Sheffield has been a fairly regular haunt for the band (9 visits in the last 15 years), but it’s a long time since they’ve played at the Leadmill, where the live tracks released on “ACD” were recorded back in 1986. Indeed, I can’t find any record of the band having played at the venue since 1991. So what was their first visit for nearly 25 years like? Over to you.
Chris The Siteowner
The Leadmill website says that “This is their first gig at the Leadmill for 30 years” but even the site itself contradicts that, listing an appearance in 1991. Whether that was the last until this one, I don’t know.
3 September 2015
twistedkitemike
Top gig. Quick set-list for you all: –
Light Tunnel
Christian Rock Concert
4AD3DCD
Fred T
Old Age
Shit Arm
Fear My Wraith
Evening Sun
Surging Convalescence
Vitas G
Slipper (full version)
Asparagus
CAMRA
Lark Descending
Bane
DPAK
Look Dad
Bad Wools
Hornbeam
Dead Men
Trad Arr Tune
Slipknot
JDOG
Chatteris
NSD
Trumpton
……………………….
Bob W
Len Ganley
AOR
Mike……………………….
4 September 2015
bobby svarc
The live part of ACD was recorded at the Leadmill, as mentioned above.
4 September 2015
Chris The Siteowner
Wow: Christian Rock Concert – only the second outing in the last 15 years, according to the Giant Setlist Spreadsheet. Hope somebody was waving their iPhone in the air and has a YouTube account.
4 September 2015
ADC
My first HMHB gig last night, great show. Would definitely go again.
4 September 2015
Kendo nagasaki
Finally after years of incessant shouting at Nigel to play anything from Godcore my wish came true. They seemed to play quite a few niche tracks last night. Amazing night had by all
4 September 2015
EXXO
I’ve got a feeling it was more the writing than the shouting, which is always futile.
(cf. my asparagus campaign)
4 September 2015
Bobby SVARC
Svarc rejects the anguish of missing my favourite song.
4 September 2015
EXXO
Did NB make the obvious two words of additions to the lyrics of ‘Wraith’? Until a couple of weeks ago I thought I might be singing it a lot in the early weeks of the season… mind you anyone who is in the centre of the Forest Green/HMHB fan/natural pessimist Venn diagram probably is singing it anyway…
4 September 2015
bobby svarc
I hope you can make it to Christmas at Bilston, Exxo, I fear it maybe my gig swansong, unless a gig takes place in Cov, Nuneaton or my back garden next year.
4 September 2015
IRish dave
I would be inclined to agree with Kendo that it WAS the shouting that caught Nigel’s attention, & when he started Wraith it was purely improv, & the crowd singing along made the band join in, & then it just got better & better until the final line.
I thoroughly enjoyed the night & the atmosphere was great
5 September 2015
EXXO
Nice one – sounds like a pretty special privilege for the audience in that respect then, cos other than a few occasional bars (most regularly of Climie), full band responses to requests are like hens’ teeth … whereas other forms of audience feedback often do influence the setlists.
It’s possible that Roger’s review will confirm that it wasn’t on the setlist.
6 September 2015
Kendo nagasaki
Before they started wraith Nigel said ” I could do it, but these lot would struggle” the band spurred on by this slander and the crowds enthusiasm seemed to decide to just run with it
6 September 2015
CARRIE ANNE
I concur that ‘Wraith’ was an off the cuff performance, and non the worse for it. At the end, Nigel’s comment was something like “See, who needs rehearsals?”. Fantastic gig (again).
6 September 2015
ROG & ROLL
Am I right in thinking we can’t bundle Roger’s reviews into the back of our van any more cos the url for all of them is now sneakily just hmhb.co.uk? Grr, thought you would appreciate the traffic Gez.
Anyway really enjoyed the fruits of your pencil from Sheffield, Roger, except or the bad news about Nigel’s lovely old dog, of course.
Anyway here’s very different sort of review of the gig, painting with a somewhat broader brush, but decent nonetheless.
14 September 2015
Chris The Siteowner
Gez’s site has used the same archaic method of display (“frames”, if you’re HTML-aware) to handle the alias to his site for a long time, so it’s impossible to link to most of it, much as I’d love to. Even Google can’t cope, whether it’s the hmhb.co.uk alias or the actual domain. (Compare to the Google results for this site). Couple this with javascript popups for the gig reviews, and… well, let’s say the technology doesn’t do the priceless site any favours. But to read Roger Green’s review, go here and find it next to the Sheffield link.
14 September 2015
dr desperate
I hope Mark Whitworth will have no objection to my posting his review from the ‘Everything Indie Over 40’ website. My apologies for not having been there for him.
HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT, SHEFFIELD LEADMILL, 3 SEP 2015
“Not long now before lollipop men are called Darren”
A couple of weeks ago I offered to write a gig review for the Everything Indie Over 40 website. Should be pretty easy, I thought – a band and a venue I love, how hard can it be? Writing this a few days after the event, I now realise why I’m not a journalist. They make bringing a gig to life look easy, while I feel like I’m writing through treacle. But anyway…
John Peel once said of Half Man Half Biscuit “When I die, I want them to be buried with me”. Wise words from the great man, and a sentiment shared no doubt by many a die-hard HMHB fan.
In my experience, people seem to be acquainted with Birkenhead’s finest in one of two ways. They have either vaguely heard of the odd tune, maybe ‘The Trumpton Riots’ or ‘Joy Division Oven Gloves’, and perhaps consider them something of a novelty act; or they know every single word of every single song the band have ever released and go to every single gig. The middle ground seemed to be very sparsely occupied. I’m happy to admit to falling very close to the latter end of this continuum of devotion, although my gig attendance is mainly restricted to just the Yorkshire area and so I had been heartily awaiting HMHB’s return to Sheffield for some months. This year’s roughly annual Sheffield gig sees them continue their travels around the city’s venues since the closure of their regular haunt, The Boardwalk, by pitching up at the legendary Leadmill.
I arrive just as the easy-on-the-ear support duo Rita Payne are finishing their spot, and take a look around for the usual suspects in the crowd.
• The redoubtable Roger, notepad in hand, who writes the reviews for http://www.hmhb.co.uk √
• The King Of Hi-Vis, with his unmissable eponymous bright yellow tabard – OH MY GOD HE’S NOT HERE! Although it’s quite busy which limits my view somewhat. He can’t be far away surely.
• Numerous gentlemen of a certain age, sometimes balding, sometimes bespectacled, often both, who may or may not still live at home with their mums √
• More people wearing Dukla Prague away kits than (probably) wear Dukla Prague away kits at Dukla Prague away games √
There is a larger female contingent than usual as well which is very pleasing to see. Hopefully the lads’ appeal is expanding, which is no bad thing at all.
They arrive just after 9pm – no pleasantries, no “HELLO SHEFFIELD!”, just straight into the first song, the marvellous ‘The Light At The End Of The Tunnel’. With a back catalogue stretching back 30 years, encompassing in the region of 200 songs according to my iPod (other MP3 players are available), and a guaranteed two full hours, you never know what set you are going to get, although you can be sure you will get your money’s worth.
Tonight is certainly no different as they rattle through 29 songs overall. Personally I was hoping to hear two or three more from the latest album, 2014’s splendid ‘Urge For Offal’, but I guess you can’t have everything, and ‘Old Age Killed My Teenage Bride’, ‘The Bane Of Constance’ (“Iron Age mums are haunting my cagoule” – how does Nigel come up with these lyrics?!) and ‘Stuck Up A Hornbeam’ (a song ostensibly about depression, set to the jauntiest tune imaginable) more than hit the spot in any case.
They continue with rare outings for songs such as ‘Christian Rock Concert’ and ‘4AD3DCD’ interspersing live staples like ‘Fuckin’ ‘Ell It’s Fred Titmus’ (chorus shouted back by the entire crowd, of course), ‘All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit’, ‘We Built This Village On A Trad. Arr. Tune’, and the magnificent ‘Vatican Broadside’. If you listen to one HMHB song, make it this one (30 seconds long but beware the NSFW lyrics!)
The inter-song lulls are, as always, punctuated by the standard shouts of “What did God give us Neil?” and requests for various songs from the back catalogue. I’ve seen HMHB half a dozen or so times and never heard them play a song from the neglected ‘Some Call It Godcore’. However, tonight, a shout goes out for “anything from Godcore” and they duly launch into what seems to be a spontaneous version of ‘Fear My Wraith’, which delights the faithful.
Another novelty (for me at least) is witnessing Nigel forget the words to a song, in this case ‘Rock And Roll Is Full Of Bad Wools’. Thankfully, pretty much the entire crowd is on hand to fill in the blanks for him. Considering the depth of their back catalogue and the number of spoken word numbers it contains, I’m amazed this doesn’t happen much more often.
The main set comes to a close with ‘National Shite Day’ (“there’s a man with a mullet going mad with a mallet in Millets”) and ‘The Trumpton Riots’, and the encore finishes on the stroke of 11pm with the regular closer ‘Everything’s AOR’.
We drift off into the Sheffield night fully satiated as always and already looking forward to the next local gig, whenever that may be.
7 February 2017