The Streets in Belfast 2023

Belfast, Northern Ireland, October 22nd 2023

I just got home from an amazing Holiday in Florida (read about it: here). I’m homesick. August 11th Mike announced new dates in Belfast and Dublin. On October 22nd and October 24th. And an extra date on the 23rd. We booked these dates on August 20th. Mike will sort us out. Thanks so much!!

I asked Ryan (a good friend of mine) if he would be home, and if we could stay over, but Ryan is in Dominican Republic. “It’s alright for some”. So Ozzy and I booked an hotel.

On September 28th I got an email from Easyjet that I could check in our flight for Sheffield. so we did. But this flight is later then the Ryan air flight, so we tried to check in for this flight as well. and we could.

At 7 the alarm clock went off. Ugh it’s too early. We watched the Sprint race last night. Max won, again, of course!! So we didn’t have a long night of sleep. Roos stayed in our room tonight. She had a dream about an annoying boy or something like that. It woke me up. In the middle of the night. But luckily I fell asleep again. 

But we’re going to see the streets in Belfast today. That’s why I didn’t have much of a problem waking up. Mark was struggling more. I made him coffee. Roos and Mark will drop me and Ozzy off at the airport. We won’t be home until Wednesday. Roos was sad. But this time she didn’t cry. 

We leave at 7:30ish. After half an hour or so we arrive at Schiphol. Everything goes smoothly apart from my hand luggage. They saw something. But the security guy enjoyed his work. He was a happy person. He checked my bag. The scan didn’t scan my laptop good enough, it had to be scanned again. It’s fine we can go. We have to wait about an hour. Time for Starbucks. 

After we finished our drinks and we both paid the toilet a visit ,we went to the H-gate. We have priority boarding. I like this. This goes very smoothly as well. 

I got a message from Mark that we probably fly over our house. But we’re not sitting at the window. We can’t see anything. But Mark saw our plane.

The flight is about 1,5 hour. We’re flying with Ryan air to Dublin. That was cheaper than flying to Belfast and back from Dublin. Also this flight was at 10am, plenty of time to get to Belfast. The flight to Belfast was at 4:30 pm. Too late I think. We would have to hurry to get to the gig. Through Dublin is much better. 

When we arrive in Dublin, we’re looking for a bus to Belfast. We booked the bus at noon. We have about 45 minutes to go. Time for a coffee and some food. The bus is pretty good. We can charge our phone. We have WiFi on board.  

In Belfast we get to Brennans bar. Ryan comes over to meet us. We go way back. He was supposed to be on a holiday, but it got cancelled. He came over for a drink. I’m thankful that he considered me friend enough to come and meet me. Was lovely to see him. It’s been more than 10 years since the last time we saw him. He walked to the hotel with us. Then he went his own way.

We got changed and walked toward the venue. We have no idea where the entrance is. We walk around the building. Nothing looked like the entrance. We’ll come back later when it gets a little busier. We’ll have a drink in a pub. The kitchen just closed. We decided to have food at Maccy D. 

We walk back to the venue. We see a shopping center castle court. we go inside it’s freezing. But we continue our walk to the venue. Still no one. No one queueing up. We hear the sound check. Amazing!! We walk toward the tour bus. There is a guy called Cole standing there enjoying the music. We have a nice little chat. Lovely guy. He told us that, this is the entrance. 

Kevin comes outside. We have a chat. He thinks the entrance is around the corner, but that’s hard to believe, when we go over there. Kevin gets back inside. To see what the rest is doing for dinner.

Mike comes outside “come, give me a hug” he said. Sure. He goes into the bus. After a while he comes back to us. He confirmed that Sheffield is cancelled. Oh no, hopefully we get a voucher from easy jet. Oh shit, were you coming? Oh no! Mike said. Did I sort guest list for you? I hope so, I said. I’ll make sure. Are you coming to Dublin as well? Mike asked? Yes, both of them. I said. Ozzy said. you’re stuck with us for 3 days. Mike replied: Amazing! Then he went inside for some food.

Then Wayne, Kevin, Max, Baz & Cassell come outside they said hello and gave us a hug. They are going to have dinner. Cassell invited us. But they are having Ramen. We already had dinner. We could have joined them for fun. But we want to be up front. 

At 7 the doors open. Guest list person is not there yet. We have to wait a little. But she’s coming already and we could go inside. We see Cole standing up front. We join him. But more to the left side of the stage. We’re getting too old to stand in the middle. Well, Ozzy a little more then me haha I could still handle the middle. I love being in the middle.

It’s freezing inside. But we brought our coat to the cloakroom anyway. It’s so cold. I get a sore neck and a head ache. 

Masterpiece is the support act. I like it.  

At 9 it’s time for the streets. Mike comes on and waves. Kevin comes in and points at us. 

Amazing gig! Love the new songs. It’s a great set list. Oliver gave me the Setlist. Thanks so much!!

After the gig we had the idea to go to the pub. We saw Cole again. He got a water bottle from Mike. Amazing!! It was freezing tho We decided to go to the hotel instead. We were just in time to order a beer and a cup of tea before the bar closed.

Then it’s time to go to the room. Upload the photos and video. take a shower. Write the blog. And go to sleep. Alarm goes off early for our next adventure. Night all.

Mike released a new video. Each day gives. Its from his new album and movie. The Darker the shadow the brighter the light.