way things are on La Palma. Nothing starts early let alone on time. The good thing about playing at these functions is everything is laid on. We simply turn up with our instruments, plug in and play the gig. No sound amplification equipment to cart around or fighting our way through crowded bars after a gig struggling with heavy kit.
For this gig, we were fortunate to have Manolo Martin on drums. He's an excellent drummer and without doubt, the most experienced that Manifold has ever played with. Manolo played with us at the 2004 Christmas Day gig in Santa Cruz harbour, but he never managed to appear in any of the photos. So to make up for that deficit, there are quite a few photos of Manolo in these pages.
Playing at these open air gigs is great provided the weather is fine. We arrived about 8:30pm to carry out a sound check along with the other two bands. The wind was blowing across the square and I detected rain in the air... Not a good sign! Although the stage has a roof, there's nothing to stop rain entering if there is a strong wind. However, it wasn't until after the gig when my daughter told me this curious thing?
We had just started to play the old Shadows number 'Apache'. Alan was hopping around doing a 'Red Indian' dance and making chants, when the heavens just opened up and it pissed down! Sheets of rain driving across the square forced the crowd to take cover under the kiosks and in the bars. Then as we finished off the instrumental, the rain stopped just as quickly as it started! So, perhaps the native Americans of old really could incite the rain to come and Alan hit on the right combination that night, huh :-)
