GIG NUMBER THIRTY-ONE
Who
The set was a 50-50 mix, starting mainly with numbers from the new album, before some "old" songs (albeit all released after 1998!) were shunted in during the second half. Sweet Johnny, Desolation Blues, Spanish Dance Troupe and Poodle Rockin' were delivered with much energy: particularly Sweet Johnny which featured a lengthy rock-out and extensive waving of curly locks! The new songs were beautiful - especially Honeymoon With You - although it is a shame there were no loud numbers among them, except of course for the violin-led rock-out of Christina. With Stood On Gold, Richard James proved himself to be a very good vocalist who'd been hidden behind Lawrence for far too long. It was a shame more old songs weren't played but everything that was done was done brilliantly and the crowd were quite good considering that this is a band that've never had a top 40 hit. A heckler informed them that they were the best band in the world, and someone else added that they would be if they played The Humming Song! Sadly though the hint was ignored, and to go against the wishes of the crowd as well as to pretend that their first four albums didn't exist was quite wrong, especially when they could had played longer and got more in! Sadly, there was no encore, despite the setlist I got announcing one, but GZM had done enough to make the night worthwhile regardless.
Mark: 8.5/10
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
Support
Zabrynski
Where
Manchester Hop And Grape
When
9th October 2001
Price
£8.00
Who with
No-one
Position
At the front, in the middle!
Comments
The most surprising thing about this gig (my second as a student of Manchester University) was that it took so long to happen. Three whole years beforehand I'd discovered the melodic wonder of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci yet it was only this night when I was able to witness one of their gigs! I'd missed out a chance in 1998 and, after reading online that they were playing Wolverhampton in 1999, I was disappointed to find out that I'd simply found an advert for their show the previous year that wasn't dated clearly! I had seen them do a festival show at Leeds 2000 but this was in front of an unappreciative crowd of moronic Deftones fans! Zabrynski opened with a reasonable performance - I'd guess they could do better on record - before a big banner of the fizzy drinks can was put up to herald the arrival of the Gorky's. With the departure of founder member John Lawrence and drummer Euros Rowlands, this was a very different band to the one I'd grown used to.
Setlist
This Summer's Been Good From The Start
Where Does Yer Go Now?
Honeymoon With You
Stood On Gold
These Winds Are In My Heart
Christina
Faraway Eyes
Poodle Rockin'
Desolation Blues
Sweet Johnny
Spanish Dance Troupe
How I Long
Her Hair Hangs Long
