Less than 18 months after HMHB’s last visit to the venue, this will give hope to anywhere the band has played in recent years that a return to their venue may be on the cards sooner rather than later. Those approaching from the north should stop off at Hilton Park on the off-chance of spotting Bunty James. But enough! Let’s have the reviews…
jitsu_g
Awesome as always , good to meet everyone who knows who they are , but could I just say,…. Irk the purists
27 January 2012
Mac
Mind numbingly expensive Pringles. £2.96. And Nigel acknowledged no such thing as sour cream and .chives
Really good turn out.loads more people than the last time at the Robin
27 January 2012
Floreat Ultonia
Chapeaux to Ziggy Sawdust and er, Pam Ferris in Razzle…
1 Joy in Leeuwarden
2 Bottleneck at Capel Curig
3 When the evening sun goes down
4 Turned up, clocked on, laid off
5 Left lyrics in the practice room
6 Lilac Harry Quinn
7 Excavating Rita
8 Lock up your mountain bikes
9 Improv workshop mimeshow gobshite
10 Dukla Prague away kit
11 L’Enfer c’est les autres
12 National shite day
13 Best things in life
14 We built this village
15 1966 and all that
16 Irk the purists
17 Ordinary to Enschede
18 Vatican broadside
19 Rock and roll is full of bad wools
20 24 hour garage people
21 Tommy Walsh’s Eco-house
22 Light at the end of the tunnel
23 Joy Division oven gloves
24 For what is Chatteris
25 Petty sessions
26 I love you because
27 Fix it so she dreams of me
28 99% of gargoyles
27 January 2012
Mac
Don’t remember Ordinary @17 I have Floreat
27 January 2012
BananaYogi
My first time seeing them live – and they were magnificent.
Home made batenburg – can’t be arsed…
27 January 2012
Andy
My first time seeing them as well…. waited a long time.. and boy were they good.. actually they were more than good – I’m still grinning some 12 hours later, which doesn’t happen much these days 😉
27 January 2012
Twistedkitemike
Ordinary? I wish! It was Floreat at 17, but I concur with the rest.
27 January 2012
littlegrafter
Couldn’t make it (nor Manchester) but will sleep slightly easier knowing I didnt miss Ordinary. Cracking setlist though, 3 off TLP! Can’t wait until the next one, whenever that will be…… I just hope Fix it and Bad Wools stay in the set.
27 January 2012
John Burscough
Another excellent outing, all-acoustic from Nigel – apparently the guitar on which he wrote some of the oldies. New-looking hefty strap to avoid droppage, usual aid from “worth his weight in gold” Ken with malfunctioning equipment (“That’s a new lead, cost me twenty quid!”).
Good Skippy joke (“Have you heard the one about Skippy? You haven’t? Tch tch”).
L’enfer was introduced in English, Left Lyrics as almost autobiographical. No cover – bit of a disappointment after Manchester’s triumphant Tragedy. With pictures of both Roy Wood and Noddy Holder prominently displayed in the bars, I was hoping for maybe California Man or Cum On Feel The Noize, but you can’t have everything. They had me at Joy In Leeuwarden.
27 January 2012
Floreat Ultonia
Whoops! Mac and Mike are of course correct, apologies.
27 January 2012
colin
27 January 2012
BrumBiscuit
Bollocks! Just missed Joy in Leeuwarden! Enjoyed the acoustic guitar. Very “exuberant” moshpit at times. Hobgoblin in bottles from the bar!
Note to the Olde White Rose management. One rather put-upon barmaid is not adequate to serve lots of hungry HMHB fans plus the Shropshire CAMRA punters who also appeared. Must do better.
27 January 2012
colin
27 January 2012
Smarthair
Great gig last night at Bilston with a fairly lively mosh pit.
Nice mix of tunes, dont know if we will get to see them again this year but wil certainly try.
The Carlisle Boys
27 January 2012
Gregg Z
An empty fixture list? Methinks there must be more gigs in the offing.
Don’t we need something to look forward to, particularly in these bleak winter months?
Based on recent history, this certainly would not be a case of what Benny Hill would call “trying to fit their rather large agenda into their very tight schedule”.
27 January 2012
Twistedkitemike
I had a quick word with Geoff and he is busy trying to sort a few more things out for this year. I was concerned with the lack of potential action!
Don’t hold him to anything, but negotiations are afoot for Glasgow and venues in Berkshire, Glos and the South Coast.
Here’s hoping!!
Mike…………………………………………
28 January 2012
HalfWomanHalfBiscuit
Hi! I was a Biscuit virgin, with a small collection of ammonites and who did more than “roll my eyes” at the Gok Wan acolytes. I happily succumbed to the pre gig HMHB foreplay of a friend and attended the Bilston gig with him on 26th …. I emerged Half Woman Half Biscuit. Great gig loved every minute thank you!
29 January 2012
Mac
Dave’s review of the gig.
29 January 2012
Third Rate Les
Stood at the back to ease my dodgy ears, and was rewarded with a brilliant sound throughout. Didn’t miss the moshing much, although did slightly miss observing the band up close. Nigel’s Skippy joke was a belter, and a response to crowd banter rather than prepared. I quite liked his advice on where to get good-quality firewood too, and it was an unusually personal touch to mention that the guitar was the very one on which Dukla Prague was written.
Noticed a few, er, changes to lyrics – “Little Miss Cornbury” was one, and a stumble over Rotterdam’s cock-a-hoop-ness, while the start of Shite Day seemed a bit hesitant and the “rock up” seems there to stay. He also introduced “l’Enfer” as just “Hell is other people” (the usual translation for that line in Huis Clos) so I can’t have my usual moan about his French accent. And the question in his mind that lurks is the road gritters one, rather than the “why does Miss Universe always come from Earth” which has had a few outings recently.
A great setlist – highlights for me were Harry Quinn (as ever) and Fix It, which was blindingly good – they seemed really pleased with themselves after it, and quite right too. Was nice to hear Floreat Intertia (with another outing for Neil’s high bass) and also Jim Reeves. No Trumpton and no cover either, which seemed unusual although wasn’t too bothered about either.
Bilston was good – gave up quickly on the queues at the White Rose and went to the nice curry place near the venue instead, although they need to stock up on their Mango Lassies. Back to Sarf Landon by 2am too, which wasn’t too bad.
31 January 2012
Tim (and Rob)
Another (2) Biscuit virgins here. 50 something and 40 something from Gloucestershire. well worth the trip-Nigel on excellent form and the band as tight as a gnat’s chuff.
Highlights were of course Joy, together with Dukla Prague and a spirited 24 hour garage People. Nigel launching himself off the drum riser, the superb Mayor of Dudley joke and a joous irk the Purists. Plus all the others. Rob commented that it was like reliving his sixth form. Shows how long they’ve been around.
Hopefully some more dates will be announced soon-very keen to see them play in Gloucestershire-the Guildhall in Gloucester would be more than ideal.
31 January 2012
drab olive
2012 gigs anybody now the plan
3 February 2012
John Burscough
See TwistedKiteMike’s post 18 above, Drab.
3 February 2012
2 Chevrons
Lots of talk about The Riverside, Newcastle in April, news awaited eagerly.
3 February 2012
colin
When The Evening Sun Goes Down
3 February 2012
Neil Peart
Its about time they played Llandudno again imo. You could get literally dozens of punters in that cafe on the Orme.
6 February 2012
John Burscough
Not that they’d notice.
6 February 2012
colin
Last of the Bilston vids …take a look at my channel and thanks for all the views!
7 February 2012
AdeAjax
Top gig once again,loads of tunes and loads of skinheads from Chigley and Trumpton ! Got to 90 Bisodol on cd now I ow the tee shirt,rock and roll HMHB !
8 February 2012
DESMON
Yes,
Gloucestershire and Somerset please! Oxford looks a definite possibility on May 31st too….
9 February 2012
DESMON
Took loads of photos at the Bilston gig, have uploaded some here.
9 February 2012
Duchess
Oxford? Is this a first? I may be tempted out of my palace for the occasion.
Shame the old Zodiac is now all shiny and characterless.
9 February 2012
Gareth in Canada
I was coming from Canada. Highlight of an otherwise dark and dreary winter. Bought ticket soon after gig announced ( note lack of plural – my Canadian spouse is understandably a hard sell on the vagaries of HMHB lyrics and even less on the attractions of Wolverhampton). Ordinary ticket to Heathrow. Rental limo on standby. Reserved ( and paid for) the luxury suite at the Robin. 72 hours prior, had a heart attack. Cardiologist not excited about excitement. Missed concert. Wish I was dead…..wait….
4 March 2012
Gregg Z
Gareth,
Hope you are feeling better. As an American fan of HMHB, I’ve had my heart broken (not attacked) in the past, with change of plans at the last minute, so haven’t yet seen them. I can relate to the spouse who’s a hard sell, as well. (My kids love them, though!)
Anyway, hope you’re doing well.
5 March 2012
twistedkitemike
I did finally get round to penning my review of Bilston. Better later? Not for me to judge.
HMHB – Bilston 26th January 2012
I find myself in the unusual position of it being a Saturday and finding a completely unsullied 24 hours in my diary. Not a jotting, nor a meeting. No requirements for lifts, football training, games to attend, golf matches or reminders that a particular sporting event needs my close attention. So; a nice day to laze around in the garden. This, of course, means avoiding doing any manual gardening-related activity, because I have spent years perpetuating the myth that doing any kind of gardening the day before a golf competition puts all my muscles out of line and ruins my swing plane. Whether Mrs. C. believes this or not, she seems to have accepted that it is now pointless even asking. So I thought that with a Biscuit gig on the horizon, I would get myself in the mood by exhuming my scribbled post-gig notes from Bilston and reminding myself (and some kind souls that might bother ingesting this random musing) of the fun had by all.
I have to say that Bilston is an excellent venue. Geographically, it is well-placed for us Southern dwellers, yet a reasonable trip for the Northern contingent. The sound is top notch, the beer decent and parking is no problem. I persuaded young Nicholas to accompany me, following the prisoner exchange with the United States of America and his return to this Sceptred Isle. I’m not sure what we gave them in return, but it is of no real consequence. Two gigs on the bounce for Nick; is he going to complete his hat-trick this week at Oxford? It was relatively amusing that he is too young to have been a contemporary of the original Kate Bush rendition of “Army Dreamers”, so the joyous effort by the support outfit (Shifty Chicken Shed) was a bit lost on him, unless he remembered to get on to that YouTube when he got home.
Nigel was as random as ever during the opening exchanges. He was wearing a jumper that, it was suggested by a member of the congregation, might have been a Christmas present? Maybe, but Nigel appeared to have only just realized that he was wearing it and one thing for sure was that he was absolutely certain that he would be too hot within 5 minutes. The moshing community got quite warm eventually, too. It was a very slow start and didn’t look like it was going to blossom into anything noteworthy, but as the set moved on and the temperature rose, the moshers got more and more enthusiastic. A very good effort and you should all offer applause to each other now.
“Mountain Bikes” as it often does, yielded an amusing closing line and some witty narrative from the Blackwell-Meister. It closed with; “…. That’s when I was saying, that the FA Cup on ITV is all wrong.” Fair comment, but backed up with further recital (possibly classified as a rant) on TV coverage of football. “Although the BBC have got it about right with Match of the Day, it is not so with the Football League Show. You’ve got to watch it because you need to watch the goals and all that. Manish up on the gantry introduces Claridge and at that moment, the look on Claridge’s face is like; ‘I’ve left the grill on, haven’t I?’ Chapeau to the side parting and he was a good player. Contrast him to Mark Bright, sitting there with a gormless smile, as if to say; ‘I’ve farted and he doesn’t know about it on the gantry yet’.”
There was a nod to a number of local celebrities, including Derek Statham and in response to exhortations from the throng (“Play one the drummer knows”), Carl Henry. A nod to my fellow (and more punctual) scribe Roger Green; “It’s like Stalin’s Russia with Roger here writing notes; on 28 minutes 15 seconds he said this.” Apparently, Roger is a doppelganger for Eileen’s sister’s bloke in Coronation Street. Sadly, this is as much an anathema to me as it is appears to be to Roger himself, though I’m sure he’s checked it out. The institution that is…
At one point, someone mentioned Pringle’s and Nigel confirmed that he has moved on to Kettle Crisps. This led to a stark admission; Nigel is a wood snob. He had noted early on in the evening that he had been quite distracted during the week cleaning out the baffle plate on his wood burner. Sounds a bit technical, but important to maximize the heat-producing potential of the appliance; I am sure. Anyway, this led to a bit more information about his wood purchasing habits. “You see these signs for seasoned logs, but you’ve gotta season them for 18 months; half of them are still damp, it’s rubbish. You have to go to the website ‘logs to you’ (sadly, I checked; it exists). Kiln dried, that is the key. My life has never been the same. I never grew up with central heating and still haven’t got central heating. Last winter was unbelievably cold and like Scott of the South Pole, in his notes he wrote; ‘God this is an awful place.’ He was probably talking about Birkenhead. I thought he wrote ‘fookin’ Amundsen.’ Anyway; kiln-dried logs.”
A few other snippets are thrown into the ring for our delectation. They’d nearly had an accident on the way to the venue, which had reminded him about the Bob Marley Accident Compensation Company, motto “No win, no fee”. “We get there in the end, don’t we?” Ken had said in the dressing room; “Home-made Battenberg, I can’t be a4$ed.” It was still sitting in Nigel’s head when he came on stage and he had to demonize it. He also gave us a ‘local’ gag about a local dignitary; “The Mayor of Dudley went to the doctor and admitted that he can’t sire any children. Perhaps you’re impotent, says the Quack? Of course I’m impotent; I’m the Mayor of Dudley!” You’ll get it if you test out your own version of the Black Country accent and it works; quite nicely.
As usual, a few snide asides at his colleagues. Well, thinly-veiled compliments. Neil was applauded for bringing a different bass for Floreat Inertia. “He can’t get the right notes on the other one. Professionalism, that. In a way.” Ken was lauded from the assembly for being worth his weight on gold. “He’s worth his weight in, well; I won’t say gold.” A bit of a moan about the guitar lead, which was faulty; “I paid £20 for that. Most I’ve paid for anything. I hope it’s the amp. It’s not my amp, of course.” There was a long discourse about punk, including quite a distracted thread about The Angelic Upstarts. I think it centred on Nigel’s erroneous belief that ‘We Gotta Get Out Of This Place’ was originally by the Upstarts and later discovery that The Animals had got there first. Anyway, he apparently didn’t really get into punk first time around because he was too busy listening to ‘Out Of The Blue’.
Upsetting my trend of thought to get back to the point, i.e. the musical content, the set-list was summarized in my notebook (yes, I’ve got one now, because of the onset of early Alzheimer’s) as follows: –
Leeuwarden, Capel Curig, Evening Sun, Turned Up, Left Lyrics, Harry Q, Ex Rita, Mountain Bikes, Improv Workshop, DPAK, L’Enfer, NSD, Best Things refrain, Trad Arr, 1966, Irk, Floreat, Slipknot, Bad Wools, 24 Hour, Tommy W, Light Tunnel, JDOG, Chatteris. Encores; Petty, Jim Reeves, Fix It, Bob Todd.
I’m not really sure that I am even remotely qualified to comment upon the musical content and the quality of the fretwork. I’d probably best stick to what I do best, which is to furnish anyone that gets this far with an account of proceedings, which hopefully amuses and in some small way, makes up for the fact that you couldn’t be there. A poor substitute to the sterling work of the technological age, which allows snippets and songs to be published on the airwaves within a matter of hours; whilst I strut and fret about a keyboard. However, it keeps me mildly amused and stops me annoying the dog or succumbing to the temptation to do some work.
Which leaves me with the ever-evolving live show-within-a-show that is “24 Hour Garage People”? A particular favourite of mine and one which constantly amuses. The tube of Pringle’s was not only a nut-crunching £2.96 – “How much?”, but was ‘sour cream and onion’. According to our Bard; “There is no such thing as sour cream and chive. I didn’t know that. I found out about two weeks after I’d written it. I thought, don’t tell me this; give it time. It didn’t actually happen and it embarrasses me greatly.” Anyway, if they really are £2.96 it is no wonder that the Bank of England is secretly showing concern about inflation. Forget your ever decreasing prices of white goods made in Far Eastern sweat-shops and iPods with more bytes and lower price tags. It is petrol, fags and Pringle’s that could lead to an untimely rise in interest rates at this rate.
I digress, as ever. Leadbelly is doing the surly bus driver thing. A nice image, which I recall as I visit many a retail outlet. “You’re holding up the line, Sir.” “It’s not a line, it’s a queue.” Oh, and guess what they’ll be asking for? And, oh! Look! It’s local celebrity Ziggy Sawdust. One can only think of what delights he’s going to be asking for. I didn’t catch them all, but it included unleaded soup and a tin of alphabet spaghetti with the vowels taken out. He’s Polish you know. He went to the optician and he said can you read the bottom line; read it, I know him! Ziggy is also likely to be asking for a Yorkie, a Toffee Crisp and a copy of Razzle; “but only if Pam Ferris is in it.” My personal favourite on his hypothetical shopping list is an Airwick Freshener; with the smell of cordite. I actually wouldn’t mind one of those myself. The iPod featured the usual random selection of classics that you would hear on a radio station that none of us would listen to, but as noted by our hero; “at least if he’s gonna deck me, I’ve got a soundtrack to it.”
All in all, another fine evening. It is human nature to feel comfortable with familiar surroundings and the Biscuit formula is tried, tested and seems to work without fuss. Perhaps that’s why whether it is Bilston, Manchester, Leeds, Carlisle or Oxford (just about London as well), it feels like an evening that you know you will enjoy. We found a top notch chippy in Bilston on a recommendation from a mate of a mate. Ten minutes stroll, but a testament to the multi-cultural modern Britain, with the brothers Patel knocking out delicious fish suppers and kebabs.
However; roll on the dreaming spires, the Isis and the Thames, if you are fortunate enough to have time to kill; a wander around the Pitt Rivers (well worth it if you are early and don’t want to get to the Bird and Baby too promptly) and those term-time bicycle saddles – as a distinguished lawyer once remarked to me about the pleasant ad hoc return to his alma mater. Each to their own. Might even see you there?
29 May 2012