ON THE ROAD WITH STEVE STRANGE!

One of the most hysterical trips I've had for a long time, Steve Strange is a legend, the front man for 80's band Visage and host of numerous clubs from The Blitz onwards. This trip was for a personal appearance at Italian club 'Decadence' in Bologna.

First of all we missed our afternoon flight-derailment in Cardiff? Leisurely beauty bath while Steve's sister Tanya tried to bang the door down? Who knows and who cares! We got the next flight in the evening, Steve managed to forget his shoes, he turned up to the airport in flip-flops... Upon arrival in Bologna we were greeted by this fabulous lot, club kid Kichman (left), promoter Midge (center) and drag entertainer Naomi as his real self Orinocho (right). Midge pointed out the club Decadence enroute from the airport. 'I thought it was in a Castle', I said, 'That looks like a shed in an industrial estate!'

After supper we decided to go to the local gay rave set in the grounds of a park, lovely location and a very lively crowd of topless boys!
Ok, so after an exhausting rave-up we decided to sample the delights Bologna had to offer, i.e. a vintage market, a search for some onstage footwear for Mr. Strange, and of course the sound check! Here's Steve getting ready for an airing... note new tattoo on neck, it's an interpretation of a leopard scratch.
The club itself was full of 'toys' er, shackles and stretchers... what kind of kinky sex club is this? Steve wasn't fazed! 'Echo, echo', he said at the sound check, more reverb on the voice! Echo in Italian means every thing's ok... still it got sorted in the end! Very professional, here's Steve with a lot of 'echo' at the sound check.
Yes, yes so we got some suitable footwear, a very nice vintage pair of sports shoe. Good to see the night being promoted with a poster, Steve looks happy as well, even though he said his voice was about to go. Luckily we found some throat spray at the local Pharmacia...
In homage to Steve, Kichman did the poster look, can you tell the difference? He turned up to the hotel like this below.

So the club was some sort of kinky sex club it was revealed while sharing a pizza later that evening... sorry Steve, i couldn't stop laughing when Drag Naomi and Kichman told us! A lot of fetish going on, fan DJ Mouse (below) got a signing on his original pressing of Fade To Grey, he looks well happy with it as well! P.S. he had a spare mask in his pocket!

And these two below, Francesca and her bf from the local piercing shop look very loved up in the crowd!
So Steve Strange comes on to an ecstatic crowd and really does put on a show... All the hits, Mind Of A Toy, Night Train, Fade To Grey plus a new one... 'Click, Click, Click'...
A lot of devoted fans turned up including this one Carlo, he runs the Pete Burns fan site...
Here's Drag Naomi and friend below, backstage... I wasn't lined up to dj till 4.45 (who's idea was that!) So i hung out with the most fabulous drag queens of Bologna instead!
And this lovely lady Federica, what a glamour puss! Still, you'll be glad to know we managed to get the flight back to London!

Not sure how this video is going to turn out... SS doing Night Train for 30 seconds!