Manuel Gottsching.

My love of Manuel,s music started way back in 1978,when i came accross an audio tape which belonged to my cousin.He had recorded a song from Alan Freeman,s radio show, but it was not announced after the song ,who the artist was.The piece of music in question was in fact SUNRAIN.That was it for me ,and i have enjoyed Manuel,s music ever since.Soon after,i decided to try and obtain his records[as it was at the time] and over period of years managed to collect most of his music.When compact discs were introduced in the early 80,s it posed me a new challenge.Luckily i have managed to get most of it,but seeing Manuel live was my number one priority.The propect of doing this seemed very distant as Manuel plays very few showsin any year but i was determind to finally see him.It was with total disbelief that i learned that Manuel was going to play in Glasgow in December 2010,there was no way i was going to miss this.I managed to get a ticket for the show and made my way to the venue very early,i was hoping that i would maybe see the great man.What happened next will stay with me forever,i was standing outside the venue when i heard the sublime guitar sound of Midnight on Mars being rehearsed in the basement.Every hair on my body stood up as the thrill of hearing this amazing piece of music overtook all of my emotions and almost had me in tears.This gave me a taste of what was to come and i could not wait for the show to start but finally it did.Manuel came out to the opening number which of course had to be Sunrain ,a longer version  than i had ever heard . All these years after hearing sunrain on an audio tape ,i was standing ten feet away from Manuel ,watching him perform this timeless classic .IT WAS HEAVEN. As the show went on Manuel performed more fantastic music but for me ,hearing Midnight On Mars was without doubt one of the most emotional moments in my life . The lonely guitar sound he produced has got to be one of the most sublime sounds i have ever heard. Once the show was over ,Manuel came over to the front of the stage to meet the audience, where he spoke with everyone . He signed my copy of his Live at Mount Fuji cd and i thanked him for a fantastic performance and shook his hand . This experience will stay with me forever and i hope that i get to see Manuel play live again some day. Kind Regards Jim Spence.