Best Manics news of the year so far! :D

Thanks for sharing the rest of the encounter, too!

Walked out of the Great Western pub near Cardiff station earlier, and strolling towards the station, a guy shot past me heading for the taxi rank in a bobble hat wearing a Welsh Rugby bag. I jokingly said to a mate that he looks like JDB (as this is an ongoing joke between us since we started having weekly band rehearsals in Cardiff)... then on second glance, i suddenly realised that it actually was!

It was nice to finally meet him! And if the Manics do read this forum: James, my apologies for the very bad attempts at small talk haha!!

If anyone is from Cardiff, would be great if you could come and see the following in JDB's local haunt. In association with a season of plays that also features Patrick Jones' 'The War is Dead, Long Live the War' -

http://s7.postimg.org/brphugmg7/poster.jpg

We should have been checking out Wakefield; def the place to be.

Can't believe they were in my hometown (well, city) today! So close, yet so far :p

Me and my brother spotted James in (the old) Spillers in Cardiff when he was on his solo tour in 2006. He was with his full backing band (Sean Read, etc). It was utterly unreal as we were only in Cardiff that weekend for the first time in years (we both grew up in Cardiff but left in the 1990s). To spot JDB (our absolute hero) checking out the vinyl in a record shop you used to go in as a kid was unbelievable. My brother picked up the courage to say hello, we'd bought An English Gent earlier in the day and got it signed. He was great, happy to chat for a few minutes about the tour. We said goodbye and they went to Hayes Island snack bar for something to eat.

We jokingly texted each other the week before saying "Imagine if we bump into Bradders in Spillers". Will never forget that weekend.

* Edit to say I've probably already posted this somewhere deep within the previous 46 pages of this thread.