Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton gig – 6 October 2023
Back at the Wulfrun Hall for the first time since 2005. The band’s previous visit doesn’t get a mention in the venue’s official history, but it’s worth reading nevertheless. Much excitement also surrounded the choice of The Hitchers (starring regular contributor here Niall) as support. How was it all for you?
✉ Letters Sent (46)
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(3 years ago by Dr Desperate)
Ben W
Terrific gig, and the best support I’ve seen watching Biscuit. The Lych Gate Tavern (Black Country Ales) and North Street Social proved to be excellent pre-gig venues.
Really good atmosphere throughout and nice to briefly meet Chris in there – thanks for listening to me bemoaning Terminus’s early LFC exit and advancing the case for Oblong.
If only they’d followed through and played the whole of Brimful of Asha!
6 October 2023
Stringy bob
Now that was a great gig
7 October 2023
Rob Harper
Was I the only one with oven gloves tonight? Get it sorted for Newcastle, I expect moshing harder than Bristol. A great gig, well worth 6 hours on a train from Essex. Cheers and thanks, having some serious surgery soon and tonight just proved how important HMHB and the Biscuiteers are. What a family. Back in the Novotel on a high but the reality of 4 months to the next gig is hard.
Cheers folks the journey with HMHB is a blast.
7 October 2023
TwistedKiteMike
High Ho Wolverhampton, indeed! An all round fine gig. Nice venue, very modern. Roomy, airy, and great sound. A very civilised start and finish time, and a good set list.
Which is this: –
Lilac HQ
Light Tunnel
Awkward Sean
Squabblefest
Fred T
Irk
Renfield
Makes the Room Look Bigger
Terminus
Bob W
Buried in the Morning
Evening of Swing
Wrong Grave
WILAMB
27 Yards
Mountain Bikes (I think impromptu?)
Chatteris
Brimful of Asha (half of…) seguing into Vatican
Midnight Mass Murder
AOR
DPAK
Jarg Armani
NSD
Trad Arr Tune
Trumpton
Oblong
Driver of a Train
Bell Rings
………………………………………
Look Dad
Skinheads Bowling (CVB cover)
JDOG
Roll on Holmfirth. That’s your (early) Christmas gig!
Cheers
Mike………………………………
7 October 2023
Katie
Lovely set tonight. Best gig since our first one in Llangollen. Nice to chat to everyone in the pub after, hopefully see you all at a gig next year!
7 October 2023
Chris The Siteowner
Video of support act The Hitchers’ “Strachan”
7 October 2023
Ferencváros fan
Just been watching the ‘Strachan’ vid over breakfast. Brilliant stuff, and it’s great to read that last night went so well. Thanks @Lux & @Parsfan for your kind words. It was a sickness bug and I’m already feeling much better. Just poor timing on my part, but not long to wait till Holmfirth. Yes @Lux must catch up another time. Keep on living life to the full.
7 October 2023
Cream CHEESE AND chives
Having been embroiled in family illness for over twelve months, best wishes to all who could not make it last night. My first gig for too long.
A horrible journey down from Cumbria was soon forgotten after beers in The Great Western. Thanks for the welcome Brumbiscuit. Good to meet you and some other devotees too and to have a laugh and explain who Nerys Hughes is to a man from Texas.
Old Tige- thanks for the beer.I know you turned one down at the show but next time you’re over…and I hope United treat you to a performance as good as the band did.
The show was grand and as ever I had a smile on my face throughout. I think my selections and predictions were fairly wide of the mark but who cares.
Struggling to find my last bus back to my outlying Premier Inn, I was helped by a top local who gave me a run down on the vagaries of life in Wolverhampton but still found time to tell me which stop to get off at.
Left now with a sore knee, lots of good memories and a resolute determination to avoid Sandbach services on the trip north.
Safe travels and good health to all.
7 October 2023
Justanotherlackey
Fantastic night. Support were brilliant. Would definitely go and see them again. Some very polite moshing at the front and spoke to some lovely people. Great to hear a spot of Cornershop.
7 October 2023
ROB R
What a great night. Fantastic sound quality and I was bowled over by The Hitchers.
7 October 2023
POP-TART MARK
Play one the drummer sings!
7 October 2023
dic aberdaron
score another boss biccies gig up.. roll on holmfirth
7 October 2023
JD OGLOVES
Wow! Great night in Wolverhampton and an excellent venue. Got there in time for the support act, The Hitchers, who were quite superb. They got the hall rocking with their version of Mamma Mia, even though this kind of stymied Nigel’s plans for an ABBA entrance but we were treated to a bit of Tchaikovsky! Not too much time between the support band and the lads making their way on to stage, nice early start, and they took off with some absolute bangers! As usual, a great set with plenty of shout along, dance along classics. I think I was standing next to the only person that had brought oven gloves to the gig and he had to wait to the last song to get his moment. Grabbed a new T shirt on the way out, I think someone may be a fan of Only Connect, and off home with The Biscuits still ringing in our ears (well, I played them all the way home on the car) and already looking forward to the next gig.
7 October 2023
quality janitor
Another splendid night, with great sound, support and some excellent audience banter.
It seems Jason had heeded prior complaints and stocked up on dry ice. Not so sure about the blue lighting early on though.
Niall, you are some drummer my man. I loved that (I think) dual kick drum and bass assault. Such drive and power, it sounded fabulous. Strachan was a midfield dynamo, even though yer man stuffed up the second verse.
7 October 2023
Irish niall
Thank you all for the kind words about The Hitchers.
Not that I’ve had a career as such but that’s a career highlight right there.
Got to meet all the band. Lovely, sound bunch of people.
I found myself wanting to beam myself back to 1987 to meet sullen, grumpy, 14 year old me and he bedecked in his home made HMHB tee-shirt on Kilkee strand, just to tell him what he could look forward to taking place 36 years on.
We had a couple of distracting technical issues that put it up to our Andy hence the lyrics issue in Strachan but he dug in and we pushed through. I’ve a bit of lactic acid on stiff joints today (and forgot my Voltarol!) but we’ll push through one more time for Leeds tonight.
Thanks again. The Hitchers lads are blown away by the reaction from the HMHB fans.
7 October 2023
brumbiscuit
A very good afternoon and evening. I’ll echo the praise for The Hitchers. After ABBA Voyage last Sunday, I hadn’t counted on hearing Mamma Mia again for a while.
For all those who decided not to follow us to the Great Western – good call. No sooner had we been served than the last orders bell rang out. Probably just as well…
8 October 2023
Gav
really enjoyed The Hitchers, meant to buy a CD on way out but forgot – assume they are available online somewhere?
Excellent HMHB gig, sadly my last of the year as had to give my Holmfirth ticket away.
Any renews or rumours of gigs in 2024 other than Newcastle?
8 October 2023
Old tige
Wow wow wow. Fantastic show, and a blast hanging out with y’all pre- and post-gig. Camper van Beethoven has a lot of personal meaning for me, I felt like I was 20 years old again when Nigel sang the opening lines of TtSB.
Agree with everyone that the Hitchers were a great opener. Congrats to Niall. The mate that joined me on the trip swears you are a metal drummer. If that is true, I will follow that musical vein as far as it goes.
@CCaC I sincerely hope to take you up on that beer offer sooner rather than later. The United game was a miserable 90 minutes followed by a massive endorphin surge that I already crave more of.
8 October 2023
Johnny Kwango
@GAV There’s lots of stuff available on their Bandcamp (https://thehitchers.bandcamp.com/merch) which I happened to have been perusing earlier this evening. Superb choice of support and a great HMHB gig, though for me the venue lacked a bit of atmosphere somehow. Had a very pleasant chat with an HMHB, Arsenal and Evesham United fan in the Lych Gate before the gig. Extremely enjoyable evening, despite my 06:12 start down from Waverley.
9 October 2023
Johnny kwango
Video of The Hitchers performing “Urge To Kill” unfortunately missing the first ten seconds due to fat fingers (not literally)
https://youtu.be/xj3b1Mai9iA
9 October 2023
CHRIS THE SITEOWNER
Roger Green’s review, originally published on Gez’s site and reproduced with thanks to both Roger and Gez.
Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton, Fri 6th Oct 2023
Roger Green:
Geoff Davies, HMHB’s manager from the early days until fairly recently, died just before September’s gig in Bristol. His funeral was the week before this show in Wolverhampton. That was a bridge too far for Karen and me. We were away at the coast and chose our own way of remembering this lovely man. Paddy Shennan wrote a piece for The Liverpool Echo where he quoted Nigel. Much of Geoff’s favourite music was referenced. At the time when we would otherwise have been travelling to Liverpool, instead we worked through stuff mentioned in the article… Ennio Morricone, Beethoven, Duke Ellington, George Jones, The Clash, Captain Beefheart, Eliza Carthy, Ingmar Bergman soundtracks and Bernard Herrmann. Oh, and HMHB of course. We played God Gave Us Life, being the first track on the demo which came into Geoff’s possession all those years ago. And we walked to the end of the pier, to toss some flowers into the outgoing tide.
Karen and I shared stories of our dealings with him. We both had tales of him having to be corrected about the Doors Opening times at these shows. “The doors open at 8,” he once said to Karen, when in fact they opened at 7. And he would be left with a hurried scramble to set up the stall. A gig had been announced (Lincoln) but his best description was “That place. Turn left at Chesterfield.”
After a late cancellation of a show in Preston, I got into the habit of ringing Geoff a day or so beforehand, to make sure that stuff was still going ahead. Even that caused problems. “Don’t ring me during Coronation Street!” Duly bollocked, I made sure that never happened again. The only time I came close was when A Hard Day’s Night was on. Apparently, Geoff is somewhere in one of the crowd scenes. A good bloke. Three cheers for him. He even gave me a free Urge For Offal t-shirt at one of the gigs. I wore that on the day of the funeral.
Imagine our surprise when a picture of the band appeared during an episode of Only Connect. The link was “things that are half man and half something else”. It was an old photo. And there were five chaps in the picture. That’s not been the case with HMHB since the early nineties.
The Humdrum Express supported HMHB in Leamington Spa earlier this year. We saw them playing in Studentland in Leeds at the end of September. This was the full band playing (although the lifesize cut-out of Sally Gunnell was missing). Ian introduced the bassist (“Bernard Bresslaw’s nephew”) who had won a Take A Break competition, with the prize of a round of crazy golf with Brendan Ormsby, and a year’s supply of tinned asparagus. All grand stuff, and I hope that we can get to hear some of these songs at a HMHB evening soonish. There was even an Undertones cover thrown in for good measure. Thanks to Ian for the set list which included some stuff which was new to us. Another album out next year?
Chipsticks
Denim In The Dugout
Message Board Hooligan
One Man’s Tat
Brave Boy
Tennis Elbow
Online Beer Club
Secret Troll
E-Petition
Male Model
With reference to In A Suffolk Ditch, it’s true! We will never see Nicolas Witchell ever again after his retirement next year. As seen on the BBC website. There is a low bridge near where we live, which is often hit by high wagons. No buses as yet, but, as happened a couple of days before this gig, it still gives us the opportunity to shout “Helen!!!” as per Satin Tour Jacket With Detachable Sleeves.
We had a fairly standard journey. Bus into Wakefield, train to Birmingham New Street. Change there for Wolverhampton. We were staying at the Premier Inn nearly next door to the train station. First off, we went for a stroll to search for the venue. On the way, we had our first spotting of a Biscuiteer, being Phil. Having found The Wulfrun, we then took lunch at The Slug And Lettuce. Lo and behold, The Hitchers (tonight’s support band) were sitting at the next table. We talked to Niall who very kindly handed over a set list in advance.
4.30 Two Down
Killed It With My Bare Hands
Wannabee
Urge To Kill
You Can Only Love Someone So Much
Linedancefinalsmassacre
Strachan
Aryan Beach Party
UCanDu
Mama Mia
There were also a couple of notes on there. Andy was taking lead vocals on everything except for Linedancefinalsmassacre, where Niall had the honours. And there was a point about their show taking twenty-nine minutes. That seemed a bit precise, but maybe they were under pressure from the promoter.
The paper review didn’t bring much to the surface. We completed the Metro Quick Crossword. Quickly, of course. Metro had a couple of pages covering “the pick of this week’s live music”. Blink 182, Baxter Dury and Gary Numan all had gigs in their Top Ten. But not HMHB. Karen also had a look in The Express And Star, and the Black Country Bugle. No mention in either of them.
We are down to a mere two gigs in the diary. Holmfirth in November, which sold out some time back. And Newcastle in February. Tickets are still available for the latter, but on recent form, action is required if you are going. So, as things stand, the cupboard is a little bare.
We were staying a fair walk away from the venue. On the way, we saw a few folk here and there. Andy was stopping at the same place as us, Graham and Julie were heading for some grub at Wetherspoons, and we bumped into two of The Hitchers at large in town. When we arrived at the venue, we found Tony first in line in the queue, having driven from home in Brum.
Alison arrived with Andy, who was at his first HMHB show. There was an error in the Bristol review, where I referred to Mrs Bad Loser. Her name is Lyn. If required, I will correct the spelling next time. Maybe there’s another “n”? When inside the venue, a lot of the regulars dropped by to say Hello: Andrew, Steve A, Chris, Peter, John B, Paul, Andy, Brian and Ian from Humdrum Express with his mate Steph. Ian told me he has a book coming out at some point. Not sure if it’s going to be ready for Christmas. Maybe for my birthday next year
The Hitchers set went exactly as per the listing from Niall. Nice touch from him after the first song where he expressed commiseration at Geoff’s death. Before hearing them, I had not really known what to expect. This is meaty stuff. These are coveted support slots, with a few bands in the queue, but I could cope with seeing these again. Well in fact we were doing just that the day after this show. The Hitchers were heading north to a gig in Leeds. Report to follow next time.
There were a few more Hellos in the interval. Drew and his mate Chris were down at the front. I’m sure I heard Drew right. They had cycled down from Liverpool. Admirable. And I exchanged waves with Howie who had taken up his place in the mosh pit.
HMHB’s walk-on music was Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto Number One. This was the first classical album to sell a million copies, according to Tony. There will be a gold disc on a wall somewhere. “We were going to walk on to Abba’s The Way Old Friends Do,” noted Nigel. “But The Hitchers finished with Mamma Mia”. Tony shouted to Nigel that Tchaikovsky was paranoid about his head falling off. “There is no punchline to that?” replied Nigel, “I feel sorry for the blighter.”
“Are you OK for bags?” asked Nigel before the opening song, A Lilac Harry Quinn. Neil’s intro to Awkward Sean was from The Beverley Hillbillies. This great band has such rich and varied reference points.
Celebrity spottings began with Henry Searle. Later it was Robert Bathurst (“he owns the skeleton of Fatty Arbuckle, you know.”). Hugh Porter and Anita Lonsborough were also pointed out, but for some reason weren’t standing next to each other.
Karl was wearing an Inner City Unit Acid Punk t-shirt. (Some Hawkwind off-shoot, according to Andrew). Everyone else in the band was wearing plain tops. Nigel said that they had been to the Charles Darwen museum in Shrewsbury. A maximum of ten people were allowed in. There were eight people in the queue, so the band just barged in at the front, thereby proving Darwen’s theory of natural selection.
“Anyone in from Oldbury?” asked Nigel. “Do you know Macca?” And a follow-up question established that they have seven re-cycling bins. “Seven!” Nigel wondered. “That’s for the whole town!” was the response from the floor. In Renfield’s Afoot it was noted that Roydon Park was “nowhere near Oldbury”. And he pointed out that the song is a “true story”.
“Here’s one we haven’t done for a while,” explained Nigel, ahead of It Makes The Room Look Bigger. And there was a decent machine-gun mime from him, on the final line of the song. He said that one of the hecklers sounded like the starter at The Grand National. It was suggested it could be a new career for him, if he joined the Unusual Impressionists Club, probably in Oldbury. Nigel also said that he knows the first man in Kidderminster to have an air-fryer. “Molyneux hasn’t half changed,” he noted. “We walked down the subway confidently.” And he added, about their fans, “they’ve got a good selection of songs.”
Carl’s drum solo during Irk The Purists was magnificent. When the band played Evening Of Swing, Tony reminded me that that song had been played at his son’s wedding. During Tending The Wrong Grave, in the Meadow Of Consolation section, bearing in mind Karl’s guitar work, Nigel commented “I didn’t expect a Bulgarian cartoon soundtrack.” Karl’s glebe cow drooling got a cheer. And this song was another true story. In Lock Up Your Mountain Bikes, the last line was “That’s when I was saying / A re-make of The Wicker Man won’t work.” (A timely reminder that this gig was on the day of Britt Ekland’s 81st birthday.)
There was a snippet of Black Night. Similarly with Brimful Of Asha, leading into Vatican Broadside. And there was a demonstration of Nigel’s left-arm over-the-wicket technique. Or should that be around-the-wicket? Dukla Prague was dedicated to anyone going on the Wolverhampton Crimewatch Facebook page and asking why the police helicopter is out.
There was a word about Bedford… If you drive anti-clockwise around the main roundabout then the devil appears. When he mentioned Melrose, Nigel looked at me and said “Can we have it in the minutes that I know how to pronounce Hawick?”
As we got to the end of the main set, Ian and Steph had to leave to get the bus home. That’s rock and roll. There was a shout for “King Of Capel Curig”. “King?” replied Nigel. Could be wrong, but I think he said that, if it has to be anyone, the King Of Couple Curig should be O.G. Jones.
When the band came back for the encore, there was a shout for The Six Wives Of Henry VIII by Rick Wakeman. “If I was a reviewer,” said Nigel, “I would write ‘Yes Songs? No Songs'”. Nigel talked about his older brother being a prog rock fan and having gatefold sleeves on his wall. He quoted the lyric to Benny The Bouncer by ELP.”
The caravan guitar was brought out to a multitude of cheers. But it was only played for about ten seconds, just to prove that it still works. “This is for those who think this wasn’t going to work. Actually, it’s not too bad. You could park it in a lay-by in Capel Curig. It’s a multi-purpose guitar. You could live in it. You could sit on a Cadbury’s Smash tin and play Scrabble with the family in it, when it’s raining for two weeks.”
There was a musical mix-up. Nigel thanked everyone for coming out, and started playing Joy Division Oven Gloves, but the rest of the band knew that Take The Skinheads Bowling was still to be done. The cover version included the joke about dreaming that you have eaten a giant marshmallow. And then, in the morning, your pillow has disappeared. Joy Division Oven Gloves saw the Rossi/Parfitt manoeuvre between Nigel and Karl. Best t-shirt of the evening was worn by the guy in the Hall, Stairs & Landing number.
Thanks to Neil for the set list. The actual songs played were:
A Lilac Harry Quinn
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train
Awkward Sean
Running Order Squabble Fest
Fuckin’ ‘Ell It’s Fred Titmus
Irk The Purists
Renfield’s Afoot
It Makes The Room Look Bigger
Terminus
Bob Wilson Anchorman
I’m Getting Buried in the Morning
Evening Of Swing (Has Been Cancelled)
Tending The Wrong Grave For Twenty-Three Years
When I Look At My Baby
Twenty-Seven Yards Of Dental Floss
Lock Up Your Mountain Bikes
For What Is Chatteris
Brimful Of Asha / Vatican Broadside
Midnight Mass Murder
Everything’s AOR
All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit
Jarg Armani
National Shite Day
We Built This Village On A Trad Arr Tune
The Trumpton Riots
Oblong Of Dreams
Time Flies By When You’re A Driver Of A Train
Every Time A Bell Rings
And in the encore:
Look Dad No Tunes
Take The Skinheads Bowling
Joy Division Oven Gloves
I’m Getting Buried In The Morning and Lock Up Your Mountain Bikes were not written down. The latter resulted from a shout from the crowd of “Do you switch the kitchen light out with your chin?” Nigel’s response was that, yes, he can still do it with his chin. But he can also use his bottom lip for this purpose.
There were more Hellos on the way out. Mike popped by. And I bumped into Hocky from Bite Back, and three guys over from the United States. There was Sean from Virginia and Bill from Texas. But even with my limited knowledge of American geography, I reckon that Lindsay from Oregon gets the Travelled Furthest award. Afterwards a load of us made an evening of it by heading to the North Street Bar.
On the Saturday morning it was grand to see Pete from Bradford, back fighting fit, in a manner of speaking. Looking forward to seeing him again at the Holmfirth gig. Also on the Saturday morning, we saw Andy’s Facebook message where he said that weather conditions had led to train cancellations, which meant he was stranded in Preston, being unable to get any further north. It’s four weeks to the Holmfirth gig. Hopefully he can make some progress in that time and we’ll see him there.
Very sorry to hear about Mickey’s illness. Fight the good fight, brother, and catch up soon.
One last poignant story about Geoff. From Karen, at a show in Bristol some years back. We were queuing up outside, and a particularly harassed Geoff emerged from the venue. Karen asked if he was OK. “I’ll be glad when it’s all over,” he replied. “Life I mean. Not just tonight.”
9 October 2023
Transit full of keith
As OG Jones got a mention, a Monday quiz.
1) What HMHB song title probably owes its existence to OG Jones?
2) What line in another HMHB song is lifted from an account of a climbing trip to North Wales with OG Jones, by George Abraham?
9 October 2023
Transit full of keith
3) Which HMHB song mentions another of OG Jones’s climbing partners, infamous for his non-climbing activities?
9 October 2023
dr DEsperate
Fine pre-gig gathering of Biscuiteers at The Great Western, including three Americans from different states, two of whom unexpectedly bonded over a high school they both knew. ‘Take the Skinheads Bowling’ (v i) came up in conversation. Kudos to @Lux Inferior for making it to the gig, and for his ‘Fantasy Biscuitball Runner-Up 2020-21’ tee shirt.
On to the Rocco Ristorante for pizze, then a quick wave to Mr and Mrs Benson through the window of the Lych Gate Tavern on the (poorly-signposted) way to the venue. Bit of a cavernous sports hall vibe to start with, with more people up in the balcony seats than down on the floor, but that soon sorted itself out. Most of the usual suspects were there (a few had sent sick notes), as well as that Ian Passey off Humdrum Express.
Tremendous support from The Hitchers, with the crowd in particularly fine voice for ‘Strachan’ and ‘Mamma Mia’. I could pretend I wasn’t airshipped by Nigel’s joke about having to switch their walk-on music from Abba to Tchaikovsky – I was. Hitcher Andy later told me that he and Nigel had been chatting backstage until the concerto’s opening horn theme came over the PA, which probably explains why he forgot to take his lead on with him.
A marvellous setlist (though not very helpful to my own FBB tally), and more banter than of late. The “seven bins” reference was to a throwaway line (ha!) in Rishi Sunak’s recent speech binning DEFRA’s 2018 recycling strategy ‘Our Waste, Our Resources’, and the discussion about prog rock was well timed to coincide with Nigel’s twinning of his Strat and Airstream to mimic a geezer with a double-necked guitar. His miming of the dog/bat interaction in ‘Renfield’ continues to expand, this time combined with the undoing of the top button of his shirt to indicate “Bollocko”.
The opening lines to ‘Take the Skinheads Bowling’ proved a bit of a minefield, but the marshmallow/pillow verse (not to be confused with the “bosom for a pillow” chorus in the definitely-covered ‘Brimful of Asha’ by the definitely-from-Wolverhampton Cornershop) was once again a triumph. Was it for this the campervan was brought on?
After-match lagers were taken in the North Street Social, carriages at 12.30.
On to Leeds!
9 October 2023
SPILTDOWN MAN
I came here looking for the lyrics to No Regrets (especially the French bits that Margi delivers) but drew a blank. There doesn’t seem to be a reference to the No Regrets single anywhere on the site either. I’m sure there used to be. Any reason? Maybe I’m just bad a searching?
9 October 2023
EXXO
I don’t think Chris has ever put up any covers lyrics other than the one that’s on an album (Worried man Blues).
The English lyrics are taken I believe from the Hal David translation (see Shirley Bassey) but I think all the choruses are the “let there be no regrets” rather than “we will have no regrets” (cf Piaf’s “I will have”)?
I’ve never doubted that the French lyrics are extracts from the original ‘Je Ne Regrette Rien,’ but that doesn’t mean I’m right.
9 October 2023
EXXO
And I wasn’t right about the French bits. You’ve got me curious to decipher them too now. Her accent is a bit patchy.
9 October 2023
EXXO
The French bits were written by her then partner, the late, great Jamie Reid – possibly his least appealing cover art design too. It may be that by making the adaptation they didn’t need to pay royalties (quick the drawbridge)?
9 October 2023
Transit full of Keith
Owen Glynne Jones quiz answers tomorrow, not that anyone is arsed, mind.
10 October 2023
dr DEsperate
Guessing No 2, but:
1) ‘Mod. Diff. Vdiff. Hard Severe’ (Jones created the Adjectival Grade system of classification).
2) “Pulling the ice axe from my leg…” (‘NSD’)?
3) ‘Get Kramer’ (Aleister Crowley).
10 October 2023
Transit full of Keith
Correct on 1 & 3!
The answer to no. 2 is obscure and pretty much googleproof, but can be found somewhere on this site (without Jones’s name attached).
10 October 2023
professor Abelazar Woozle
@TFoK – I’ll make a random guess for no. 2 that it’s the “Glaslyn in spate” line from “Emergency Locksmith”
10 October 2023
Transit full of Keith
The line in George Abraham’s book, lifted out of context for the song, refers to being conveyed uncomfortably to the Pen-Y-Gwyrd hotel – a few miles up the same road which crosses the Glaslyn at Beddgelert. So you’re very close geographically, but that might not help towards the answer.
10 October 2023
EXXO
Oh yeah, I remember your excellent find there now with the clue Keith.
10 October 2023
Lux inferior
@Dr D: One small correction to your otherwise excellent review – my shirt actually said ‘Fantasy Biscuitball Runner-Up 2021/22’. I don’t have particularly high expectations of myself, but even I’d have been somewhat disappointed to finish runner-up in the 2020/21 season, as the competition hadn’t got off the ground at that point. I have considered procuring an updated shirt to also reflect last season’s achievements, but I’d need one at least a size bigger, and as my clothes tend to be falling off me at the moment I might have to get myself a bad tattoo instead. Anyhow, it was good of you to come over for a chat and to have the opportunity to say a proper hello.
Also enjoyed meeting a few other Biscuiteers in the Wolvo pubs and the venue itself: a few words with Parsfan just prior to the gig, a brief chat with the legendary Irish Niall, just after his wonderful impromptu post-gig renditions of 24 Hour GP & JDOG in the Lych Gate Tavern, and a longer conversation with Old Tige, one of the US contingent, during which I was gobsmacked to hear about his love for my favourite album of all time, the Jesus & Mary Chain’s ‘Psychocandy’. How very random and surreal!
The venue itself was a little soulless, with ridiculously pricey beer, but you couldn’t fault the sound quality at all. Superb support from The Hitchers, as confirmed by so many others on here. A joy to hear ‘Strachan’ in a live environment.
Not much I can add with regards the sheer brilliance and variety of any live HMHB show. Every Time A Bell Rings seems to get better with every outing. As good a rendition of Look Dad as I’ve heard (and that’s not just because it was my FBL joker and didn’t appear until the encore). Chuffed to hear Jarg Armani too – like most people, I assumed it would be dropped from the set list after its first play in 59 gigs at Bristol last time out. One other thing that seems to have been overlooked – NB sang ‘Ravi Shastri’, rather than ‘Sadi Rani’, during the snippet of Brimful of Asha (now available on YouTube).
Unfortunately, I was unable to cave in to my moshing instincts after taking a bit of a tumble during our stroll from pub to venue. Not quite face down in the last ditch, but bad enough to confirm that my legs just wouldn’t be able to carry me for even 20 minutes of moshing, let alone the 120 minutes that we were treated to. A simply magnificent evening’s entertainment.
10 October 2023
dr DEsperate
In that case:
2) ‘Ode to Joyce’.
“Then by way of Bettws-y-Coed we came to Penygwryd, or P.Y.G. as the habitues are wont to call it, in a springless cart on a sunless day of swirling Snowdonia storm”.
(‘Mountain Adventures At Home and Abroad’, George Dixon Abraham, 1910.)
10 October 2023
Transit full of Keith
That’s the one.
10 October 2023
dr DEsperate
Who was that at the front, shouting “Cold Feet!” when Nigel spotted Robert Bathurst during the intro to ‘Jarg Armani’? Could it have been the same idiot who held a flaming gas lighter aloft during the “Five gas lighters for a pound” line?
10 October 2023
BiscuitGigs
That’s The HMHB Data Retrieval System updated with Friday’s setlist and all the videos I could find/were sent to me. Let us know of any others – 12 so far.
I wasn’t planning to suggest this for a while yet, but the opportunity has presented itself. There are five versions of Take The Skinheads Bowling – each from a single unique angle.
If you think five isn’t enough, what if someone created a sixth by edited them together so that you get different angles (like a professional video), transitions, 70s style Top Of The Pops effects etc.
If you think five is too many, what if someone combined them all into one by edited them together so that you get different angles (like a professional video), transitions, 70s style Top Of The Pops effects etc.
The sound quality’s pretty good as well but by combining left, right and centre it might be possible to make it sound a bit more epic.
All up to you. There are some creative types out there and other who like to play with technology. From Generation Biscuit with time on their hands to the young ones who might fancy doing that kind of thing for a living to pure hobbyists. There’s raw material for a project, just credit those who filmed it and share.
There’s plenty of others that could be worked on similarly but this one provides the best range of angles and best, most consistent quality.
10 October 2023
old tige
@Lux I credit the HMHB mycelium again.
#25-27, I wouldn’t say Margi’s French accent is “patchy”, it’s just that she’s doing made-up French of the same caliber as “fetchez la vache”. Here’s what I think she’s singing:
C’est pas ce qu’on crois
C’était l’angois
Je suis sans fleures
C’est un… c’est un voleur
It’s not what we think
It was anxiety
I have no flowers
He’s… he’s a thief
“C’est pas ce qu’on crois” is idiomatic enough, but it should be “angoisse” and “fleurs” — her “fleur-euh” is way over the top. Or maybe I have it all wrong.
12 October 2023
parsfan
A bit late to this, but I’d just like to say what a great gig/night out/weekend that was. Quite the international brigade these days aren’t we?
Tremendous generosity from Sean, thank you again and hope you made it home safely. Well played to Andy in the pub afterwards as well.
14 October 2023
SPILTDOWN MAN
@OLD TIGE #40
Well done. That’s a better attempt than I could have made. The seemingly nonsense meaning makes it difficult to confirm. The line I’m not hearing is ‘Je suis sans fleures’ Seems to be too many consonants for that. “Je suis ca fin fleur(es)” perhaps? Not that that would make any more sense!. Anyone else?
PS How this question ended up here in the Wulfrun Hall gig chat I don’t know. I never did get a hang of the commenting on this site. Sorry!
16 October 2023
EXXO
I’m now inclining towards “je suis sa femme-fleur.” Either a generic art nouveau “femme-fleur” or more likely a direct invocation (by Clark and Jamie Reid) of the horrific relationship between Picasso and “his” femme-fleur, Françoise Gilot.
And her accent gets patchier every time I listen.
16 October 2023
old tige
@Exxo, yep, I think you got it right with “je suis sa femme-fleur”. Whether it’s patchy or plain wrong, we can agree that the accent is off.
Surely I have “l’angois” wrong also? Is he Hungarian (l’hongrois)?
I conjugated croire wrong, it is “C’est pas ce qu’on croit”, idiomatically “It’s not what you think/expect” or sometimes “It’s not what it’s cracked up to be”.
. – FIN –
21 October 2023
Irish Niall
We tried to record The Hitchers set as best we could. We’d five cameras one of which died, another just filmed Andys legs (but we got some audio) and there was little more than white noise on the drummer cams audio.
So we’ve three cameras and three audio sources none of which are ideally positioned.
But here’s one from our set anyway. I’ll be posting more as time allows. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j_04lE2QzI
Have to notion to enquire of those of you who posted phone vids of us would you mind if I copied it and mixed it with some of our own? Your front of the house perspective is better than ours for both video and sound.
Was surprised to find in an otherwise fantastic venue (with £48M spent on it apparently!) they were unable to give us a sound desk recording. I didn’t sense any reluctance on the soundmans part or any protocol involved. It appeared he simply didn’t have that facility to hand.
The much more modest (but fantastic) venue I’m playing in tonight here in Limerick – Dolans, which a couple of you have been to – has three different sized rooms and certainly in two of them, and possibly all three at this stage, they can actually give you a multi-track recording of your set you can take away and mix. Go full on Tony Visconti Live & Dangerous and just keep the crowd noise if you wish.
21 October 2023
dr DEsperate
Paul Angois was one of the founders of the Raleigh bicycle company in 1885. Probably not him.
22 October 2023