GIG NUMBER FORTY-FOUR
Who
Things kicked off in a surreal fashion with the band entering to Walking In The Air. Nigel then fiddled with his guitar for what seemed like forever, wisely pointing out that he should had done it earlier and, after things started to drag, pointing out that he knew it wasn't funny anymore, which of course immediately made it funny! A slightly ragged version of The Light At The End Of The Tunnel (Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train) was the first number and this was followed by the awesome Running Order Squabble Fest. Things then started to get strange with Uffington Wassail. It sounded good but I felt it hardly deserved to be in the set upon considering what wasn't. Quite a few strange choices followed. HMHB seemed to had gone overboard with the dry ice, prompting a heckle of "where have the band gone!?" and a nice bit of banter from Nigel about them starting a fire in the dressing room before the show. An ongoing joke was the fact that Primal Scream were playing next door and whether or not you could hear them. Nigel pointed towards the massive trucks they'd bought with them, remarking that they were probably filled with Bobby's drugs!!
We then had a totally surreal number sung to the tune of Coming Round The Mountain before Nigel told us he'd ran out of banter already! He'd also forgotten his acoustic guitar so a few quieter numbers from This Leaden Pall had to be omitted, but this was probably a good thing! The best shock of the night was Venus In Flares: a number from the first album that I had never appreciated before but was in fact amazing. We also got a short tune about Nigel attending the grave of a loved one for 23 years before finding out it was the wrong one, and how he'd been pouring all his deepest thoughts out to some random stranger. It truly was a hilarious moment! Lyrics were, of course, changed without warning - particularly during Thy Damnation Slumbereth Not - with a reference to the Trafford Centre thrown in. Nigel seemed to had forgotten the lines to many tunes but always found his way back on track rather than just lapsing into silence! We also got a cover version of Lucille before a blinding Everything's A.O.R. - blinding if you were in the pit that is! We also had Nigel producing a Dictaphone and played bizarre recordings taken from Argos - it made no sense at all! The encore was short, an excellent Turned Up Clocked On Laid Off preceding The Trumpton Riots, which finally saw the moshpit approaching the correct proportions.
More problems? Although they did play many fine songs, the setlist was pretty weird and there's so many more songs they should have played it's hard to believe. You want a list? No? Well anyway, they should had found room for (in order from most to least important) Paintball's Coming Home, Time Flies By (When You're The Driver Of A Train), Rod Hull Is Alive - Why?, Sponsoring The Moshpits, Them's The Vagaries, God Gave Us Life, Improv Workshop Mimeshow Gobshite, The Referee's Alphabet, The Bastard Son Of Dean Friedman, Albert Hammond Bootleg, P.R.S. Yearbook - Quick The Drawbridge, Bottleneck At Capel Curig, 4AD3DCD, Outbreak Of Vitas Gerulaitis, Bad Review, Eno Collaboration, You're Hard, Fretwork Homework, Breaking News, Irk The Purists, Four Skinny Indie Kids, Used To Be In Evil Gazebo, The Len Ganley Stance, Even Men With Steel Hearts and Moody Chops. Phew! OK, so maybe with nine great albums they were always going to have to leave a lot out but this really was ridiculous. From my HMHB best of Minidisc of the time, they played just ten of the 23 songs and there was absolutely nothing from the excellent Some Call It Godcore L.P.! But the band themselves were outstanding, played very well and delivered a continuous stream of hilarities. Maybe they weren't as good as last time but, at the end of the day, they still play Everything's A.O.R. and it's not their fault I couldn't get into the moshpit!
Mark: 8.0/10
Half Man Half Biscuit
Where
Manchester Debating Hall
When
13th December 2002
Price
£11.50
Who with
Matt
Position
In the middle
Comments
Hmmm... I had extremely high hopes for this gig but, due to several factors, it wasn't quite the astonishing night I wanted it to be. I think very good is the expression for it. Preparing for a massive moshpit like before, I decided not to take any glasses so that I could jump without worries. But, thanks to there being no support and me therefore being slow to get into the hall, I was too far from the front to get into the pit. In fact the crowd seemed a lot lamer and things never quite picked up like they had before. When I finally had enough and tried to force my way into the action, I found the lightweight twats who refused to mosh blocking my way and was unable to get past them without resorting to violence. Since they were big hard-looking guys, I just had to give up. So I deprived myself of vision for no reason. I was also unable to buy the video on sale of their show last year, which had sold out in alarming time. Everything seemed to be against me. So now I've got my preliminary moans done with I can get onto the specifics of the gig.
Setlist
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel (Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train)
Running Order Squabble Fest
Uffington Wassail
San Antonio Foam Party
Dead Men Don't Need Season Tickets
Lock Up Your Mountain Bikes
Fuckin' 'Ell It's Fred Titmus
If I Had Possession Over Pancake Day
Bob Wilson: Anchorman
Monmore Hare's Running
The Best Things In Life
Paradise Lost (You're The Reason Why)
Venus In Flares
Third Track Main Camera Four Minutes
She's In Broadstairs
Twenty Four Hour Garage People
Deep House Victims Minibus Appeal/Vatican Broadside
Look Dad No Tunes
Secret Gig
Lucille
All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit
Thy Damnation Slumbereth Not
Everything's A.O.R.
Turned Up Clocked On Laid Off
The Trumpton Riots
