This was my first HMHB gig though I've been a fan for several years now. It was also my first gig in The Arches, which wasn't a bad venue, apart from everybody being told when picking up their tickets in advance to go to the back entrance on the night of the gig only to stand there in brass-monkey weather for 15 minutes,(myself,others were there longer) only for the staff to come out and say we should go in the Argyle Street entrance, to much grumbling and swearing we all marched round.
This meant we missed the start and the name of the pretty decent support act. Still at least we weren't missing the main show. The band complained to the sound engineer after at least ten songs about levels and not having vocals or guitar on their monitors, but to the crowd there was no problem with the sound.
The set was the usual mix of old crowd-pleasers and the new stuff, which sounds amazing live. My personal delights were the blistering Monmore Hare's Running,Light At The End Of The Tunnel, Joy Division Oven Gloves and Trad. Arr. Tune.
There was a brief Hotel Yorba before Paintball and the Pringles at the 24 hour Garage were £1.01 instead of 93p and Nigel didn't have the 1p.
The between-song banter mentioned Hogganfield bird sanctuary and the number of stairs climbed that day in the Wallace monument.
There were loads of requests from beginning to end for Bob Wilson, which never materialised, but no-one could have went home disappointed with the range of songs played.
There was also a female stage invasion and a pair of presumably 'Joy Division' oven gloves thrown to Nigel, who said ta, which added to the good atmosphere and a night of fantastic music made for a great night out.
Come back soon lads.