GIG NUMBER NINETY-FOUR
Who
The bar was much funkier than I remembered, featuring some cool glowing wall tiles with a nu-rave vibe. We looked ahead with anticipation to the forthcoming NME Rave Tour and I Bluetoothed The Bouncer by Klaxons off Nick to set as my alarm and wake me up every morning! They finally had the good sense to open the doors into the proper venue after a bit and the delay was presumably caused by a pesky support band soundchecking. I thought I saw a guy from school but there was practically nobody around in our age group. I put it down to our being ahead of the times in the 1990s and music finally catching up to us, combined with a greater awareness of decent songs by the kids. At Reading the crowd hadn't seemed at all young for Get Cape so I was taken aback. I have been angry to hear some clueless hacks trying to dismiss Get Cape as a generic singer-songwriter with an unusual name or just as shockingly as an emo star! Some of the audience did seem to be emos though, which came as a surprise. We sat in the corner at the back by the disabled ramp, awaiting the first of two support bands. An anonymous singer-songwriter emerged by the name of Walter Schreifels. At first he used the video screen and then he seemed to give up on it. It was all rather dull but Nick's ears pricked up when he played a song I'd never heard in my life. Apparently he was a former member of the short-lived Rival Schools, and this was one of their songs. This harked back to the Nigel Clark incident (supporting The Complete Stone Roses) but was much less interesting. The most exciting point I can mention is that I'd actually seen Rival Schools on the Sunday at Leeds 2002, giving them a review of less than half a sentence dismissing them as "crappy"! The main talking point was when Sam Duckworth appeared to give him some technical help, which was a supremely nice gesture. Walter was also trying to get some device to work but I no longer remember what. But that's quite enough talk about a very dull support.
Next up was Jeremy Warmsley, who cut a somewhat geeky figure in breeches and glasses. He was OK, certainly better, and had a full backing band. I figured Get Cape would be quite acoustic and that this would be the noisiest moment of the night, but I was certainly wrong on that count. I can't think of anything else to say about him besides the fact that I am half aware of his song I Believe In The Way You Move, but didn't notice him playing it. He either missed it out or I was paying very little attention indeed. As we went to the bar again we had little choice but to force our way through the crowd to get a reasonable position a bit to the right. The musical highlight of the evening was probably The W.A.N.D. by The Flaming Lips, which went down so well it was played twice! Strangely enough I hadn't even enjoyed it that much when they'd played it live, presumably because their other songs overshadow it so much! After an introduction tape, Sam Duckworth took to the stage to a positive reception. He had beefed up his band substantially, now featuring a second trumpeter and a drummer. The trumpeter who had worn a Kenny Dalglish t-shirt at Reading was this time wearing a target t-shirt, which is certainly asking for trouble, and possibly explained the weapons/drugs search beforehand! Now is the point where this show becomes difficult to review, as although I felt like I knew just about every song I can't remember their names or the order they were played. The video backdrop featured some strange artwork which looked like a portrait of Limp Bizkit, and changed as the show went on.
There was a laptop onstage so that's probably where the technical stuff and sounds came from. I knew the first two songs and he then played Call Me Ishmael. Everyone was fairly enthusiastic but there was no sing-along to match Reading. He made up for it by a more substantial sound and superior light show though, and he had certainly come a long way in just five months. At some points the other members left the stage leaving Sam alone and these were amongst the best bits, revealing his capability to entertain us by himself and ability to make more noise than should be humanly possible! One song featured endless statistics about fair trade followed by Sam's overlong lecture about slave labour which especially enflamed Nick, who didn't like being preached at. I'm quite happy to just ignore such tiresome messages but I ended up being most annoyed by the people looking around at us in horror when we were imploring him to shut up and play another song: Since when has loving a band uncritically and lapping up everything they say and do being a prerequisite of going to a gig? If everybody was prepared to look at their favourite bands in an even-handed manner, yet with a degree of positivity and open-mindedness, the world would be a much better place. Indeed, these pages are full of criticism of some of the greatest bands on Earth, because I refuse to blindly accept what I encounter, and am always looking for areas of improvement. Fortunately this lecture and also the one about racism (name checking Big Brother) didn't dominate the set and was wisely limited to specific segments, leaving us to enjoy the music too. His attempts to pigeon-hole lectures into songs amused me as it recalled that Family Guy episode with Randy Newman "sitting there writing about what he sees", which always makes me laugh.
I-Spy was a disappointment compared to Reading, as nobody sung it back properly on the "face in the crowd" bit. It still went down quite well, and I'll never forget how enjoyable and catchy it was the first time I heard it. There were a few new songs and also a slow tune which led to the lighters (and mobiles) coming out. It struck me just how many people were taking films on their phones, and I thought how just five years previously this didn't happen. It's amazing how technology moves on, and also that phone capability is now good enough for the films to be worthwhile. Get Cape ended the main set with The Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager (Part One) which went down extremely well, and featuring three choruses of "ba ba ba ba bas" plus some strobes. He returned to an unknown song and then finished with War Of The Worlds, which I don't think comes close to being one of his best tunes. It was a good show though, and was definitely more worthwhile than Good Shoes, largely due to the musical progress that Get Cape had made. Nick had certainly enjoyed it (apart from the preachy bit) and it was a relief that he had played Wolverhampton and not Birmingham: No surprise that he praised the crowd! A solid start to 2007, and I even got home OK with no problems, which is nice.
Mark: 7.5/10
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
Support
Jeremy Warmsley
Walter Schreifels
Where
Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall
When
19th January 2007
Price
£9.00
Who with
Nick
Position
In the middle
Comments
Get Cape was one of the more pleasant surprises at Reading so a repeat viewing was never in doubt. The show may have had a lot to live up to - I get the impression he'll be talking about Reading 2006 and how great it was for the rest of his life - but if this show managed to emulate anywhere near the magic combination of nice sing-alongs and amazing energy it would be a worthwhile experience. Nick took admirably little persuading to join me and we'd got tickets months before. I took advantage of the album being available on NME.com to build up a basic knowledge of his songs beyond I-Spy and The Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager which had both bowled me over at Reading: By this time Get Cape now meant more to me than just being an amusing name! I was more than a little hung over after the previous night where I'd fallen asleep on the bus home and the trains were in a terrible state (again), making the procedure of going home to get my ticket, then to the chip shop and back out again, much riskier than it should be. I was exhausted and arrived back in town late as expected by which time Nick was already in the queue, despite my advice to wait elsewhere. The queue was absurdly long and I felt I had little choice but to skip ahead to the front alongside Nick, fortunately encountering no opposition: Hope I'll never have to do that again. Doors had opened at 7pm so we got inside in no time at all after a body search! Planning was minimal, as they hadn't unlocked the doors to the venue and we had to open a tiny door to the side and wait in the bar. The sell-out crowd were frighteningly young, possibly explaining why nobody had dared object to my queue jumping and I had a feeling we were the only people here who could buy alcohol! I wasn't in the mood for any more drinking so survived on a combination of lemonade and Red Bull, leaving Nick to do the proper stuff.
