It’s heading towards three years since the band last played this venue, and from what I can see on Gez’s site’s reviews, that particular gig was the last time Chatteris didn’t get an airing, fact fans. According to Stuart’s map, not only are there zero references to Scotland’s capital in the songbook, but there appears to be a 100-mile exclusion zone around the city too. So let’s get straight on to the reviews…
Chris The Siteowner
Great intimate venue. Sound as atrocious as ever: great if you knew the lyrics, probably baffling otherwise. No Trumpton Riots was probably the headline, although I’ll be interested to study the setlist, which seemed to be heavily weighted towards the oldies, and contained a few surprises, including – wait for it – “Moody Chops”.
1 July 2011
Ross
Allow me to shed some light on that, courtesy of a set list written in blue Biro snaffled from atop the bass amp:
The Best Things In Life
Bottleneck at Capel Curig
When The Evening Sun Goes Down
A Lilac Harry Quinn
Petty Sessions
Lark Descending
Fuckin’ Ell It’s Fred Titmuss
Trevor (anyone know more about what this song was?)
Left Lyrics In The Practice Room
Totnes Bickering Fair/Gouranga
Turned Up Clocked On Laid Off
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel (Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train)
Look Dad No Tunes
All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit
Excavating Rita
Bob Wilson Anchorman
24 Hour Garage People
1966 And All That
Moody Chops
For What Is Chatteris
Slipknot
National Shite Day
Everything’s AOR
? (that’s what it says on the set list)
W Man (not sure what this is short for, can’t remember the song)
99% Of Gargoyles
Joy Division Oven Gloves
Agree with Chris’ comment on the poor sound. My mate was well put out too by the lack of available ale or cider. However, the band put on a great show. Maybe one or two too many old songs for my liking – the London set list from last week was more up my street.
1 July 2011
Chris The Siteowner
Thanks for that. Not sure it’s entirely accurate, they didn’t do “Rita” for example. “Trevor” would be “Reflections in A Flat” if I recall correctly. There seemed to be so many old songs they became a bit of a blur – certainly at least six from the first two albums, when sometimes it’s as few as three. Songs which tend to get an airing every gig (well, at least in all of the last half-dozen) but didn’t make an appearance last night include We Built This Village, Trumpton, Evening Of Swing and Runningorder. So it was an odd set list, and certainly not one which particularly did it for me. In fact, the whole performance was slightly perfunctory, with precious little between-song banter, minimal improvisation (£1.03) and no cover version I can remember. It would be hard to be disappointed with a Biscuit gig, but this was at the lower end of the memorability scale.
1 July 2011
John Burscough
Was W Man the cover? White Man In Hammersmith Palais perhaps?
1 July 2011
Ross
Yes, I was waiting for those songs but they never came. And of course, no A Country Practice or (biggest disappointment for me) Tommy Walsh’s Eco House. 24 Garage People was terrific though (“Gandalf – Gollum – Relationship – Unlikely”) and JDOG was pogo-tastic.
1 July 2011
Jon Glasgow
I’ve got this, courtesy of a cheeky ipod recording I did – shit quality unfortunately, but still useful.
The Best Things In Life
Bottleneck at Capel Curig
When The Evening Sun Goes Down
A Lilac Harry Quinn
Petty Sessions
Lark Descending
Fuckin’ Ell It’s Fred Titmus
Reflections in A Flat
Left Lyrics In The Practice Room
Totnes Bickering Fair/Gouranga
Turned Up Clocked On Laid Off
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel (Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train)
Look Dad No Tunes
All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit
Bob Wilson Anchorman
1966 And All That
Moody Chops
24 Hour Garage People
For What Is Chatteris?
Vatican Broadside
National Shite Day
Everything’s AOR
Worried Man Blues
99% Of Gargoyles
Joy Division Oven Gloves
I would agree about the sound, and that it wasn’t the quintessential Biscuit gig, although still mightily good fun. Biggest gripe of the night was the ridiculously over-sized and over-used lighting rig. I know they had a refurb after the fire upstairs, but if you’re going to spend thousands on new lights and line-array speakers in a venue that size, get kit that fits and then learn how to use it properly.
So no, I’m not a mate of the bloke who does the PA…
1 July 2011
Sean Edinburgh
Thoroughly enjoyed last night’s gig. It’s good to have the LR up and running again and even better to have HMHB back in the Edinburgh.
As someone who only gets to a biscuits gig about once every 4-5 years, I was more than happy with the setlist, however the sound (esp the vocals) was poor on the “louder” songs.
1 July 2011
Twistedkitemike
Jon Glasgow’s set-list is bang on. I thought that the show was very good; a nice mix, a couple of exhumations, though not Rita.
I suspect that they did not play Rita because the sound was not great. Ken was in top form and Neil looked very relaxed. They were let down by the PA.
Word from the inside is that Nigel has had problems with his voice. The London gig involved shouting and rumour has it, some time in the studio. He was concerned about possibly having no vocals for Kendal tonight. Allegedly.
I suspect that is why Trumpton was given a seat in the stands for a change, possibly Trad Arr Tune was rested for a European away fixture; but yet they banged out JDOG as a climax?
More to follow. – Mike
1 July 2011
Murray Meikle
I agree with those who were slightly disappointed with the set list – but it was still a great night. The review from the Edinburgh Evening News is here – the reviewer might not appreciate the master of the strat but at least he seems to have a basic grounding in HMHB.
2 July 2011
S.G.D A SHROPSHIRE LAD
I think that “bathetic” is a bit harsh.
2 July 2011
Chris The Siteowner
3 July 2011
Chris The Siteowner
5 July 2011