Although I love sport, athletics doesn’t normally excite me, but I will be popping along to the Spanish Athletics Championships in Tincer, Santa Cruz this weekend. It’s just too good an opportunity to miss, a major national event so close to the Olympics and a chance to see a few medal hopefuls, Mario Pestano (pic), the discus thrower is a good bet for Tenerife glory. It’s also a chance to look inside this amazing modern stadium, the Centro Insular de Atletismo de Tenerife (CIAT) to give it its full name, is sunk into the ground with just a low stone wall and the floodlights protruding, so it resembles a volcanic crater. The stadium has won several design awards an was included in an exhibition at the M.O.M.A (museum of modern art) in New York.

But getting back on track, and field, the championships take place on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 July from 10 am until 9.30 pm with a break from 12.30 to 3.30. There will be 700 competitors taking part in 42 tests, including heats and finals, split evenly between men and women. You would expect such a big event to be pretty expensive but full price adult tickets are just 6 euros each day, or 10 euros for both days, and can be bought at the stadium on the days, but not between noon and 4 pm.

There is a glossy colour leaflet available in some information and cultural centres, certainly in Los Cristianos, which details all the events and times, or you can check out the website www.tenerifeatletismo.es . As for getting there, take the Puerto de la Cruz and El Campo turn off from the TF1 before Santa Cruz, opposite the Fred Olsen building, and head for the floodlights. The publicity says car parking at the stadium, although this will be by far the biggest event held there so far. I will be catching the 110 or 111 Titsa bus up into Santa Cruz and changing to a 232 at the bus station, it should drop me pretty well outside, I hope.

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So there I am towering over Tenerife Sur airport, dwarfing Santa Cruz and looking down on Mount Teide, was it too much cheese for supper? Â No, I’m just visiting Pueble Chico, the miniature version of Tenerife at La Orotava, just outside Puerto de la Cruz.

It was definately time for a day up north, so catching the early 343 bus to Puerto de la Cruz ( 6.25 euros with a Bono ticket ) I linked to the free hourly coach to Pueblo Chico from Avenida Venezuela, just behind the Playa and Lago Martianez. Ten minutes later, and 8.50 € lighter (12.50 € non residents) I was passing through the volcanic lunar landscape model and facing a mini hillside dotted with the early Guanche tribesmen of Tenerife. This was just the first of 53 model areas, covering not just Tenerife but also key points of the other Canary Islands.

The models are meticulous in design and sound effects help to enhance the illusion. Tenerife Sur airport comes complete with passenger tannoy announcements and the motorway rumbles with traffic noise. La Orotava valley is an amazing backdrop to the parkand the plants and flowers lining the walkways contrast well with the iconic buildings such as the Santa Cruz auditorium, church of the Conception tower and the Cabildo offices. Nature may also provide you with some unexpected photos as the large lizards that live around the park, dart across the airport runway or scuttle by tiny Guanche figures, like a scene from a sci fi B movie.

The compact arrangement of the models throws up some rare photo opportunities as Corte Ingles rubs shoulders with a Fred Olsen ferry and the auditorium, and the airport runway heads towards the wind park turbines. The park moves with the times, and the tram now glides around La Laguna, passing areas it doesn’t reach in the full size world. A few years ago they added a scale model of Mount Teide, and if you get your camera angle right, you can snap it with the real peak in the distant background. The model Teide is hollow and you can normally go inside but a cleaning lady was busy inside today – maybe it was Mother Nature? I kept thinking of Michael Bentine and what fun he could have had on Potty Time with such a vast playground.

The pathways lead inevitably up to the shop, cafe and restaurant at the end, I spent about 90 minutes exploring the models, that might give you some idea of where to fit it in your schedule. It’s certainly interesting and kids will be fascinated, but it’s definately look don’t touch. As for prices, adult rates start at 12 years old, which seems a bit harsh, and kids prices are 8.50 euros or 5 euros for residents. The park is open 9am to 7pm, more details on the website.

With plenty of time in hand, I caught the Titsa bus into the centre of La Orotava for a bit of exploring. On my last visit I got as far as the Plaza de la Constitution, so this time I headed on upward into the old town, and was so glad I did. The tourist guide boast is that the town centre is one of the few in the Canaries that is preserved intact, how right they are. There are historic plazas, houses, churches and museums every few yards, all clearly maked with plaques giving their history. The narrow streets are seperated from the roads with ornate bollards linked with chains and interspersed with flowers and seats, all very neat and stylish.

I ventured up as far as the flower garden of Plaza de San Francisco and popped into the Casa de Turista and the Casa de los Balcones. These last 2 old houses are on different sides of the street and both have the old wooden overhanging balconies that are famous in the Canary Islands, the Casa de los Balcones has 3 floors of the balconies looking down over a plant filled courtyard. History oozes from every step of the old town, and thats on an ordinary day, a month ago the annual flower and sand carpets added another dimension to the plazas and public areas.

I didn’t have time to do justice to the wine route further on in La Perdoma village, so that will have to wait for another day. Retracing my steps, I stopped off for some tapas and coffee before catching the bus back to Puerto de la Cruz and on to Los Cristianos. My next visit to La Orotava may not be quite so cultural, as CD Tenerife play a friendly there in 3 weeks at the ground on the other side of town, but i will be back this way, with my sights set on the wine tasting.

That title may not mean much to younger people, but if you are a 40 something, like me, it will conjure up exciting images of strident electronic music, and laser and light displays that would impress even Steven Spielberg, all played out on giant living canvas’s in some of the worlds biggest cities. The French musical genius has been in La Palma and Tenerife over the last few weeks, and the outcome may be one or even two mega performances in 2009.

Just to fill in the blanks, Jean Michel Jarre had 2 blockbusting LP’s in the late 1970’s, Oxygene and Equinoxe and he backed these up with lavish spectacles around the world, several in front of a million plus people such as Rendevous Houston. I saw the Destination Docklands show from london on television at the time and even through that medium, the sheer scale of the event was impressive. As the great man created musical magic on banks of keyboards and synthesisers, lasers played up the side of tower blocks and hi stacked offices.

The Canarian connection has come about through Jean Michel visiting the observatories in Tenerife and La Palma to research his next work, Music Of The Stars. The La Palma observatory at Roque de Los Muchachos has 14 telescopes, including GRANTECAN, which has the biggest segmented primary mirror in the world. It came on line in January 2007 but will be officially inaugurated in 2009 in front of a select audience of politicians, scientists and former Queen guitarist Brian May. If that last name seems out of place, be impressed, Brian started a PHD in Astronomy before his music took off, and recently dusted his work down and completed his studies with research at La Palma and Tenerife observatorys. The freshly qualified guitarist is now writing a special musical fanfare to be performed on GRANTECAN’s big day.

Jean Michel Jarre has been invited to get involved musically in the inauguration, but that is unlikely to be a public event. I did the tour of the observatory 18 months ago, it’s at the highest point in La Palma, 2,400 metres, a good hours drive up the winding roads, the logistics of a major concert would be too much to overcome. Hopefully a big outdoor concert in Tenerife, maybe in somewhere like the Teide national park, could be more practical, but Jean Michel  is very keen, look at his personal blogsite to read his impressions of Tenerife.

Let’s hope something can be organised, because it could be one of the most spectcular things to hit these islands in years. I have a torch and some coloured crepe paper and i’m ready to help out with the special effects, but i suspect they might have something a bit more fancy in mind.

A bottle washes up on Los Cristianos beach, I open it and find a message inside, addressed to me and sent 18 years ago. It’s like a bizarre dream but the electronic equivilant has just happened to me. A friend from Oxford has emailed me a for sale item from E Bay, a copy of an Ice Hockey fanzine (482 Days) that I co produced 18 years ago has been advertised for 3 pounds, original price 40p, but the price is not important, i’m just gob smacked that any copies are still out there.

Lets rewind a little. I got into Ice Hockey with some drinking friends when Oxford ice rink opened in 1984, we all followed Oxford City Stars around the country as far as Glasgow, Irvine, Fife and even to France for a weekend tournament. Eventually, in the late 80’s me and my mate Nigel started the fanzine, very crude and rude in content and construction, none of this hi tech computer stuff, but it raised a few chuckles. Time to fess up, I wrote a lot of the items and got a “friendly” typist at work to type them up and then collated it all at work on the photocopier, when supposedly doing overtime.

We probably sold about 200 each issue at home and away games, they were sporadic, roughly every few months. Nigel quit after 7 issues but I carried on and got to about Issue 20 before stopping, it was even on sale at Sportspages in London and Manchester for a while. The name 482 Days refers to a spell when Oxford couldn’t win a home league game, they drew, won friendlies but went 482 Days without a home league win. The seller on E Bay is apparently a sports programme seller based in the Borders region, so 482 Days has really travelled.

Those Ice Hockey days were happy, and very boozy times, i’m still in touch with loads of the players, even the Canadians and Swedes, but thought 482 Days was long gone. Even over here, my past has reached out to me, well it’s a small world – but you wouldn’t want to paint it!

Admiral Nelson has gone down in history as England’s greatest naval hero, but he tasted defeat here in Tenerife on July 25 1797, and when coming ashore in Santa Cruz, his right elbow was shattered by fire from the Tiger canon.

Partly due to his reputation as a great naval commander, and partly due a very civilised surrender, Nelson is held in high esteem in Santa Cruz, you will find the road Calle Horacio Nelson near the old bull ring. The victory of the Santa Cruz defending forces is a great source of pride among the locals and a group called Tertulia Del 25 de Julio, have got the council to adopt their latest plan to commemorate the battle. By the 2009 anniversary, 14 stone plaques will be placed at various points of resistance along a 2 km route near the shore of the capital city.

It starts at the Castillo de San Juan (above) the small castle that stands in the shadow of the ultra modern, hook nosed  Auditorium. Some of the defensive positions have long since been built over, one plaque will be at a small side street beside the Cabildo (government) building, just past the Torre de Concepcion. One key point about to be re-discovered is the Castillo San Cristobal, the ruins are under the Plaza de España, and the public will soon be able to pop down and see them. The bateria de Santiago is one of the most visual points, just to the east of the ferry port, and is marked by an impressive statue at the junction of 2 main roads.

The route ends a little further east and inland, in Anaga, near the Military Museum of the Canary Islands. The museum is open from 10 am till 2 pm Tuesday to Saturday and entry is FREE. As well as more modern warfare history, it houses the famous Tigre canon that stopped Nelson in his tracks. If his comrades hadn’t staunched the blood flow with makeshift bandages, Nelson would have died very quickly rather than just lost his arm.

in the museum they also have a large model layout of the Santa Cruz coast as Nelsons fleet attacked, and a commentary tells you how the battle unfolded. I found this very interesting as I bought a biography of Nelson on a recent trip to the UK. It was written by the poet laureate Robert Southey, a few years after Nelsons death. It was reassuring to see the commentary match the book version, not because I doubted the Canarian view of history, but because Southey comes across as totally in awe of Nelson, as many were, and talks about him in such glowing terms, I thought he might have made a few embellishments.

The surrender in Santa Cruz was pretty amazing, the British suffered 226 deaths and when posting his terms of surrender, Nelson stated that if they weren’t accepted, he would, with regret, burn Santa Cruz to the ground. The Spanish governor Jaun Antonio Gutierrez accepted the terms and his troops helped to ferry the wounded back to British ships, while Nelson swore that he would not trouble any of the Canary islands again. A stone carving of the agreement and busts of Nelson and Gutierrez are in a big glass display case down near the ferry port, but the glass is dirty and cracked and the monument neglected – is that any way to treat 2 men of such honour? There was a huge mutal respect between the 2 men, Nelson sent a barrel of beer to Gutierrez and the governor sent back some finest Canarian wine. It’s a myth that Nelson handed over a Scottish flag on surrender, and that it became the Tenerife flag, the saltyre cross refers more to St Andrew, who was also the saint of wine, you can find a Tenerife flag that pre dates the battle, in the military museum.

There are re-enactment events planned for July 25 in Santa Cruz, so look out for them and I will try to bring you further news of times and places.Â

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Several long running stories in Santa Cruz have sparked into life, so today was high time I headed up to the capital of Tenerife to check it out. With CD Tenerife taking a summer breather, it’s been a good few weeks since my last visit, so with the north also basking in the heat, I took the 110 direct bus for a one hour, 3.90 euro bono ticket price trip. Changing straight onto the tram, the bono registered a free ride.

Getting off at La Paz and turning into Rambla del General Franco, I passed the old bull ring, see inside here ,one of the reasons for my trip. It’s still proud and peeling and awaiting its fate, which could be decided in the Garcia Sanabria park, a little further on. Santa Cruz council invited local architects to submit plans for the redeveloment of the Plaza de Torros and this Friday, Saturday and Sunday they are on display in the park. I hoped there might be a few entries, but it was a nice surprise to see 35 sets of plans. These were not just your basic technical drawings, but computerised colour mock ups from several angles.

Thankfully, most of them want to keep at least some of the facade of this iconic building, with designs ranging from inspired to “carbuncles” as HRH Charlie would call them, one even looked like the elephant house at London Zoo. All legal residents are allowed a vote so I popped my slip into the ballot box. On July 7, a committee of 13 headed by the Santa Cruz mayor, will add their verdict and then the whole planning merry go round kicks off again.

I’ve gotta mention Parque Garcia Sanabria, not the biggest of parks but truly glorious, with its dense mix of plants and trees little pathways constantly lead you off to new hidden delights like sculptures, water features, a flower clock, a kids train and a cafeteria. The main monument in the centre is quite a work in itself, I thought the large lady might be one of those performing statues, so I kept my distance. The council have also introduced a bike hire scheme from the park at one euro per hour, but I couldn’t find any trace of that, however one of the canarian papers did report it as starting earlier in the week, so hopefully the bikes were all out on hire, and not nicked.

Onward ever onward, around the Rambla del General Franco to the Military Museum of the Canary Islands in Calle San Isidro. This was part of some research on Lord Nelson (see next post) but I didn’t check the opening times and arrived just 30 minutes before the 2 pm closing. It’s a big place, with a very impressive display and is FREE. I got the pics and info I needed but will definately be going back for a more leisurely stroll. This took me almost full circle, you can get to the museum along the Avenida de Anaga on the front, just past the Fred Olsen port.

The other main point of my trip was to see the newly re-opened, but still not finished Plaza de España. It’s taken 2 years, many false dawns and a recent financial top up of 4 million euros from the Tenerife government to bring the toal spend to nearly 20 million, split 80 % to 20 % in favour of the government over the Santa Cruz council.

The trees around the edge of the park look good, the 61 year old Monument to the Fallen has scrubbed up well and the 2 bronze 1,000 kilo statues on guard look good, if a little cheeky. Three large buildings, one already destined to be the new tourism office, have their sloping roofs climbed by 5,000 plants arranged by French designer Patrick Blanc (please no jokes about uphill gardeners) . The big centrepiece should be the 2,500 cubic metre lake, but instead of being full of sea water from deep underground wells, there is just a small puddle in the centre, and the 30 metre high geyser is not spurting. Hardly any of the 122 parking places below are in use yet and the remains of the San Cristobal castle, also below are not on show yet. The finishing touches will take “some weeks” apparently, what a shame, the lighting draped across the plaza is in place and looks stunning at night, but is supposed to relect off the lake for full effect.

I eagerly await the completion of Plaza de España and look forward to seeing how many people can end up in the lake at Carnaval time.

It’s pitch black, i’m sat on a cold solid lava ledge that was formed 27.000 years ago, i’m deep underground below Icod de los Vinos, and there’s not a sound to be heard. After what seems like an eternity, the Cueva del Viento guide, switches his torch back on, the signal for the 20 or so explorers in this volcanic tunnel, to switch their helmet lights back on as well. Suddenly we all re-appear in the eerie half light, just a minutes example of the islolation felt down in the Cave of the Wind.

The three levels of volcanic tubes bored through the rock have been closed to the public for the last 15 years but this week the public were at last allowed in again, and I was chomping at the bit to be among the first. Plans were well advanced to re-open before 6 people died from inhaling volcanic gas in water filled galleries in nearby Los Silos in Febrauary 2007. They were part of an unguided party, since then safety has been tightened around the many caves that are a legacy of Tenerife’s volcanic nature.

The tubes were produced when Pico Viejo on the east slope of Mount Teide disgorged its red hot lava 27,000 years ago, and other eruptions since have added to the 17 kms of tunnels, one of the biggest collections in the world. From end to end they drop some 470 metres and reach nearly as far as the sea at Playa San Marcos, and the three layers are inter connected by wells, fissures and at one point a 17 metre deep chasm.

My day started with a 460 bus to Icod de Los Vinos, just 3 euros with a Bono ticket, and a one and a half hour journey from Los Cristianos. Once there I met up with explorer, naturalist and writer, Steve Andrews, better known as the green bearded Bard of Ely, a genuine Welsh Druid. A taxi to the village of Cueva Del Viento took just 10 minutes and cost nearly 5 euros, it’s all a steep uphill drive, definately not for walking. The new visitors centre is just opposite a small bar/restaurant and the mid day sun was hot and glorious, be warned, it’s usually a little cooler up north and can be cloudy with some rain. The website advises wearing hiking boots but as I don’t have any I hoped my sturdy trainers would be ok, as it turned out many others in the group had similar foot wear, several were in shorts and even sandals, but that is really risky.

Putting on our hard helmets complete with front light connected to a power pack belt, we piled into a mini bus for the 10 minute drive uphill, then we had a steep 30 minute hike up through the pine forest with teasing views of Mount Teide through the foliage and fire blackened trees from last summers big outbreak. Our entrance to the caves was down below a metal grid, first on carved stone steps and then onto a metal staircase. A delicious chill greeted us, I was in shirt sleeves but it didn’t feel cold, we fanned out in a circle in the first chamber as our guide gave us some relevant facts, using one of several charts posted in the tunnels in Spanish and English. Moving on and down, the floor became very uneven and rocky and we barely had headroom above us. Trying to take photos whilst co-ordinating the helmet light and keeping feet well anchored was a challenge but a welcome one.

There are thousands of rare species of insects living in the caves but we only saw a few spiders, but then we only explored a set 1,200 metre stretch. At various points, other small tunnels shot off at tangents above and around us, and our lights could only disturb the dark for a limited distance. I had always thought of caves as moist, but these tunnels were dry, even though in places, strands of pine roots poked through the rough ceiling.

 At the end of our route, we found a deep chasm with another small upward entry/exit beyond it, sealed with a strong iron grid. The contrast of the bright sun and the meeting of the warm and chilled air gave a strange feel to the surroundings. That marked our turning point, and we retraced our steps, this time in an upward manner. Before long we were back at the stairs, and clambered up to wince at the sunlight and remove the irritating but vital helmets. Walking back to the minibus, we realised we had been down the tunnels for over 90 minutes, although we had barely made a dent on the labyrinth of tubes.

This was definatley well worth the wait, the trip was FREE, but will be reviewed at the end of July to maybe set a regular charge. There are 2 trips a day at 10 am and Noon and you need to book first via the website or by calling 922815339. Groups are set for around 20 people and their rating of medium difficulty is about right.

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I smell like a kipper, that’s not a boast, and i’m not launching my own special fragrance, it’s just an after effect of enjoying the Noche de San Juan on Las Vistas beach, here in Los Cristianos, Tenerife. The festival of Saint John is centred on the summer solstice and midsummer day, and across Spain it’s the signal for bonfires on the beaches, through the night.

The themes of cleansing and renewal are very strong, the flames of the fire will purify your soul, all you have to do is jump over the fire three times. There are lots of regional variations, many people last night were dropping slips of paper into the fire, these are lists of problems, mistakes and bad habits, all things that the flames will hopefully burn away.

As I headed down to the beach, the smell of burning mingled with that of food cooking, and what a pleasant aroma it was. Arriving at the front at 11pm, it was heaving with people, a band was playing live Canarian music, and people of all ages were up and dancing, Canarian potatoes and fish was being served up to anyone who fancied it and the mood was happy and relaxed. There were 4 or 5 huge bonfires spread out along the beach, and many smaller ones scattered all around, all down the sand to the shore.

It annoys me when people in the UK sneer at Tenerife, it’s not perfect, but it’s great for families. Large groups were gathered around the various bonfires, parents with their children happily running about in the sand, and even a few pet dogs scampered in the sand. Most people were drinking, the ever popular clinking carrier bags kept appearing and several of the beach front bars were open, please note UK, flowing alcohol and people having fun, doesn’t have to mean violence.

The sea is another great cleanser, many were stripping down to their cozzies and diving into the waves, emerging to dry off round a bonfire. At midnight, a statue of San Juan was carried out into the sea and splashed liberally with water, candles were lit on the beach and flowers placed into the sea, as the dancing and drinking flowed on until dawn. I left at 2am and there were still thousands of people, getting a little sand between their toes, as San Juan looked on.

And the day after…I went for my beach swim early this afternoon, and it was like nothing had happened on the beach. The promenade was clean and the bins had all been emptied, on the beach there was no debris from the fires, no bottles or glass, not even a stray chicken bone. They had even put up some temporary seating for a forthcoming volleyball tournament. Top marks to Arona council and their team of cleaners.

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Not all my trips go to plan, but that’s part of the fun, today was a mixed day but very enjoyable. I got the Granadilla bus for San Isidro to check out the Flight Simulation show mentioned a couple of posts ago. This is the long winded coastal route, which at least alerted me to the piles of sand being dumped for spreading on Las Galletas beach. It seems this bounty of sand, scraped off Los Cristianos old beach is being spread far and wide, as it is also topping up the troublesome Playa San Juan beach.

Coming into San Isidro from the El Medano road, I noticed a modern and busy looking agricultural market building, that’s one for further investigation. San Isidro itself is a busy town with the main road, Carretera General, climbing steeply on its way to Granadilla , the administrative centre for the region. The Casa Cultura turned out to be an undistinguished building next to the police station and the show was a bit of a geek fest. Several rows of tables were set out with laptops feeding off a bigger computer on the stage, to show the intricate and complicated control panels of various aeroplanes. I had imagined big machines that you could sit in pretending to be in a cockpit, they might as well have all stayed at home and played the programmes. I left pretty quickly and checked the cloakroom on the way out for anoraks, i’m sure it was only the hot weather that made them leave them at home.

Time out exploring in Tenerife is never wasted, and a few drinks and some tapas in some little side street bars focussed my mind on an alternative plan. Back on the bus, and a stop off at Los Abrigos seemed a good idea to top up my camera and my need for more input. If you like fish, you should make time to visit Los Abrigos, it’s a lovely fishing village with some of the best fish restaurants on the island.

First stop was the ironically named Playa Grande, a pocket sized beach just to the west of the harbour. Even on a Saturday afternoon, there were barely a handful of bathers, I have been in the week and had the beach and the tiny bay all to myself. and that’s before I have taken my socks off. It’s a real untouched gem, but what’s that coming over the hill, it’s a monster – development, to the west, it’s sad to see the cranes and buildings marching ever nearer.

Retracing my steps, and down into the harbour front, it was strangely quiet, as so much of the island is now. The restaurants slope down to the small harbour, where boats bob in the water as children sit on the quay dangling their feet over the edge and now and then plunge in for refreshment. Following the walkway up and around to the east, there’s a uncorrupted view across to Montaña Roja (red mountain) beyond the airport. This is a nature reserve featuring many rare species of birds, but it is possible to follow a path all the way to the peak, another trek on my things to do list. It’s at times like this that I wish I could paint, the swirling folds of the rock are amazing, and highlighted against the white capped blue sea, it would inspire any artist. On balance, I think breathing the sea air carries much more sway with me than tapping away on a computer game.

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Not a silly hat in sight, just some great live music at the other Aguaviva concert in Plaza del Conquistador last night. On a scorching evening Lanzarote band Oscartienealas (below) started things off in front of a sparse audience, well Spain were still playing in Euro 2008. People started to gather as the excellent 3 piece band leapt around and belted out some rocking tunes.

After a lengthy gap, Fiction Plane hit the stage and launched into a selection of tracks from their recent “Left Side Of The Brain” LP. In the pre Aguaviva publicity, no one seemed to pick up on the fact that Joe Sumner, son of Sting, is the bands lead singer, armed with that knowledge, I had arranged an interview earlier in the day and met Joe (centre) , American drummer Pete Wilhoit (right) and guitarist Seton Daunt (left).

Just flown in from a pre Le Mans show in France, the trio were looking forward to enjoying a few days relaxing in Tenerife, with a bit of surfing and sun. Fiction Plane pride themselves on their live performances, and racked up 200 gigs last year, including supporting The Police on their American tour and The Feeling on their UK tour, after a decent rest, they are off again later this year, this time to North America, supporting Snoop Dog.

I had to ask about the group name, it has been widely pointed out that it is an angaram of Infant Police, but Pete scotched that idea as just another bizarre and unintentional link to The Police, 3 piece band with 2 Brits and an American drummer, a lead singer who plays bass, sings and writes lyrics, are just a few other similarities.

Fiction Plane have built up a strong following in France, Holland and Belguim and have 2 sets of fanatical followers, The Harem and The Fictionaires, I met Fictionaires Shan (blue) and Jo Jo (pink) who had flown over from the UK especially for the concert. Both looked lovely in their colour co-ordinated outfits but I couldn’t coax Jo Jo to reveal if there was more to her match than the hair and nails.

Back to the concert, and Joe’s voice has striking similarities to the old mans, but although the bands guitar sound does evoke thoughts of The Police, they have a much harder edge and their lyrics are much sharper. As the set went on, the crowd swelled, and what an interesting mix it was, dedicated music fans, passing holiday makers glowing from the beach and a sprinkling of hippies with their dogs, juggling and dancing.

As the sun dipped behind La Gomera, the concert drew to a close after an hour and 15 minutes, and there were a lot of converts to Fiction Plane. The finale was a storming rendition of Two Sisters, one of their strongest tracks, and Joe mounted the amps for one last leap, a wild ginger haired mountain of a roadie joined in dancing across the stage and lifting his kilt to reveal the only bum note of the evening. Definately one of the highlights of this years Aguaviva.