In the absence of a Showaddywaddy museum, or a Yeah Yeah Noh blue plaque, the best Leicester seemed to have to offer during the afternoon was a good old pub crawl. So Mark and I headed to the Shakespeare's Head and The Criterion. The former was one of those sixties/seventies designs, where you expect the Likely Lads or The Sweeney to walk in. Although they served a mighty fine up to date pint of Barnsley Bitter. The Criterion was pub of the day, though. One for music fans, they have got Blyth Power and Attila The Stockbroker appearing there, which could be a decent night out.
The Auditorium is a former cinema, perhaps needing a bit more loving care. The general upkeep of the place certainly wasn't up to the standard of the Live Lounge in Durham (another old cinema), but I suppose you've got to give people a chance. But it does make me wonder why, when you book tickets on t'web, you keep gitting hit with "admin fees". All I got was an email in return, and a star stamped on my hand on the night. Although I suppose they have to pay for the ink for the stamp, so possibly the admin fee goes towards that.
There was a decent number of folk in there, but it was a relatively sedate mosh pit. There was a lot of talk about the availability of a new album. Perhaps in time for the London gig? Noises coming from the band management suggested that we might have to wait a bit longer than that. But we live in hope. There was a slightly flat feel to the gig somehow. But it was still worth the effort. A nice nod of recognition from Nigel towards the recently departed Poly Styrene (and Fred Titmus of course, "lest we forget"). And there was a nod of a different kind towards Matt Dawson, during A Country Practice. "Get in, my son!" is another one of Nigel's favourite things. The only new song in the set was the cover version. First time they've done a Blondie tune?
Fuckin' 'Ell It's Fred Titmus
San Antonio Foam Party
Restless Legs
Asparagus Next Left
Petty Sessions
Running Order Squabble Fest
Bob Wilson Anchor Man (Faraday and Stephenson got mixed up)
Left Lyrics In Practice Room
Deep House Victims Minibus Appeal
Trumpton Riots
Bad Review
National Shite Day (which, in this instance referred to The Royal Wedding, taking place the day after this gig)
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel
Lark Descending
Surging Out Of Convalescence
A Lilac Harry Quinn
99% Of Gargoyles
Tommy Walsh's Eco House
All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit
Joy Division Oven Gloves (after which we got the bass-line of A Means To An End from Neil)
For What Is Chatteris?
Evening Of Swing
Vatican Broadside
A Country Practice
We Built This Village On A Trad Arr Tune
And the encore was
Them's The Vagaries
Dreaming
Everything's AOR
A hasty exit, and we just managed to catch the Wetherspoons before it shut.