Another regular, if relatively infrequent, foray to That London, which means a far higher than usual number of occasional fans, music journalists and the like. First visit to the Forum since 2008; the intervening gigs in the capital have been at Shepherds Bush. But was it a good one? Over to you.
Chris The Siteowner
“Use It Up, Wear It Out” as the cover version. Seriously.
Dagenham Dave identified it within seconds. Chapeau.
15 October 2015
lou Barlow
1 2 3 shake your body down!
15 October 2015
Dagenham dave
Possibly one of the best sets I’ve had the pleasure of hearing. Good crowd, no oven gloves (London what are you playing at ??). Numerous amusing lines from Nigel which people with better memories will no doubt pass on and a really good new cover version. Good to see Chris as well. Roll on the next one.
15 October 2015
Chris The Siteowner
Third time I’ve heard the “Man of constant sorrow, with a garage in constant use” song. Someone must have a recording, surely?
15 October 2015
Mike
For those with completism tendencies, here is the evening’s set-list: –
Look Dad
Teenage Bride
Evening Sun
Shit Arm
Lilac HQ
Slippers (refrain)
Lark
Pancake Day
Bob Wilson
Vitas G
Hornbeam
Reflections
Asparagus
Squabblefest
Chatteris
Surging
Fred T
Bane
27 Yards
Vatican
NSD
Trad Arr Tune
Trumpton
DPAK
JDOG
Light Tunnel
………………………………..
Encs
…………………………………
Jarg Armani
Restless Legs
Cover – Odyssey’s “Use it up and wear it out”
AOR
Good gig. Decent turn out. The merch table was stripped bare as if a plague of locusts had been through. That’ll cheer up the absent (convalescing) Geoff.
Mike………………………….
16 October 2015
Chris The Siteowner
According to the giant set list chart, that was the first “Jarg Armani” since a 7-gig run when the song was first released in 2003!
16 October 2015
STEVE
I was half expecting a nod to the fact that Gary Numan’s doing 3 nights there next week. Or a song…
16 October 2015
bobby svarc
GWS Geoff.
16 October 2015
WARDEN HODGES
Agreed Svarc, next stop our Chrimbo night out.
16 October 2015
counterblast to Agnosticism
@Dagenham Dave – there were some oven gloves behind me (topping of a Dukla Prague top, as it were).
16 October 2015
MAlc
Seven from AB – is that a record? I was almost expecting “Four Skinny Indie Kids” given the Camden reference. It seemed rather low-key, almost subdued at the start, but soon warmed up and the sound was mostly excellent (I was near the desk, which always helps). “Use it up, wear it out” was superb.
16 October 2015
nigel, no not that one (nx3to)
Jarg Armani, was it?
Never heard it before – I feel privileged.
Sound was good from behind the mixing desk.
At the risk of (not) sounding like a laboratory assistant, I found the light show distracting.
Great set. & it finished in time for me to leg it back to the tube to get to Victoria for an earlier than planned train back to the South Coast
16 October 2015
Dave ANNAL
Best minor celebrity name check of the night…
Eleanor Oldroyd!
16 October 2015
Richard k
Pre-booking for the Pre-Raphaelites? Pre-posterous.
16 October 2015
Third Rate Les
A fantastic set – plenty of bouncy favourites, a heavy Achtung Bono focus (it’s ten years old this year!), and some quiter older ones (Lark Descending, Reflections In A Flat). Quite worn out by the end. Didn’t really intend to jump around, not least as I had my work suit on, but did, a lot. Suit’s trashed.
Some banter with the crowd – was moaning about the price of a guided your of Highgate Cemetery, although mainly seems to have gone to Primrose Hill. Carl was also introduced as the first man on the Wirral to own a Labradoodle.
Good beer beforehand in the Pineapple, and annoyingly long trip home when my bloody train was delayed, but I was smiling the whole way.
16 October 2015
Dagenham dave
Great to hear ‘Squabblefest’ , it reminded me of Stump which hadn’t ever occurred to me before.
‘Does the fish have chips?’
16 October 2015
Richard k
Their website describes the café at Cecil Sharp House as ‘welcoming’.
Cafe
Our welcoming cafe is open daily and is at the heart of all activities at Cecil Sharp House. With comfortable seats for relaxing and large tables for dining or working lunches, it’s a perfect space to meet friends or colleagues. Adjacent to Trefusis and Storrow Halls and offering access to toilets and the bar, it is convenient for everything.
16 October 2015
jitsu_g
Great gig, really liked the venue sounded good from down the front. Had a couple of pints spilled over me at various times. At almost £5 a pint it almost doubled the value of my t-shirt! and a good mooch around camden pre gig with Dr D, see you all in Bilston
16 October 2015
paul f
I wonder if Nigel stuffed the setlist with his preferences for the LFC in the hope that the punters in attendance might come through with a torrent of votes on deadline day?
16 October 2015
The ghost of peggy mount
Eleanor Oldroyd is now aware (and slightly thrilled) about her mention last night.
16 October 2015
The ghost of peggy mount
Oh, and it could be my shonky ears (I’m not getting any younger you know) but wasn’t “Mr Kowalski” replaced by everyone’s favourite 1970s cutlery abuser/painter Nancy Kominsky in ‘Outbreak of Vitas Gerulaitis’ last night too?
16 October 2015
Richard k
Yes to Nancy Kominsky also pretty sure there was a ‘joggers out moshing’ but I’m assuming that was an accident.
16 October 2015
CARRIE ANNE
As usual, the lovely Roger Green was despatched to the venue with his trusty notepad and pencil, and has posted his review of the gig on Gez’s website here: http://cobweb.businesscollaborator.com/hmhb/guest/index.htm
17 October 2015
Jeff dreadnought
Great review from Roger as usual. Nothing to add to that or any of the above except that the unhelpful woman in the Cecil Sharp house café had a “face like a summons”. Particularly enjoyed Reflections In A Flat, Surging Out Of Convalescence and Jarg Armani, none of which I can remember seeing played live before, although I’d have to check Chris’s giant spreadsheet and my rusting memory to be sure.
17 October 2015
Mark
One of my favourite all time HMHB gigs and I’ve been to a few (30 year anniversary of my first is Easter next year – ICA, Pat Nevin in attendance looking miserable after Chelsea’s 6-0 stuffing by QPR earlier that day).
The great thing about the Biscuit is you never know what they’ll play. Jarg Amarni, Lark Descending, Surging out of Convalescence. And Odessey. Fantastic stuff.
Did Nigel start playing a Pixies song at one point “I’ve just been learning it”?
19 October 2015
Dr Desperate
Excellent gig, following a sunlit afternoon’s wander around Camden and Kentish Towns with Jitsu_G and Andy (Ice Wharf, Camden Brewery, The Oxford for us teas, Pineapple then venue).
M’ladyfriend gave this one a miss, hence the shortage of JDOGs later in the evening, but I was pleased to be allowed in wearing the KoHV jacket. Managed to see the last four chords of Sonnenberg (about five minutes), then handshakes all round with Roger and pals. He’s recently switched shirts from check to Hungarian (it works better if you say it).
I have little to add to his exemplary review above, but having the advantage of a setlist, I can reveal that ‘Fred Titmus’ was sent on deep in injury time as a replacement for ‘Paintball’, and that ‘Vatican’ and ‘Man In Constant Sorrow’ were also late additions. The brief extract from ‘Best Things’ appeared on the list as ‘H.Quinn – slippers’, the former featuring the usual complicated gearchanges during the final chorus. There were surreptitious pointings to Ken (“Your experimental side-project”) and Neil (“We all knew someone in primary school who had a very powerful magnet”), the latter preceded by rubbing together of hands to suggest something being magnetised.
Neil’s T-shirt had the initials of the three great bassists linked in a triangle by the Latin phrase ‘non est’, with radial lines reading ‘est’ pointing to a machine head. Anyone?
The theory that Ken only wears a cap when they’re not going to do a cover still holds true, as he didn’t and they did. Carl’s ecotricity-sponsored Forest Green Rovers shirt worn during the encores was presumably a reference to their home match against Tranmere on Saturday, which they lost 0-2. Better not coming near Stroud for a bit.
The trip to Cecil Sharp House was undertaken in the hope of seeing Martin Carthy doing some research, and the library upstairs was much less disappointing than the café. There was some sound advice from NB10 on squeezing out one’s teabag rather than running to the bin with it dripping on the floor, and a somewhat shamefaced response to my “OooOOooo!” reaction to his decanting his water into a cup.
The award won by the Archway butcher was suspected of being for the worst sausages in Europe, with subsequent musings of ‘Wurst?’ Bratwurst?’ leading us to suspect that the band had also been to The Oxford for their tea (though in Hipsterland it may be difficult to find a pub that doesn’t have Bratwurst on the menu).
Bit of a trek to my hotel what with Tufnell Park Tube being closed; repeated on Saturday night when I returned to the Forum for Graham Parker & The Rumour’s Last Ever gig (yeah, right).
On to Bilston!
19 October 2015
Dagenham dave
Mark, I didn’t recognise it as a Pixies number , but stand to be corrected.
HMHB covering a Pixies song does sound like a good idea though.
19 October 2015
CARRIE ANNE
@Dagenham Dave. You can’t have been at the Derby gig on 4th February 2006 (and quite possibly elsewhere) when they covered the Pixies’ Here Comes Your Man.
19 October 2015
Third Rate Les
He always sings “joggers out moshing” when he does it live, in my experience, Richard K.
20 October 2015
Mr Larrington
Definitely a few seconds of Pixiedom, which my fading memory-branes tentatively identified as “Where Is My Mind”.
20 October 2015
Richard k
Thanks Les I have obviously never noticed before. I will pay better attention at Holmfirth in 2016!
20 October 2015
jOCHEN
Liest Nigel Blackwell hier mit?
Wenn ja:
1000 Dank für die nette Unterhaltung mittags um 3 Uhr vor “The Forum“ und die Aufnahme auf die Gaesteliste. Das Konzert war unglaublich und hat unsere Hoffnungen noch bei weitem uebertroffen. Wir sind immer noch begeistert und kommen sicher wieder.
Cheers, Jochen und Gisela
P.S.: ”I like your jacket – what`s your favourite football team?”
20 October 2015
EXXO
Jochen – ich werde die Botschaft weitergeben fur dich.
Sounds like a great day for you!
But what _is_ your favourite football team?
20 October 2015
Dickhead in quicksand
Hi, Jochen und Gisela! sei willkommen! Sollten Sie wünschen, ein Gesang auf Deutsch übersetzen – kucken Sie mal hier.
21 October 2015
Mattkin as-is
“HMHB covering a Pixies song does sound like a good idea though.”
I could well imagine ‘This monkey’s gone to Devon’ as an HMHB lyric.
21 October 2015
Mark
Yes – I’m fairly sure that’s the fellow, Mr Larrington.
Mattkin – oh, yes!!
21 October 2015
jOCHEN
Thank you, EXXO – 1860 Muenchen is my favourite team
21 October 2015
Dr Desperate
Nobody responded to my query above about Neil’s T-shirt, so I will: it was a re-interpretation of the ‘Shield Of The Trinity’ or ‘Scutum Fidei’, a traditional Christian symbol depicting the doctrine of the Trinity. In medieval times it was considered to be the heraldic arms of God, with Pater, Filius and Spiritus Sanctus written at the apices and Deus at the centre. The ‘non est’ and ‘est’ links indicate that the three persons are not identical with each other, but that each is identical with God.
Neil’s version replaced the Holy Trinity with the initials of Jean-Jacques Burnel, Peter Hook and Steve Hanley, with a bass machine head as God. Some might consider it blasphemous; some might say that NC should be in there somewhere.
22 October 2015
matty mabey
Man in constant sorrow?, or man of constant sorrow? Whichever it is or isn’t I did record it and will upload it to my youtube channel today. Other songs from this excellent night are already uploaded and I hope that you enjoy them, that’s if any one who can be bothered to read this can then be arsed to do so.
24 October 2015
Chris The Siteowner
A not Bad Review.
25 October 2015
Dr Desperate
Excellent, well done th@ Matt!
It appears that it is ‘Of Constant Sorrow’, with lyrics as follows:
Don’t think I’ve ever encountered a man so irate
You’re a better man than I if you can get past his gate
He treats hawkers and Mormons with equal disdain
Jesus, I feel, won’t be coming back again
He’s got nothing for you to borrow
And a mastiff in the back running loose
He’s a man of constant sorrow
With a garage in constant use.
That may be it, or further verses may emerge in the fullness of time (I seem to recall a line about climbing onto his bin to look through his window when we first heard it in Edinburgh).
26 October 2015
Chris The Siteowner
Excellent – well done Matty. Here’s the video folks. I’ve heard the song performed three times now (at Edinburgh, Bury St Edmunds and London), so it’s surely going to make a recorded appearance in due course. I also recall some additional lines from Edinburgh, and have been plaguing someone I know who has a recording to send me a copy all year. I’ll keep trying.
27 October 2015
THE INEVITABLE ASTERISK
Bit of a lurker so I thought I’d comment. Re: jogging moshers – I went to the previous London gig and he did the same thing (moshers jogging then joggers moshing) so it might well be a live thing now.
I seem to recall somewhere on this site NB saying he didn’t do Asparagus Next Left live for some reason (he didn’t write the tune and it’s tricky or something? Am I talking arse?). So when the opening chords kicked in I started grinning like a buffoon as it’s a personal favourite (although in the spirit of pedantry, is personal redundant there? Who else’s favourite would it be?). Now if I ever see Broadstairs live I might just pop.
Also, the gag about going into PC World – you have to watch what you say in there.
13 November 2015