First gig of the year, and when your fans come from far and wide, a daring time to put on a gig anywhere north of …ooh, Africa, I should think. Sold out, but extra tickets at the last minute saved the day. Assuming the weather allowed the van to get through, what was the gig like?
twistedkitemike
Set-list opener for the thread: –
Slipknot
Light Tunnel
Bob Wilson
Old Age
Jim Reeves
Pancake Day
Numanoid
Bad Losers
Adam Boyle
Korfball
Bane
Turned Up
Bob Todd
Urge for Offal (added – Ed)
Evening Sun
DPAK
NSD
Chatteris
JDOG
Gwatkin
Fred T
AOR
…………………………………..
Hornbeam
I Think We’re Alone Now
Trumpton
Mike…………………………………..
1 February 2015
jitsu_g
Well that was good wasn’t it
1 February 2015
S
10-minute delay at the start as Neil tried to rebuild his bass pedals from scratch. Was that new material Nigel was unveiling as he filled in with a couple of acoustic interludes before ‘VB’?
1 February 2015
Chris The Siteowner
Certainly was. Sounded like most of one song and a snatch of another. Probably stuff they’d written which didn’t make UfO, although NB10 made some comment about one song “coming out in three years’ time”, if I heard right. Hope somebody recorded it.
1 February 2015
Pt
Who was the support act last night? Anyone know?
1 February 2015
S
JD Meatyard – former Calvin Party mainman. I missed them.
IIRC his previous band supported a few gigs ago, forget their name (don’t *think* it was the same one)
1 February 2015
George yardley
Great night all round. JD Meatyard excellent support. My friend was mistaken for the singer twice by well refreshed punters, one of whom insisted on buying him a pint. More Dukla Prague tops than I’d ever seen. Busiest night I’ve seen Liquid Room. Sound was better than last time. Danced myself thinner. A memorable night!
1 February 2015
Chris The Siteowner
Overall, a more than decent gig. Sound was average from the back, but apparently better in other places, Nigel was on good form, and the set list was interesting: “Jim Reeves” a choice rarity.
FiveSix songs from the new album, most of which stood up well in comparison to the oldies (although the sound couldn’t cope with the intricacy of “Gwatkin”‘s first half). Supportive crowd, and great to say hi to King Of Hi Vis and Jitsu G, as well as Thorsten, who’d flown over from Germany for the gig. Also thanks to the group of guys in front of us who accidentally got separate rounds in simultaneously, and insisted on giving me one of their spare pints. Definitely left the gig more than happy.Geoff Davies told me before the gig that UfO is now the band’s biggest seller since the debut album, and obviously in a very short time too. Great news, but to put things in context, the debut album has outsold all the other 16 albums and EPs added together, several times over. Amazing. Geoff did seem convinced, curiously, that the sales of UfO were entirely down to the quality of the album. This might hold up as a claim if there’d been rave reviews everywhere, but with precisely zero reviews in any publication of note, I think that’s a bit delusional unless I seriously underestimate the power of word-of-mouth recommendations.
1 February 2015
TAYLO
Loop playing Tenor Horn on Adam Boyle and Bass on Urge for Offal were my highlights!
1 February 2015
the second man from wallasey to eat a Kettle crisp
What a cracking night. First time I’d seen them since mid-90s; as good as ever. AOR was superb. 2 songs I would have loved to hear are Lord H’s Knob and Capel Curig; but hey, you can’t have everything.
1 February 2015
Mark
You’re welcome to the pint mate
Great site !
1 February 2015
more like ken barlow
Just found this on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sya6ZOJU3B4
Hope this will work CTSO.
Is this the first time Ken has joined in the vocals?
2 February 2015
TAYLO
Ah that’s great. The video I have of Loop playing Bass on UFO didn’t come out that well so I hope there is another one.
2 February 2015
Horatio
Mike, you missed UFO from your list. It was after Bob Todd!
2 February 2015
mate of the bloke … with the extra pints
It was great to hear Nigel unveiling some new material in a live environment. From what I heard I’m calling it ‘Garage In Constant Use’. Sounded like a good un.
2 February 2015
German rep.
Had an extremely memorable night in Edinburgh! @King of Hi-Vis et al: Thank you so much for the warm welcome. It was a great pleasure meeting you all! The gig was all but ‘geil’, a first for me and hopefully not the last… Cheers, Thorsten
2 February 2015
parsfan
Great gig and Nigel was in really good form. I can’t remember the context but my favourite one liner was about “PG Arnold ‘First Cup Is The Weakest'”.
2 February 2015
twistedkitemike
Horatio – I apologise, you are quite right. I blame it on Scottish BBC 1 for showing some Scotch football before (English Premier League) Match of the Day and thus, delaying the Football League Show to the point that I nearly lost the will to live. Although it could have been the Deuchars we found after the gig.
Anyway, I hang my head in shame, etc…….
Could CtSO edit the post accordingly so that history is not curdled by such incompetence?
M……………..
4 February 2015
twistedkitemike
Two other points. I messed up your post (#8) Chris, because you said five UfO tracks and I knew there had been six; I even checked my sad little set-list notebook. It was because I missed UfO on post #1.
Secondly, I’m sure Jim Reeves hasn’t been chucked in this century. Anyone have an idea of the rough date of the previous appearance of said tune?
Mike………………………………
4 February 2015
Phyllis Triggs
Midlothian. Midwinter. Midafternoon. Whats a po’ gal to do? I turn to the internet – CAMRAs Whatpub site to be precise – and head over to Bannermanns in search of Fraoch – Heather Ale. Pure golden nectar. Sadly (good as it is) only the bottled version seems to have made it south of the border so having the opportunity to engage with the draught variety was true heaven. If I was religious I’d say we were designed to drink this stuff.
Suitably refreshed I arrive at the Liquid Rooms just as the support band is kicking off. JD Meatyard. Every bit as raw and bloody as the name suggests. Spitting gristle at politicians, bankers, bailiffs – the plosive cabal responsible for the sorry state of society and those who carry out their dirty work – and at us sorry fucks who let them get away with it. Killed by television, hypnotised by shopping. What’s wrong with people? We could be so much more than this.
Oops. In danger of drifting into personal rant rather than review here but JD Meatyard struck a chord in me and its still ringing. Songs of passion. Songs of anger. Songs of loss. Songs from the heart. If he was any more authentic they’d lock him up. In fact I suspect they might do anyway. Catch him while you can.
Time to get another Guinness and snake my way through the crowd to claim my space for the main event. The venue benefitted from being packed out, and the audience seemed younger than the usual HMHB crowd (or is it just that I’m getting older?) which was certainly good to see. Something to do with the big city location perhaps? Or maybe the new album (for whatever reason – social media?) has reached a younger audience?
A number of familiar faces had made the journey north. King of Hi-Vis stood out (appropriately enough), resplendent in his… Hi-Vis. Several members of the audience sporting Dukla Prague garb had obviously heeded the fashionistas’ mantra to invest in at least one timeless classic outfit. Oven gloves? Didn’t see any this time. Understandable I suppose as they are unwieldy items – awkward to manage along with a pint – tho plenty of air oven gloves were raised aloft at the opportune moment. Had briefly considered taking along a spork – more manageable than oven gloves, could be the start of a new trend – but how thorough and humourless were the doorstaff? Would it be considered an offensive weapon? Decided not to risk it.
What was that wonderfully overblown operatic the band made their entrance to? Superb choice! And to follow it up with such a spectacularly shambolic start, during which we were treated to 10 minutes of Nigel’s laid back banter (the Mudd/Sweet joke is becoming as much a fixture as JDOG!) while Neil endeavoured to fix his broken bass pedal, was truely inspired!
The sound – at least from where I was stationed near the front – was very good. Plenty of songs from Urge For Offal already being greeted as if they were old favourites. Slightly disappointed that one of my personal favourites Old Age Killed My Teenage Bride seemed to lack the power it has on the CD – those spine-tingling vocal harmonies really lift the song into another dimension and if that could be recreated live it would be a highlight of the show. And while we’re on the subject of UFO – a slight aside –
Did anyone else notice the outfitters conveniently situated opposite the venue? Just the job, I thought, should any aspiring Adam Boyles fancy flirting with tweed. Tho, on second thoughts, those prices would surely deter all but the most ardent suitors.
Anyway, back to the gig – With such an impressive back catalogue, how do the band decide what to play? Thought I’d got a handle on most of the classics but found I could only sing along to about 50% of the set list. I forget these guys have been going for thirty odd years and every album is bursting with classic tracks. Wonderful that there’s still so much more to discover…
And I don’t mean to open up the whole crick/prick debate but I’m sure Nigel used the p word on Saturday night. P’rhaps just intending to wind us up?
This was my third HMHB gig. Previously I’d embraced the margin and observed from a respectful distance but this time I felt ready to take my chances centre forward – if moshing was to break out, so be it. I wasn’t disappointed. The venue being so packed had reached critical moshing mass and two guys near me were intent on instigating some action. Well done lads! Good effort! Several other people got involved and while I lacked the confidence to pile in myself I was more than happy to lend a shove or two in order to keep the momentum going.
How good did it feel to be in the middle of that crowd jumping up and down and shouting ‘Fuck off Captain Flack’? You wouldn’t believe me if I told you…
If you’re listening lads, I reckon a January gig should become an seasonal fixture – it’s the perfect winter tonic.
PS
Sorry to whoever’s foot it was I jumped on – I hope you find some solace in the fact that it hurt me more than it hurt you. Had to bounce one-legged through the rest of National Shite Day (2 legs good 1 leg best?) Shame – if ever a song cried out for two-legged bouncing its that one! Still, no stoppages for injuries. The show-closing crowd-pleasers kept on coming so I had no option but to bounce through the pain barrier. Seemed like the best thing to do at the time. The next morning told a different story. HMHB – so good I sprained my ankle.
Dontcha just hate those people who post long rambling reviews?
4 February 2015
Dr Desperate
Soooo… bit of an unusual one, I thought, starting from the point in the Last Drop where Jitsu_G and I were approached by Hamburger Thorsten. His English, and knowledge of obscure BBC comedy programmes, were better than ours. Uncle John Meatyard was also in attendance, as were Taylo and Loop.
The Liquid Room turned out to be an underground dive with the worst sound since Stannington, and a notice on the stage saying ‘Use Podiums At Own Risk’. Having just met CtSO, I wondered if it should have said ‘Podia’. JDM played another blinder in support, though it was somewhat disappointing not to hear Loudon Wainwright mentioned in ‘Standing On The Shoulders Of Better Men’.
Walk-on music was provided by Wagner (the thundery bit at the end of Das Rheingold), followed by a catastrophic equipment failure which left Nigel to his own devices while Neil fixed his. He took the opportunity to play ‘Vatican Broadside’, then, sweet Jesus, a new song! It appeared to be about a neighbour who is A Man of Constant Sorrow (rhymes with borrow, Zorro), whose garage is in constant use. One verse described climbing on his bin and observing his misery through the window, and a guitar solo was promised in three years or so.
There was discussion of the motorways taken to beat Geoff’s A-road route, the Turner exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery, and the pandas at the Zoo. Nigel wouldn’t be visiting the Zoo, naturally, as he’d be sure to hear someone saying ‘orang-utang’. The penguins are still getting half an hour for lunch.
Things finally kicked off with the set much as above, though with ‘UFO’ inserted after ‘Bob Todd’. ‘Fix It’ was dropped from the setlist after ‘Evening Sun’, due possibly to the darkness onstage or to the revelation that the rest of the band write the setlists.
Intros re-introduced: “This one’s about a stab victim meeting her attacker for coffee, and the coffee’s shite”; “This one’s about Korfball”; “True story” (UFO). We were given to understand that ‘Yahoo Chess’ was about Neil, and that Ken was the first man in Wallasey to eat kettle chips.
The Sweet/Mud gag (“That’s right, that’s right, that’s right, that’s right”) was rather let down by referring to ‘Blockbuster’ rather than ‘Tiger Feet’, but the PP Arnold one (“First Cup Is The Weakest”) was a belter.
Asked who would win the Tour, Nigel revealed that he’d been able to get 120/1 on the World Champion Michal Kwiatkowski, as the manager at his local Ladbrokes had never heard of him.
Celebrity spotted: Pam Ferris.
Loop made barnstorming appearances on tenor horn (“Looks more expensive than that to me”, NB10) for ‘Adam Boyle’ and on bass for ‘UFO’, allowing Neil, the bassist, to play acoustic guitar. Neil and Ken swapped axes for ‘Constance’.
The cover version was Tommy James and the Shondells’ “I Think We’re Alone Now’, then a snatch of ‘Busy Little Market Town’ preceded ‘Trumpton Riots’ which brought the entertainment to a conclusion, a good ten minutes post-curfew. A fine night, all in all, though…unusual.
On to Wakefield!
4 February 2015
Chris The Siteowner
From what I can make out, they didn’t play “Jim Reeves” between 2000 and 2011 (see our spreadsheet here) and since then, I can only find it once, at Bilston three years ago. So it looks like only the second outing for the song in at least fifteen years.
By the way, if anyone feels like updating our spreadsheet to cover 2012-2014, using the set lists on this site, do email me and claim the gig.
4 February 2015
dr desperate
Excellent review there, @Phyllis, and not a word too long or rambling. In point of fact, there were at least two pairs of JDOGs there, one sported by m’ladyfriend Elizabeth and another by an American bloke who came over at the end to compare designs. The moshing was excellent, and if one is standing six feet from the singer I suppose the sound quality doesn’t matter that much.
I recall now that Nigel joined in with a bloke in the crowd on one verse of a country song which was something to do with 20 Years – Kenny Rogers?
4 February 2015
Phyllis Triggs
Thanks Dr Desperate. I must have been so caught up in the action that I completely missed Elizabeth and the other guy with JDOG. Very impressed that you encountered an American at the gig – especially one with oven gloves. This must be a first?
4 February 2015
exxo
Top quality review Phyllis (and everyone else who has reported back on the gig) – you make the pain of having had to miss out more bearable and it’s particularly pleasing to see such appreciation for JD Meatyard, such a fine support act precisely because he’s so different to HMHB. I must say that Nigel has always sung ‘prick barriers’ though.
4 February 2015
Dr Desperate
Another YouTube posting from Saturday (JDOG) here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIWH-N7Q6Fg
No sign of the New Song yet.
4 February 2015
Rigsby
First the negatives, as that is how I roll, as the yanks would say:
Venue a bit of a dump and way too small for a sold out HMHB gig.
Sound rubbish unless you were actually on the ‘dancefloor’, at the sides and upstairs it was muddy and wasn’t all that loud, enabling people singing along to almost drown out the band..
Positives now:
Beer was nice, no idea what it was though.
On the ‘dancefloor’ there was a great view and sound was good, especially as I inched forward throughout the gig due to people leaving for the bar/toilet. Natural selection at work.
And it was Edinburgh. Great city.
The guy in front of me kept farting though. No idea what he was eating, but the fracking industry should search him out.
The band were excellent, as usual. Many laughs throughout the night.
So, in summary, Band good, venue left a bit to be desired, farting not pleasant.
5 February 2015
Granty boy
Easily the best gig I’ve been to in a while and as usual eclectic set list. Average age of the crowd 50 – no bad thing.
Was meant to meet JD for a pint later but never quite materialised. Maybe next time.
5 February 2015
Phyllis Triggs
Cheers Exxo. My ears are now retuned correctly. For me, one of the joys of HMHB is in Nigel’s delivery – such enunciation dear boy! So its only right that such matters should be given due attention.
6 February 2015
Horatio
Nod for the correction.
I do seem to remember it (JR) being played more recently. In the last three years or so. I cannot remember where though. (Bilston – see above – CtSO)
Stood stage right for most of the gig. The sound wasn’t too bad from there. I was pretty much pinned in by that point so I didn’t get to the bar.
Interesting start, fabulous middle section, terrific ending.
Garage in Constant Use was a nice and unexpected addition to the set list. I’d like to hear that again. Bob Todd never fails to delight. Had a good conversation with a colleague about that song recently so I was pleased it was played. Interesting noise making devices being blown during Adam Boyle. Quite fun I guess. I’d like there to be more gigs to go to. It seems far too long between now and June!
HORATIO
9 February 2015
EXXO
Posted it from setlist.fm rather than hmhb.co.uk ‘cos I remember 2/3 years ago Nigel himself telling me he uses setlist.fm to sus out whether an old band is doing new stuff or classics or both, and definitely not sympathising with anyone who went to a gig (in this case Pere Ubu at Eric’s) and then complained that they didn’t play classics from back in the day, as you’d have been able to see with a little research that they were ‘touring a new album’ and hadn’t played their classics much for a couple of years.
9 February 2015
ROGER GREEN
(Shamelessly stolen from hmhb.co.uk)
Despite his absence from this show, Gomez made a contribution by drawing attention by text to an appearance by Sally James on Pointless just before Christmas. Quite rightly, that’s one for the scrapbook. On the same subject, just before we set out to The Liquid Room, Karen and I watched an episode of the programme. Dave Bartram, legendary former frontman with Showaddywaddy swept all before him, ably assisted (debatably) by Dave Hill from Slade. Not really relevant, but worth including here.
The train ride to Edinburgh was a bind. Not much room for studious thought, as the carriage was dominated by a hen party making its way from London to Newcastle. And when they got off, they were replaced by a similar group making their way from Newcastle to Edinburgh. Next time we’ll get the quiet carriage. We noted that the first lot were slugging champagne, while the second group were on cider and cans of Budweiser. Is there some social commentary in there?
I must admit that I don’t always have a good time at this venue. I can’t get used to the concept of a toilet attendant. And £2.50 for a bottle of water does seem a trifle pricey, but that’s city policies for you. Nevertheless, I was well impressed by the Northern Soul aspect of the interval music.
The King Of Hi Vis popped over to say Hello. He had been talking to someone who had travelled from Hamburg to see the show. Needs must. After all, it is unlikely that the band will ever go in the opposite direction. Good also to catch up with Paul at a home gig for him, and later Howie and Daz turned up. Daz gets the Best T-Shirt award for the James Brown’s Funky People number.
There was a “Madchester” night afterwards, which must have put a bit of a timetable on the evening. John of JD Meatyard, in particular, seemed keen to get a move on. He was constantly checking his watch as they worked their way through the set of favourites old and new. I noted the new (or maybe temporary) drummer. All the hits were there. Come Take The Ride, St Peter Won’t Let Me In, Lies Lies And Government and Standing On The Shoulders. John announced “The last time I was in Edinburgh was in 1991 supporting Echo And The Bunnymen. You love me so much.” Looking forward to the new album, which doesn’t sound like it is far away.
HMHB’s walk on music was a dramatic number. I have it on good authority (from Tony and Karen) that it was The Immolation Scene from Wagner’s Gotterdammerung, conducted by Solti. If they were going to play the whole thing, we would have had to turn up on around the Wednesday before the gig. I’ll leave it for another time before I hear it all the way through. Apparently the Ring Cycle lasts only slightly less than the whole HMHB catalogue.
Immediately the band was beset by one of those technical difficulties that come around every so often. “Having problems with the strap?” Nigel asked Neil. It wasn’t quite so simple, and there was a bit of time taken while the latter was fiddling around. I don’t even pretend to understand the technicalities, but there was a fair delay. In the meantime we got Nigel raising a glass to Geraldine McEwan who had exited stage left. He took the opportunity of the gap in proceedings to give us a provisional performance of a new song, A Man In Constant Sorrow. After a couple of verses he said to Ken, “There’ll be a guitar solo in here in about three years.” Then came Vatican Broadside, and a game of word association (“Carole King”, “Tapestry”). Neil was still not ready, so we had a description of the journey to the gig. They went M6, M74, M8, ignoring the advice of Geoff to take the A7 through Hawick. The band arrived before Geoff did. They had also called at Tebay Services, where Neil bought some Peruvian chocolate which was not full spec. Also Nigel had picked up some leaflets including on Loch Lomond and an exhibition of toy soldiers. He even asked me if I was collecting school vouchers. (For the record. No, I’m not.) It was all interesting stuff. I would have been happy to carry on listening, but Neil eventually plugged in OK, to great cheers. “I got it right first time,” commented Nigel to the crowd in general, “and you didn’t cheer me.” From there on, the evening was more music-based.
Pam Ferris was spotted in the crowd. Numanoid Hangglide was written for anyone with a toposcope. Ahead of Bad Losers, Nigel said “This is about…” and pointed silently towards Neil. (I noticed that Dennis Bell in the Torquay shirt was well “into it” during this song, for obvious reasons.) Victoria joined the band on stage for Adam Boyle. She was playing a tenor horn, not a cornet, according to Nigel who added “She was in Brassed Off, as a child, unless she’s lying.” She came back later, to play bass on Urge For Offal.
There were a few old favourite lines in the repertoire. The Bane Of Constance was about “where a stab victim meets the offender for coffee, and the coffee is shit.” “Who sang Tiger Feet? Sweet or Mud?… That’s right, that’s right, that’s right.” “What do the penguins at the zoo get for lunch? Half an hour like everybody else.” And the one about being annoyed when you see Orang Utan(g) spelt incorrectly. Keep ‘em coming, Nigel.
Neil and Ken swapped instruments for The Bane Of Constance. Nigel was asked for his tip for the Tour De France. He said the top four (Nibali etc) are way ahead of the rest. But he said he had been given 150/1 on Kwiatkowski, who recently became world champion. Maybe these gigs will come to an end if that one comes off. Or perhaps William Hills know something that you don’t, Nigel. Ken was the first man in Wallasey to eat Kettle Crisps. We got the intro to D’Ye Ken Ted Moult before Nigel introduced The Unfortunate Gwatkin.
I remember the cover version being played at a large gig in Liverpool many years ago. They may have played it since, but my memory fails me yet again. There are always bits and pieces of songs during the course of these shows, which I don’t always include in these lists. Having thought long and hard about it, while the kettle boiled, I have included the opening song here, even though it was probably only played as a filler because of the problems at the start.
A Man In Constant Sorrow
Vatican Broadside
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel (Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train)
Bob Wilson Anchorman
Old Age Killed My Teenage Bride
I Love You Because (You Look Like Jim Reeves)
If I Had Possession Over Pancake Day
Numanoid Hangglide
Bad Losers On Yahoo Chess
Adam Boyle Has Cast Lad Rock Aside
Joy In Leeuwarden
The Bane Of Constance
Turned Up Clocked On Laid Off
99% Of Gargoyles Look Like Bob Todd
Urge For Offal
When The Evening Sun Goes Down
All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit
National Shite Day
For What Is Chatteris?
Joy Division Oven Gloves
The Unfortunate Gwatkin
Fuckin’ ‘Ell It’s Fred Titmus
Everything’s AOR
And three in the encore…
Stuck Up A Hornbeam
I Think We’re Alone Now
The Trumpton Riots
Returning to the train theme, there was a bloke sitting behind us on the way home, wearing an Urge For Offal t-shirt. He too, was affected by the “train failure” at Alnmouth, which subsequently sent the timetable spiralling out of control. Talking of timetables, there is a bit of a gap with HMHB now. As Karen said to me as we were walking along Princes Street, “What are we going to do for the next five months?”
9 February 2015
S
full review by the estimable Jeff Dreadnought finally appeared… http://www.isthismusic.com/half-man-half-biscuit-2
11 February 2015
TERRENCE OBLONG
Re: the passing reference to Urge for Offal T-shirts – it’s probably worth mentioning that these are available from the Probe Plus site (http://www.probeplus-store.co.uk/) not currently mentioned on the half man half biscuit site, but hey, it’s only a few months since the album came out. Urge for offal fridge magnets are also available if you’re that way inclined.
14 February 2015
Chris The Siteowner
What “Half Man Half Biscuit site” is that then, Terrence?
14 February 2015