A Sheffield gig may seem like a big city gig, but don’t be fooled: this venue is more like a village hall. It certainly looks more like somewhere more used to seeing rehearsals afoot for the Christmas Play. The gig was postponed for a fortnight; was it worth the wait? Over to you.
Peter Gandy
Great gig – my first since Shepherds Bush. I’ve waited ages for anything from Godcore and then three came at once. Disappointed that there was no Garage People though; I’d lost a fiver to my daughter on a bet that they wouldn’t play Leuwarden, and wanted to win it back on the price of Pringles.
I see that Lovecraft have dropped the female backing singers. Quite enjoyed their set, especially their version of Tomorrow Never Knows. Their interaction with the audience could be a bit better – I only worked out who they were when the singer played the pelvic bone at the end – before that I thought that they were called the Church of Embarassing Bodies or We Love Aneurin Bevan!
On to the main event, once the mic had been sorted, the band were in fine form and the sound quality great – ken spent much less time than usual fiddling with his equipment, and when he was pressed into tuning Nigel’s telecaster, Nigel, Neil and Carl provided us with a fine version of I Wanna Be Your Dog.
Highlight of the evening for me was Fix it – a perfect performance of a perfect pop song with Neil providing brilliant backing vocals. Getting one of the fifty posters produced was pretty good too.
23 February 2013
Peter Gandy
Set List in no particular order:
Dean Friedman
Fred Titmus
Dukla Prague
Restless Legs
Chatteris
JDOG
Shit Arm
Trad Arr. Tune
Light At the End Of The Tunnel
Evening Sun
San Antonio Foam Party
Totnes Bickering Fair
Little In The Way Of Sunshine
National Shite Day
Bob Wilson
There Stands The Glass/Vatican Broadside
Lilac Harry Quinn
Sensitive Outsider
Fear My Wraith
Moshpits
Evil Gazebo
Deep House Victims
Leeuwarden
Bad Wools
Fix It So She Dreams of Me
I Wanna Be Your Dog – Stooges
You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory – Johnny Thunders
I checked against my iPod and can’t think of anything else though I might have missed something.
23 February 2013
John Burscough
Well worth the wait, I thought. Decent village hall atmosphere at the Lomas, bigger than the photos on the website had suggested. Arrived just as the parish church bells were tolling 8 so hurried in to find the place was still half empty. It filled up later, though not as much as Nigel had expected.
Lovecraft put up a decent show as support, nerd synth prog with a sprinkling of surf. I was nearly halfway home before I got the singer’s Richard Pryor/Richard Briers joke. Spotted Neil standing unnoticed at the back, seemingly enjoying them.
The lads wandered on somewhat later than 9, Nigel engaging in a little front-row banter about missing ‘Pointless’ and the journey over to Sheffield (“How long have you been waiting?” “Two weeks, mate”) before kicking off with ‘Sensitive Outsider’ (first outing ever, stats fans!) He then revealed that he’d got wind of a gambling cartel who’d put a fiver on ‘Evening Sun’ to start, so had moved it to second spot at the last minute.
The setlist was impeccable (see below). No ’24HGP’ or ‘Trumpton Riots’ once again, but something from every album except ‘Four Lads…’ (to the consternation of the big bloke at the front who was asking everyone “Do they still play ‘Secret Gig’?). Only three from ’90 BC’, interestingly.
RIPs for Kevin Ayers, Richard Briers and Derek Batey. Jokes about cats burying their excreta with shovels, human satnav and Neston virgins. The universal sign language gestures for looking places up on Google Earth and playing darts. No unlikely celebrities spotted in the audience as far as I could hear: the acoustics at the front were reasonable, but there were cries of “Louder!” from the back. I did manage to catch a certain amount of on-stage approbation for the bloke in the Hi-Vis jacket (oh all right, me). “It’s not a tabard, is it? More of a gilet, really.”
No Airstream guitar, no full cover songs: Nigel swapped Fenders with Ken for some mid-set tuning, allowing him to slip in a verse each from Richard Thompson’s ‘1952 Vincent Black Lightning’ and The Stooges’ ‘Now I Wanna Be Your Dog’. Later Johnny Thunders’ ‘You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory’ served as tribute to Tranmere’s dwindling hopes of promotion.
From the setlist (handwritten), not including cover verses:
Sensitive Outsider
Evening Sun
San Antonio Foam Party
Restless Legs
Totnes Bickering Fair
Shit Arm, Bad Tattoo
A Lilac Harry Quinn (added ref to badminton courts in Stannington)
Fear My Wraith
Joy Division Oven Gloves
Evil Gazebo
Bob Wilson, Anchorman
Joy In Leeuwarden
What Is Chatteris? (slight stumble on the “indoor pool” bit)
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
Floreat Inertia
Deep House Victims’ Minibus Appeal (“One we did for charity”)
Bad Wools
Little In the Way of Sunshine
Fix It So She Dreams of Me
Slipknot
We Built This Village
National Shite Day
Bastard Son of Dean Friedman
Dukla Prague Away Kit
Sponsoring the Moshpits (first time since 2006)
The Best Things in Life (listed as ‘Slippers’ on the setlist.)
Nice poster.
23 February 2013
Spike
Had to make do with playing CD collection( not Sade,Whitney,Vandross or T’Pau) yesterday as I was unable to go đ
Still trying to get ’em to play the Duchess in York.
Sent details of band to venue and venue details to Geoff so fingers crossed
23 February 2013
jitsu_g
Excellent gig as always, was a bit concerned about the sound cutting out for first few songs but soon got fixed.
nothing to add to the above reviews other than the joke about the suitcase and foxes moving.
23 February 2013
Iguana Andy
I have to agree, excellent gig. Sound issues led to a few disgruntled fans voicing their opinions all too loudly. Good venue. Roll on Matlock Bath…
23 February 2013
John Burscough
Looking forward to the next one.
(Oh, by the way – 1000.)
23 February 2013
vendor of quack nostrums
Arrh, John. You scuffed the shot there and it rolled agonisingly wide. 10001.
23 February 2013
Chris The Siteowner
Actually, I had a couple if posts to delete for Peter. So 10,000th post goes to …me. Sorry! đ
23 February 2013
Exxo
Saggin’ fraggin’ Chris rastardly.
Just like the 1,000th PBR, I had all kinds of half-baked plans for 10,000th post.
I’ll have to wait for 100,000 then.
23 February 2013
vendor of quack nostrums
@ Exxo. You not busy for the next 50 years then?
23 February 2013
Sleepless Soul
Got there in plenty of time having noticed that there car park could cope with about ten cars max, enquired about doors open – 7:15 at front door pal, I was told. So I stood there patiently, along with about 100 others until about 7:45 when the door was finally unlocked to ironic cheers from the frozen carcasses who’d stood patiently and politely in the sub zero temperature. Very British.
Took up my usual spot, front stage left, just out of range of the mosh pit. Was wondering whether it would be Lovecraft or Roja, but as Roja played Holmfirth, wasn’t too suprised to see Lovecraft walk out, but minus the one remaining female backing singer, much to my disappointment. They put on a decent set, but I still don’t quite get the ramblings of the singer, perhaps it’s his accent, but then again, I can never understand a word that Neil says when he speaks into his microphone, perhaps my ears are just fine tuned to Geordie, or perhaps I’m just deaf from standing at the front of multiple HMHB gigs.
The lads came on stage and a problem with Nigels microphone prompted the appearance of a second microphone. Asks Nigel,Is this one better, YES, shouted the crowd, Better than this one asked Nigel from the original, YES, shouted the crowd. Shall I use the replacement one asks Nigel, NO, shouted the crowd, much to Nigel’s amusement.
Another great mixture for the set list and some usual favourites, some newly aired stuff, some stage diving or perhaps stage leaning forward into the arms of waiting mates would be more descriptive, but all and all a great night followed by a scary satnav initiated journey through some enchanted woods, along a road that was slightly wider than a cycle track before eventually reaching civilisation and back to tropical Newcastle.
See you all in Matlock Bath.
23 February 2013
Warden Hodges
Couldn’t make Friday but will be at Matlock B. Will be my second visit to Matlock in April as Marine FC play there on the 13th.
Re mic- Did NB57 go into his Norman Collier impression?
Glad the lads did some Godcore, always like ‘Fear My Wraith’.
24 February 2013
John Burscough
Woke up in a cold sweat at 2am with a dread foreboding: something I couldn’t quite identify. Left the gas on? Forgotten to record Spiral?
Now I know.
Somehow, Chris, the last-minute goalpost-shifting (your gaff, your rules) makes me feel slightly better. But not really.
24 February 2013
John Burscough
Now would seem the ideal opportunity to adopt a disguise.
It’s an omen.. I shall become DR. DESPERATE!
24 February 2013
twistedkitemike
Thanks for the official set-list, John. Good to see that they ad libbed in terms of order.
I did write them down in my sad little black book of set-lists, but checked with the ever reliable Roger Green and we concurred. The order of play was thus: –
Evening Sun
Sensitive Outsider
San Antonio
Restless Legs
Totnes
Shit Arm
Lilac HQ Fear My Wraith
JDOG
Evil Gazebo
Bob Wilson
Leeuwarden
Chatteris?
Light At The End Of The Tunnel
Floreat Inertia
Deep House
Bad Wools
Little In The Way Of Sunshine
Fix It
Vatican Broadside
Trad Arr Tune National Shite Day
Encs…
Moshpits
Dean Friedman
DPAK
Fred T
Slipper/Best Things In Life
Mike…………………………………………..
26 February 2013
NOT ROGER GREEN
(As ever, stolen with Roger’s permission from Gez’s site)
What did God give us, Neil? The Wedding Present must not have been playing tonight. So the Rotherham Postie, with nothing else to do, was able to shout out his favourite line. Over and over again. As usual.
It would be a reasonable person who would say that this place is at the top of a steady climb. The kind of hill where you struggle home with your bags full of shopping and then realize you forgot to get some bread and/or milk and/or two-for-one Domestos. Never mind, eh. On my pre-gig amble, I noticed a street sign for Highfield Rise. You donât say! Can this gig stake a claim to be HMHBâs highest ever above sea level? It appears that the hills in the west of Sheffield are 546 metres above. Or as one website blog puts it, âThere are few major cities with such a variety in height within their boundaries anywhere and this adds to the uniqueness of Sheffield, as it allows for such a variety of landscapes within one city.â One day Iâll do some further investigation, if I can be arsed. But Stannington does appear to tower over Matlock Bath, for example, with its paltry 1000 feet (that works out at about 300 metres, doesnât it?). What did God give us, Neil?
In addition, The Lomas Hall is not the easiest of places to find. The trouble with A to Zs is that they donât show the gradient. I enquired at the paper shop. But the bloke behind the counter said âIâm not from round here. Try the bookies next door.â I did so. There I was told âI donât really know the area.â I wished him a good evening. Fortunately the woman coming out of the off licence was more help and pointed me in a generally upwards direction. Got there in the end. Parked up. Got talking to the guy from Lovecraft who was trying to get into the building. We listened to HHMB doing their soundcheck before I departed, in search of nourishment. I was well impressed with the fish and chips at the Crown And Glove. To my humble tastes, this was a more agreeable place than the Rose And Crown down the road, but each to their own.
What did God give us, Neil? I was back in time to join the queue outside the hall and got talking to a guy who was at his first HMHB gig. Iâm guessing that he would be in his forties. How on earth do you get to that age without seeing this band previously? Oh, and by the way, it is The Lomas Hall. The definite article appears in stone on the front of the building. Eventually we were let in from the cold. The venue had a definite Roadwater feel to it. The village hall, with a badminton court marked out on what tonight would be, ahem, the dance floor. Iâm still struggling to fathom out Lovecraft but they are growing on me. Theyâve started wearing boiler suits on stage. No doubt part of their corporate development strategy. Itâs definitely prog rock more than punk rock. But they were a lot more chatty tonight than on previous occasions. There were a lot of name checks including âNigel Blackwell of Crosse And Blackwellâ. Their gear looks like they have had a proper rummage round their local music shop, and Godammit, I like them! And Geoffâs stall even sold out of their CDs. Itâs probably getting overly obsessive, but I lifted their set list.
Proxy
Haxan
Aneurin
Uprooting
Oscillate/Mudmanâs
Tomorrow Never Knows
Arcadia Lake
No Tony tonight, but Howie, Gomez and Daz turned up with rucksacks in time for HMHB. I made it 9.08 when the band arrived on stage. Curiously, Ken entered stage right (or is it stage left?) while the others entered stage left (or is it stage right?). Musical differences, or just practicality? âWelcome to Stanningtonâ was Nigelâs rather formal introduction. My apparently impending deafness meant that I couldnât pick up many more of his observations through the evening. Or maybe I was just standing too near the front. There were one or two sound hiccups. Thatâs my excuse, so sorry, much of tonightâs caustic commentary is lost. Iâm also losing the power of recall. It took time for a couple of the song titles to come to me. Tonightâs featured album was Some Call It Godcore, much of which has not featured at these shows for a while. Nigel had two microphones on stage. Does this sound better? Or this one? He said one of them was producing an echo. But when you are a proper musician you are supposed to refer to it as reverb. Nigel referred to a slippiness on stage. This led to him trying out a Blackwell Moonwalk. Most impressive.
What did God give us, Neil? âA bus service between Rotherham and Sheffield.â Part of the rider was the provision of Tyrrellâs crisps. Nigel had a packet of Lightly Sea Salted on stage. (Later on, I managed to burst in on the backstage aftershow. They had Sea Salt and Cider Vinegar there. Showbiz.) Towards the end of the gig I was used as a lever for folk to do a spot of stage-diving. Iâm OK with that, and I was happy to look after the chapâs spectacles â health and safety and all that. Just try not to pull my shoulder out of its joint while youâre lifting yourself up. Thatâs my writing arm. No âproperâ cover version tonight, although there was an improv version of I Wanna Be Your Dog, while Ken was tuning up Nigelâs guitar between âLeeuwardenâ and âChatterisâ. What did God give us, Neil? Hereâs how the show went.
When The Evening Sun Goes Down
Sensitive Outsider
San Antonio Foam Party
Restless Legs
Totnes Bickering Fair
Shit Arm Bad Tattoo
A Lilac Harry Quinn
Fear My Wraith
Joy Division Oven Gloves
Evil Gazebo
Bob Wilson Anchorman
Joy In Leeuwarden
For What Is Chatteris?
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel
Floreat Inertia
Deep House Minibus Appeal
Rock ânâ Roll Is Full Of Bad Wools
Little In The Way Of Sunshine
Fix It So She Thinks Of Me
Vatican Broadside
We Built This Village
National Shite Day
For the encore, Nigel asked if there was time for âa couple moreâ. It was a loose definition of âcoupleâ.
Sponsoring The Moshpits
The Bastard Son Of Dean Friedman
Dukla Prague
Fred Titmus
The Best Things In Life (the bit at the end)
And that was that. Thatâs my last HMHB gig while I am this side of 50. I hope my eyes, ears and memory are still up for it on the other side. From a chat with Geoff there could be a fair few shows coming up later in the year, so there will be plenty of chance to find out.
27 February 2013
Exxo
The contours of my OS Sheffield put The Lomas Hall between 230 & 240 metres, and yes that’s by far the highest HMHB gig I can find record of even if nothing like the Himalayan extremes that Roger claims. Highest previous gig I can find is Hebden Bridge Trades Club at about 150m. That’s probably about 40m higher than the 1-in-12 Club in Bradford. The Holmfirth Picturedrome lies surprisingly low.
Can’t believe they didn’t play Buxton ‘before records on hmhb.co.uk began’ though. That’s about 300m, or a full 240m higher than the venue (or previous venue) in Matlock Bath.
28 February 2013
Charlie
I went over to see Billy Bragg at the Peel Centre last year and it was great. Run by volunteers and based in an old corn exchange dating back to the 1830s. Lots going on, Wedding Present came last year and the U’Tones and Fall came to Norwich to support it. Lots of work done there in recent months. The King’s Arms next to the Station (a minute walk tops) is GBG and has more micros than the guide suggests. 2 in 2 days. Brilliant. For lunchtime explorers you could venture to the Victoria in Earl Soham (brew pub) or the Low House (CNI) (King’s Head) in Laxfield which are 30 and 45 minutes drive away but won’t disappoint. GBGs dotted around in Peel Country. First Biscuit gig in Suffolk.
2 March 2013
Charlie
Sorry a 5 minutes walk. Oops.
2 March 2013
DRAB OLIVE
Sorry to spoil the love but i didnt think that it was one of the best HMHB gigs i had seen to be honest.
Probably down to dodgy sound , the roth postie ( i know him as well ) and the fact i think a lot of the audience were locals come to see ‘ a band in their hall ‘ . ( Anybody see the advert in the rose and crown ..Tickets available at web tickets , arena tickets , and Stannington Fruit and Veg Shop…priceless )
Good to hear some stuff i not heard live for years but i much prefer , live anyway , just listening to Nigel and the slower talkie types …Think that would have applealed to some of the ‘ new crowd ‘ that where there… But hey its his perrogative.
More of 90 Bisodol wouldnt have gone amiss either
Highlight of the gig i thought was , by far , Used to Evil Gazebo closely followed by Rock n Roll …
Matlock again ..lets see what happens there …although i may have to change attire as my Borrussia Monchengladbach top got covered in Farmers Blonde ..Fnnr Fnnr
22 March 2013