Here is your chance to be part of my site boys and girls. Send in you gig reviews to me and I'll add them to my page. Don't make them too long mind you, 300 words max I think, or I might have to chop bits out. Also, if you have photos send them in too (they'll go in the gallery) and set lists etc...Cheers.
V2000, Chelmsford 19/08/00
Ipswich Chantry Park, One Big Sunday 13/08/00
Bury St Edmund’s Corn Exchange- 31/07/00
*setlist for Bury St Ed’s and Colchester*
Colchester Arts Centre- 1/08/00
Kings Lynn Corn Exchange 23-01-99
Cambridge Corn Exchange 22-10-98
Colchester Arts Centre 30-06-98
Ipswich Corn Exchange 14-03-98
V97, Chelmsford 16-08-97
Coming up: Oxford, Norwich, London :)
Skyscape Gig, the Dome (well sort of) 26/09/00
Let's get political first. I did actually go into the dome (for free, ha ha ha!!!!), looked around, and decided that it was shitter than I first thought. People say, "oh, well how can you complain about it when you've like never been". Well now i have and i think it's the most piss-poor excuse for spending money, it's like Tony Blair actually wanted to commit political suicide. It's not half as big as it looks and it's half as full as it looks. Utter bollocks.
But next door in a building that probably cost one millionth of what the dome cost and is actually rather nice you can find Mansun playing at 7.30?! Yes, you can go home after a Mansun gig at 8pm! Very surreal, esp as it was Paul's birthday (everyone had their own playing early means early partying theory) and we managed to get thru a whole run thru of Happy Birthday. Chad was LOUD! believe me. Setlist? A rather impressive: TIEC, ICODU, Happy birthday, BAG (just part 1:( ), LI..., Electric Man, WOS (the only song that didn't get a cheer!) + Taxlo$$. WE did actually rock the dome.
Wow, the *crap* that Mansun have to follow. *groan* The Bloodhound Gang. But anyway, mansun, yeah. Chad dared to wear those hideous floral-Laura Ashley trews in public! In the sort of environment that people might not be so forgiving, you know Mansun fans are going to accept them, with difficulty, but....no. never again, please. They must've impressed people with Paul's vocals (top form), Chad's dar-na-na-na-na guitar bit in ICODU (you know what I mean), Andie's mad drumming and Stove being as ace as usual. Paul has never been so energetic for a show that isn't their own; running around the camera ledge, backward rolls!, jumpin jumpin and general madness. Wicked show, worth the previous horrors.
Can we count this miming performance a gig? Well I am to bump up my ‘Mansun Gigs’ score which at this moment in time is a fab 10. Ok, so they did ICODU and, later on, WOS. The single was done as usual but with extra smiling from Paul at the mass of people infront of him. WOS was also the usual, you can tell that they played this later one more than you can ever imagine. Two hilarious moments but first let me set the scene: there is one big drumkit in the middle, keyboards to its right and two turntables and a microphone to its left, all on raised platforms, and these belong to Tex-arse. When the proper bands play they set up a mini-drumkit on the floor which is the same size as the kiddies ones available from Argos. One: Paul turns round expecting to see Andie but there is no-one there. It dawns on him that he’s been relegated to the main stage. Stove laughs at him, hee hee. Two: at the end of WOS Stove leaves mid-instrumental outro to jump on the rasied platform and pay the keys, conducted by Chad. Fantastic.
Was it really the perfect gig? Well, I’d say so. We were forced to wait outside the venue for 45 minutes after the doors were meant to have opened but it was a nice day and also made the time inside the venue fly by. King Adora came on quickly and left quickly, and then it was just a matter of waiting. The response when they came on was amazing, just a wave of noise and then came ‘the riff’. When TIEC was at the end of the set you would never have imagined it to be the first one you’d hear, but it works. Then came the new single, which sounds great, especially with proper keyboards. They played hardly any form Six, a , dare I say it, disappointment, but 4 from Little Kix (incl. the single), Comes As No Surprise, emotional track, Electric Man, more cheerful, more poppy, and Love is…which is great; honest and powerful. The ad-lib encore just proved that Paul still needs his lyric sheets (BAG was really messed up). And then it was all over, everyone’s faith in Mansun had been reaffirmed, obvious because of the smiles on everyone’s faces. Brilliant.
Take It Easy, Chicken
I Can Only Disappoint U
Being A Girl
Everyone Must Win (left for 1st song in encore at Colchester Arts Centre)
Comes As No Surprise
Stripper Vicar
Special/Blown It
Electric Man
Love Is…
Wide Open Space
She Makes My Nose Bleed
Taxloss
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Drastic Sturgeon
This gig was mental, you could tell straight away coz I was squashed against the barrier even before King Adora came on. Constant crowdsurfing, the punching man in the mosh-pit and the heat, Paul said “I’ve never been so hot in my life”, and that was just half way thru. They were fantastic but you couldn’t really concentrate that well half the time thru fear of having your neck broken. And oh the bruises! They played just as well as the night before, Paul not being at all shy about getting close too the mass. To see Chad’s fabulous trousers go to the Gallery:) The encore was planned this time with Everyone Must Win being left out until the end. They were ace again but there is one message to surfers :piss off!!!!!
Oxford Zodiac 27-08-99
This was the Six tour part 3 if you like, but judging by the length of the set it was Reading warm up number 1, which was a disappointment. Yeah, there was the surprise start, and I don’t just mean Take It Easy, what was with the reggae music that sounded like the Vitalite ads? Maybe a new direction, nah. They weren’t very loud either, I found I could just talk loudly to Blanca (the person next to me). Anyway, the beginning on Everyone Must Win ripped right thru us and most people around me turned to person next to them and said ’Oh, I love this song’. But then, that did happen with most of the tracks. As the set was so short they missed out some corkers including Negative and Legacy, but the return of old faves like Ski Jump Nose made up for it. The aftershow was packed with free drinks for the first half hour. Stove and Andie mixed with the fans but Paul and Chad ran away into a corner with their bodyguard...why? Nevermind, it was a great night for those of us that could get down there.
Support= Charlie, what was up with the guy’s shirt, he kept pulling it down and stretching it, and the awesome DARK STAR, they were so loud! Seriously, I thought I was going to become deaf, I mean, bands generally get louder as the night progresses and they were so loud already it scared me. The quality of sound wasn’t amazing but who actually cares, hello Stove, again. Pauly was wearing his tinfoil shirt (see NME Fanish Inquisition) and the cackle was magnificent sparking off feedback, and someone chucked a Winnie at Paul in the appropriate place in the song. We danced the Macarena to Shotgun which was so hilarious, and almost as hilarious was Andie, just wearing a waistcoat (and trews of course) but no shirt. Television again was great with Paul going mental during ‘can’t control myself’. Oh my God, I almost forgot, during Being A Girl Paul started thrusting his pelvis back and forth like some horney beast. The aftershow rocked. The tape was Paul’s this time I assume coz Stove said it sucked (man, Soft Cell are cool:)). And the staff at the Corn Exchange didn’t even know who Stove was. Outrageous.
La Riviera, Madrid 03-11-1998
It was the first time that Mansun were coming to England, but they were just supporting the Manics. So there I was with two girls that I had just met and who were really cool waiting for the doors to open, and having paid about £14 for only seeing Mansun for half and hour. Anyway, when the gig started all the people in the venue started moshing which was quite cool (even tho I almost lost my bra, and some silly jerk was jumping like a monkey next to me). Paul was really enjoying the gig, jumping and dancing like a showgirl...really funny:). Chad was moving his hair and was sweating soooooo much I thought that bringing an umbrella would have been quite useful, coz I’m really stupid I was singing so my mouth was wide open, so I realised that I was drinking his sweat. But hey! It was Chad’s sweat so it was ok. They played really well, even tho they only played the most known songs (actually I don’t really think there’s a song by Mansun which is well known in Spain). When the gig had finished, I went out so then I talked to them, so I can’t really tell if the Manics played good or not, but I’ve heard that “the band who supported were so much better”.
*Sigh*….Mansun…
Now, Stove has looked gorgeous before, but this surpassed all the previous times. The tightest T-shirt imaginable (go to the gallery to check it out). And as this was the Six tour (part1) they played loads from the new album including Six (the best song live?), Shotgun obviously and Special/ Blown It. Television was the stand out that night just coz Chad did the Sky News bits, and the last one has hilarious, it was more of a ‘Sky nnnnneeeeeeeooooooooozzzzzaaaaahhhh’. Ace. Paul’s singing was loud with a capital l and the mosh was mad. Oh, and the supports were The Lavender Hill Mob (who reminded me of a Suede lyric “In your dad’s suits you hide”, they seriously did not fit) who were dull, dull dull, and Gay Dad who I thought were ace at the time but then began to dislike them.
I will always remember the date coz it was exactly the day after Legacy was released, the first single of the new album. And also England vs Brazil. At the time I was really into football and all my mates thought I was mad for going. Football or Mansun, football or Mansun? Daddy or Chips? Easy-peasy; Mansun and chips. The Arts centre, for those of you haven’t been fortunate enough to go there is a converted church, which is great coz when you talk to bands after and you say you’re from Colchester they say ‘The place with the church?’ And think how fitting Stripper Vicar was, now, it doesn’t get much better. The support (One Lady Owner, it took me so long to understand what they were called, for ages I thought it was something like One Lady’s Dog or something) was...shite. There wasn’t a barrier so you could reach out and touch Stove’s feet, and the security was either in the crowd or squatting on the stage. Once again on Stove’s side and he looked stunning. There was the funniest incident when there was a security guard on his knees on the stage with his arse practically in my face. He had a mobile in his back pocket and Stove mouthed at me to pinch it. I of coursed tried but the fat bitch guard next to me slapped my wrist! She then went on to Stove ‘don’t encourage her’. Hee hee. He’s the cutest. That seriously happened and if you don’t believe me ask my cousin, she was witness (that was the only thing she saw of Stove, the rest of the time she was drooling over Paul). It was from this gig that I nicked the lyric sheet (I got Shotgun which you can see here and my cousin got Legacy which should be coming soon).
This was possibly the best birthday present (my birthday being the next week), I exclude Cecil from the present, and my first proper experience at the front, opposite Stove. And I remember my shock when I saw him ‘in the flesh’. Now, we all know that he is gorgeous in pictures, but when you actually see him, it’s something else. I was amazed. This was when I got to hear the original versions of Six, Negative and Shotgun, and the cackle sent a shiver down my neck. I remember Drastic the clearest, when Stove sang along to the ‘lick me’ part and did the weirdest (and sexiest) thing with his tongue. Man, I almost died. I think that this was one of their best gigs, ever.
Essex University, Colchester 09-10-97
God, lets see what I can remember, it was so long ago. Well, the Uni. is actually a small box underground where the joys of Cecil *ggggrrrrrrrrooooooooaaaaaaaaannnnnnn* entertained for too long. Then came the Abba music, and the BeeGees, now that’s a warm-up. I still think that they should get Bjorn Again to support them. Anyway, on they came to the opus that is The Chad Who Loved Me followed by Everyone Must Win. After that performance it became my fave, and still is my top 5. The problem with an underground box is that there are often pillars in the way, as I discovered when I tried to spy Stove on the opposite side. My neck had to be rearranged in order to see him but it was worth it, he was topless:) As this was the Closed For Business tour they played all the bsides, including The World’s Still Open. They weren’t too manic on this particular night but the skill was there. I had gone from a humble admirer to a dedicated fan in just one hour. No encore, but a huge merchandise selection.
I remember that one of the first things I had said when I got to Hylands Park was “Whatever happens, I’m going to see Mansun. Even if they are on at the same time as Blur”. Thank God I did, I wouldn’t have forgiven myself otherwise. They were absolutely ace even if I wasn’t at the front, and I was next to a bloke who knew all the lyrics, which helped with the bsides I hadn’t been introduced to yet. And a topless Stove if I remember correctly. The corker of the night was Take It Easy, Chicken which I started my own little mosh for:) The best thing was that afterwards, when I started properly collecting the bsides, I listened to Drastic Sturgeon and thought “I remember this one!”. Being a Mansun fan is just full of surprises.
