And we’re back in Hull, postponed from pre-Christmas, with a gig which had already been moved from a different venue. Three gigs in one month? Must be something of a record.
And we’re back in Hull, postponed from pre-Christmas, with a gig which had already been moved from a different venue. Three gigs in one month? Must be something of a record.
Woodnoggin
It was great to see the band again after so long. I had a very jolly time, even if there was a danger in the first half of hearing more monitor adjustment than songs. After listening to Sing to God on the drive over, I enjoyed the scamp shouting out requests for songs off that album. If only. Here’s what I recall hearing:
She’s in Broadstairs
Fuckin’ ‘Ell, It’s Fred Titmus
Bob Wilson – Anchorman
Bad Losers on Yahoo Chess
Renfield’s Afoot
I’m Getting Buried in the Morning
A Lilac Harry Quinn
Joy in Leeuwarden
Awkward Sean
Look Dad No Tunes
When I Look at My Baby
Terminus
Surging Out of Convalescence
Vatican Broadside
Floreat Inertia
All I Want for Christmas Is a Dukla Prague Away Kit
Stuck Up a Hornbeam
Persian Rug Sale at the URC
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
National Shite Day
We Built This Village on a Trad Arr Tune
Midnight Mass Murder
The Trumpton Riots
Everything’s AOR
Oblong of Dreams
Joy Division Oven Gloves
—
Shit Arm, Bad Tattoo
Holiday in Cambodia
Every Time a Bell Rings
29 April 2023
dic aberdaron
boss gig that
29 April 2023
Hendrix-tattoo
As Wayne said above ‘boss gig that’ great to see you, lad…
29 April 2023
dic aberdaron
absolutely.. always good to see ya tony
till the next time, lid
29 April 2023
EXXO
Yes good to see you before the gig Wayne. And good to realise (today) that you are Dic Aberdaron.
Not sure if you’d worked out from what I wrote last year (after Castleton, maybe?) that I thought Dic Aberdaron was Hocky… but now I know 😀
29 April 2023
Chris Rand
Roger Green’s review, originally published on Gez’s site and reproduced with thanks to both Roger and Gez.
Hull is now established on the HMHB approved list. Having gone so many years without playing here at all, this is now three times in five-and-a-half years (previously November 2017 and January 2020). It’s a sign of the times that the gig was originally scheduled for the much larger Tower Ballroom in December 2022. That idea was doomed to failure, so we all headed back to the tried and trusted Welly.
This month was one of those rare occasions where we had three gigs in a calendar month having recently experienced Stowmarket on the 14th and Cambridge on the 15th. There have been some close calls, but I reckon the last time there were three in a month was July 2005 when they played Penzance and Exeter one night after the other, and then Leeds three weeks later.
Thanks to Phill for putting together a CD of odds and sods from the band’s repertoire. A variety of jingles for Dandelion Radio, and a magnificent cover version of Mandy, recorded for local radio. Also on the radio, Karen picked up on a feature on Gideon Coe’s programme. The theme was “Ooh La La”, where he invited requests with one of those contents in the lyric. He played HMHB’s Venus In Flares. That was rare airtime for the band.
Karen is a regular listener to a podcast called Sombrero Fallout presented by a chap called Ian Forth. Highly recommended. This particular episode was concentrating on music from Liverpool and Merseyside. In amongst Echo And The Bunnymen, Jane Weaver and Pete Wylie, up popped For What Is Chatteris.
As the crow flies, the most direct train route for us would have taken us via Doncaster, but it was far cheaper to go Pontefract to Leeds and from there to Hull. Worth knowing. The quickest route is not always the cheapest. By some margin. We spent bits of the journey looking at the webcam from Wakefield Cathedral where a couple of peregrine falcons are starting a family. And we noted Nigel and Jo from Goole would be celebrating their thirty-third wedding anniversary tonight by attending their thirty-third HMHB gig. That’s a nice bit of symmetry.
Arriving in Hull, our first job was to fill our faces, with Nandos being the venue of choice. After that, we were across the road to check in at the Travelodge. There was ever such a teeny-weeny bit of confusion over the door times for the show. The venue’s website was saying 7.30pm. The tickets clearly stated 7.00pm. But somewhere, John had seen it advertised at 6.30pm. And Andrew had seen that there was a 10.00pm curfew, which would have suggested everything running relatively early. Not exactly military precision with these announcements. Having arrived in Hull early afternoon, I toddled up to The Welly to investigate. There were a couple of guys there, one of whom suggested that doors would open at 7.30, with the support band at 8.00. Surprisingly, he didn’t know when HMHB were scheduled, but with those kind of timings, it would have been fair to assume 9.00. The best plan seemed to be just turn up and find out.
The papers review was just one paper review. The Hull Daily Mail was silent about this show. There was an interview with Donny Osmond though. “There’s a loyalty from the UK fans that just hasn’t waned,” he says. Could that also apply to HMHB? Do people go away from these nights thinking “Hmm, not going to bother with that lot again”?
With the uncertainty of the opening time, Karen and I broke ourselves away from the Mark Selby – Mark Allen snooker semi-final and were outside the venue along with Andrew and Tony about an hour before the doors opened. We were not alone though. By 7.00 the pavement was blocked a fair way down the street. The sensible ones, of course were in the pub next door.
We witnessed a drive-by shouting while standing there. “Nathan!” Unfortunately, it wasn’t clear who this was aimed at. No one owned up to being Nathan. Maybe just a generic term. Al Pacino’s pizza takeaway is still located across the road from The Welly. The man must be down on this luck if he is now depending on that for his source of income.
We talked about the all-you-can-eat crisp buffet in town. Shame it hadn’t been earlier in the afternoon. I wouldn’t have minded making one in. Graham Le Taxi said Hello, on his way for a pre-gig warmer in the pub. I don’t think he was going to the buffet.
Inside the venue at 7.30, as usual I was straight to the merch stall for a chat with Miles. Imagine my surprise when I saw a new t-shirt on sale. Seemingly Neil knows someone from work who was able to write out “Half Man Half Biscuit” in Egyptian hieroglyphic symbols. This was then transposed on to the shirt design. I made the purchase accordingly. Of course, it could all be a hoax. It might actually read “you are a bastard” or “The Pointer Sisters” for all I know.
There were a few more Hellos. Katherine, Karl, Steve. Brian and a couple of chaps in European football shirts, Postman Tony (Honved) and George (Ferencvaros).
And then The Whistleblowers arrived on stage. It was all very pleasant stuff. To my untrained ear there were elements of vaguely folky balladeering with a standard guitar-bass-drums structure. I should have checked with Miles for CDs by them. Thanks to the guitarist for the set list, which read like this…
Not The Only One
Simpson
Cornershop
Fired
Significance
Can’t Raise The Dead
What Do You Know?
A few more Hellos before HMHB turned up. Michael, Sally, Peter, John, Lou, Exxo, Andy, Nigel and Jo. (At the end of the evening it was very kind of Carl to hand over his drumsticks to Peter from Indignation Meeting, who might be able to teach Carl a thing or two about drumming and playing the trumpet at the same time). I recognised Like An Angel by The Mighty Lemon Drops, a favourite in our house, on the PA between sets, but couldn’t hear much of the other music played. That may have been a portent for the problems that HMHB had with hearing each other while they were playing (“Can I have more sound in my monitor? And can Neil as well? Can you turn down my guitar, for everyone’s sake? Can I have some soup?”).
HMHB’s walk-on music was Sumer Is Icumen In from The Wicker Man soundtrack. There seem to be variations of the spelling. We’ll go with that one. Tony had given a book to Nigel, via Miles – How Shostakovich Changed My Mind by Stephen Johnson. Nigel came over to thank Tony, before moving over to the microphone and saying “Good evening. This is our first song, as you already know.” The first song being She’s In Broadstairs. There was a nice bit of miming in there from Nigel, for the line where he gets the A To Z out. He would do well in that round on Never Mind The Buzzcocks.
They were all in plain coloured tops tonight, with the exception of Karl, in a Status Quo t-shirt. There is often confusion over who starts each song. Nothing like that with Bob Wilson Anchor Man. “Are we all in together?” asked Nigel, before everyone started the song. At the end of it, Nigel started peering over the edge of the stage. He was looking for his plectrum which had flown out of his hand and may have dropped in the moat between band and audience. Could have gone anywhere though. Tony shouted, helpfully “Robert Johnson never used a plectrum.” Nigel carried on, having been given what he described as “Karl’s spare plectrum”.
In amongst all the issues with sound on the stage, Nigel’s guitar was giving him problems. “I did tune it backstage, but then I knocked it on the door,” he said, “so it went out of tune.” He seemed to be following the principle of “Plug it in. Plug it out. Then plug it in again.”
“This is a true story,” said Nigel, ahead of Bad Losers On Yahoo Chess. In Renfield’s Afoot, “Booking Essential” was in block capital letters again. Please don’t take a police torch, and be there for a 7.30 start. Prompt. “This is for anyone from Lossiemouth… Could be here on holiday or could be work-related…” announced Nigel, ahead of I’m Getting Buried In The Morning. He also noted that Titanic: The Musical was on at the New Theatre, with its songs including, “Going Down, Going Down, Going Down”.
Neil’s song at the beginning of Awkward Sean was an excerpt from Song For Thirza, by Lal Waterson. During the line about York, Nigel pointed in the direction of that city. Later on, in Joy Division Oven Gloves, he pointed straight ahead on the line about The Quantocks. Louise Lear was spotted in the crowd. “I told you you wouldn’t like it.”
Nigel wondered if anyone had had Kellogg’s Frosted Wheats. He talked about all their different flavours, “Christ, they’re nice.” He reckons he has now been to every eatery in St Stephen’s Centre, “Wok ‘n’ Go. Wok ‘n’ Went.” Tony said that folk go to St Stephens Centre to get stoned. Nigel got the joke. “Give that man a pint.” Ironically, it is closed on Boxing Day.
Nigel said “This is a sad song” ahead of Terminus. He asked if anyone was in from Trowbridge. Boothferry Park was mentioned. He told a tale from the Liverpool Sunday League in the 1970s where a bloke was walking across the pitch. The ball landed at his feet. He hoofed into the net and shouted “Wagstaff!” in homage to the Hull City hero. Nigel also mentioned other Tigers legends, Roger De Vries and Geoff Hennerman. He also said that when making up football games at home, the amber counters would be used to represent Hull City.
There was a snippet of Lonnie Donegan’s Rock-A My Soul ahead of Vatican Broadside. We were diverted by a series of dots that kept appearing on the screen at the back of the stage. There were about half a dozen green dots. They would disappear, and be replaced by some red dots. Then back to the green dots. Then the red, and so on and so on. Like a game of Pong. Intriguing.
Nigel swapped guitars with Karl, while the latter did some tuning up. Nigel said that he had seen a fox going into the St Stephens Centre. “Unlike the fox I saw the other week…” He rattled off the story about finding a fox with her cubs in a suitcase. He rang the RSPCA, who asked if they were moving. “I don’t know. But that would explain the suitcase.”
“This is another happy, fun song” was the introduction to Stuck Up A Hornbeam. Someone made a comment about the band’s stagecraft, to which Nigel responded “H.P. Stagecraft”. There was a brief rendition of Hal-An-Tow. In answer to a shout from the crowd for Nerys Hughes, Nigel answered “My Mum used to clean her Mum’s house.”
Apparently, Len Ganley’s brother, Derek, lives in Lisburn and owns the skeleton of Frank Randle. Karl had to carry out urgent repairs on his guitar and leads during National Shite Day and ended up just grabbing a replacement. At about the same time there was a frantic discussion between two of the security guys. Bother in the crowd? “This one’s about the church next door but one,” announced Nigel before they played Midnight Mass Murder. And he finished that song with “Thank you. Hallelujah.” There was more equipment trouble during Trumpton Riots, when the strap totally came off Nigel’s guitar and he ended up looking like a banjo player with it tucked into his elbow. Formbyesque.
“It’s chilly outside for April. But it’s been warm in here,” Nigel pointed out, ahead of Joy Division Oven Gloves. When they came back for the encore, he said “Very nice, very nice. Much appreciated.” I also heard him say “Sister Ray. Yeah.” Don’t know if someone had shouted for that. Tony has tattoos high on both arms, and was keen to show these during Shit Arm Bad Tattoo. Ferry Cross The Humber would have been a nice cover version, but I have not seen many wilder mosh pits at a HMHB show than for the rendition of Holiday In Cambodia.
All good, as usual, notwithstanding those technical blips. I’m sure it’s not like that for the chaps on stage, but it’s almost like the sound problems are becoming part of the show. Bring back Gareth. I reckon the show went like this…
She’s In Broadstairs
Fuckin’ ‘Ell It’s Fred Titmus
Bob Wilson Anchorman
Bad Losers On Yahoo Chess
Renfield’s Afoot
I’m Getting Buried In The Morning
A Lilac Harry Quinn
Joy In Leeuwarden
Awkward Sean
Look Dad No Tunes
When I Look At My Baby
Terminus
Surging Out Of Convalescence
Vatican Broadside
Floreat Inertia
All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit
Stuck Up A Hornbeam
Persian Rug Sale At The URC
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train
National Shite Day
We Built This Village On A Trad Arr Tune
Midnight Mass Murder
The Trumpton Riots
Everything’s AOR
Oblong Of Dreams
Joy Division Oven Gloves
As usual, there were three in the encore:
Shit Arm Bad Tattoo
Holiday In Cambodia
Every Time A Bell Rings
Karl had possibly been undertaking some ancient ritual, where he doused his set list with water before tearing it in two. Nevertheless, I could make out what it said, and everything matched up perfectly against what the band actually played.
There were a couple of farewells on the way out. Mike was on his way back to the car. And it was great to see Pete from Worksop. Doesn’t get down to the front so much these days, but glad he can still make it along to the gigs.
Checking out of the Travelodge on the Saturday morning, we met a couple of fans who were equally impressed with the show. And then we spotted Andy, and walked back to the station with him. He was expecting to be back in Dumfries mid-afternoon, a relatively early get-home by his usual standards. A hen party was in our carriage, one of whom was actually called Sonia. I was listening out for Gail as well. No such luck.
Somebody said something about an overtime ban on the trains on the weekend of the Edinburgh gig. Need to keep an eye out for that. If that’s the case, it could be a tricky one to get to and from.
30 April 2023
Stef
I went. It was good. I couldn’t drink so was sober and still enjoyed it. Pity about monitor problems I also went to the cancelled gig in December as my mate The Ginger Prince couldn’t be arsed to read the email about the cancellation. This gig was better
30 April 2023
Gary idge-forcort
Happy to finally make it there, following the December cancellation. Top night.
Oh, and I found the fox joke chuckleworthy… It ain’t a monkey with a tin opener and custard, but it’s not far off.
30 April 2023
dr DEsperate
Mayday Musings on the beauties of Kingston upon Hull, celebrated as Britain’s Cheapest Port: a “Hull-an-tow”*, if you will.
Pre-gig drinks were taken in The Hop & Vine, a cellar bar garlanded with dried hops (which you couldn’t really taste) and the New Clarence round the corner, its Chilli Devils pop-up selling almost-meat-free wraps and chips with the Hull delicacy “American” chip spice. They also served a chocolate porter which made Exxo literally whoop with delight, but unfortunately it quickly ran out, as they’d held a muso wake there the night before. The proprietors of both establishments quickly spotted a sales opportunity and started playing HMHB on their Spotify-enabled devices.
We spotted Tony from the Hop & Vine the following morning, manning a Free Palestine stall on Ferensway. Probably unrelated, a ‘Yorkshire & The Humber Police’ Crime Scene Investigation van was parked nearby – CSI:Humberside!
At The Welly, the lightbox on Miles’s merch stand read “CREAM PHONE BOXES!”, raising inappropriately the hopes that he might have sourced some of the money boxes on sale in Hull’s tourist tat shops. They’re shaped like the city’s privately-owned KCOM phoneboxes, which are cream in colour, except for the rainbow-hued Pride one at Queens Gardens – come on, you’re better than that. I have one of those money boxes by the phone at home, decorated with a stencil of a fern. (You have to say it in a Hull accent, like the name of the tapas bar ‘Bert’s’, on the dockside by the yacht marina.)
Neil’s rendition of the last verse of ‘Song for Thirza’, and Nigel and Wizard Tony’s of the chorus of ‘Hal-an-tow’, both sung a cappella at the gig, were tributes to the First Family of Hull, the Watersons.
The former was written by Lal W, about the eponymous “young woman with a hunched back”, plucked from a Hull workhouse by her mother Eliza to bring up the siblings while she was running her second-hand clothes shops. You might have heard it on the 2017 re-issue of ‘Bright Phoebus (q v)’, before it was withdrawn for legal reasons.
* ’Hal-an’tow’ is a reference to Mayday, or Beltane (q v), recorded by The Watersons on their ‘Frost and Fire’ album. The term “Halan” means calends (not the Greek one), or first of the month, and “tow” means garland.
Nigel’s mention of visiting the food court at the St Stephen Centre, where Wizard Tony goes to get stoned, drew a disparaging snort from a local standing behind me, who said, “It’s not the St Stephen Centre, it’s St Stephen’s”. It is.
One more Hull City reference to add to Roger’s transcript of Nigel’s Tiger talk: he mentioned the classic pub quiz fact that their name is the only one in the League to contain no letters that can be coloured in.
On to Embra!
1 May 2023
TRANSIT FULL OF keith
A Watersons cover, did you say?
1 May 2023
EXXO
Fantasy Biscuitball is still a young sport. At a similar stage of association football, there was no crossbar, a three-player offside rule, two umpires without whistles, no penalties, etc. So as I mentioned earlier in the season, there will again be an open review in the summer and there may be bonuses next year if your prediction of the cover is the walk-on and vice versa. This could in theory be extended to Neil’s a capella intros to ‘Awkard Sean,’ as they are planned*, but if we go as far as other brief interludes and fragments between songs, we are courting all kinds of potential controversy and dissent.**
*What about cases though where artists are not identified? For example, Neil’s introduction to ‘Awkward Sean’ in Stowmarket was something I did know quite well, but then forgot what it was afterwards, and Roger did not note it down, so we’ve no idea now what it was.
**As we might also do if we predicted celebrities spotted in the audience, as was proposed. Which, like predicting Neil’s ‘Awkward Sean’ intros, would also have the potential to interfere with the band’s planning of the performance and at the very least make them (even) more self-conscious about these things.
1 May 2023
EXXO
But got to say of course the Watersons was a very good shout Keith and you were unlucky there (Sorry Chris feel free of course to move these three comments to the Quiz thread).
1 May 2023
dr DEsperate
And a few non-Hull-specific observations:
Sheffield-born Louise Lear, spotted in the crowd on Friday, was back on R4’s ‘Farming Today’ this morning, doing the 5-day weather forecast.
If Len Ganley’s brother – might have been Derek, he was one of 11 children – does indeed own the skeleton of Frank Randle, then I’ve been pouring bottles of Mackeson over the wrong grave all these years. Ah, but he wouldn’t know, ‘cos he’d be 200 kilometres away.
Postie Tony and I almost triggered a Showsec intervention during ‘Persian Rug Sale’, recreating the Norman Hunter/Francis Lee toe-to-toe. (I like to think that my Frannie Lee roundhouses would have taken the decision, as they did back in the day.)
1 May 2023
TRANSIT FULL OF keith
Fair enough on the Watersons (and I’d covered both angles with the folk walk-on guess anyway). If only people like me would read the rules more.
1 May 2023
EXXO
Not much worse I suppose than replying to yourself when your original post was already in the wrong thread, but you can’t reply in another thread, can you?
So @ myself (comment 10, which should be in the quiz thread, as should this) I was of course referring to Neil’s intro to ‘Awkward Sean’ at Cambridge not Stowmarket, which had been forgotten until now – Al Jolson.
4 May 2023
Spide
Jeff Hemmerman, also a Pompey legend. He scored 44 goals for us, more than for anyone else. He now runs a sports injuries and rehabilitation clinic in Newport, Gwent.
5 May 2023
JoeydeaconsdisciplE
Jeff Hemmerman finished his career with Cardiff City he destroyed his knee playing the gas heads of Bristol Rovers
It was literally Goodnight Irene for his career
He tried to comeback but failed miserably
He runs a physio company in Newport now
5 May 2023
Spide
There is a review of the Hull gig on East Anglia music website grapevinelive.
https://www.grapevinelive.co.uk/review-half-man-half-biscuit/
9 May 2023
Hendrix-tattoo
I wonder who the Man U fan is?
🤔
9 May 2023
Parsfan
I wonder who the other bass players were.
9 May 2023
EXXO
Decent review. But if the is author is reading, no, the story about Instant Agony is not true. Nigel made the name up. See bassist Neil Crossley’s comment towards the end of this thread (if that attempt to link it works. If not, it’s the Diana thread in the A-Z).
While we’re correcting, and since your review has been posted on this AOONP*, you’ve precisely doubled the capacity of the Welly, and the original date wasn’t chilled off, but illed off.
Good effort apart from that.
*Are of Outstanding Natural Pedantry
9 May 2023
EXXO
Area.
9 May 2023
EXXO
Well in Paul.
Yes, as Paul points out, the only bass-player they’ve ever had and the main co-tunesmith with Nigel.
9 May 2023
Spide
Thank you for the feedback on that review. I will make sure that review is corrected online. Welly doorman said 1200 when all rooms in use…a website suggests just under a thousand. So about 20% out, although ot all rooms in use on 28th April it seems, (still more accurate than attendance figures at most games these days, I reckon). That name, various references investigated, overlap of associations with the band there and so on, will tweak. Most importantly, apologies to Neil Crossley! I have been to Hull and back for that gig, a misreading of the history on my part, I was knackered.
9 May 2023
EXXO
I think you’ve misunderstood what they mean by “all rooms in use” – that would be for a club night with different music in different rooms. If there’s just a gig in the main room, it’s 600 capacity. As I said (and if your unwanted ticket went), you doubled it with 1200.
Nice one for being open to the corrections and like I say you certainly capture the spirit!
9 May 2023
EXXO
https://www.nme.com/news/music/hull-venues-the-welly-and-the-polar-bear-are-set-to-close-2709219
NME only interested in the gig capacity.
9 May 2023
D list paul ross
Wasn’t sure where to put this, I’m out and don’t have a pen but I think I’ve got Riley’s Anagram Sam in one.
9 May 2023
Spide
Thanks to Chris and all above for input. Review has been tweaked. I consider myself to be on the YTS when it comes to writing about HMHB, so all comments were very welcome. Cheers!
https://www.grapevinelive.co.uk/review-half-man-half-biscuit/
10 May 2023