"Just to say I had a fantastic time in Aylesbury this weekend. I thought the gig was really good all round despite us not having had time to rehearse or play together since Loreley in July. Thanks to all of you who made it down and I hope you had as much fun as we all did this weekend, special thanks to the Marillo crew and of course Mark, Steve, Ian and Pete for being great mates and good sports! That was one we will remember for a long time!"
FISH - August 2007

Aylesbury has always been a crucible for talent for as long as I can remember and it's wonderful to have a celebration of this talent in the Market Square again for all to see. Having played so many small European festivals arranged and held in towns I think it's a tremendous idea and about time that this ethic spread in the UK and takes music out to communities and brings them closer together. Well done guys!
FISH - July 2007

Excellent Day!
It was the best-organised event I have been to, thank you to all concerned!
I have put a video of Fish & friends? Performing Market Square Heroes on YouTube..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DNvCnvb50A
Best wishes…………..Al

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the Hobble on the Cobbles event yesterday - a great chance to see some local bands and a really friendly atmosphere all round. Hope to be there again next year!
Ian Buxton

Never in the field of Free Music Festivals has so much been achieved for so many by so few!
What an amazing day! Hours of non stop music from some of the best talent in the area. From the first band to the last, I had a fantastic time and to be involved again was just the icing on the cake. Thanks to Stu and Den from Aylesbury Showcase for organising such a well run show (and for booking the sunshine) and thanks to the hundreds of Aylesbury people for turning out to support their local music scene.
Loz Jones

I thought it was fantastic...again. The whole thing felt extremely thorough and well organised.
Gary Mullins - Lightbox

Fish was joined for encores by a few familiar faces as follows:
Ian Mosley
Mark Kelly
Steve Rothery
Pete Trewavas
20 years since I last saw that line up. Excellent gig and an excellent surprise to end with!
Thanks to all for doing that, great to see for one more time!

Hi Stuart,
Thanks ever so much for asking us to play. We had a great time. The standard of music was very high and it was a real pleasure performing for
the people of Aylesbury. Thanks also to mix 96 for playing our song!
Al - Star Chamber

Fish. Marillion. Aylesbury. What more can I say? A dream come true indeed.
Fantastic people, pubs, food, and - of course - music!
You're all Heroes! Thank you!
Ken, Liverpool

Thank you very much for letting us (MICAWBER) be part of such an awe inspiring day. No one has the first idea about how much effort, expertise and sheer hard work goes into organising something like Hobble on the Cobbles especially when you guys made it look easy! Aylesbury is very lucky to have Jam Central Records making it happen for our local musicians through Aylesbury Showcase and entertaining the population – and it’s all free! All the bands were great and it was a real coup to get Fish to play and then Marillion turn up too! We also really enjoyed playing at the King’s Head the Saturday before the Hobble on the Cobbles. There was a great turn out and we had fine support from Tiny Fish and Loz Jones – no one noticed that it was raining and just kept dancing…
We really hope we can take part again next year.
All the best.
Jude

I was there Great gig!!
Great atmosphere, and loved hearing Incommunicado and Market Square Heroes!! Wouldn't have missed it for the world!!

It was an amazing day and everyone who was involved in the planning should be really pleased...
Leanne Watts

Awesome gig, Fish was having a ball. And the guys looked really pleased to be playing together.
Importantly Fish called 'them' Marillion not 'us' Marillion.

I was there when hell froze over.
Aylesbury Market Square 26/8/2007

Awesome business yesterday. We had a most excellent time.
Tristan Collett

Great festival yesterday, well done! See you at the next one!
Dij x

The whole day was great, Fish was on top form, and the encores were special. Glad I was there to see History in the making.
It was frankly, incredible!
A really great Fish gig on its own but the encore blew me away. So SO damn happy to have seen this and they sounded pretty damn good too!!!

Wow.Wow.Wow.Wow.
Just back (well to Company Gloucester HQ) what a gig!
Gr8 day, weather, friends and of course Marillion joining Fish on stage for MSqH.
It was one of those moments not to have missed.
Thanks to all for a gr8 day!

Thank you, we really enjoyed ourselves and I personally thought it was a fantastic event which pulled the whole town together, and also brought the musicians together...
Richard Nadal - Domino Theory

Just got home after a cracker of a day.
Good music, great weather, great friends.
And for one night only, Marillion with Fish, was a great surprise.

Lads and lasses, this is a classic moment of history! The classic line-up playing their debut single in Aylesbury market square - perfect.

A massive thank you to you...!
It was slick, slick, slick – a lot of love and hard work went into yesterday – and I’m damn proud to be part of Hobbles on the Cobbles! From the wristbands, to the programmes, to the hands-on engineers always smiling and helping out wherever necessary...the amount of press and local support has gotta tell you something – that it rocks...well done :-)
Lotsa love and big up to the bands that played too...
Lisa Theunissen XXX

There is little that can be said about that.
Unbelievable.............so there they were once more.

Thoroughly enjoyed that, at least I can now say I've pogoed (briefly) in the Market Square to Market Square Heroes....
Don't think I've smiled so much in the last two months as I did for that 5 minutes last night.

What a great day. A fantastic set from Fish followed by me finally getting to see those five guys share a stage.
A dream fulfilled!

It was truly a great day! I am hoarse from singing and screaming! Brilliant

What a great afternoon / evening. We were already aware of the rumours of what was going to happen. Fish's set was great - he's still a scary bloke when you come face to face with him as he hops over the barrier into the crowd for a walkabout intro to Vigil! The "reunion" was definitely big silly grin time.
Also - much kudos to King Rat who played later in the King's Head courtyard. Saw them on the Marillion tour, glad we hung around for their set last night. Great to see Fish having a good chat with them afterwards, hope good fortune comes their way.
R + h

Hobble On The Cobbles was a festival held in the 70's in Aylesbury Market Square. Fish said yesterday that he always dreamed of playing a gig in the Market Square, but unfortunately Hobble On The Cobbles had ended by the time Marillion had formed.
When he got the chance to play in the new HOTC he obviously jumped at the chance. He asked the guys to play because it was 25 years since the song was recorded.
Major Kudos has got to go to Stuart of Jam Central Records for organising such a great event and allowing the nostalgic appearance to take place
Andy R

Just to say a huge THANKS for arranging Fish to play at Hobble on the Cobbles. It was fantastic!!! Good work! :) :)
Sarah & Matt

It was a great experience thoroughly enjoyed by the band. It was good to see such a variety of acts.
Take care and best of luck for the future.
Rasheed (Mister Who)

Well done to all those involved, an amazing day. Never knew Aylesbury had so much talent, something musical for all tastes and ages. Fish was
awesome but then again he always is. To bring Fish and Marillion back together again was every fans dream, a day I'll never forget.
Last year was great, this year fantastic, next year.... we wait and see...
Thanks guys.
Helen Doran

What a superb day we had today at Hobble on the Cobbles!!!! We met some great people and saw some fantastic bands playing great music, and the atmosphere was electric when Fish played his set, especially when the lads from marillion got up on stage and played Market Square Heroes!!!
Elvira

Superb, brilliant, excellent and any other word you care to add that can describe how good it was, especially the wee surprise at the end.
Ben

Cracking day at Hobble On The Cobbles!
Mark

Hi Stu, Thank you for organising everything and making it such a great day, and especially for finding space for us to play at the after show party which couldn't have worked out better. We (King Rat) all had an amazing time, for me personally it was fantastic to play in front of Fish having been a fan of him and Marillion for many years, and great to chat to him afterwards. Everyone seemed to have a great day, and we were certainly well looked after; I was impressed by the professionalism of your organisation.
Cheers,
Matt - King Rat

Hi just wanted to thank you for Sunday, it was a great day with some brilliant music, and the finale was fantastic, not sure how you will top that next year lol :0)"

Absolutely fabulous wasn't it - I've got loads of mail saying how fantastic the whole thing was.
Thanks again - you did brilliantly!
Cheers,
Otway

The idea of me announcing John came out of a very long late night conversation I had with John and Robin Boult at the Edinburgh Festival 2 weeks before the Aylesbury gig. He suggested that I should announce him using exactly the same words that I used to announce him in 1978.

As you may know I always used to dress entirely in white at all Friars gigs so it made sense to do the same at this one.

The only difference is that in 1978 I used to have a good head of hair whereas now (like John) I am “thinning”. I even went to that very friendly fancy dress shop in Cambridge Street and bought a couple of wigs but they really did look ridiculous. I then tried that more upmarket Caribbean wig shop also in Cambridge street but even that looked unconvincing.

I thought the whole event was great. There were people there that I hadn’t seen for 25 years. I particularly appreciated all the slightly older Friars ladies that gave me somewhat drunken hugs (!?)
David Stopps

What a fantastic way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Great music, great people and a fabulous setting. Aylesbury should be proud that they can stage an event like this. Can we book the same weather for next year?
Dave Woodhall,
Heroes Publishing

It was great to come back to Aylesbury, meet old friends and see that nothing's really changed. It's still a hotbed of live music and the Showcase is now a part of that.
Ron Watts,
Promoter/Author

What a fantastic event!
I remember when we first performed and it was just a couple of small speakers on the edge of the square. Now it is the Square! Brilliant job, mate. Well organised, and the band really enjoyed themselves.
Chris Bradford - Cayo Blanco

Brilliant, well organised, a credit to you all.
..And hopefully another one next year!
Neale - Aylesbury

Thanks for arranging today!
I had a great day, and discovered some great new bands.
Andy - Aylesbury

We had an awesome time...!
If you do it again next year we would love to play. Thanks for putting us on.
Please pass on our thanks to everyone involved, from the sound guys to those who made the sandwiches... it really couldn't have been organised better!
Roy - Scouting for Girls

Excellent excellent show! A day I will always remember and I will be back next year Otway or not.
Thanks everyone!
Andy - Norwich

You put on a great event mate.... the town owes you one! ; )
Jon - Subrosa5

Stuart, Many congratulations on a fantastic day.
I came down to watch Otway with my 7 year old daughter and we both had a great time.
Oh, great choice for the final track to finish the whole day off....
David - Aylesbury

Aylesbury Today - review.......
I felt I just had to write to say what a fantastic and successful day it was in Aylesbury yesterday. Aylesbury Showcase did an amazing job, and I'm sure must have worked so hard and for so long to present something as excellent as this was.
This has really put Aylesbury back to where it belongs - a town known for its music !
I wasn't sure what to expect as I hadn't been to Aylesbury since the late 1970's/1980's, and it was better than I could have imagined - the town's local bands were brilliant, and of course, topping the day was the inimitable John Otway whose show was brilliant - Aylesbury should be so proud of their home grown talent !
John Otway has certainly put Aylesbury on the map once again, as I notice there has been an awful lot of publicity recently for his forthcoming world tour and Aylesbury is mentioned in every article.
An absolutely wonderful day - I met people that had come from as far afield as Yorkshire, Scotland, Midlands etc especially for the Bank Holiday Sunday event, and everyone was saying how glad they were they had come.
Thanks and congratulations to everyone in Aylesbury involved in this great event.
Patsy Andrews

Cheers - enjoyed the day, especially 'Messiah'!
Nigel - Sound Studio (Aylesbury)

Wow, what a great day for Aylesbury’s local music scene. The sun was shining, the bands were all fantastic and the crowd, well what can we say, an absolutely impressive turnout!! The Market Square was rockin’. A great big thanks to all who made it down. Here’s to next years!
The Powders

Just to say I hobbled on the cobbles last weekend and saw John Otway for the first time who was brilliant.
I've lived near Aylesbury for pretty much 27 yrs and previously have never really had anything positive to say about the place, but now I would like to say well done Jam Central, well done Aylesbury - long may hobble on the cobbles continue...
Tim

I came to "Hobble on the Cobbles" on Sunday and it was brilliant. I used to live in Aston Clinton and went to many many gigs at Friars. It was great to see Otway again and it was really excellent that live music was back in the Market Square.
Eddie

“What a great day. Top performances all day by some top local talent, my personal favorites were GRK (great songs) Messiah (really tight band) and of course the legend that is Mr Otway. A lot of hard work goes into putting on an event like that and I know Stuart, Den and the team have worked tirelessly over the last few months. Not many towns or cities are lucky enough to have an Aylesbury Showcase or a Jam Central Records, dedicating themselves to promoting the music created in their local area with professionalism and class. Thank you and well done guys, same again next year please?”
Loz Jones

Hi Stu
You did a great job mate, cheers for giving me the chance to be part of it.
Cheers
Zealey

Well done for organising the Otway event, I thought it went very well.
Chris M France - Music Of Life

Hi Stuart,
Just a note to say how much I enjoyed the 'Hobble on the Cobbles' last Sunday. It was good to hear so many good quality local musicians, and I hope this becomes an annual event, and brings much needed live music
back to Aylesbury. On a personal note I know how much effort I have to put in to promoting my own gigs in Buckingham, so congratulations to you for organising such a big event which ran so smoothly. Well done.
Cheers,
Mike Trotman
Empty Room Promotions
www.empty-rooms.com

Hey Stuart (and everyone at Jam Central),
On behalf of myself and the band (LIGHTBOX), I just wanted to say thanks for a fantastic event!
"Hobble..." and the other Aylesbury Showcase events leading up to it were brilliantly organised, and I feel they did alot to encourage my band (and others) as well as the local music scene as a whole.
It was a privilege to be involved and I hope the future holds more of the same.
Be encouraged. Thanks again!! All the best,
Gary - Lightbox

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