If you want to celebrate something important, there’s no better place than Newcastle’s Quayside, said Gary Spedding the morning after the night before, when he accidentally met Johnny Depp.
Spedding, a North Shields rugby player, was at Bridge Tavern, Newcastle, having a quick drink with a friend as he went upstairs to the toilet and spied on Depp in a closed corner about to leave.
It was about 30 minutes before the U.S. court was due to give its verdict in its defamation case against Amber Heard.
“I greeted him, shook his hand and said ‘good luck,'” Spedding told the Guardian. “He took the time to recognize me and look at me even though his security wanted him out there. He was very kind and his attitude was quite calm. He seemed quite humble and direct.
“He couldn’t stop himself from taking a picture because his security was worried about being assaulted, so he went straight, more or less.
“He seemed relaxed and relatively happy. There were people greeting him and wishing him the best.”
Depp was with his friend Jeff Beck, whom he has accompanied on stage during the musician’s tour of the United Kingdom. This has led to appearances at the Royal Albert Hall in London and Sheffield Town Hall, with the couple performing, among other things, a version of John Lennon’s Isolation. According to Beck, he and Depp are “musical soul mates.”
Beck and Depp will be back on stage at the Gateshead Sage on Thursday evening.
At the Bridge Tavern, witnesses said Depp had fish and chips and asked about the Tyne Bridge. Depp and Beck were later joined by musician Sam Fender.
Spedding was surprised to see him but not surprised. “To be honest, I’m not very big with celebrities,” she said. “Forgive my language, but I don’t really care about celebrity shit. I’m not that kind of person, I’m not angry.
“But I like his movies. I think he’s a good actor and obviously he has something of him. But I would never scream and get excited about a celebrity. I’d get excited about rugby players.
“Obviously he just wanted to be somewhere with his friend, who is a musician, and relax and enjoy. He got to the right place to do it. Newcastle is one of the best cities in the UK to go out, have a drink and laugh. It was a beautiful day yesterday, so Quayside was glorious. “
There were also sightings of Depp in North Shields, and staff from the North East Homeless charity were glad to see Fender with a support badge.
Rumors that Fender, who is from North Shields, brought Depp to the charity’s base were untrue, a spokesman said. “It would have been great, but it wasn’t.”
The plaintiff later won his defamation case against Heard, in contrast to the defamation hearing in the UK, which he lost.
Spedding said his view of the court case was that no one was a winner. “It has done irreparable damage to the fight for victims and survivors of domestic violence and abuse, regardless of who wins. The show has been horrible for the people involved, but also for the world at large.
“I was glad I had a good evening considering all the things he’s been through in the last few weeks.”