As close as they come to a gig in Bridgwater – there may be trouble ahead. And the first of a double-header in the West Country. What was it like?
As close as they come to a gig in Bridgwater – there may be trouble ahead. And the first of a double-header in the West Country. What was it like?
chedgzoy
Back home, brilliant gig in a cracking venue. Set list included rarities like ‘See that my bike’s kept clean’ and ‘Reflections in a flat,’ as well as the usual favourites (no 24hr garage people) and a cover of RIver Deep Mountain High.
Excellent support from the fella from Calvin Party, and a young lad playing his first ever gig,
18 January 2014
LEe gillingham
Great gig
Great venue
Great night .
Don’t think I will ever see them play a better venue again. Unless I win the lotto and they do a gig in my garden.
18 January 2014
Phil
Hello all. Long time fan, short term concentration! Been a fan since the first album and saw the at Reading ’91(?). Then 20 odd years later had the opportunity to start seeing them again live! Seriously not disappointed. Thought the Illminster gig was great but the organisation was haphazard. Barn held 250, pub held 12! No food as all tables reserved? Ah well thank god for 24 hour McDonalds! 200 mile round trip to the Square and Compass, and tonight Matthew I’m doing it all again, traveling to Bristol! I’ll be the sad git on my own. Again! The light at the end of the tunnel for me was Reflections In A Flat last night, and that Ken’s kagoul was haunted by iron age children!
18 January 2014
More like ken barlow
Had the great pleasure of giving a lift to two fans over from California. Great gig, neat venue. Hope to go back in Nov to see Focus. Particularly loud set I thought but it really rocked the place. AOR was the highlight although criss crossing your fingers over your face during chorus shouldn’t be allowed. It’s not a bloody Steps gig! Can’t make Bristol.
18 January 2014
fred titmus
Brilliant little venue in the middle of nowhere, awesome gig, ears still ringing….
Played a good mix of songs from all eras, Dukla Prague my personal fave, but unfortunately no Vagaries or Trumpton Riots .
Maybe tonight at Bristol?
18 January 2014
Nige tassell
If the level of hoarseness the following morning is the sign of a toppermost gig, then it was surely a mighty fine occasion at the S & C. Highlights included a gent in a proper-job woollen suit in the thick of an impressively sustained mosh, plenty of onstage banter about Fall basslines, and a blinding sprint through River Deep Mountain High. Oh, and a mention for family-friendly Somerset attraction Blagdon Pumping Station, located but a stone’s throw* from the computer where I wrote the HMHB chapter in my wee book Mr Gig.
* If you can throw a stone half a mile.
19 January 2014
jitsu_g
hi Nige T,
just like to say i thoroughly enjoyed Mr Gig, a fine book.
well worth picking up
19 January 2014
John aNDERSON
Hi Nige T. What did he say about Fall basslines?
19 January 2014
Chris The Siteowner
A section of the gig on YouTube here including part of DPAK, most of NSD and all of River Deep.
19 January 2014
Nige tassell
I know we’re not supposed to chat in this area, but just quickly while Chris isn’t looking…
JITSU_G – very kind and much appreciated. Feel free to tell one and all!
JOHN – the bassline banter was largely between Nigel and Neil, and revolved around which Fall and Joy Division basslines most resembled Neil’s between-song four-string noodling.
19 January 2014
twistedkitemike
Has no-one posted the set-list? Careless.
Anyway, for those that like their completeness abbreviated, here is a regurgitation from my notebook: –
Shit Arm
Sieves
Korfball
Lilac HQ
Capel Curig
Evening Sun
Left Lyrics
Dead Men
Petty
Wrong Grave
Totnes
AOR
Bad Review
Vitas G
San Antonio
Squabble
Reflection
Dean F
Vatican
NSD
DPAK
Fix It
JDOG
Bike Kept Clean
Encores
Chatteris
River Deep Mountain High
Light Tunnel
To the gentleman who made an enquiry about a couple of tracks? It was A Lilac Harry Quinn; honest, Guv.
A very good set-list and a thoroughly enjoyable gig. I just wish that I had the foresight to book a table at the pub, because I was bloody starving and there were no other options within about 10 miles.
Mike…………………………….
20 January 2014
EXXO
I’m not sure that it was a question of foresight, Mike. The pub’s website makes a big deal of the food, and I thought to myself that pubs that do food can surely cope with 150 covers within a couple of hours, even in the very unlikely event that about 75% of those attending want to order. I spoke to the landlady about the gig & about dog-friendly accommodation nearby 3 nights before the gig, and she did not mention that there would be no food, nor did the website.
We got taxis from our accommodation that cost double figures. I knew that the next night there would be two more double-figure taxis in Bristol (very expensive taxi rates there), so I was b*ggered if I was going to taxi back again to somewhere else for food. The one take-away that Mrs Exford located in Ilminster that would deliver were so rude on the phone that she then refused to use them and so we just had a bag of crisps.
20 January 2014
robvarmint
Evening all. I’ve lurked around this site for a few years now without contributing, so thought it was about time to break cover.
This was my first HMHB gig for me after a couple of near misses, and I wasn’t disappointed (well, I would have liked to have heard “27 Yards of Dental Floss”, but you can’t have everything). I took my girlfriend who really hadn’t heard much HMHB before – but she listened to four hours or so of my CD’s on Thursday in preparation (whilst preparing the bedroom for decorating – I was at work) – she was also very impressed (although she would have liked to have heard “Paintball’s Coming Home” which she is convinced is written about some of her acquaintances).
The crowd was a mixed bag – clearly a number of afficianados, some of whom had travelled some distance, a large number of more local fans grateful for the opportunity to see the band, a smattering of locals who were a bit bemused, and the usual contingent of @rses who wouldn’t shut up… I knew we were in for something a bit special when we had to park half a mile up the road – normally we park with ease in the field adjoining the pub.
Anyway, as I said above, we weren’t disappointed – the band played many favourites, and those songs I was less familiar with, well, I went home and dug them out to play again.
Nigel’s mention of Blagdon Pumping Station came at the end of “Lock Up Your Mountain Bikes” – the last verse was something along the lines of “that’s when we discovered that Blagdon Pumping Station was closed”. Which he then followed up with – “We had a backup plan though – we were going to visit the Temple of Harmony near Bridgwater”.
As an aside – gigs at the S&Q normally have an average crowd of 30 – 40, so this was a bit of an eyeopener for them – but I suspect they’ll have made enough of a profit to keep putting on gigs for a while yet… good news all round!!!
20 January 2014
lenh
Would it be too pedantic to point out that the Square and Compass is located close to the town of Ilminster rather than Ilchester which is about 15 miles away to the east along the A303?
20 January 2014
Chris The Siteowner
Hah! Probably getting too excited about Python in July. Duly amended.
21 January 2014
CHARLES EXFORD
Water under the Bridge at Troubled Ilminster. Part One.
I don’t know if it was the HMHB CD she’d selected, the ‘Keep 2 Chevrons Apart’ signs on the motorway perhaps, or some of my dreadful puns about the Somerset place names. Actually I think it might have been prompted by passing the ‘Bridgewater’ and ‘Glastonbury’ turn-off. But somewhere around there last Friday, Mrs Exford asked me ‘when’s their next gig’? After a brief panic, not the first of the day, I was actually delighted because it confirmed that she definitely hadn’t rumbled the birthday surprise.
‘Errm,’ I bluffed. ‘They’re playing London sometime soon I think, and maybe somewhere else down south in March, but the next one round our way’s not till April in Holmfirth.”
Half an hour later we’d checked into our room at the Travelodge and were in a taxi for The Square and Compass. She wondered if we were heading to some secret cider and ale festival and she would have been delighted with that too. “Blimey, I’ve never seen it like this before,” said the driver as he inched up the line of parked cars in the country lane 100 yards before the pub. “What’s on tonight then?”
“It’s a birthday surprise I said so can’t tell you till she’s worked it out” I said. “But it shouldn’t take her long”, I added, when I saw two Dukla Prague away shirts outside the pub.
It gradually dawned on her as she alighted from the vehicle into the throng of obvious HMHB fans – she’s been to enough of these gigs after all, but still with a certain amount of disbelief about the unlikely venue. I explained to the driver, who had heard of the band, fumbled for cash, grabbed the dog lead and didn’t realise that somehow my wallet, containing the entire budget for Mrs. E’s birthday weekend, cards and all, had slipped from my grasp somewhere around the back seat of the people-carrier taxi.
“A dog?” scowled the landlord who was supervising the gig-goers’ parking. “You can’t take him in the barn for the band.”
“Yeah no worries, he wouldn’t want to go in anyway,” I said. “We’ll take it turns to stay outside with him.” I knew we’d be able to hear every note outside the barn and it was mild enough, and no more rain due till around midnight.
To the bar. My missing wallet would have become obvious sooner if I’d had to pay for more than two pints at this point, but the bar staff explained to our dismay that there would be no food tonight and that there was nothing else within walking distance. My beloved’s birthday surprise had been triumphantly maintained, and she was delighted with that much, but after surviving the motorway closures, the eastward detours to go westwards, and further errors of judgement on my part in the school run traffic around Nottingham, things were now starting to unravel in deepest Somerset. The rivers were still breaking their banks, making a curry in a hurry in North Curry a bit of a worry if we didn’t want to end up in a flurry of slurry.
What could we do after a long, hungry day on the fucked-up motorways of the East Midlands? But I still feel like I’ve left an important part of my brain somewhere. Somewhere in a field in Somerset. So this will have to be continued another time.
22 January 2014
Chris The Siteowner
There can only be one voice in your head when you read that.
I do hope that in part 2, after the gig, there are waiting Dads in brown Audis.
22 January 2014
NoT ROGER GREEN
We haven’t had this review from Roger on here yet, have we? I blame all the twitterface malarkey for making me forget where the gigs bit was. Also I failed to bundle Roger into the van for several futile days cos I’d apparently been waiting at the old entrance to the new station.
To be honest I’d have cut off his first first paragraph if it wasn’t for its apparent subtle acknowledgement, in the first few words, that most people reading it will do so on here, rather than on there. Anyway who am I to talk about the relevance of first paragraphs?
The Square & Compass, Ashill, Fri 17th January 2014 (19/01/14)
Roger Green:
Pedants read on. Most of my HMHB journeys take in this particular spot, so I can’t really begin without making a few comments about the new-look Wakefield “Westgate” station. The parenthesis result from an anomaly following the recent investment. The platforms have been moved about fifty yards up the track, which is no problem. But more importantly the station entrance has been re-located. It is now, without doubt, no longer on Westgate, but is now on Mulberry Way. I look forward to this amendment being noted on national timetables, and station announcers up and down the land should be notified. In addition, they now have ticket barriers which do not appear to be used. If the movements of the general populace are to be controlled, then these tools of the trade need to be in operation. Otherwise you have a free for all with people going about their business as they please. I’ll be surprised if there hasn’t already been a letter in the Daily Mail about this obvious waste of public expenditure. One final point. There is nothing in the Costa/Subway/Greggs triumvirate that is going to keep me away from the bacon/sausage combo at Hofmanns in the middle of town. And you get a proper tea-pot and cups at The Conservatory.
Anyway, from there it was off to Birmingham. I met up with Tony at New Street station, and he drove us to Ilminster. We had a clear run on the M5, plenty of time to contemplate the relative fortunes of Birmingham City and Doncaster Rovers, flood damage, and Tony’s revelation that Cow And Gate had premises in Ilminster where Cow And Gate kept their bulls, which were to play their part in the process of artificial insemination.
We arrived in Ilminster late in the afternoon, leaving enough time for a quick browse before the shops closed. Tony asked when did Optometrists replace Opticians on the high street. And why? As we tucked into fish and chips from the shop on West Street, I was unable to help him on either point. But I am happy to be informed by anyone who knows. I also took the opportunity to purchase a copy of the Chard And Ilminster News. Total silence on the gig, which is what you come to expect. But it was good to see that Sam Clark was now recovered from his ankle injury and was expected to be back in the Chard Town team against Wells City.
It didn’t seem right describing the location as “Ilminster” as that is a few miles away. Ashill appears to be the nearest village. But the country lane on which The Square And Compass is located, appears to be in the hamlet of Windmill Hill. There is a windmill and a hill nearby. That was good enough for us. Tony parked partly on the road, and partly in a hedge, which is the way things are done in rural parts. The venue was a barn at the back of the pub. I would imagine they get a bit of trade with weddings, twenty-firsts, bar mitzvahs and ceilidhs. But there was also a plentiful list of bands appearing in the future, according to their listing board. Admittedly, not a lot of it was to my taste (Focus, for example), and I noticed the lack of apostrophe in Martin Turners Wishbone Ash. I would also have chosen different music on the PA. The Cotton Fields Back Home? I stopped listening.
Unusually there were two support acts. First up was a guy whose name was Oscar (although Tony thought it might have been Oliver). He started off with Fulsom Prison Blues. Did he really mean all those words? He also had a go at Dirty Old Town and then did some slide guitar. Good luck to him, but it’s not quite my kind of thing.
Then it was JD Meatyard, who seem to alternate with Roja as HMHB’s support. “We’re a Probe Plus band,” announced John to general approval. The same approval met the set as a whole. Much of it was from the excellent Northern Songs CD, such as Come Take The Ride, Standing On The Shoulders and the one about St Peter. I also picked up a bit of the lyric from HMHB’s Let’s Not. I would go and see this band in their own right. Tony reckoned the guitarist is a Chris Patten lookalike, and I reckon that John’s glasses are going to fall off the end of his nose one day. He needs an appointment with an Optometrist.
When HMHB arrived, Nigel said “This is where I realise I’ve forgotten the set list.” He found it eventually, and before opening up with Shit Arm, he announced “This was written by Newton Faulkner.” Usual hearing problems, I’m afraid. I couldn’t tell the name of the place (possibly a petrol station) mentioned in the “That’s when I first said…” bit at the end of Mountain Bikes. None of the people around me could help either. The band had called at The Temple Of Harmony in Bridgwater, but they had had a row there. Nigel informed us that Ilminster had been the scene of a skirmish in the Civil War (but of course everything is relative). Ahead of Bottleneck, he said “This song is about the wettest place in Britain. Ironically it is not round here,” making reference to the recent floods. Bradley Dredge was spotted in the crowd. Ilminster was the birthplace of Charles Moore, the geologist. I think he might have Googled that one. “It’s not just a series of songs, is it?” he pointed out. It’s difficult enough trying to pick up all the quips, but it was more difficult than usual with having a guy next to me constantly shouting for National Shite Day. He got his wish in the end, but it was worse than the Rotherham Postie with his “What Did God Give Us, Neil?” They must be related. Plenty of water got thrown around. Maybe there was a Christening, to add to the other ceremonials in the barn. Although I think it was one of the punters who was getting a bit tired and emotional. There were requests for Jean Genie and Eat Y’Self Fitter. That prompted Nigel to play a bit of The Fall’s Fiery Jack and to talk about their legendary (my description) bassist Steve Hanley. “It needs the Hanley touch,” explained Nigel, before realising that the Crossley touch would also be adequate. Ah, The Fall. For me, they have never been better than in the first half of the 1980s. Nigel described HMHB’s route to the show, using the M6 Toll. They had stopped at Norton Canes services, expecting to get a complimentary coffee or something, because they had already paid at the toll booth. It never quite works like that, does it? Nigel gave us some hovercraft history. Apparently the first ever regular service was between Wallasey and Rhyl. This prompted a noisy response from Nigel/Exford who pointed out that this had a direct effect on the wading bird population in the locality. As long as we know. And there was even time for a quiz question. What is the only team in the football league which, when you write their name in capitals, does not have any curly bits on any of the letters? MILLWALL. It’s always useful to know these things. Set list as follows.
Shit Arm Bad Tattoo
Lock Up Your Mountain Bikes
Joy In Leeuwarden
A Lilac Harry Quinn
Bottleneck At Capel Curig
When The Evening Sun Goes Down
Left Lyrics In The Practice Room
Dead Men Don’t Need Season Tickets
Petty Sessions
Tending The Wrong Grave
Totnes Bickering Fair
Everything’s AOR
Bad Review
Outbreak Of Vitas Gerulaitis
San Antonio Foam Party
Running Order Squabble Fest
Reflections In A Flat
The Bastard Son Of Dean Friedman
Vatican Broadside
National Shite Day
All I Want For Christmas is A Dukla Prague Away Kit
Fix It So She Thinks Of Me
Joy Division Oven Gloves
See That My Bike’s Kept Clean
And in the encore
For What Is Chatteris?
River Deep Mountain High
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel
6 February 2014