It was a bit of a rush to get here. Straight out of work at 5, then a pleasant few hours on the car park that is the M62. But all's well that ends well and I got to The Academy in time to join the ten-deep queues for the bar. Although I was sorry to have missed the Calvin Party. £2.25 for a can of Carling was not what you might expect, but yet again it's city prices, and as always when they've got you, they've got you. I'm no good at estimates, but there must have been maybe a thousand there which is pretty good going. After all, it's not that long since they were playing in front of only one or two hundred. The set remains a mixture of oldies and newies. You get the feeling that an album is perhaps round the corner, or a couple of corners - Blue Badge Abuser seems to have taken shape, and there was a snippet of Sports Personality Of The Year which is on the way. Well, two new songs is a start. And this gig will live in the memory because of a spectacular choice for the cover version. It set me wondering if they have ever done The Fall before. But for me it's up there with Song To The Siren, Transmission and Trail Of The Lonesome Pine. Here's how the evening went...
Shit Arm Bad Tattoo
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel
Numanoid Hang-Glide
CORGI Registered Friends
4AD3DCD
Bob Wilson Anchorman (preceded by a rather fine Arthur Ellis impersonation)
Lark Descending
Running Order Squabble Fest
Deep House Victims Appeal
Monmore Hare's Running
Bad Review
Paintball's Coming Home
Four Skinny Indie Kids
Turned Up Clocked On Laid Off
For What Is Chatteris
Fred Titmus
Blue Badge Abuser
Look Dad No Tunes
The "Gouranga Gouranga" bit from Twydales Lament
Restless Legs
Sports Personality Of The Year
Vatican Broadside
24 Hour Garage People
Albert Hammond Bootleg
Them's The Vagaries
Everything's AOR
Joy Division Oven Gloves
And they finished off with
The Container Drivers
We Built This Village
The Best Things In Life
The management seemed pretty keen on getting everyone out of the place afterwards. Plenty of sweeping up to be done. I managed to get a quick word with Carl and it was good to see a couple of the guys who I had met at the Exeter gig a couple of years ago. Then it was off to the bar across the road for a mini-convention with about half a dozen others. Things are getting very big indeed....