Wow, what a gig to round off a fabulous day. Will be buzzing for a long, long time. That was a real gem. And a namecheck to Jo Bradley too. Cheers guys.
15 April 2023
Dennis bell from torquay
Lovely to finally meet you Chris and great gig. I can die happy as Nigel gave me his half-eaten Nature Valley bar. I suppose I can start the ‘Half Girl Half Biscuit’ tribute band now. Lovely to see His Majesty The King of High Vis again too.
15 April 2023
Gav
One of best HHMB gigs I’ve ever seen, for me there was marked improvement in both setlist and sound from Stowmarket.
Thanks again to CTSO for sorting me out with a ticket.
15 April 2023
Man of varying sorrow
Very much echoing the comments of those above – fantastic gig with seemingly excellent sound quality (at least to my untrained ear). Especially enjoyed the outing of Dickie Davies eyes as that was the first song from the band that I ever heard
@Chris – thanks for chatting to my dad and I afterwards, I think he enjoyed having a catch-up and it was a pleasure for me to finally meet you as well
@Dennis Bell – glad I bumped into you at the very end as well because I turned up slightly late so didn’t get a chance to say hello and I was feeling a bit guilty. Glad that the youth faction of the fan base is going strong as we’ll presumably still be around to witness the band when they’re inevitably releasing their 30th album in the year 2060 – as is their unwavering longevity!
On the subject of Nature Valley bars it definitely took me by surprise as a choice of mid-set snack as they’re very crumbly and I’m always choking on them so it seemed like a bit of a risk for a vocalist. On the other hand Nigel isn’t your ordinary frontman and probably knows best when it comes to these things!
Brilliant gig as always – not sure when the next one will be for me as the next couple clash with some of my uni exams
15 April 2023
Hendrix-tattoo
The best Gig of the Year so far me(And I know what you’re thinking he always says that) Hearing the boys play The Len Ganley Stance was worth the admission fee alone. God bless you Guys. Roll on Hull…
16 April 2023
TRANSIT FULL OF keith
Brilliant gig, and not just because we could cycle home after. A first triumphant outing for Rogation Sunday (though just when I’d dropped it from my FBL selections). Nice to meet Exxo, Claire, Lorenzo and others before and after. Took a rare lunge into the moshpit at the end. If you stop for a comfort break at Norton Canes, don’t go digging round the back.
16 April 2023
TRANSIT FULL OF keith
… and happy 80th birthday to Geoff Davies
16 April 2023
clown in a yaris
That was the best gig for me since Bristol SWX 2020. Brilliant!!
16 April 2023
Twistedkitemike
Good morning, Biscuiteers.
With apologies for being late on parade, here is (I think) the set-list from last night.
I have to say for a number of reasons and serious overlap in the Venn diagram as the marketing types might say, that was one of the best HMHB gigs that I can remember.
The sound was good, the songs came over well (nicely synched together), it was a slightly early kick-off (the chaps wanted to get home!) so there was time for a pint afterwards, I had a few drinks (most unlike me), but most of all – what a great crowd.
My friend and new convert to HMHB, Sean, will be back for more. He has chastised me for not taking him before. He will also now forever be known as Awkward Sean.
Enough piffle, I’ll leave the hard yards to Roger. He might have been able to see. My scribbles are barely legible even by my standards. Here we go……
Broadstairs Squabblefest Bob Wilson Bane Bad Wools Petty Sessions Awk Sean Fred Buried Morning Batwalk Dean F Lilac HQ Vatican Dickie D Light Tunnel Len Ganley Rogation Sunday Bell Rings Terminus MMM DPAK Trumpton Chatteris NSD Oblong Another Girl, Another Planet (The Only Ones cover) AOR
I hope that’s correct. It was dark, crowded and I was getting refreshed.
No encores, they sailed through. I think a debut for Rogation Sunday. I hope that the geezer who has been shouting for Len Ganley for what seems like forever was there to reach a personal climax.
On that note…
Mike………………….
16 April 2023
Akajak
there was a sort of encore; last 3 tracks
16 April 2023
I, problem chimp
JDOG after NSD to end the set, then last three as encore… Not much more to say, other than to echo what an outstanding evening it was, doubly so given my love of openers Model Village…
16 April 2023
Twistedkitemike
It’s a pathetic effort on my part. Sorry.
There was Trad Arr Tune and JDOG that I missed it out.
…Trumpton Chatteris NSD Trad Arr Tune JDOG Oblong Another Girl, Another Planet (The Only Ones cover) AOR…
Roger will confirm it unless a picture of a setlist appears. I’ll look on MetaTubeBook.
Mike……….
16 April 2023
Twistedkitemike
The encores bit makes sense. I was at the bar during JDOG so might not have the seen the off-on shuffle. I shouldn’t be allowed out without reliable supervision.
Mike………
16 April 2023
Stringy bob
That was the greatest gig I’ve ever witnessed. Awesome is too weak a word to you.
16 April 2023
The Boy from over the road
Quote of the night in the form of misheard lyrics: “Is that Midge Ure looks like a MILF thief?”.
There can be much debate about what a milf thief is and would do but it may be best to avoid that on here.
16 April 2023
Natalie at the back
Not much more to add than it was utterly brilliant, perhaps the best ever (I know, I always say that). Got a photo of the set list. Restless Legs was on the list but must have been subbed off.
Don’t know if you agree but one thing that fills me with joy is that the men on stage now seem to be really enjoying themselves, and get a sense of the love that we all have for them.
As my daughter Dennis said, great to see CTSO, His Maj and others after.
16 April 2023
Lorenzo (Roma)
A bit long, but consider that it is to explain to the Romans!
The revenge. I couldn’t swallow the unfortunate evening in Hull, with the concert cancelled, and so I immediately found this “convenient” date to go and see Half Man Half Biscuit in Cambridge. Before I forget: the name of the north of London university town is due to the River Cam to which the Bridge has been added. So easy easy, it stands for “The Bridge on the River Cam”.
The night before I was late to go see Pink Turns Blue (iconic German dark wave band) at Traffic in Rome, but luckily the flight is quite comfortable, departing around 7.20, RyanAir to London Stansted, took about twenty days before. It seems that the best RyanAir price is exactly ten days before, but Italian anxiety cannot be curbed.
It’s raining in Rome and the sky in London is gray but holding. No passports, entry time in the UK practically zero.
Fiat 500 rented with Rental Cars so what are you doing as soon as you arrive in Stansted? Look up where the rental cars are. The sign is the same as last time: “Car Rental Park bus” which is right outside the airport. I take this bus and I’m there in ten minutes. Look, all the companies are there except Green Motion. You always learn with each trip: I re-read the reservation and – obviously – the company’s cars are rented at the Novotel, which can be reached from bus platform 18. I go back on the same bus and take the other bus, which is free.
The lady who rents me the car she is nice and she loves to chat. I explain to her that I’m going to see a concert in Cambridge and therefore I’ll be bringing the car back around 11.30-12 midnight. She asks me which concert and I tell her the name of the group which – obviously – doesn’t tell her anything and perhaps due to the pecularity of the name she will have thought I was making fun of her, so I hasten to add “It’s a little-known band” and she asks me “well, they are the best concerts”, and God only knows how right he is. Anyway, I remembered the real Fiat 500, but today’s ones are cool: even the transparent roof! Technology helps all right, to death the primitives, I attach the phone to the USB and Google Maps is on the screen. 34 minutes to get to Cambridge, the 5 hours and more of Hull are a vivid but distant memory.
The usual “Park and ride” sign instills in me the usual doubt that it is impossible to park in Cambridge and in fact many people fall for it. Instead I find a place in a side street about twenty minutes from the center, Union Road, a pound every half hour damn them! I put £5 in coins, till about 1.30pm and hope I’m lucky with the rest.
First impression of Cambridge: it is clear that it is a university town, as it is full of school groups in uniform. Obviously, before going towards the centre, I see where the stadium is. Today there is a teary-eyed first division derby that has been missing for twenty years: Cambridge United / Peterborough, an English town not far away. 12.30 kick off, total sold out. The great Nigel, superfan of the British band who with his blue-haired football goalkeeper wife welcomed me splendidly on the evening, had already informed me that they were sold out, but it doesn’t hurt to try. 40 minutes of walking and I arrive near the Abbey stadium (capacity: 9.617).
A couple of bobbies have just stopped a 16-17 year old boy in a hooligan uniform and I hear him saying “I’m going to see the game and I’m going home”, with the paternal policeman saying “I don’t believe you”, but they have nothing against him, only the hooligan uniform, and so shortly after I meet him with his friends in hooligan uniform looking for other under 5’s hooligans, without success – I imagine – given the substantially calm atmosphere, also because the match is at 12.30. However, I believe that currently in order to be a hooligan it is the case to reverse the course and go back to dressing with scarves with club colors and matching hats, if you don’t want to be noticed. That said, the stadium is small, but surrounded by nature in a way that conquering it by climbing over seems impossible, unless you want to be found before the summer by some blackberry picker among the barbed shrubs that grow in the mud. But sometimes the match can be a detail, and it’s fun to see Cambridge’s yellow and blacks flock to the venue, as well as super rivals the ‘Borough’ flock to the South Stand, the away sector, in blue. I miss a scalper and, almost at kick-off, I sadly go back. Having seen the main point of attraction in Cambridge, i.e. the stadium, it’s time to visit the centre: there will be a pub where you can watch the match, right? Well, I can’t find it.
Even Cambridge has bowed to globalization and the shops are the same as in other English cities and also in Italy and Europe. Lots of places to eat, each with its own particularities, but not even the shadow of wooden pubs with darts and carpeted floors. The centre, however, is nice, a sort of mix between small shops and small baptistry-churches.
Hunger. Black hunger. Trip advisor, help.
Even if he has four and a half balls out of five I don’t want to end up among the tourists, even though I am too. The only thing to do is look for a review that has no ratings in Italian. So I find The Cambridge Top which still has the four and a half balls but only British reviews.
Let’s say I bingo, because I basically find what I expected: round tables of slightly overweight local ladies with the inevitable bottles of wine, gentlemen in suits and gaudy ties partying over wine and beer.
What I don’t understand is why it’s now almost impossible to find English beers in local places. The closest to England was Guinness, for the rest Spanish, Belgian beers, Moretti and so on saying. The food is excellent, and I sit in the window to enjoy the Britishness of the local population and also of the walk, since next door there is another place where the attraction is the music (boyband vs. girlband) which obviously attracts that type of clientele between the discrete (women) and slightly glamorous machismo. However, considering the two beers of a certain importance and since I’ve already traveled about fifteen kilometers I go back to the car to see if they have removed it and, if not, to take a nap.
I wake up around 15.30 and – how the fuck is it possible that I failed before to get to the river? – I point to Google Maps and go towards the river. But first I park the car near the concert venue, taking advantage of the afternoon closure of a plumber. I loosen up and since practically everyone is walking around in a sweatshirt or short sleeves, I leave my jacket in the car while one of the grayest skies I’ve ever seen appears in the distance when it’s too late to go back.
The river! Let’s say a small river, similar to one of the canals of Venice, even as a setting. In fact, you can rent a small boat with which to go back and forth, helping you with a pole with which you push yourself from the shallow water. The funny thing is that you can drive it even alone, standing on the stern and since I’ve seen good groups of not exactly sober boys get on board, I wonder if, from time to time, a few bodies don’t surface. Large green lawns where you can sit and chat – again, very rare cell phones during socializing – or to play all the sports that can be played on the green carpet. A large white Ferris wheel placed on one of these meadows shows me that the way back is correct.
It’s 6 pm and I go to the pub indicated to me by Nigel as the concentration point of Half Man Half Biscuit’s football-like following. Oooooh! Finally an English pub (“The Earl of Derby”) for real. Screens with Premier League and horse racing, the smell of alcohol and lined faces and, in short, everything you need to have a nice pint. Inside there are several supporters who wear the yellow-red shirt of Dukla Prague, because of a song from the early days of the Birkenhead band (“All I want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague away kit”) and when I meet fan Nigel with his wife, he immediately introduces me to other fans who have come from various parts of England for the concert, with whom we chat, including the great Chris, webmaster of this site, with his Ipswich Town shirt which he saw triumph 6-0 against Charlton in League One. Nigel introduces me to a reporter from the Guardian who (obviously my story of Hull is shot in the environment) gives me a little interview. In fact, this time, I was one hundred percent the only Italian there.
A couple of pints and we go to Cambridge Junction (it’s actually near the station), sold out for the occasion. Nigel asks me if we want to get in the front rows and if I practice “moshing”, i.e. a sort of soft-pogo and obviously, given my boomerism, I answer yes, the more he moshes (happily) the happier I am. The audience tonight is decidedly grown up, but that’s also the great thing about England: nobody backs down and nobody judges you.
Next to me a father throws into the fray a very happy son of more or less eighteen, but otherwise we were almost all pot-bellied gentlemen with respectable lives who pranced about to the notes of HMHB.
But the real surprise for me was the intro of the concert.
At one point I hear notes that seem familiar to me. Christ, but, it’s the Italian national anthem! Totally out of place, given the context and the type of band, but a beautiful thank you to those who live too far away to follow all the concerts. Moreover, the singer also asked “Where is Lorenzo?” and in an adolescent way I raised my hand to greet him. After all, I was front in the sixth row.
Very entertaining concert, animated by those twenty madmen (and a girl too) in the front rows, regardless of the possible heart attack.
It’s over.
I get back in the car and, in the darkness of the English motorways with those accursed roundabouts so difficult for those who drive on the opposite side like us Italians, I go back to Stansted for the morning flight. I had taken it at dawn in fear of missing Roma/Udinese. Postponed to 20.45. Fuck modern football.
Thank you all for the wonderful evening and… see you next time!
A truly exceptional evening’s entertainment. Euphoric and cathartic in equal measure. And, unusually for Cambridge, a proper mosh pit for virtually the entire duration of the gig. I’d been reluctant to enter the fray for fear of my portacath being dislodged or damaged by a stray elbow, but once my consultant oncologist had given me the go-ahead to “get in there and go for it”, and after a bit of a warmup in the sparsely populated mosh pit at Stowmarket the previous evening, I was able to throw caution to the wind.
Wonderful setlist, and the sound quality, as is always the case at this venue, was spot on. Cheers to the couple of chaps who paid compliment to my ‘Fantasy Biscuitball’ T-shirt. Speaking of the FBL, gutted to see that Restless Legs, which appeared on one of the setlists posted on Farcebook/Twitter, was omitted. Did me out of an extra 12 points!
My mate Tim, having spent recent months devouring the entire back catalogue, declared the gig to be one of his finest experiences. I’d have to go along with that. Best band, best fans.
@ Lorenzo – a very entertaining read! Nice one.
16 April 2023
Hendrix-tattoo
@Lorenzo, Wow what can I say. It was a pleasure meeting you…
16 April 2023
EXXO
@Lorenzo. Really enjoyed reading that. Truly a special journey, and what a classy touch by (the other) Nigel to give you a special welcome after your journey to Hull and back!
But… there is nothing better in life than writing pedantically about the etymology of place names, except it’s even better telling Romans (what have they ever done for us anyway? Romanes eunt domus!) that it’s actually the Roman name of the ford on the river – ‘Camboricum’ – which was distorted via various steps to “Cambridge,” and only after that was the river itself re-named the Cam, at least 1,000 years later, much later than the bridge.
I’ll write more tomorrow. But you’ll be glad to hear that the goalkeeper with blue hair won 7-1 in Huddersfield this afternoon so hope it’s the same this evening for you (because mourinho teams so often win 7-1 :-D). Forza Roma!
Next time we’ll make sure the best pub of your day is not the worst one of ours and that you get a chance to see a decent match too!!
16 April 2023
John Anderson
Another really great gig. The omens were good when we kept two chevrons apart on a rain lashed M11, saw a sign for Ely, noticed that the cinema next to the venue was screening Renfield and then spotted a train replacement service (correctly notated) outside the Earl of Derby. Three of the four relevant songs were played.
The sound in the venue was great and I was especially glad to hear rare outings for Len Ganley, Broadstairs and Rogation plus the delight of Another Girl Another Planet, which is one of my favourite songs of all time. Thankfully we were spared Atom Heart Mother or Ummagumma. I also enjoyed the moment when Nigel greeted a blast of feedback with “it’s like being at a My Bloody Valentine gig”.
My mate Andy who I’ve known for fifty years, has only recently started to get into HMHB and thoroughly enjoyed hearing the songs in a live environment for the first time. My wife, who’s much more of a seasoned gig goer found plenty to enjoy too. Although she startled me after the gig by declaring “I don’t really like Trumpton Riots”. Not quite grounds for divorce but a bombshell nonetheless.
Good to catch up with Roger Green afterwards and flattered that he’d brought a copy of my book for me to sign. I think it was you @Exxo that guided me towards him, so thanks for that.
Finally, did anyone at Stowmarket film or record the cover of How I Wrote Elastic Man? I’d absolutely love to hear that.
16 April 2023
Bat walk ultra
Some aggressive singing from Nige tonight, perfect as all the sweary anthems appeared together. Great to have Len Ganley , then midnight mass murder(which Neil, tried to play too early) I nearly strained something “what’s it like to see a crowd” Top night!
A nourishing start to the day. Having checked out of the Travelodge in Stowmarket, Karen, Andrew, Tony and I were round to Narey’s Garden Centre Café for a Full English. This place was evidently more popular than the breakfast boxes at the Travelodge. John, Postman Tony, Phill and Another Andy showed up. Phill was well happy with his digs at The Bull Inn at Woolpit. We’ll give it a go, next time we are in the environs of Stowmarket. And hello to the couple from Preston. Sorry didn’t catch your names. Hope to see you at a gig round your way some time.
With Andrew behind the wheel, we headed off to Cambridge. He has a magnificent in-house music collection. German football songs, Serious Drinking, The Smiths. And White Mice by The Mo-dettes. That took me back.
We could have made it to the Cambridge v Peterborough match which was taking place. Early kick-off just as we were arriving in town. Instead I opted for an afternoon typing up my notes from the Stowmarket gig the previous night. Karen ligged, while Phill, Andrew and Tony went for a walk round, including a knickerbocker glory at the ice cream parlour across the square from the Travelodge. The bastards. Karen and I tucked in at Nandos, where we saw Nigel and Denise ordering a takeaway. Clearly the restaurant of choice. You need to like chicken though.
The latest issue of Vive Le Rock carried an advert, placed by The Gig Cartel, for forthcoming HMHB gigs. It’s time to get moving if you haven’t already done so. Friday 28 April, Hull – Welly Club. Friday 19 May, Edinburgh – Liquid Rooms. Friday 15 September, Bristol – SWX. Friday 6 October, Wolverhampton – The Halls. Friday 3 November, Holmfirth – Picturedrome. No mention of the business at Llangollen, but I suppose that event is not under The Gig Cartel’s umbrella. A lot of these, of course, are sold out. Be sure to book as soon as possible if/when you see something new coming up.
I picked up a copy of Cambridge News. Nothing doing regarding a preview of this gig. But something’s afoot at the cinema. There was a review of Renfield. There’ll be a batwalk or two in there. Let me know if you get to see it, and confirm if there is any characters running round bollocko at 2am. Likewise, the Cambridge Independent didn’t give the gig any space. No publicity required of course. The evening sold out ages back.
There are longer walks from hotel to venue. We took the few steps and were waiting outside at 6.30, half an hour ahead of the doors opening. Still buoyed by their ice cream, Tony, Andrew and Phill were not far behind us. Alex was also in the queue. He said that he had heard Bob Wilson Anchor Man being played on Five Live’s Fighting Talk that morning. Unusual. I didn’t think they had music on there.
Inside the venue I had a chat with Neil. He said this was Geoff Davies’ 80th birthday, later confirmed on stage by Nigel. I’m sure a lot of folk remember Geoff from when he managed and travelled with the band and manned the merch stall, now ably undertaken by Miles. Geoff is one of only a few people that I know, who saw The Beatles live.
There was the usual crowd milling around at the front. John, Howie, Steve, Postman Tony and Andy were checked on the register. Other regulars were round and about. I nodded in the direction of Graham Le Taxi, Daz and Exxo. And Nigel and Jo had made it from Goole. T-shirt Of The Day would have gone to the chap wearing the one saying “Bedford Isn’t Shit”, but we have to stick with Andy and “L’Enfer C’Est Les Autres”.
Model Village were the support band, with cheery tales of the cost of living crisis, charities and hating rich people. I could consult the various files, but I’m sure these have supported HMHB in the past. They said they liked supporting the band as it means they don’t have to pay to get in. I may have overlooked their stuff, if it was on the merch stall. Thanks to their guitarist for the set list.
Insufferable STR J30 Roll It Over Family Rest Popular Band TTS
I usually need Tony’s advice if the walk-on music is from the classical end. He narrowed it down to Verdi. Around twenty-one hours later, after a considerable amount of mulling over, he dropped me a text to confirm that it was the Italian national anthem. Possibly for Lorenzo.
When the band arrived on stage, Nigel opened the conversation with “Are you ok for bags?” He was wearing Sebago shoes, as discussed with someone in the front row. Carl was back wearing his Palestine football shirt. I couldn’t read all of Karl’s. I think the first two words were “Let Us”. Early in the gig there was a problem with Nigel’s mike stand. The soundman Colin appeared, and put it right with good old gaffer tape (or was it masking tape?) with perfect timing, just before Nigel had to pick up the vocals in Bad Wools.
Tony asked Nigel if he had been to the Arctic exhibition. “Been before” was the reply. Nigel spotted Martine Croxall in the crowd. “Martine, have you told him yet? He’ll be alright. God loves him.”
It was Hymn Number 242 in Petty Sessions. I should check, but isn’t it 252 in the recorded version? And I was totally stumped by Neil’s song at the beginning of Awkward Sean. There was a shout from the floor, “Carl, you’ve got a loose cymbal.” To which Nigel replied, “I bet it’s not the first time you’ve shouted that.” Colin appeared on stage again, to put things right. Dickie Davies Eyes was written by Bedford Jezzard. Karen noticed an amendment. The Romany bint is now a “Romany girl”. Is that one for our times?
Nigel said that the night before Stowmarket, the band had stopped in Kettering, which he now knows is pronounced with two syllables. Then Bury St Edmunds last night. “Home of the cockapoo, or should that be labradoodle?” he added. And this was when he also mentioned Geoff’s 80th. “Happy birthday, Geoff!”
Neil played the bass opening bit of Midnight Mass Murder. “No, not that one,” Nigel interrupted. “Maybe later.” Tony shouted “He’s got last night’s setlist.” Nigel suggested that “He’s Got Last Night’s Set List” would be a good title for a TV sitcom. Starring Derek Guyler.
Yet again, Renfield’s Afoot included the line about NOT bringing a police torch. And at the end of the song, Nigel said “True story”. A replacement mike stand was sourced. “This one is much better,” commented Nigel. “Microphone of the month?” asked Tony. Nigel said that Tony has started laughing at his own jokes. At the start of Vatican Broadside, Carl was fixing one of the cymbals, but managed to race back to his seat before he had to hit the drums.
Matthew Amroliwala was spotted. “I thought you would have been with Martine,” Nigel said. “Did you manage to get rid of it? We can drop it off for you at Norton Canes. It’ll be quiet at that time of night.” Karen caught a satsuma that was thrown from the stage.
Another exchange came with a guy in the crowd. – “Is Shane Mackay here. He’s fifty today.” – “Thank you.” – “No problem.” And Nigel continued, “I was stalling because I wasn’t sure what was coming next. I’m not sure who starts this. Are we all in? Oh yeah, this is… another one…” And they played The Len Ganley Stance. “It started today,” he added, referring to the snooker championship.
At one point there was a lot of feedback coming from the stage. “It was turning into a My Bloody Valentine gig.” Miles on the merch stall was directly in Nigel’s eyeline as he reached up to unhook a t-shirt. “You all right, Miles?” he asked. “Never done this before,” Nigel pointed out before they played Rogation Sunday’s Here Again. Neil said they probably will never play it again.
A pullover was thrown onto stage. Nigel was reminded of the time that a mallet got thrown. After For What Is Chatteris, Nigel said “I read a lot of maps. It looks really good on them. ‘The ad in National Shite Day stipulated “Own Van”. Maybe it was just me, but Nigel seemed to be getting a bit croaky after two gigs in two days. Still far better than watching any other band two nights on the trot though.
“We’re going to end with a slow one. A bit of a ballady one,” said Nigel, before they played Joy Division Oven Gloves. Is there some kind of hierarchical struggle going on in the band? There were two stage doors. Neil used one, while the others used the other. Then they all came back on through the one door.
One chap was seen bouncing around, sitting on the shoulders of a fellow punter. The security guy indicated for him to get down. A shrug of the shoulders, indicating “Whatever” was pretty much the response. Thanks to Karl for the set list. It matched what I wrote down, as follows.
She’s In Broadstairs Running Order Squabble Fest Bob Wilson Anchor Man Bane Of Constance Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Full Of Bad Wools Petty Sessions Awkward Sean Fuckin’ ‘Ell It’s Fred Titmus I’m Getting Buried In The Morning Renfield’s Afoot The Bastard Son Of Dean Friedman A Lilac Harry Quinn Vatican Broadside Dickie Davies Eyes The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train The Len Ganley Stance Rogation Sunday Every Time A Bell Rings Terminus Midnight Mass Murder All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit The Trumpton Riots For What Is Chatteris National Shite Day We Built This Village On A Trad Arr Tune Joy Division Oven Gloves
And in the encore
Oblong Of Dreams Another Girl Another Planet Everything’s AOR
Another Girl Another Planet was the cover version. “Join in if you want,” Nigel suggested. “God rest Jo Bradley’s soul,” he said before the very last song. That being Jo’s favourite. Yes, some good folk have passed along this way.
John Anderson sought me out for a one-book signing. I’ve mentioned his A Great Face For Radio on here before now. Copies must still be available, even if they are all located under John’s bed. Recommended.
“Have a good evening, weatherwise or otherwise” was Nigel’s traditional sign off. And that was our cue to hit the bar at the Travelodge. Thanks to The Other Andy for getting the beers in, and to everyone else there for comparing notes. And to the folk who were there at breakfast. Daisy and her Mum. Gilly. I’m sure you said you would be at the Bristol gig. The rest of us are heading in the direction of Hull in less than a fortnight. And massive thanks to Andrew and Karen for jointly ferrying me, laptop on knee, to and from Stowmarket and Cambridge.
17 April 2023
BAD LOSER
I left the Stowmarket Travelodge earlier than planned. It wasn’t a place I’d stay at again with a carpet that looks like it has been used to transport a dead body, and a shower that has two settings: off or scalds your feet. From there, the short drive to Great Finborough to visit John Peel’s grave. Thankfully it’s a small church yard as I missed it first time round. On the drive to Cambridge, I had 5Live’s ‘Fighting Talk’ on in the background. Suddenly, I could hear the strains of ‘Bob Wilson Anchorman’ in a round for ‘Songs that feature Sport Stars’. Eleanor Oldroyd described it as ‘Classic Half Man Half Biscuit’ before adding that ‘Those cheeky boys from Half Man Half Biscuit obviously don’t respect his broadcasting career’. We arrived at Cambridge at 12.30. As we approached, we caught sight of the Abbey Stadium and were surprised to see so many cars parked up on grass verges nearly. I was even more surprised to see the police presence at the station until later hearing it was a first meeting with local rivals, Peterborough, for many years. It was my first time in Cambridge, if you don’t count waiting at the Station for someone to pick me up and drive me to Ipswich Town in the mid 1990s, so a walk to the town centre was in order. #It was predictably picturesque. On the walk back we saw a number of police vans outside a Wetherspoons. Assuming this was football related then there might’ve been more menace than the Chigley Skins can muster. Arrived at the Junction early and had a chat with some of the regulars. My ‘Oblong of Dream’ lyrics t-shirt received comment: a welcome acknowledgement after my ‘Cresta – It’s Frothy Man’ t-shirt had drawn a blank the night before. Potential fame arriving late in life with a promised mention in Roger’s write-up re my ‘fighting Talk’ anecdote. The Junction was an excellent venue (reminded me of The Leadmill): not too warm and the sound was spot on. A superb setlist with more changes from the previous night than I expected. There was probably only ‘Look Dad, No Tunes’, which was played the night before, missing from my Top 10 list. Definitely one of the best.
17 April 2023
BAD LOSER
Meant to say that the last time I heard HMHB mentioned on ‘Fighting Talk’ was when Pat Nevin was on and got through a fair chunk of the alphabet in praising ‘A Referee’s Alphabet’. Incidentally, I’ve just received notification of Volume 2 of his autobiography, entitled ‘Football and How to Survive It’. The cover photo is from his Tranmere days.
17 April 2023
Wayno
My brother took us down the Attleborough Towpath (A11) to Cambridge for my Birthday Bash!
You guys are on another planet.
Loved it! Love ya, Scott. Thank you x
17 April 2023
dr DEsperate
Nothing much to add, but I can give my micro-review as requested by Craig Charles on Friday, and read out at the end of his Monday show on R6M, after the traditional playing of ‘JDOGs’: “Half Man Half Biscuit were brilliant! They played 50 songs from their back catalogue, including ‘Joy Division Oven Gloves’ and ‘Dukla Prague Away Kit’, as well as two from their latest album that they’d never played live before: ‘Rogation Sunday’ and ‘Tess of the Dormobiles’. Biscuiteers who’ve been going to see them far longer than I have said the Cambridge gig on Saturday was the best they’d ever seen, and I can only agree – after two nights in the moshpit I’m feeling battered, but beyond delighted.” (As Exxo surmised, the original text was longer, but no less gushing.)
19 April 2023
EXXO
[continued from the John Peel Centre thread]
A Travelodge has its advantages, of course, and I can see why that is what Nigel Blackwell prefers on these increasingly rare exceptions to the “own bog, own bed” rule. But after our van has been pulled from the Stowmarket mud (well, there was no mud really, until we’d been towed through the liquid grass), we set the satnav for the pub car park in Cambridge where we’ll be staying tonight, and I reflect that I’ve spent my last few Cambridge gig trips in a fair old cross-section of accommodation types: a youth hostel dorm shared with young Japanese tourists, an ancient timbered room in a college cloister, beneath an original contemporary portrait of ST Coleridge and (on that same 2013 Stomarket/Cambridgedouble-header) a tent sneakily positioned out of site between bush and hedge on a college sports ground. All of them far more comfortable than the many bus and railway station benches where I’ve spent half the night on other HMHB trips, and all of them infinitely better than that bench in the Holmfirth drizzle in 2006.
But a comfortable van in a car park is something we’ve used to on various recent fishing trips, and it does mean we know where we’re eating our early tea, because that’s how you pay your notional ‘rent’ on these occasions. I was hoping that the Robin Hood in Cherry Hinton would serve us some appropriately hearty roast venison poached from the king’s hunting reserves, but steak and ale pie it was instead for me, with a couple more very decent pints of GK Abbot ale. And having spent far too much time struggling to place my complex array of Saturday bets on a very old Samsung phone, I watch with glee as Brighton’s shot count at Chelsea racks up to 23 (on a spread of 14). Kerching!! Brighton shots have been paying for a lot of little luxuries lately (sssh).
We meet the lovely Keith at the Devonshire Arms, which has changed a lot since I used to hang out here in the early eighties (as The Midland back then, the only pub in Cambridge where they played reggae) and where they serve almost the full range of delights from the outstanding Milton Brewery’s ‘Imperator’ range. Almost the full range, because they wisely peak with the Marcus Aurelius 7.5% imperial stout and eschew the deranged madness of the 8.5% Caligula. Then off to The Earl of Derby to meet lovely Keith’s lovely wife Olga, Lorenzo from Rome and hopefully a further throng of Biscuiteers.
Once we’d read Lorenzo’s report (written for his own AS Roma Ultras fan site) of his December pilgrimage from Rome, with a five-hour drive from Stansted through snowdrifts to Hull, only to find out that his first ever HMHB gig had been cancelled, we knew we had to try to make his trip to Cambridge as memorable as possible. Myself and Chris the Siteowner both made efforts to get the ground-hopping Italian visitor a ticket for the Cambridgeshire derby that day at noon, but it proved impossible. The Abbey Stadium has almost doubled its capacity since I was last there (it used to be famous as the lowest capacity professional ground in England, but now nowhere near), but still, there was incredible demand and tight security for this game so that tickets could not be purchased by anyone who hadn’t already bought from CUFC this season, and so that touts, if there were any, had to remain secretive. As you’ve read in his report (above – again written for his AS Roma fan site), Lorenzo went up to the stadium but couldn’t find a ticket.
You’ve probably also read Lorenzo’s report of not finding enough decent English beer in Cambridge! Blimey, we could have recommended 20 or 30 great little boozers, some of them in lovely spots down by the river too like the Mill or the Anchor … and I wish that other preoccupations (getting towed out of the mud, Claire’s fishing, my habitual Saturday betting commitments, meeting other friends) hadn’t gotten in the way of showing him round … but still, when we finally did turn up at the Earl of Derby I hope we made this kindred spirit feel at home amongst friends. He was introduced to (among others) Chris the Siteowner, euphoric after the Tractor Boys’ 6-0 win, Mr & Mrs Tractor full of Keith, Steve Hill (of Guardian article fame) and an Anglo-Belgian couple who had flown in from Brussels (sorry forgot your names but you really should start posting on here).
When we did get to the gig though, Lorenzo was blown away by the welcome afforded him by Nigel Blackwell himself, who had clearly felt bad about Lorenzo’s December trip and wanted to make amends. We responded to the band’s walk-on march – the Italian national anthem, no less – with shouts of “Forza Azzuri!” Later, Nigel asked if Lorenzo was in attendance and expressed his undying admiration for the one-club AS Roma career of the great Francesco Totti. Later still, Nigel referred somewhat ramblingly to the Romulus and Remus legend as portrayed on the AS Roma badge, but I can’t remember what point he was making, or whether it was relevant to a particular song. All in all, quite a welcome. And next time I’m at Tranmere I’ll get Lorenzo one of those Belmont FC pin badges, which is basically from when the nascent Tranmere wore the same colours as Roma do now. There was definitely a really strong presence at this gig for the footy chant-inspired songs too – You’re going on after Crispy Ambulance, Sturmey Archer/Campagnolo, What’s it like to see a crowd? Who the Fuckin hell are Slipknot? etc and that too was perfect for Lorenzo’s presence.
Lorenzo also seemed impressed when I kept telling him (hopefully not too annoyingly) how different the setilist was from the previous evening, and that the lads do this as a matter of pride to give variety for those who come to all or most of the gigs. It was the ninth song before they played one the same as the previous evening, and an incredible 14 of the first 17 songs were different, 15 out of 29 overall.
There’s a great sentence in Lorenzo’s report, above: “The audience tonight is decidedly grown up, but that’s also the great thing about England: nobody backs down and nobody judges you.” He expanded on that theme in the pub – in Italy, it’s practically impossible to find an audience of our generation following the same great bands for so long and still trying to behave as they did back in the day. I could tell he really did feel at home amongst those of us trying not to be too grown up.However, there were more than four skinny indie kids of a younger generation in that moshpit, there really were, and they helped make the night too.
By the way, in non-imaginary celeb-spotting, that was theAlan Davies at the merch stand when nearly everyone had left the auditorium at the end, wasn’t it? Good to know he’s a fan, as I know Nigel likes his QI. There was an episode of that show fairly recently that featured robots. I had never met one until we were approached by two delivery robots – separately – on opposite pavements of Cherry Hinton Road on the way home after this gig. Proper freaked me out. Can’t see them lasting too long if they try to bring them in round our way. But maybe campsites could get slightly larger versions to pull vans out of the mud …
20 April 2023
transit full of keith
Cheers, enjoyed reading both parts of that. On Milton brewery’s output: to my own taste, even the Marcus Aurelius would probably have me giggling manically and trying to make a horse a senator, but Nero (fiddles while Gordon Burns) is a sort-of-stout that clocks in at 5% and is an absolute beauty.
Link now also on the Data Retrieval System. There’s a couple of others there not in this run of 13.
Andy, you okay with me splitting it, and others, into separate songs? In time it’ll also list videos by song so splitting up them up will work much better. Full credit given and will keep the original.
20 April 2023
parsfan
Andy – forget that. I’ve thought of a much simpler way to get what I want without having to change anything.
Links direct to those songs now all added, plus Phil’s encores from both Friday and Saturday. 18/29 now for Cambridge.
There’s one or two others I’ll do the same with and then start wading through Chris’s list of 700 more.
21 April 2023
Lorenzo (Roma)
First of all, thanxs to Exxo: what the lads and him did for me is unforgettable. Then: I have seen everybody here has a sort of nickname. I have choosen mine: “Enter Ruddock left”. I’ll try to explain why. “Rock and Roll is full of bad wools” is “the” song that mix music and football in a perfect way. The geniality of HMHB is to put references to someone/something where you don’t expect (i.e. “Steve Malkmus” (in “Lark Descending”), Pavement’s singer, as well as “Ruddock” during “Rock and Roll” etc.). I have attended 1080 concerts in my life and listened – as you – tons of rock bands. And I can say, without any doubt, that HMHB are at the top of the top.
For the rearranged gig For the rearranged gig For the rearranged gig
Thanks Lorenzo!
26 April 2023
Injured Buzzard
@Parsfan. I’ve uploaded 48 mins of footage from the gig on YouTube. Welcome to dissect as you wish.
26 April 2023
Injured Buzzard
@parsfan Ignore last comment. See you’ve already done it. Btw the match versus Queen of the South where I walked out at h/t 4-0 down finished 0-6. Sure it was a challenge cup tie but can’t find any record of it.
26 April 2023
Chris The Siteowner
Bedford Jezzard, ladies and gentlemen, Bedford Jezzard. (From Bobby Robson, Farewell but not Goodbye)
30 April 2023
Injured Buzzard
@CtSO. Sounds like my tribute act…
30 April 2023
EXXO
For the record, it was of course the opening lines of Al Jolson’s ‘Sittin’ on top of the World’ (1925) with which Neil introduced ‘Akward Sean’ at this gig. Not sure how I forgot that, or whether I would have remembered suddenly some day soon if it wasn’t for the video, but anyway thanks Andy for the videos.
Chris The Siteowner
Wow, what a gig to round off a fabulous day. Will be buzzing for a long, long time. That was a real gem. And a namecheck to Jo Bradley too. Cheers guys.
15 April 2023
Dennis bell from torquay
Lovely to finally meet you Chris and great gig. I can die happy as Nigel gave me his half-eaten Nature Valley bar. I suppose I can start the ‘Half Girl Half Biscuit’ tribute band now.
Lovely to see His Majesty The King of High Vis again too.
15 April 2023
Gav
One of best HHMB gigs I’ve ever seen, for me there was marked improvement in both setlist and sound from Stowmarket.
Thanks again to CTSO for sorting me out with a ticket.
15 April 2023
Man of varying sorrow
Very much echoing the comments of those above – fantastic gig with seemingly excellent sound quality (at least to my untrained ear). Especially enjoyed the outing of Dickie Davies eyes as that was the first song from the band that I ever heard
@Chris – thanks for chatting to my dad and I afterwards, I think he enjoyed having a catch-up and it was a pleasure for me to finally meet you as well
@Dennis Bell – glad I bumped into you at the very end as well because I turned up slightly late so didn’t get a chance to say hello and I was feeling a bit guilty. Glad that the youth faction of the fan base is going strong as we’ll presumably still be around to witness the band when they’re inevitably releasing their 30th album in the year 2060 – as is their unwavering longevity!
On the subject of Nature Valley bars it definitely took me by surprise as a choice of mid-set snack as they’re very crumbly and I’m always choking on them so it seemed like a bit of a risk for a vocalist. On the other hand Nigel isn’t your ordinary frontman and probably knows best when it comes to these things!
Brilliant gig as always – not sure when the next one will be for me as the next couple clash with some of my uni exams
15 April 2023
Hendrix-tattoo
The best Gig of the Year so far me(And I know what you’re thinking he always says that)
Hearing the boys play The Len Ganley Stance was worth the admission fee alone.
God bless you Guys.
Roll on Hull…
16 April 2023
TRANSIT FULL OF keith
Brilliant gig, and not just because we could cycle home after. A first triumphant outing for Rogation Sunday (though just when I’d dropped it from my FBL selections). Nice to meet Exxo, Claire, Lorenzo and others before and after. Took a rare lunge into the moshpit at the end. If you stop for a comfort break at Norton Canes, don’t go digging round the back.
16 April 2023
TRANSIT FULL OF keith
… and happy 80th birthday to Geoff Davies
16 April 2023
clown in a yaris
That was the best gig for me since Bristol SWX 2020. Brilliant!!
16 April 2023
Twistedkitemike
Good morning, Biscuiteers.
With apologies for being late on parade, here is (I think) the set-list from last night.
I have to say for a number of reasons and serious overlap in the Venn diagram as the marketing types might say, that was one of the best HMHB gigs that I can remember.
The sound was good, the songs came over well (nicely synched together), it was a slightly early kick-off (the chaps wanted to get home!) so there was time for a pint afterwards, I had a few drinks (most unlike me), but most of all – what a great crowd.
My friend and new convert to HMHB, Sean, will be back for more. He has chastised me for not taking him before. He will also now forever be known as Awkward Sean.
Enough piffle, I’ll leave the hard yards to Roger. He might have been able to see. My scribbles are barely legible even by my standards. Here we go……
Broadstairs
Squabblefest
Bob Wilson
Bane
Bad Wools
Petty Sessions
Awk Sean
Fred
Buried Morning
Batwalk
Dean F
Lilac HQ
Vatican
Dickie D
Light Tunnel
Len Ganley
Rogation Sunday
Bell Rings
Terminus
MMM
DPAK
Trumpton
Chatteris
NSD
Oblong
Another Girl, Another Planet (The Only Ones cover)
AOR
I hope that’s correct. It was dark, crowded and I was getting refreshed.
No encores, they sailed through. I think a debut for Rogation Sunday. I hope that the geezer who has been shouting for Len Ganley for what seems like forever was there to reach a personal climax.
On that note…
Mike………………….
16 April 2023
Akajak
there was a sort of encore; last 3 tracks
16 April 2023
I, problem chimp
JDOG after NSD to end the set, then last three as encore…
Not much more to say, other than to echo what an outstanding evening it was, doubly so given my love of openers Model Village…
16 April 2023
Twistedkitemike
It’s a pathetic effort on my part. Sorry.
There was Trad Arr Tune and JDOG that I missed it out.
…Trumpton
Chatteris
NSD
Trad Arr Tune
JDOG
Oblong
Another Girl, Another Planet (The Only Ones cover)
AOR…
Roger will confirm it unless a picture of a setlist appears. I’ll look on MetaTubeBook.
Mike……….
16 April 2023
Twistedkitemike
The encores bit makes sense. I was at the bar during JDOG so might not have the seen the off-on shuffle. I shouldn’t be allowed out without reliable supervision.
Mike………
16 April 2023
Stringy bob
That was the greatest gig I’ve ever witnessed. Awesome is too weak a word to you.
16 April 2023
The Boy from over the road
Quote of the night in the form of misheard lyrics: “Is that Midge Ure looks like a MILF thief?”.
There can be much debate about what a milf thief is and would do but it may be best to avoid that on here.
16 April 2023
Natalie at the back
Not much more to add than it was utterly brilliant, perhaps the best ever (I know, I always say that). Got a photo of the set list. Restless Legs was on the list but must have been subbed off.
Don’t know if you agree but one thing that fills me with joy is that the men on stage now seem to be really enjoying themselves, and get a sense of the love that we all have for them.
As my daughter Dennis said, great to see CTSO, His Maj and others after.
16 April 2023
Lorenzo (Roma)
A bit long, but consider that it is to explain to the Romans!
The revenge. I couldn’t swallow the unfortunate evening in Hull, with the concert cancelled, and so I immediately found this “convenient” date to go and see Half Man Half Biscuit in Cambridge. Before I forget: the name of the north of London university town is due to the River Cam to which the Bridge has been added. So easy easy, it stands for “The Bridge on the River Cam”.
The night before I was late to go see Pink Turns Blue (iconic German dark wave band) at Traffic in Rome, but luckily the flight is quite comfortable, departing around 7.20, RyanAir to London Stansted, took about twenty days before. It seems that the best RyanAir price is exactly ten days before, but Italian anxiety cannot be curbed.
It’s raining in Rome and the sky in London is gray but holding. No passports, entry time in the UK practically zero.
Fiat 500 rented with Rental Cars so what are you doing as soon as you arrive in Stansted? Look up where the rental cars are. The sign is the same as last time: “Car Rental Park bus” which is right outside the airport. I take this bus and I’m there in ten minutes. Look, all the companies are there except Green Motion. You always learn with each trip: I re-read the reservation and – obviously – the company’s cars are rented at the Novotel, which can be reached from bus platform 18. I go back on the same bus and take the other bus, which is free.
The lady who rents me the car she is nice and she loves to chat. I explain to her that I’m going to see a concert in Cambridge and therefore I’ll be bringing the car back around 11.30-12 midnight. She asks me which concert and I tell her the name of the group which – obviously – doesn’t tell her anything and perhaps due to the pecularity of the name she will have thought I was making fun of her, so I hasten to add “It’s a little-known band” and she asks me “well, they are the best concerts”, and God only knows how right he is. Anyway, I remembered the real Fiat 500, but today’s ones are cool: even the transparent roof! Technology helps all right, to death the primitives, I attach the phone to the USB and Google Maps is on the screen. 34 minutes to get to Cambridge, the 5 hours and more of Hull are a vivid but distant memory.
The usual “Park and ride” sign instills in me the usual doubt that it is impossible to park in Cambridge and in fact many people fall for it. Instead I find a place in a side street about twenty minutes from the center, Union Road, a pound every half hour damn them! I put £5 in coins, till about 1.30pm and hope I’m lucky with the rest.
First impression of Cambridge: it is clear that it is a university town, as it is full of school groups in uniform. Obviously, before going towards the centre, I see where the stadium is. Today there is a teary-eyed first division derby that has been missing for twenty years: Cambridge United / Peterborough, an English town not far away. 12.30 kick off, total sold out. The great Nigel, superfan of the British band who with his blue-haired football goalkeeper wife welcomed me splendidly on the evening, had already informed me that they were sold out, but it doesn’t hurt to try. 40 minutes of walking and I arrive near the Abbey stadium (capacity: 9.617).
A couple of bobbies have just stopped a 16-17 year old boy in a hooligan uniform and I hear him saying “I’m going to see the game and I’m going home”, with the paternal policeman saying “I don’t believe you”, but they have nothing against him, only the hooligan uniform, and so shortly after I meet him with his friends in hooligan uniform looking for other under 5’s hooligans, without success – I imagine – given the substantially calm atmosphere, also because the match is at 12.30. However, I believe that currently in order to be a hooligan it is the case to reverse the course and go back to dressing with scarves with club colors and matching hats, if you don’t want to be noticed. That said, the stadium is small, but surrounded by nature in a way that conquering it by climbing over seems impossible, unless you want to be found before the summer by some blackberry picker among the barbed shrubs that grow in the mud. But sometimes the match can be a detail, and it’s fun to see Cambridge’s yellow and blacks flock to the venue, as well as super rivals the ‘Borough’ flock to the South Stand, the away sector, in blue. I miss a scalper and, almost at kick-off, I sadly go back. Having seen the main point of attraction in Cambridge, i.e. the stadium, it’s time to visit the centre: there will be a pub where you can watch the match, right? Well, I can’t find it.
Even Cambridge has bowed to globalization and the shops are the same as in other English cities and also in Italy and Europe. Lots of places to eat, each with its own particularities, but not even the shadow of wooden pubs with darts and carpeted floors. The centre, however, is nice, a sort of mix between small shops and small baptistry-churches.
Hunger. Black hunger. Trip advisor, help.
Even if he has four and a half balls out of five I don’t want to end up among the tourists, even though I am too. The only thing to do is look for a review that has no ratings in Italian. So I find The Cambridge Top which still has the four and a half balls but only British reviews.
Let’s say I bingo, because I basically find what I expected: round tables of slightly overweight local ladies with the inevitable bottles of wine, gentlemen in suits and gaudy ties partying over wine and beer.
What I don’t understand is why it’s now almost impossible to find English beers in local places. The closest to England was Guinness, for the rest Spanish, Belgian beers, Moretti and so on saying. The food is excellent, and I sit in the window to enjoy the Britishness of the local population and also of the walk, since next door there is another place where the attraction is the music (boyband vs. girlband) which obviously attracts that type of clientele between the discrete (women) and slightly glamorous machismo. However, considering the two beers of a certain importance and since I’ve already traveled about fifteen kilometers I go back to the car to see if they have removed it and, if not, to take a nap.
I wake up around 15.30 and – how the fuck is it possible that I failed before to get to the river? – I point to Google Maps and go towards the river. But first I park the car near the concert venue, taking advantage of the afternoon closure of a plumber. I loosen up and since practically everyone is walking around in a sweatshirt or short sleeves, I leave my jacket in the car while one of the grayest skies I’ve ever seen appears in the distance when it’s too late to go back.
The river! Let’s say a small river, similar to one of the canals of Venice, even as a setting. In fact, you can rent a small boat with which to go back and forth, helping you with a pole with which you push yourself from the shallow water. The funny thing is that you can drive it even alone, standing on the stern and since I’ve seen good groups of not exactly sober boys get on board, I wonder if, from time to time, a few bodies don’t surface. Large green lawns where you can sit and chat – again, very rare cell phones during socializing – or to play all the sports that can be played on the green carpet. A large white Ferris wheel placed on one of these meadows shows me that the way back is correct.
It’s 6 pm and I go to the pub indicated to me by Nigel as the concentration point of Half Man Half Biscuit’s football-like following.
Oooooh! Finally an English pub (“The Earl of Derby”) for real. Screens with Premier League and horse racing, the smell of alcohol and lined faces and, in short, everything you need to have a nice pint. Inside there are several supporters who wear the yellow-red shirt of Dukla Prague, because of a song from the early days of the Birkenhead band (“All I want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague away kit”) and when I meet fan Nigel with his wife, he immediately introduces me to other fans who have come from various parts of England for the concert, with whom we chat, including the great Chris, webmaster of this site, with his Ipswich Town shirt which he saw triumph 6-0 against Charlton in League One.
Nigel introduces me to a reporter from the Guardian who (obviously my story of Hull is shot in the environment) gives me a little interview. In fact, this time, I was one hundred percent the only Italian there.
A couple of pints and we go to Cambridge Junction (it’s actually near the station), sold out for the occasion. Nigel asks me if we want to get in the front rows and if I practice “moshing”, i.e. a sort of soft-pogo and obviously, given my boomerism, I answer yes, the more he moshes (happily) the happier I am. The audience tonight is decidedly grown up, but that’s also the great thing about England: nobody backs down and nobody judges you.
Next to me a father throws into the fray a very happy son of more or less eighteen, but otherwise we were almost all pot-bellied gentlemen with respectable lives who pranced about to the notes of HMHB.
But the real surprise for me was the intro of the concert.
At one point I hear notes that seem familiar to me. Christ, but, it’s the Italian national anthem! Totally out of place, given the context and the type of band, but a beautiful thank you to those who live too far away to follow all the concerts. Moreover, the singer also asked “Where is Lorenzo?” and in an adolescent way I raised my hand to greet him. After all, I was front in the sixth row.
Very entertaining concert, animated by those twenty madmen (and a girl too) in the front rows, regardless of the possible heart attack.
It’s over.
I get back in the car and, in the darkness of the English motorways with those accursed roundabouts so difficult for those who drive on the opposite side like us Italians, I go back to Stansted for the morning flight. I had taken it at dawn in fear of missing Roma/Udinese. Postponed to 20.45. Fuck modern football.
Thank you all for the wonderful evening and… see you next time!
(PS: Here’s a photo of the set list!)
16 April 2023
Lux inferior
A truly exceptional evening’s entertainment. Euphoric and cathartic in equal measure. And, unusually for Cambridge, a proper mosh pit for virtually the entire duration of the gig. I’d been reluctant to enter the fray for fear of my portacath being dislodged or damaged by a stray elbow, but once my consultant oncologist had given me the go-ahead to “get in there and go for it”, and after a bit of a warmup in the sparsely populated mosh pit at Stowmarket the previous evening, I was able to throw caution to the wind.
Wonderful setlist, and the sound quality, as is always the case at this venue, was spot on. Cheers to the couple of chaps who paid compliment to my ‘Fantasy Biscuitball’ T-shirt. Speaking of the FBL, gutted to see that Restless Legs, which appeared on one of the setlists posted on Farcebook/Twitter, was omitted. Did me out of an extra 12 points!
My mate Tim, having spent recent months devouring the entire back catalogue, declared the gig to be one of his finest experiences. I’d have to go along with that. Best band, best fans.
@ Lorenzo – a very entertaining read! Nice one.
16 April 2023
Hendrix-tattoo
@Lorenzo, Wow what can I say. It was a pleasure meeting you…
16 April 2023
EXXO
@Lorenzo. Really enjoyed reading that. Truly a special journey, and what a classy touch by (the other) Nigel to give you a special welcome after your journey to Hull and back!
But… there is nothing better in life than writing pedantically about the etymology of place names, except it’s even better telling Romans (what have they ever done for us anyway? Romanes eunt domus!) that it’s actually the Roman name of the ford on the river – ‘Camboricum’ – which was distorted via various steps to “Cambridge,” and only after that was the river itself re-named the Cam, at least 1,000 years later, much later than the bridge.
I’ll write more tomorrow. But you’ll be glad to hear that the goalkeeper with blue hair won 7-1 in Huddersfield this afternoon so hope it’s the same this evening for you (because mourinho teams so often win 7-1 :-D). Forza Roma!
Next time we’ll make sure the best pub of your day is not the worst one of ours and that you get a chance to see a decent match too!!
16 April 2023
John Anderson
Another really great gig. The omens were good when we kept two chevrons apart on a rain lashed M11, saw a sign for Ely, noticed that the cinema next to the venue was screening Renfield and then spotted a train replacement service (correctly notated) outside the Earl of Derby. Three of the four relevant songs were played.
The sound in the venue was great and I was especially glad to hear rare outings for Len Ganley, Broadstairs and Rogation plus the delight of Another Girl Another Planet, which is one of my favourite songs of all time. Thankfully we were spared Atom Heart Mother or Ummagumma. I also enjoyed the moment when Nigel greeted a blast of feedback with “it’s like being at a My Bloody Valentine gig”.
My mate Andy who I’ve known for fifty years, has only recently started to get into HMHB and thoroughly enjoyed hearing the songs in a live environment for the first time. My wife, who’s much more of a seasoned gig goer found plenty to enjoy too. Although she startled me after the gig by declaring “I don’t really like Trumpton Riots”. Not quite grounds for divorce but a bombshell nonetheless.
Good to catch up with Roger Green afterwards and flattered that he’d brought a copy of my book for me to sign. I think it was you @Exxo that guided me towards him, so thanks for that.
Finally, did anyone at Stowmarket film or record the cover of How I Wrote Elastic Man? I’d absolutely love to hear that.
16 April 2023
Bat walk ultra
Some aggressive singing from Nige tonight, perfect as all the sweary anthems appeared together. Great to have Len Ganley , then midnight mass murder(which Neil, tried to play too early) I nearly strained something “what’s it like to see a crowd”
Top night!
16 April 2023
Chris The Siteowner
Roger Green’s review, originally published on Gez’s site and reproduced with thanks to both Roger and Gez.
A nourishing start to the day. Having checked out of the Travelodge in Stowmarket, Karen, Andrew, Tony and I were round to Narey’s Garden Centre Café for a Full English. This place was evidently more popular than the breakfast boxes at the Travelodge. John, Postman Tony, Phill and Another Andy showed up. Phill was well happy with his digs at The Bull Inn at Woolpit. We’ll give it a go, next time we are in the environs of Stowmarket. And hello to the couple from Preston. Sorry didn’t catch your names. Hope to see you at a gig round your way some time.
With Andrew behind the wheel, we headed off to Cambridge. He has a magnificent in-house music collection. German football songs, Serious Drinking, The Smiths. And White Mice by The Mo-dettes. That took me back.
We could have made it to the Cambridge v Peterborough match which was taking place. Early kick-off just as we were arriving in town. Instead I opted for an afternoon typing up my notes from the Stowmarket gig the previous night. Karen ligged, while Phill, Andrew and Tony went for a walk round, including a knickerbocker glory at the ice cream parlour across the square from the Travelodge. The bastards. Karen and I tucked in at Nandos, where we saw Nigel and Denise ordering a takeaway. Clearly the restaurant of choice. You need to like chicken though.
The latest issue of Vive Le Rock carried an advert, placed by The Gig Cartel, for forthcoming HMHB gigs. It’s time to get moving if you haven’t already done so. Friday 28 April, Hull – Welly Club. Friday 19 May, Edinburgh – Liquid Rooms. Friday 15 September, Bristol – SWX. Friday 6 October, Wolverhampton – The Halls. Friday 3 November, Holmfirth – Picturedrome. No mention of the business at Llangollen, but I suppose that event is not under The Gig Cartel’s umbrella. A lot of these, of course, are sold out. Be sure to book as soon as possible if/when you see something new coming up.
I picked up a copy of Cambridge News. Nothing doing regarding a preview of this gig. But something’s afoot at the cinema. There was a review of Renfield. There’ll be a batwalk or two in there. Let me know if you get to see it, and confirm if there is any characters running round bollocko at 2am. Likewise, the Cambridge Independent didn’t give the gig any space. No publicity required of course. The evening sold out ages back.
There are longer walks from hotel to venue. We took the few steps and were waiting outside at 6.30, half an hour ahead of the doors opening. Still buoyed by their ice cream, Tony, Andrew and Phill were not far behind us. Alex was also in the queue. He said that he had heard Bob Wilson Anchor Man being played on Five Live’s Fighting Talk that morning. Unusual. I didn’t think they had music on there.
Inside the venue I had a chat with Neil. He said this was Geoff Davies’ 80th birthday, later confirmed on stage by Nigel. I’m sure a lot of folk remember Geoff from when he managed and travelled with the band and manned the merch stall, now ably undertaken by Miles. Geoff is one of only a few people that I know, who saw The Beatles live.
There was the usual crowd milling around at the front. John, Howie, Steve, Postman Tony and Andy were checked on the register. Other regulars were round and about. I nodded in the direction of Graham Le Taxi, Daz and Exxo. And Nigel and Jo had made it from Goole. T-shirt Of The Day would have gone to the chap wearing the one saying “Bedford Isn’t Shit”, but we have to stick with Andy and “L’Enfer C’Est Les Autres”.
Model Village were the support band, with cheery tales of the cost of living crisis, charities and hating rich people. I could consult the various files, but I’m sure these have supported HMHB in the past. They said they liked supporting the band as it means they don’t have to pay to get in. I may have overlooked their stuff, if it was on the merch stall. Thanks to their guitarist for the set list.
Insufferable
STR
J30
Roll It Over
Family Rest
Popular Band
TTS
I usually need Tony’s advice if the walk-on music is from the classical end. He narrowed it down to Verdi. Around twenty-one hours later, after a considerable amount of mulling over, he dropped me a text to confirm that it was the Italian national anthem. Possibly for Lorenzo.
When the band arrived on stage, Nigel opened the conversation with “Are you ok for bags?” He was wearing Sebago shoes, as discussed with someone in the front row. Carl was back wearing his Palestine football shirt. I couldn’t read all of Karl’s. I think the first two words were “Let Us”. Early in the gig there was a problem with Nigel’s mike stand. The soundman Colin appeared, and put it right with good old gaffer tape (or was it masking tape?) with perfect timing, just before Nigel had to pick up the vocals in Bad Wools.
Tony asked Nigel if he had been to the Arctic exhibition. “Been before” was the reply. Nigel spotted Martine Croxall in the crowd. “Martine, have you told him yet? He’ll be alright. God loves him.”
It was Hymn Number 242 in Petty Sessions. I should check, but isn’t it 252 in the recorded version? And I was totally stumped by Neil’s song at the beginning of Awkward Sean. There was a shout from the floor, “Carl, you’ve got a loose cymbal.” To which Nigel replied, “I bet it’s not the first time you’ve shouted that.” Colin appeared on stage again, to put things right. Dickie Davies Eyes was written by Bedford Jezzard. Karen noticed an amendment. The Romany bint is now a “Romany girl”. Is that one for our times?
Nigel said that the night before Stowmarket, the band had stopped in Kettering, which he now knows is pronounced with two syllables. Then Bury St Edmunds last night. “Home of the cockapoo, or should that be labradoodle?” he added. And this was when he also mentioned Geoff’s 80th. “Happy birthday, Geoff!”
Neil played the bass opening bit of Midnight Mass Murder. “No, not that one,” Nigel interrupted. “Maybe later.” Tony shouted “He’s got last night’s setlist.” Nigel suggested that “He’s Got Last Night’s Set List” would be a good title for a TV sitcom. Starring Derek Guyler.
Yet again, Renfield’s Afoot included the line about NOT bringing a police torch. And at the end of the song, Nigel said “True story”. A replacement mike stand was sourced. “This one is much better,” commented Nigel. “Microphone of the month?” asked Tony. Nigel said that Tony has started laughing at his own jokes. At the start of Vatican Broadside, Carl was fixing one of the cymbals, but managed to race back to his seat before he had to hit the drums.
Matthew Amroliwala was spotted. “I thought you would have been with Martine,” Nigel said. “Did you manage to get rid of it? We can drop it off for you at Norton Canes. It’ll be quiet at that time of night.” Karen caught a satsuma that was thrown from the stage.
Another exchange came with a guy in the crowd.
– “Is Shane Mackay here. He’s fifty today.”
– “Thank you.”
– “No problem.”
And Nigel continued, “I was stalling because I wasn’t sure what was coming next. I’m not sure who starts this. Are we all in? Oh yeah, this is… another one…” And they played The Len Ganley Stance. “It started today,” he added, referring to the snooker championship.
At one point there was a lot of feedback coming from the stage. “It was turning into a My Bloody Valentine gig.” Miles on the merch stall was directly in Nigel’s eyeline as he reached up to unhook a t-shirt. “You all right, Miles?” he asked. “Never done this before,” Nigel pointed out before they played Rogation Sunday’s Here Again. Neil said they probably will never play it again.
A pullover was thrown onto stage. Nigel was reminded of the time that a mallet got thrown. After For What Is Chatteris, Nigel said “I read a lot of maps. It looks really good on them. ‘The ad in National Shite Day stipulated “Own Van”. Maybe it was just me, but Nigel seemed to be getting a bit croaky after two gigs in two days. Still far better than watching any other band two nights on the trot though.
“We’re going to end with a slow one. A bit of a ballady one,” said Nigel, before they played Joy Division Oven Gloves. Is there some kind of hierarchical struggle going on in the band? There were two stage doors. Neil used one, while the others used the other. Then they all came back on through the one door.
One chap was seen bouncing around, sitting on the shoulders of a fellow punter. The security guy indicated for him to get down. A shrug of the shoulders, indicating “Whatever” was pretty much the response. Thanks to Karl for the set list. It matched what I wrote down, as follows.
She’s In Broadstairs
Running Order Squabble Fest
Bob Wilson Anchor Man
Bane Of Constance
Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Full Of Bad Wools
Petty Sessions
Awkward Sean
Fuckin’ ‘Ell It’s Fred Titmus
I’m Getting Buried In The Morning
Renfield’s Afoot
The Bastard Son Of Dean Friedman
A Lilac Harry Quinn
Vatican Broadside
Dickie Davies Eyes
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train
The Len Ganley Stance
Rogation Sunday
Every Time A Bell Rings
Terminus
Midnight Mass Murder
All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit
The Trumpton Riots
For What Is Chatteris
National Shite Day
We Built This Village On A Trad Arr Tune
Joy Division Oven Gloves
And in the encore
Oblong Of Dreams
Another Girl Another Planet
Everything’s AOR
Another Girl Another Planet was the cover version. “Join in if you want,” Nigel suggested. “God rest Jo Bradley’s soul,” he said before the very last song. That being Jo’s favourite. Yes, some good folk have passed along this way.
John Anderson sought me out for a one-book signing. I’ve mentioned his A Great Face For Radio on here before now. Copies must still be available, even if they are all located under John’s bed. Recommended.
“Have a good evening, weatherwise or otherwise” was Nigel’s traditional sign off. And that was our cue to hit the bar at the Travelodge. Thanks to The Other Andy for getting the beers in, and to everyone else there for comparing notes. And to the folk who were there at breakfast. Daisy and her Mum. Gilly. I’m sure you said you would be at the Bristol gig. The rest of us are heading in the direction of Hull in less than a fortnight. And massive thanks to Andrew and Karen for jointly ferrying me, laptop on knee, to and from Stowmarket and Cambridge.
17 April 2023
BAD LOSER
I left the Stowmarket Travelodge earlier than planned. It wasn’t a place I’d stay at again with a carpet that looks like it has been used to transport a dead body, and a shower that has two settings: off or scalds your feet. From there, the short drive to Great Finborough to visit John Peel’s grave. Thankfully it’s a small church yard as I missed it first time round.
On the drive to Cambridge, I had 5Live’s ‘Fighting Talk’ on in the background. Suddenly, I could hear the strains of ‘Bob Wilson Anchorman’ in a round for ‘Songs that feature Sport Stars’. Eleanor Oldroyd described it as ‘Classic Half Man Half Biscuit’ before adding that ‘Those cheeky boys from Half Man Half Biscuit obviously don’t respect his broadcasting career’.
We arrived at Cambridge at 12.30. As we approached, we caught sight of the Abbey Stadium and were surprised to see so many cars parked up on grass verges nearly. I was even more surprised to see the police presence at the station until later hearing it was a first meeting with local rivals, Peterborough, for many years.
It was my first time in Cambridge, if you don’t count waiting at the Station for someone to pick me up and drive me to Ipswich Town in the mid 1990s, so a walk to the town centre was in order. #It was predictably picturesque. On the walk back we saw a number of police vans outside a Wetherspoons. Assuming this was football related then there might’ve been more menace than the Chigley Skins can muster.
Arrived at the Junction early and had a chat with some of the regulars. My ‘Oblong of Dream’ lyrics t-shirt received comment: a welcome acknowledgement after my ‘Cresta – It’s Frothy Man’ t-shirt had drawn a blank the night before. Potential fame arriving late in life with a promised mention in Roger’s write-up re my ‘fighting Talk’ anecdote. The Junction was an excellent venue (reminded me of The Leadmill): not too warm and the sound was spot on. A superb setlist with more changes from the previous night than I expected. There was probably only ‘Look Dad, No Tunes’, which was played the night before, missing from my Top 10 list. Definitely one of the best.
17 April 2023
BAD LOSER
Meant to say that the last time I heard HMHB mentioned on ‘Fighting Talk’ was when Pat Nevin was on and got through a fair chunk of the alphabet in praising ‘A Referee’s Alphabet’. Incidentally, I’ve just received notification of Volume 2 of his autobiography, entitled ‘Football and How to Survive It’. The cover photo is from his Tranmere days.
17 April 2023
Wayno
My brother took us down the Attleborough Towpath (A11) to Cambridge for my Birthday Bash!
You guys are on another planet.
Loved it!
Love ya, Scott.
Thank you x
17 April 2023
dr DEsperate
Nothing much to add, but I can give my micro-review as requested by Craig Charles on Friday, and read out at the end of his Monday show on R6M, after the traditional playing of ‘JDOGs’:
“Half Man Half Biscuit were brilliant! They played 50 songs from their back catalogue, including ‘Joy Division Oven Gloves’ and ‘Dukla Prague Away Kit’, as well as two from their latest album that they’d never played live before: ‘Rogation Sunday’ and ‘Tess of the Dormobiles’.
Biscuiteers who’ve been going to see them far longer than I have said the Cambridge gig on Saturday was the best they’d ever seen, and I can only agree – after two nights in the moshpit I’m feeling battered, but beyond delighted.”
(As Exxo surmised, the original text was longer, but no less gushing.)
19 April 2023
EXXO
[continued from the John Peel Centre thread]
A Travelodge has its advantages, of course, and I can see why that is what Nigel Blackwell prefers on these increasingly rare exceptions to the “own bog, own bed” rule. But after our van has been pulled from the Stowmarket mud (well, there was no mud really, until we’d been towed through the liquid grass), we set the satnav for the pub car park in Cambridge where we’ll be staying tonight, and I reflect that I’ve spent my last few Cambridge gig trips in a fair old cross-section of accommodation types: a youth hostel dorm shared with young Japanese tourists, an ancient timbered room in a college cloister, beneath an original contemporary portrait of ST Coleridge and (on that same 2013 Stomarket/Cambridgedouble-header) a tent sneakily positioned out of site between bush and hedge on a college sports ground. All of them far more comfortable than the many bus and railway station benches where I’ve spent half the night on other HMHB trips, and all of them infinitely better than that bench in the Holmfirth drizzle in 2006.
But a comfortable van in a car park is something we’ve used to on various recent fishing trips, and it does mean we know where we’re eating our early tea, because that’s how you pay your notional ‘rent’ on these occasions. I was hoping that the Robin Hood in Cherry Hinton would serve us some appropriately hearty roast venison poached from the king’s hunting reserves, but steak and ale pie it was instead for me, with a couple more very decent pints of GK Abbot ale. And having spent far too much time struggling to place my complex array of Saturday bets on a very old Samsung phone, I watch with glee as Brighton’s shot count at Chelsea racks up to 23 (on a spread of 14). Kerching!! Brighton shots have been paying for a lot of little luxuries lately (sssh).
We meet the lovely Keith at the Devonshire Arms, which has changed a lot since I used to hang out here in the early eighties (as The Midland back then, the only pub in Cambridge where they played reggae) and where they serve almost the full range of delights from the outstanding Milton Brewery’s ‘Imperator’ range. Almost the full range, because they wisely peak with the Marcus Aurelius 7.5% imperial stout and eschew the deranged madness of the 8.5% Caligula. Then off to The Earl of Derby to meet lovely Keith’s lovely wife Olga, Lorenzo from Rome and hopefully a further throng of Biscuiteers.
Once we’d read Lorenzo’s report (written for his own AS Roma Ultras fan site) of his December pilgrimage from Rome, with a five-hour drive from Stansted through snowdrifts to Hull, only to find out that his first ever HMHB gig had been cancelled, we knew we had to try to make his trip to Cambridge as memorable as possible. Myself and Chris the Siteowner both made efforts to get the ground-hopping Italian visitor a ticket for the Cambridgeshire derby that day at noon, but it proved impossible. The Abbey Stadium has almost doubled its capacity since I was last there (it used to be famous as the lowest capacity professional ground in England, but now nowhere near), but still, there was incredible demand and tight security for this game so that tickets could not be purchased by anyone who hadn’t already bought from CUFC this season, and so that touts, if there were any, had to remain secretive. As you’ve read in his report (above – again written for his AS Roma fan site), Lorenzo went up to the stadium but couldn’t find a ticket.
You’ve probably also read Lorenzo’s report of not finding enough decent English beer in Cambridge! Blimey, we could have recommended 20 or 30 great little boozers, some of them in lovely spots down by the river too like the Mill or the Anchor … and I wish that other preoccupations (getting towed out of the mud, Claire’s fishing, my habitual Saturday betting commitments, meeting other friends) hadn’t gotten in the way of showing him round … but still, when we finally did turn up at the Earl of Derby I hope we made this kindred spirit feel at home amongst friends. He was introduced to (among others) Chris the Siteowner, euphoric after the Tractor Boys’ 6-0 win, Mr & Mrs Tractor full of Keith, Steve Hill (of Guardian article fame) and an Anglo-Belgian couple who had flown in from Brussels (sorry forgot your names but you really should start posting on here).
When we did get to the gig though, Lorenzo was blown away by the welcome afforded him by Nigel Blackwell himself, who had clearly felt bad about Lorenzo’s December trip and wanted to make amends. We responded to the band’s walk-on march – the Italian national anthem, no less – with shouts of “Forza Azzuri!” Later, Nigel asked if Lorenzo was in attendance and expressed his undying admiration for the one-club AS Roma career of the great Francesco Totti. Later still, Nigel referred somewhat ramblingly to the Romulus and Remus legend as portrayed on the AS Roma badge, but I can’t remember what point he was making, or whether it was relevant to a particular song. All in all, quite a welcome. And next time I’m at Tranmere I’ll get Lorenzo one of those Belmont FC pin badges, which is basically from when the nascent Tranmere wore the same colours as Roma do now. There was definitely a really strong presence at this gig for the footy chant-inspired songs too – You’re going on after Crispy Ambulance, Sturmey Archer/Campagnolo, What’s it like to see a crowd? Who the Fuckin hell are Slipknot? etc and that too was perfect for Lorenzo’s presence.
Lorenzo also seemed impressed when I kept telling him (hopefully not too annoyingly) how different the setilist was from the previous evening, and that the lads do this as a matter of pride to give variety for those who come to all or most of the gigs. It was the ninth song before they played one the same as the previous evening, and an incredible 14 of the first 17 songs were different, 15 out of 29 overall.
There’s a great sentence in Lorenzo’s report, above: “The audience tonight is decidedly grown up, but that’s also the great thing about England: nobody backs down and nobody judges you.” He expanded on that theme in the pub – in Italy, it’s practically impossible to find an audience of our generation following the same great bands for so long and still trying to behave as they did back in the day. I could tell he really did feel at home amongst those of us trying not to be too grown up.However, there were more than four skinny indie kids of a younger generation in that moshpit, there really were, and they helped make the night too.
By the way, in non-imaginary celeb-spotting, that was theAlan Davies at the merch stand when nearly everyone had left the auditorium at the end, wasn’t it? Good to know he’s a fan, as I know Nigel likes his QI. There was an episode of that show fairly recently that featured robots. I had never met one until we were approached by two delivery robots – separately – on opposite pavements of Cherry Hinton Road on the way home after this gig. Proper freaked me out. Can’t see them lasting too long if they try to bring them in round our way. But maybe campsites could get slightly larger versions to pull vans out of the mud …
20 April 2023
transit full of keith
Cheers, enjoyed reading both parts of that.
On Milton brewery’s output: to my own taste, even the Marcus Aurelius would probably have me giggling manically and trying to make a horse a senator, but Nero (fiddles while Gordon Burns) is a sort-of-stout that clocks in at 5% and is an absolute beauty.
20 April 2023
Lux inferior
For any site regulars who weren’t already aware, a forty-eight minute clip, comprising thirteen songs from the Cambridge gig, has been uploaded to YouTube, courtesy of andybluefox. Fabulous stuff.
20 April 2023
parsfan
Great stuff, ta Lux and Andy.
Link now also on the Data Retrieval System. There’s a couple of others there not in this run of 13.
Andy, you okay with me splitting it, and others, into separate songs? In time it’ll also list videos by song so splitting up them up will work much better. Full credit given and will keep the original.
20 April 2023
parsfan
Andy – forget that. I’ve thought of a much simpler way to get what I want without having to change anything.
Links direct to those songs now all added, plus Phil’s encores from both Friday and Saturday. 18/29 now for Cambridge.
There’s one or two others I’ll do the same with and then start wading through Chris’s list of 700 more.
21 April 2023
Lorenzo (Roma)
First of all, thanxs to Exxo: what the lads and him did for me is unforgettable.
Then: I have seen everybody here has a sort of nickname.
I have choosen mine: “Enter Ruddock left”.
I’ll try to explain why.
“Rock and Roll is full of bad wools” is “the” song that mix music and football in a perfect way.
The geniality of HMHB is to put references to someone/something where you don’t expect (i.e. “Steve Malkmus” (in “Lark Descending”), Pavement’s singer, as well as “Ruddock” during “Rock and Roll” etc.).
I have attended 1080 concerts in my life and listened – as you – tons of rock bands.
And I can say, without any doubt, that HMHB are at the top of the top.
22 April 2023
EXXO
Maybe I’m forward
Maybe I’m morbid
Romans don’t need Welly tickets
For the rearranged gig
For the rearranged gig
For the rearranged gig
Thanks Lorenzo!
26 April 2023
Injured Buzzard
@Parsfan. I’ve uploaded 48 mins of footage from the gig on YouTube. Welcome to dissect as you wish.
26 April 2023
Injured Buzzard
@parsfan Ignore last comment. See you’ve already done it. Btw the match versus Queen of the South where I walked out at h/t 4-0 down finished 0-6. Sure it was a challenge cup tie but can’t find any record of it.
26 April 2023
Chris The Siteowner
Bedford Jezzard, ladies and gentlemen, Bedford Jezzard. (From Bobby Robson, Farewell but not Goodbye)
30 April 2023
Injured Buzzard
@CtSO. Sounds like my tribute act…
30 April 2023
EXXO
For the record, it was of course the opening lines of Al Jolson’s ‘Sittin’ on top of the World’ (1925) with which Neil introduced ‘Akward Sean’ at this gig. Not sure how I forgot that, or whether I would have remembered suddenly some day soon if it wasn’t for the video, but anyway thanks Andy for the videos.
4 May 2023