I realised earler today that ten years ago tonight, Feb 17th 1997 I was at the Kula Shaker gig at the Manchester Apollo, the first time I saw them and one of the best nights of my life. I've texted those I'm still in touch with but to mark the occasion I thought I'd sign up and give a shout out to any other Kulahead who was there or saw them on that tour.

As I type I'm listening to the live recording of "Baby You're A Rich Man" by The Beatles, the song they covered to open the set with. it brings back so many memories. The intro was played to an empty stage, empty save for a huge white wheet suspended from the ceiling the width of, and reaching down to, the stage. The sense of anticiaption, accompanied by the dropping of the houselights to show the now backlit white sheet, was almost reaching fever pitch. And then suddenly four figures strolled nonchalantly on to the stage, their shadows cast on to the white sheet making them appear as giants, which was quite appropriate given their importance to me at the time.

Launching into the song proper, I was taken on a musical spaceship ride, a journey from which i didn't come down from for weeks! You know how you love someone and then they do something which might seem ordinary to them but makes you love them even more? Well that was me becoming more enraptured with these four blokes and the magic they played that night.

I don't know if my words will strike a chord with other folk, perhaps somebody will read this and remember similair elation, I just wanted to share my happy memories with you all. Thank You Kula Shaker for everything past, present and and here's to the next ten...

did you just write that off the top of your head...? brilliant

Thankyou for sharing your happy memories. I too was at the Manchester Apollo that night. I'd bought my tickets well in advance and was really excited to be seeing them in the flesh.

That afternoon I was busy at work and listening to the radio when Crispian and Jay popped onto The Pete and Geoff Show for an interview. There was a competition to win back stage passes but I didn't know the answer to the question which was set....but in my enthusiasm I rang anyway and got through to the lovely Geoff Lloyd. It turns out that no one got the answer right and Geoff (seeing that I was a hopeless fan) took pity on me and gave me the tickets. I was on cloud nine and couldn't work the rest of the day through sheer excitement.

After the fabulous show everyone left and some Sony lady found us and ushered us up to the aftershow party in the bar. After half an hour she collected us and took us through a warren of corridors. We came to a door which opened as we approached and Crispian was there welcoming us in. It all got quite trippy after that. We chatted to Crispian for a while (he hated the dressing room) then he sat with Jay and Pauli came over and we had a good long natter. Paul was fantastic, really lovely.

When we left I got a photo with Crispian...but the flash wouldn't work on my camera so I had to stand for a good minute with my arm round Crispian's waist as my boyfriend fiddled with the flash button. (damn that flash!)

I was so excited by the whole thing I couldn't eat for three days.

Next day I went to say thank you to Geoff Lloyd and since then we have become friends. I went down to London this summer and spent a morning with him drinking coffee and strolling along the canals chatting about Kula Shaker...He still thinks I'm a sad case.

Great stories, both from kulabradford and jammie dodger. Soz that I have nothing more to add now but I'm not used to this anymore. Don't worry, it won't take long before I can entertain you again with my literary masterpieces