Neuadd Ogwen, Bethesda gig – 4 April 2025
Now here’s somewhere new! While less than a couple of hours from Birkenhead, I did wonder if this was the furthest west the band had ever played, before remembering that due to the sometimes surprising geography of the British Isles, it isn’t even as far west as Glasgow. Anyway, enough excursions. How was the gig?
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(1 year ago by Exxo)
Stringy Bob
So what was the setlist and how did Bethesda take to our musical chums?
5 April 2025
Alan
They can do one with the beatles covers
5 April 2025
twistedkitemike
Here’s the set list (as usual, subject to E&O).
Bob Wilson
Evening Sun
Buried in the Morning
Light Tunnel
Fred T
Broadstairs
Reflections
Big Man UF
Squabble
Terminus
Sealclubbing
Floreat
Surging ooC
Capel Curig (obvs!)
Slipping the Escort
Vatican
Oblong
Trad Arr Tune
Driver Train
Bell Rings
DPAK
NSD
TRumpton
JDOG
……………………………………..
AOR
I Saw Her Standing There
MMM
Good sound as far as I could tell (always tricky at the front to know), the place was not huge, but very professional set up. The gig was in doubt a few days ago but Nigel recovered from a mystery lurgy. Just as well, it was a long drive.
Mike………….
5 April 2025
Alex
I’m sure they’ve done that cover before. Did some unexpected ones in the past. The first time i took my Good Lady Wife to a gig, they coverd The Hollies.
5 April 2025
brumbiscuit
Does anyone else here remember the Redbeards From Texas – a Brummie ZZ Top tribute act to start with, but who became a very tight live act? They used to do a brilliant version of I Saw Her Standing There.
5 April 2025
No chips allowed
Nice place. The hall was small but really well set up. Good sound. Pub next door Tarfan Tryfan? decent range of ale and ,considering it was busy, got served quickly. Well done. Venue bar reasonable. Decent chippie in small town, large fish! Boys in good form, especially the duelling guitars sequence on Black Night.
5 April 2025
Scott
There was a song played that’s a bit of a rocker and they seem to be singing “Cheese In Gloucester” over and over again. Anyone know the song? Have tried googling but to no avail.
5 April 2025
GORDON BURNS
@SCOTT
“She’s in Broadstairs” I think. Very good misheard lyric.
5 April 2025
Miss anglesey
Great little venue. Sound was good. Parking was a nightmare!
Band on top form. Nigel displaying not only his Welsh language skills, introducing the band as Hanner Dyn Hanner Bisged, but also his knowledge of the culture and and the geography. He’s obviously spent a lot of time here.
Top tips on climbing Moel Siabod rather than Snowdon as you get views of the Snowdon Horseshoe without the crowds.
Local Political knowldge – Nid oes bradwr yn y ty hwn
Way to much intel about Welsh television presenters from the 80s as apparently on the Wirral they got better reception for HTV rather than Granada.
An excellent night out.
5 April 2025
Paul f
Even in South Liverpool, our portable telly would do better with HTV and S4C than the English equivalents.
5 April 2025
Sloppy
Yep growing up in the Holmlands estate, HTV and S4C were the main channels!
Lovely little venue. Nice to be trusted not only with glass bottles but with their lids. And, what was with that bass? Not sure if it was because I was leaning on the stage, but the vibrations were something else (I could say pleasurable but I won’t go there)
The support bad was as ‘unusual’ as the Cardiff support but she tried her best….. bless her and good to see the return of Brian Pern (as spotted by Gordon Burns).
Good set list, nice addition of ‘Trevor’.
I made a mental note of the Moel Siabod, if anyone can remind me of the recommended parking place please…..
See you in Ulverston
6 April 2025
Alex
Nice little venue. The sweet spot was probably about 3 back from the stage as it was quite high, and with no moat, it lent itself to getting a stiff neck
Had looked up a pub menu for a place to eat but looks like they’d chosen a bad day for an unfortunate event to occur and a sign said it was shut for the day. We decided to get fish and chips and eat them in the car.
As it was cooking, in walked Nigel and partner. Great to chat with him for 5 minutes where he greeted details of the number if gigs we attend with his usual humbled amazement.
Then his chips were ready and it was time for him to depart. If only someone had written a very witty song involving a line about chips….
6 April 2025
dr DEsperate
When I was working in Liverpool in the mid-’80s I once impressed a Maltese neurosurgeon who’d never seen ‘Callan’ by switching directly from the end of one episode on Channel 4 to the beginning of the previous week’s episode on S4C.
6 April 2025
warden Hodges
Did Arfon Haines-Davies get a mention? As someone who lived by a gasworks in the 1980’s, we were more HTV than Granada.
6 April 2025
Quantocks checker outer
Growing up in deepest rural Wiltshire we were HTV. Seems a stretch to the meaning of ‘regional’ when it goes from the West Country up to Merseyside.
6 April 2025
Miss anglesey
Warden Hodges, yes he absolutely did!
6 April 2025
Transit full of Keith
Lovely gig in a lovely little venue. Light show was excellent. I quite liked the spooky avant-gardiness of Merched Lloerig, (though my wife did wonder if a tiny Stonehenge was going to descend at one point). One of the tracks featured film of, and the voice of, the late David Edwards of Datbygu, Pat Morgan’s old band.
HMHB were excellent as ever, no twenty-minute version of Tour Jacket with Detachable Sleeves unfortunately, but you can’t have everything. Slipping the Escort was maybe the big surprise. It was delivered with feeling, as was Surging Out Of Convalesence. Lots of the chat was in Welsh between the songs. It was the Maesteg skins in ‘Time Flies By’ – quite a long round trip to Bethesda every Saturday, you’d have thought.
Finally got up and over both Glyders Fach and Fawr on a sunny Saturday, a walk I’ve wanted to do for years. Aside from the boulders strewn between, the spiky ramparts of Castell Y Gwynt are much more impressive than they look in photos.
6 April 2025
CARRIE ANNE
Report from the pen of Roger, taken with thanks from Gez’s website https://www.hmhb.co.uk/guest/index.htm
Neuadd Ogwen, Bethesda, Fri 4th April 2025
Roger Green:
Gigs in Wales. Don’t they say something similar about London buses? You wait months for one, and then two come along in quick succession. Then three thugs mug you for your pension.
We had one show to add to the “other gigs” list. We went to see John Shuttleworth at City Varieties in Leeds. You know, the place where they used to record The Good Old Days on telly. Shuttleworth was magnificent with tales about friends and family, and songs such as The Ballad of Dangly Man (about the unfortunate punter who needed rescuing from The Devil’s Arse entrance) and Can’t Go Back To Savoury Now. In another world, that would have been written and recorded by HMHB.
Stop! We also had an evening with (Mark) Radcliffe and (Marc) Riley in York. Radcliffe presents on 6 Music on weekend mornings. His usual partner for those shows is Stuart Maconie. But on this occasion, it was Riley, aka Lard, with whom he presented the Radio 1 weekday breakfast show in a previous life way back when. Carry on…
Niall’s note on Chris’s site is worth a mention here… “I inexplicably find myself watching The 2 Johnnies -an Irish TV institution featuring 2 lads called Johnny who are supposedly comical but are about as funny as a toddlers obituary. Their “late night lock in” Saturday night show is a bit Lidl-brand Ant and Dec, a bit TGIF and a whole heap of shite. Anyway, showcasing hidden talents of the audience, they just featured Caoimhe (keeva …or qweeva depending on your locale) from Armagh who can lick her elbow. She’s undeniably the most talented individual in this entire ….whateverTheFuckItIs.” Niall’s comments meant that our HMHB revision took in Surging Out Of Convalescence, so we could remind ourselves about the licking of elbows.
The BBC website picked up a story relating to the condition mentioned by HMHB… “Medication for Restless Leg Syndrome gave me a gambling addiction” according to their interviewee. I hope they did well with their investment in the Grand National.
Steve Morris of New Order (and previously, of course, Joy Division) was interviewed in a podcast on the same website. He said he has a pair of Joy Division oven gloves. If you have a pair, then you’re in good company.
A few reviews back, I mentioned that The Searchers were claiming to be the country’s longest standing band. It now seems that they are planning their final gig at Glastonbury later in the year. Not sure who will take over that claim about trading longevity, but I expect that HMHB are tucked in somewhere in the chasing pack.
As always, there is increasing demand for these shows. It’s likely that one or more of those in the diary (Ulverston, Castleton, Glasgow, Wolverhampton and Manchester) will sell out, so now could be the time to press the button for tickets.
Time for some findings on Wikipedia about Bethesda… The town grew around the slate quarrying industries. At its peak, it exported purple slate all over the world. Penrhyn Quarry suffered a three-year strike led by the North Wales Quarrymen’s Union between 1900 and 1903 – the longest industrial dispute in British history. This lockout was mentioned by Nigel during the gig.
And a note from the venue’s website… Half Man Half Biscuit are a rock band, formed in 1984 in Birkenhead. Known for their satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs, the band comprises lead singer and guitarist Nigel Blackwell, bassist and singer Neil Crossley, drummer Carl Henry, and guitarist Karl Benson. Support from the fantastic Merched Lloerig, which are Pat Morgan (Datblygu) and Alan Holmes.
On the Friday morning, we caught the train from Leeds (calling at Bramley, New Pudsey, Bradford Interchange, Low Moor, Halifax, Sowerby Bridge, Mytholmroyd, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden, Rochdale, Manchester Victoria, Newton Le Willows, Earlestown, Warrington Bank Quay and terminating at Chester). And from there we called at Flint, Prestatyn, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay and Llandudno Junction, before disembarking at Bangor (Gwynedd). Of course, we bowed our heads when we passed through Hebden Bridge, in acknowledgement of one of the other great bands, Bogshed.
On that second leg, there were many HMHB references on display. We passed the Dee estuary, The Great Orme, the west end of Rhyl and saw what we took to be Chirk airfield. (Or maybe not. Chirk is a bit further away from Chester). Howie, Gomez, Doddy and Jez briefly appeared, doing one of those pub-hopping trips.Get on the train, get off at the next station, go for a jar and get on the next train when it comes round in an hour. That makes perfect sense to me. When we arrived in Bangor, Phill and Andrew were waiting at the station, and took us to the out-of-town Travelodge where we were booked in. It was one of those places that has a Burger King, Asda and Starbucks all piled into the estate. Not everyone’s dreamland, but it worked for us on a gig day. There was time for a bit of ligging and taking in an episode of Countdown. And then we were out to Phill’s car. He drove Karen, Andrew and me the couple of miles to Bethesda. We got one of the last spaces in the car park and went for a wander round the village. And well done to Phill for narrowly avoiding running Nigel and Denise over. Neil and Carl were also knocking about. Looked like they were scoffing chips, the traditional pop star tea.
I went to the paper shop and secured copies of The Daily Post and Llais Ogwan. On closer inspection, it was March’s edition of the latter, so that explains the silence regarding the gig. But there was also nothing in The Daily Post. You get used to that, with the band’s promotional machinery.
We saw Steve, Andy, Niall and Postman Tony, and inevitably ended up in the Tafarn Y Fic. It was conveniently next door to the venue. We met Graham Le Taxi and Julie in there. Our group left the pub and formed the beginning of a queue outside the door. At the entrance, I got talking to John and Kim, HMHB veterans going back to the eighties. Alex and Lynn were also part of the surge when the doors were opened.
Inside the place, first port of call was Miles at the merch desk, ready for an evening’s trading. And then I took up my place at the front. Good to see Alison again. And Sue. And most of Indignation Meeting. And anybody else whose name I didn’t write down. There were some tidy tunes coming out of the PA. White Mice by The Modettes. Procession by New Order. Dark Entries by Bauhaus. Public Image by Public Image Limited. And Karen heard Sleaford Mods at the end of the evening.
The support band was Merched LLoerig. All very deep stuff. “The next one is about death…” I don’t think they are aiming for the Top Ten, but good luck to them on their journey. The duo was playing over a backing track from their band from years ago. Cheating? Well, not really, compared with the standards of other folk. They are worth following if you like your stuff to be away from the beaten track. Just don’t expect Peters And Lee. They’re not for you if you like to wave your arms in the air and sing along. “It’s a broad church,” noted Brian at the end of their set.
More Hellos in the interval. Mike, Mr and Mrs Exxo and Mo. And then HMHB arrived. The walk-on music was Festival/Mirie It Is/Sumer Is A-Cumen In from the soundtrack of The Wicker Man. Nigel had a King Kong Company t-shirt, and Karl was wearing a Biteback one (which reminds me, there was no sign tonight of Hocky from that band). “Dylan Ebenezer, ladies and gentlemen!” was the first celebrity spot of the evening. Nigel pointed out that where they lived when he was younger, they could get Harlech TV. “We saw Happy Days before anyone else in the country,” he added. And that’s where he saw Breaking Bod, long before they made Breaking Bad.
There was a technical issue where Nigel’s plectrum seemed to get stuck behind the fret on his guitar. Karl came to the rescue. “This is a new song about that fellow from Weybridge,” was said, before playing the one about Fred Titmus. And “Anyone in from Rochester? This is about a bloke from Rochester. Rochester in New York,” ahead of I’m Getting Buried In The Morning.
In reply to a shout for Mileage Chart, Nigel said he would love to play it, but he can not remember the chords. And he turned to Neil, “Thank God I haven’t got dementia. Thank God I haven’t got dementia.”
I wasn’t sure whether or not a verse was missed from Sealclubbing. Whatever. Nigel made reference to a very good chip shop “outside on the left” on the main street. Sorry, couldn’t tell what he said when he told us the name.
I asked Nigel if he had a tip for The Grand National, taking place the day after this gig. The answer was the same as usual. “Dusty Carpet, it’s never been beaten.” He hoped that the race would be disrupted, before recalling that his dad had a bet in 1976 at 20-1. It came in at half past two.
Quite often I can’t hear what Nigel is talking about. You may have noticed. But there was something about taking an alternative route to Capel Curig, to avoid the crowds and view the Snowdon horseshoe. There was a break in proceedings for a bit of guitar-tuning. “Talk among yourselves,” he said, “in Welsh.” One other technical issue concerned the lead to Nigel’s guitar which kept disconnecting.
He told a joke that he (correctly) said I wouldn’t get. About a guy who is rescued from a desert island. A “Ray Mears-type”, he has survived very well. The rescuers ask the castaway about the buildings that he has constructed on the island. “One is the chapel where I go.”, he replies “And the other is the chapel where I DON’T go.”.
“Anyone in from Rhyl?” asked Nigel. “My Mum lives there,” he added. “Well, when I say “lives”… No one actually LIVES there. You can go round for a cup of tea, but don’t have a biscuit. They’re two years out of date.”
Postman Tony shouted for Hair Like Brian May Blues. Nigel replied, “I wish I had.” He sang a few lines from it, and then Postman Tony made a further request for “Crossroads”. Nigel answered, “The Robert Johnson version, or the Tony Hatch one?” Karl obliged with the Hatch version, and Nigel pointed to him, saying “the human jukebox!”.
There was a slightly extended version of the Monk’s Gate tune, being the intro to The Trumpton Riots. Nigel and Karl did the Status Quo Rossi/Parfitt thing during We Built This Village. In Time Flies By, the word “Chigley” was replaced in the line about every Saturday getting the skins. But I didn’t catch what it was. And there was something about writing a Dr Who script, I think, where Daleks take on Millwall fans.
Arfon Haines Davies and Margaret Pritchard were spotted in the crowd. As was Julia Bradbury… “Any time this year with those step ladders, Julia.” Black Night was played as an introduction to National Shite Day.
The songs heard this evening were…
Bob Wilson Anchorman
When The Evening Sun Goes Down
I’m Getting Buried In The Morning
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train
Fuckin’ ‘Ell It’s Fred Titmus
She’s In Broadstairs
Reflections In A Flat
Big Man Up Front
Running Order Squabble Fest
Terminus
Sealclubbing
Floreat Inertia
Surging Out Of Convalescence
Bottleneck At Capel Curig
Slipping The Escort
Vatican Broadside
Oblong Of Dreams
We Built This Village On A Trad Arr Tune
Time Flies By When You’re A Driver Of A Train
Every Time A Bell Rings
Hair Like Brian May Blues (just a couple of lines)
All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit
Black Night (guitar riff)
National Shite Day
The Trumpton Riots
Joy Division Oven Gloves
And three songs in the encore:
Everything’s AOR
I Saw Her Standing There
Midnight Mass Murder
Not quite sure how Karl’s set list got into my possession before the end of the gig, but Brian might have some questions to answer. Having checked the list, there was quite a bit of shifting songs backwards and forwards, but that is usually the case.
Checking the school register, there were a few notable absences. Not least, Dr John who is currently on a tour of New Zealand, and Tony, who is well on the way to recovery after his recent surgery. See you next time.
Big thanks to Phill for driving to and from the gig, and also for getting us to Bangor station the morning after. At the station we got talking to Niall who was making his way back to Holyhead and thereafter to the boat back to Ireland. We also bumped into Steve H, who was on his way to see Chester play at Hereford. And then we were onto the train back to Yorkshire, to begin making plans for the visit to Ulverston in May.
6 April 2025
warden Hodges
Cheers Miss Anglesey. Diolch!
Childhood memories, all good! Even with that spooky ident!
6 April 2025
Paul f
Kids at school used to get pissed off with me playing hangman when my TV shows would include the likes of Pobol Y Cwm and Newyddion.
6 April 2025
Sloppy
Can anyone explain the chapel joke?
Roger wasn’t the only one who didn’t get it
6 April 2025
Transit full of Keith
It is (or used to be) part of the non-conformist Welsh Chapel culture to look down on the godless lot of a very slightly different denomination down the road. Hence the large number of chapels in even small villages. I think.
6 April 2025
Miss anglesey
Spot on, Transit full of Keith.
You’ve got many different types of Welsh chapels. Baptists, Methodists (Calvanistic and Wesleyan) and Independents being the most common.
Almost more important than having your own chapel to attend, is having a chapel of one of the other lot nearby so you can look down your nose at them and revel in your superiority.
6 April 2025
Miss anglesey
And don’t even get started on churches. The only reason to go into a church is for some four-part harmony singing after the pub for Midnight Mass!
6 April 2025
Sloppy
Aha, thanks both….I should have paid more attention in RE lessons!
6 April 2025
Transit full of Keith
In a similar vein, I used to work with someone from Nantyglo who suggested the reason the 1997 Welsh devolution referendum was so close, was a collective national decision not to vote the same way as that bloody lot next door.
6 April 2025
Hemmed in by the larch
When my Dad was an apprentice in the early 1960s he had lodgings in North Wales. Apparently the first question his Landlady asked him was “Are you Church or Chapel?”
6 April 2025
Pirx The Purist
“There are only two types of Methodists: the Galvanised Methodists and the Wee Sly ‘Uns”
6 April 2025
Scoff
Finally made it home from an extended weekend in North wales.
Set off Thursday after my first in-person interview since 2019. I didn’t get it – but wasn’t too bothered as it involved 4 days a week working in Castleford 😂
Visited Llandudno on Thursday for a bracing walk then checked into the Travelodge at Bangor. Home of the “Bangor peacocks”. Rather loud birds, not a band that recorded a session for John Peel in 1986.
Friday we finally made it to Portmeirion on Friday after years of never quite making it while in the area. Then explored the Lyn peninsula including some villages near Abersoch – no Welsh goths (or imps) spotted though.
Agreed with the comments on the venue. Good sound and lights, very visible stage and friendly staff but parking was a bugger- I can’t have been the only one who pulled into the “free car park” only to find it had 4 occupied spaces, no room to turn around and had to reverse back onto the A5…
Enjoyed the gig despite not understanding a word of the Welsh.
Not sure if any of you were wearing a Trumpton t-shirt on Saturday morning but if you were I crossed paths with you on the way to the Asda garage for milk and reduced fruit.
Saturday was exploring Anglesey and today the rather beautiful Bodnant Gardens and the slow drive back to South Yorkshire via Llandudno and Cheshire Oaks.
6 April 2025
Miss anglesey
Hemmed In By The Larch, I can totally believe that.
The village I grew up in had a rather odd set up where the Methodists and the Baptists had combined into one chapel due to decreasing congregation size.
Across the road is the church, we looked upon those people with deep suspicion.
There was also a cheap thrill taken in the fact that chapel started at 10.30 and church at 11 so we’d taken all the roadside parking spaces.
Pettiness in Welsh villages? As if!
6 April 2025
EXXO
Wonderful to see NB on such great form in the land of his forefathers. “Anyone in from Rachub?” he asked in mid-gig, explaining that one line of ancestors were from that neighbouring village. He quoted the famous sign displayed in the windows of the quarry workers’ families during the great strike of 1900-03: “Nid oes Bradwr yn y ty hwn,” “there is no traitor in this house.” Those ancestors would surely have shopped in this very venue when it was the town’s market hall. Perhaps they heard David Lloyd George’s rousing oration here in 1899? Also in that same year, they might have attended a benefit concert in this very hall for the Boer War wounded and widowed, where they might first have laid eyes on a new-fangled gramophone, on a night that perhaps saw the first ever “CJ” (cylinder jockey) performance in Bethesda?
The support act on Friday night were not exactly new-fangled, but were certainly different, and as I remembered Datblygu and Fflaps fondly from Peel sessions of yesteryear, I was certainly keen to be there to hear Merched Lloerig on Friday. And that was to be the only disappointment – we arrived later than hoped as the start-of-school-hols traffic just never flowed freely for the first three hours of our journey crawling nose-to-tail from Leeds, not achieving warp speed in fact until we were almost past Prestatyn. We quickly found our parking place for the night at Bethesda Rugby Club (the bar packed with whole families after kids’ rugby practice and clearly another central pillar of local society), and headed for the nearby venue. While I queued at the Neuadd Ogwen bar, I relied on second-hand reports of what was going on in the crowded gig room. It seemed that a second disappointment was on the cards as there was no decent ale and not even any “craft” above 3.8%! However, the 3.8% cloudy IPA (sorry can’t remember the name) did taste like a stronger beer, so I could soon at least imagine that I was sufficiently lubricated to shout daft things at a band. And once in the gig room, it was like the Tardis – or at least a Tardis where there’s weirdly (but welcomely) more room at the front than the back. Perhaps the good folk of Gwynedd were embracing the margins? Plenty of room to bounce around when the urge arose.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to recount the full gig, just fill in a few more notes and queries. The “Is anyone in from …?”shouts all began with “R”? Rochester, Rachub and Rhyl: the three Rs. And there were a record-equalling four personalities “spotted” in the audience, but I’d only heard of one of them (despite being another who watched a bit of HTV as a child in Wealas Ey), so thanks to those who have listed them in their comments in this thread. I have now looked up Dylan Ebenezer, Arfon Haines Davies, and Margaret Pritchard, all of whose witterings I have previously encountered without knowing their names. I did actually recognize the actual, truly great Rhys Mwyn in the audience though.
Roger mentions somebody shouted for ‘Mileage Chart.’ They didn’t, really, ‘cos they knew there was no point. What happened was that Karl put in some unusually funky guitar chops on ‘Fred Titmus,’ I blurted out “More like Funky George Benson than Karl Benson!” Nigel said “Funky Benson – that’ll be his next side project, [then words to the effect of “He can do that, I can’t]”, and I said “Yeah, Mileage Chart,” meaning “pity about that one” (i.e. great song but I know it’s very, very tough to nail it live) rather than a request. But Nigel could maybe try out a loop pedal.
And in response to Tony’s shout for ‘Brian May,’ Karl& Neil did join in with Nigel for a few bars, but Carl remained unmoved (so it doesn’t count for Biscuitball setlist purposes).
The ‘chapels’ joke was a proper extended piece of stand-up, old school joke structure with cutting edge asides. And that was proper Stuart Lee style stand-up technique using Roger as an example of those who wouldn’t get it. I think the shipwrecked sailor even had a name. He knew where things were in the jungle (see what I did there?) and managed to build a jacuzzi, generate electricity (he was ahead of his time, said a well-timed aside, as I think the story started off deep in the nineteenth century). He invented radio technology. He built a school, and then the two chapels, and you know the rest.
Somebody asked about Nigel’s Moel Siabod car Park recommendation. I’m pretty sure it was Bryn Glo, I’ll give you the grid ref, here just for you: SH73634 5707two (you can see why what3words needed inventing). The best route up from there that I think Nigel has previously mentioned is on this link https://www.walkupsnowdon.co.uk/walks-moel-siabod/ as the “green” route, involving a bit of easy scrambling, but if you want the one that has a better path nearly to the top it means walking virtually into Capel Curig first anyway ((the “red” route on that map). Brilliant views of all of Eyri and the Carneddau, like he said, and the great thing is those views kick in just ten or fifteen minutes into the walk and stay with you the whole time, if it’s even only a fraction as clear as it was this weekend. 15 or 20 great peaks unfolding in front either side of the glorious horseshoe of the Yr Wyddfa massif.
But has anyone else ever wondered if the song actually started out as ‘Bottleneck at Betwys-y-Coed’? Even worse traffic issues there.
Funnily enough on Saturday we enjoyed pretty much the exact opposite view to the Moel Siabod one, more long-range , but another wonderful view of all of those ranges, from Anglesey looking west, where you can see the Carneddau, the Glydirs, the lines of the passes, Yr Wyddfa, Mynydd Mawr, Nantlle Ridge and the Llyn Peninsula ranges. Incredible visibility. And that was just from the car park at the top of the cliffs where we were fishing. Apologies for any and all misspellings, but there would be plenty of those with English places too.
Other folk we met at the gig were making their own special weekend pilgrimages while in Wales: Keith & partner heading up the Glyders on a walk planned for years; Michael, Sally and Peter were following their steam railway passions for a few days, before a week on tour with their mighty rail punk outfit Indignation Meeting. Ours was double pilgrimage to the rocks at the bottom of some cliffs at Tŷ Croes I’ve wanted to fish ever since I was kid, which also happens to be where my hero John Peel did his national service. I climbed back up and leaned over a fence to watch vintage sports cars spinning off the Trac Môn hairpins at “John Peel Corner”. Oh and another branch of Nigel Blackwell’s welsh ancestors were from just there too, apparently. Anyway, I hope everyone remembered their sun cream and remembered Tryweryn, because pretty soon if it carries on like this we’ll have hosepipe bans.
Great gig, the whole band as wonderful as ever, and great to see Nigel seeming to be so much in his element because when I spoke to him about this time last year he was more down on live performance than I’d ever heard him. We all need to keep telling him how brilliant these gigs are, always. And great news that Tranmere rewarded him with a fabulous victory in Saturday’s early kick-off, so hope he enjoyed his whole weekend too and got a lie-in Sunday.
7 April 2025
EXXO
Looking south east from Tŷ Croes across the sea to the mountains, I meant. Not sure why I said west! Sunstroke, probably.
7 April 2025
EXXO
Hehe. Shouldn’t have repeated the Benson thing on the actual interwebs there, as I’ve just realised I was confusing George Benson with George Clinton, not for the first time either. Oh dear.
And apologies to NB also for winding him up that Tranmere’s caretaker manager is a Chester fan. he isn’t. he just played for them one season. He’s a Rotherham fan.
Goodness knows what crap I would have spouted if it had been more than 3.8%
7 April 2025
D list paul ross
The butt of many Czech jokes is the English Lord and they have the same joke where one is lost on a desert island and while constructing various buildings he builds two “clubs” complete with snooker room, library etc, one to go to and one not to go to. Who knows where it originated? It’s a belter either way.
7 April 2025
Scott
@Gordon Burns: Nice 1, Thank You
7 April 2025
parsfan
The church joke is on Simon’s video of Bottleneck at Capel Curig. That, and others, available via the HMHB Data Retrieval System.
Click on the link to take you into YouTube rather than the built-in player as it will only play the songs (without faffing around).
7 April 2025
Miss anglesey
@Sloppy, the car park Nigel mention is the one at Pont Cyfyng. It’s more commonly known as Bryn Glo and is signed as such off the A5.
7 April 2025
EXXO
Blimey, interesting how the memory embellishes. He was from Gerlan (basically part of Bethesda), but he didn’t have a name, and the Victorian era wasn’t mentioned.
Plus he named the Moel Siabod car park after the bridge & settlement there, but it was the same one I thought.
Ah well, at least I’ve just disqualified myself from any future jury service or similar.
7 April 2025
EXXO
And it always bows my mind that the stage lights on these videos just don’t show up when you’re actually there at the front. I remember thinking how they weren’t using any lights. It’s like a different gig.
7 April 2025
transit full of keith
Is there a bottleneck at Capel Curig though? I’ve been that way a lot in the last few years, and it’s one place in North Wales I’ve never encountered a traffic jam.
7 April 2025
EXXO
There were signs at the side of the road in holiday season, managed either by council or police, informing you of ‘Bottleneck at Capel Curig’ and/or ‘Bottleneck at Betwys-y-Coed.’ There was also traffic news on local radio warning you with similar phrases on holiday Fridays, though you would lose the signal once past the Wrexham area.
7 April 2025
D list paul ross
@Exxo completely unrelated to the fact that it is what I guessed, I think five is correct. Well I would say that, wouldn’t I?
7 April 2025
Miss anglesey
Spot on Exxo. Before the A55 was completed, especially the last bit (Conwy Tunnel) the main route from the Midlands to North Wales was via the A5 and there was always a traffic jam at Capel Curig. Traffic used to be horrendous at peak holiday periods.
7 April 2025
transit full of keith
Cheers I wondered if it was that. I’ve definitely been stuck on the A55 despite it being a much more substantial road, so if most of that used to go through the A5 …
7 April 2025
EXXO
Yeah, the N. Wales Expressway is still a breathtaking novelty for me (though as I say on Friday it crawled up to 7pm). Didn’t realise you didn’t realise how new it is compared to holidays when we were small.
7 April 2025
Sloppy
Thanks for the info @Miss anglesey and @Exxo
I’m glad you were paying more attention than I was!
7 April 2025
Alice van der meer
I guess the A55 was completed sometime around 1995-6 as I think the works had reached Abergwyngregyn when I was in the area in 1993-94.
7 April 2025
Miss anglesey
The section across Anglesey was only completed in 2001!
7 April 2025
Chris The Siteowner
Review in Allmusic magazine
7 April 2025
transit full of keith
Ha, there were two professional photographers I noticed at the gig and I’m pretty sure that the one giving the finger to the one whose photos illustrate that piece (picture 3) is the other one.
7 April 2025
Chris The Siteowner
Good spot. As far as HMHB gig photos go, those are pretty decent.
8 April 2025
Third rate les
Good review and pictures – thanks.
8 April 2025
EXXO
Where I stood, the fella giving the finger in that pic is the one who was weaving around and taking photos most obviously. I now wonder if he’s the reviewer. Or, given that he cites to a completely fictional HMHB verse for the only references he actually mentions, perhaps he’s an AI bot that’s been given an extra instruction to avoid the usual cliches.
8 April 2025
Hemmed in by the larch
I remember the excitement in the early 80s when the Storeton transmitter was built. It roughly coincided with the launch of Channel 4 (in my memory at least).
At last, we on the Oblong weren’t reliant on Winter Hill for our TV. I remember we used to get HTV or Granada depending on random factors such as weather and what face you pulled when you held the portable ariel in the air. Presumably we’d latch onto Moel-y-Parc transmitter for HTV?
8 April 2025
EXXO
Yes, you can and you could actually see the Moel-y-Parc transmitter with a telescope in direct line of sight – look at the Oxton Fields pic on the last album cover, and it’s the same line of sight from Nigel or Neil’s aerials on the Holmlands.
8 April 2025
EXXO
Linking my last 2 comments (respectively about the delights of AI fictions that pretend to be facts and about band members), last week I was talking to Mrs Exford in the car about the history of the band, and I wanted to google the approximate date of old dear departed drummer Paul’s unfortunate demise. Temporarily couldn’t remember how long ago it was (only 2 years ago in fact).
At the top of my google results was an AI generated “summary” that told me an actual current living member of the outfit (and not the drummer) was the original drummer and had died on October 19th 2010. Lovely.
8 April 2025
EXXO
Just been reading about the Storeton transmitter (1980) and how it was later repurposed as ‘Storeton, Wales’ – there’s ironic – bouncing Moel-y-Parc signals back over into the latter’s blindspots in Flintshire and towards Wrexham.
8 April 2025
EXXO
@Pirx. Rhys Mwn interviewed the Neuadd Ogwen crew on his show, broadcast on BBC Cymru two days before the HMHB gig (but I’ve just heard it).
Am I right in thinking that he tries to steer the conversation towards HMHB at about 9.55-10.25 (the words I understood were “Half Man Half Biscuit” x 2, “bonkers” and “humour”) but that his question falls on stony ground with young Abbie and Huw?
Then at 16.30 – 18.30, we cut to a short interview with Nigel that I assume to be just an except from the previous interview that you translated? Certainly covers the same ground, with Ty Croes and Llanbedrog, then the Welsh class on Wirral, featuring in Nigel’s tale?
Then after 18.30 back to the interview with the Neuadd Ogwen people, with no reference to the forthcoming HMHB gig.
12 May 2025
EXXO
Soz link
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0l1v296
12 May 2025
Pirx The Purist
Transcript:
RM: Will you be going Friday night to Half Man Half Biscuit or not?
Abbie: I can’t on Friday, I’m going somewhere. But I’d be delighted to go. But…
RM: Wouldn’t that be an experience, Abbie, because they are so bonkers? I’ve had a job finding tracks by them to play tonight to tell the truth, because a lot of them – not because of what kind they are, our audience wouldn’t worry about that – but, if you’re familiar with Half Man Half Biscuit, there are some things where the humour is just (laughs)…
And yes, that was the interview from a few years ago.
12 May 2025
EXXO
Thanks Pirx, that’s brilliant. He’s such a fanboy.
12 May 2025
Chris The Siteowner
Just noticed while putting the songs onto the great big setlist chart that this gig broke a run of 45 consecutive performances of Renfield’s Afoot. Maybe bats are a sensitive subject in North Wales.
18 June 2025
IRISH NIALL
Was definitely noticed and remarked upon on the night and I thought perhaps here in a review. I’m picturing a chicken kebab as I type so it may have been in one of Bethesdas fast food emporia it came up.
19 June 2025
EXXo
Even amongst the hotly-competitive ranks of the Fantasy Biscuitball League, it was only noticed by 4 out of 18 Ulverston predictors, all of whom of course made it their “joker,” for the 20 bonus points.
19 June 2025