GIG NUMBER EIGHTY-SIX
Who
Due to the rush I hadn't had chance to hear any songs before, and thanks to the Reading "distraction" I hadn't played Nick too much stuff. In fact it was Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly on my mind, and it was probably this night that motivated us to go and see him play Wolverhampton in January. Half Man Half Biscuit refuse to play by conventional rules, once again not bothering with a support band, possibly to save them from having to sound check in front of us. The chance to sit in a nice quiet room was great though, and a proper band shouldn't have to rely on somebody else before them to warm up the crowd. We sat down at the back and a few friendly guys chatted to us a bit. We had a couple of drinks from the bar to the left and talked primarily about Reading, and also what a nice but small room this venue was. I also checked out the merchandise and finally treated myself to a video of their 2001 live show in Manchester. It was great to get back home and to see something I'd experienced five years ago. The band have all aged slightly since then but amazingly seemed much less animated/inspired than tonight. I also was surprised to see how well the video was shot, and that I could see myself whenever the camera focused on the crowd! At around 9ish we stood up and moved towards the right, tragically being on the side away from the bar. The place had now started to fill up and, after a few quips from the crowd such as "light show's excellent!" Half Man Half Biscuit took to the stage, hopefully to deliver some new quips for us to mull over.
Nigel as usual started off by fiddling with his guitar, before someone suggested he plug it in! "A professional entrance as usual" he observed before proceedings were opened with Irk The Purists. It was a lively start and it seems to get increasingly difficult to work out what random number they'll open with. This segued beautifully into Lock Up Your Mountain Bikes, as everyone pricked up their ears to try and catch every word. This barrel of laughs was a strong contender for set highlight, and even featured a reference to the pointless remake of The Wicker Man. Not pulling any punches, Shit Arm, Bad Tattoo then showcased a band at the peak of their talents, equalling nearly all the early songs and demonstrating their freakish career consistency. Things were indeed going too well, and Nigel even complained about the sound quality being too good and it bouncing back on him, and how they're not used to playing in such good venues! Reflections In A Flat was a pleasant surprise as I ordered Nick to pay attention for the "Echo And The Bunny... Men!" line, and San Antonio Foam Party seems to now be a regular fixture. The most random event of the night was when Nigel got out a guitar shaped as a caravan: We just couldn't get our heads round how unusual it was. Perhaps it was simply an excuse for an endless stream of jokes, such as suggesting he phone the green cross to fix it, and remarking that it was heavy due to there being people inside! When once again it was being retuned Nigel even remarked that he quite enjoyed doing that now, and that it no longer makes him feel flustered.
As usual Nigel regularly had to break off to squint at the setlist to work out where they were going next: He either needs glasses or a larger type font. There was a particularly pleasing run of songs around the middle, including We Built This Village On A Trad. Arr. Tune and I was surprised to learn from the Manchester video that they'd sung a snippet of it back five years before its release. The Light At The End Of The Tunnel (Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train), Running Order Squabble Fest, Look Dad No Tunes (featuring Nigel jumping very gingerly from the raised platform), Joy Division Oven Gloves and The Trumpton Riots were all dispatched around the middle, and in any other world I'd be able to remark they were all number 1 hits! For What is Chatteris... was particularly amazing, and may in fact be my favourite tune from Achtung Bono. The only negatives about the show were not coming from the stage, but from the people around me. The Bilston crowd were certainly put into shade by the good folk of Manchester, and it didn't seem right that everyone was just standing there nodding along, neither moshing or singing as much as I felt they should. Secret Gig was especially entertaining thanks to the "shhhh!" bits, but all of this was dwarfed by the mighty Twenty Four Hour Garage People. The ad-libs were hysterical, especially the shop assistant with their Ipod on shuffle. This was an excuse for a series of snippets from an onstage stereo, such as We Built This City On Rock & Roll (the original version of the HMHB song) and Dancing In The Moonlight, which I booed enthusiastically. There were also a few friendly boos for the prices of the shopping basket, which I can only assume always has a fortune riding on the outcome by the gamblers in the audience.
I knew this was a good show but it's only now I'm writing the review that the full extent of its excellence starts to come through. They played Them's The Vagaries which I'd been waiting seemingly forever to hear live, then Bad Review before the typically brief Vatican Broadside. I can only postulate that the excitement from going to a festival had yet to wear off and my standards were stupidly high. The music I was hearing may have been at least as good as anything I'd heard the previous week but the atmosphere just wasn't on the same level and that's what made the difference. Tending The Wrong Grave For 23 Years was still pretty good though, with lots of bird noises and Ken briefly throwing a pretend strop and walking offstage, plus an extended rant. I also did the Fuckin' 'Ell It's Fred Titmus chant at the top of my voice, and it's an encouraging sign that most people here knew that was required from them. The main set then finished with my personal favourite track Everything's A.O.R. A bit of action finally kicked off as a handful of guys at the front started a supremely violent slam-pit. As it was just a few of them I didn't dare join in, but it was quite funny to watch. By my calculations, this song along with Fred Titmus, Vatican Broadside, Twenty Four Hour Garage People, Look Dad No Tunes and Running Order Squabble Fest are the only ever-presents in the four Half Man Half Biscuit sets I have seen. They came back to an encore with Twydale's Lament and a cover of Transmission by Joy Division before finishing with I Hate Nerys Hughes. It's a delightful song and provoked an even more hilarious slam-pit, particularly when I heard the "THUD!" of somebody managing to fall over.
As HMHB left the stage we ran for the exit, assuming they probably wouldn't come back and being desperate to make sure we got the tram/train back home. They'd taken the tickets off us on the way in but they had just been left unattended so we helped ourselves on the way out. Fortunately this indeed had been the end, and the second encore of Paintball's Coming Home I was half-expecting never happened. It was also a bit of a surprise that Uffington Wassail had been dropped, and I was disappointed to be deprived of the "shit band no fans" chant in Emerging From Gorse. Turned Up Clocked On Laid Off and Restless Legs I'd also expected, and I was once again forced to do without The Bastard Son Of Dean Friedman, Rod Hull Is Alive - Why?, God Gave Us Life, Time Flies By (When You're The Driver Of A Train) and, most surprisingly, The Referee's Alphabet. After noting how well Them's The Vagaries had gone down I can't help but feel the band are robbing us of a set highlight by not playing this song. I returned home, gritting my teeth through yet another delay on the trains (this time 40 minutes) and couldn't resist hearing some songs before retiring for the night. It was a pretty good night's work, and now I'd successfully converted Nick to HMHB as well, backing up my theory that everybody who turned up would clock off loving them.
Mark: 8.5/10
Half Man Half Biscuit
Where
Bilston The Robin 2
When
31st August 2006
Price
£15.00
Who with
Nick
Position
Towards the front, on the right
Comments
It had been a crazy week. However, even though at this point I hadn't even started to unpack from the Reading festival and had only taken off my wristband the day before, I was very pleased to be going to another gig. Quite simply real life just seemed far too mundane by comparison so I needed something exciting to tide me over. I'd got tickets for this show months in advance with that thought in mind, and had persuaded Nick to come with me as well. I'd also got paid on the day, which is nice. Having never been to a gig in Bilston before we were concerned with having to rush to get the trams back to Wolverhampton afterwards, and not helping matters was the fact that the trains home were utterly screwed this week, so much so that I wrote my first ever complaint letter to Virgin trains: They didn't give me my money back, just apologised for their incompetence! For the first time I tried the plan of going home to get changed, visiting the chip shop and dropping off my stuff before getting the train back into town. This may have been a rush but I was very happy not to have to be lugging stuff around. Fortunately for me they just about managed to keep the trains running, and my main problem was that the zip in my coat randomly broke. Getting to Bilston was easy thanks to the speed of the Midland Metro, and even though I'd got a map with me I still walked the wrong way for quite a bit before getting my bearings. Bilston is without doubt one of the worst places in Britain, and walking around the town centre was a depressing experience. We were therefore pleasantly surprised to find ourselves in such a nice venue, even though the entrance seemed to be hidden inside a random pub.
Setlist
Irk The Purists
Lock Up Your Mountain Bikes
Shit Arm, Bad Tattoo
Reflections In A Flat
We Built This Village On A Trad. Arr. Tune
San Antonio Foam Party
Corgi Registered Friends
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel (Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train)
For What is Chatteris...
Running Order Squabble Fest
Look Dad No Tunes
Joy Division Oven Gloves
When The Evening Sun Goes Down
The Trumpton Riots
Footprints
Secret Gig
Twenty Four Hour Garage People
Them's The Vagaries
Bad Review
Vatican Broadside
Tending The Wrong Grave For 23 Years
Fuckin' 'Ell It’s Fred Titmus
Everything's A.O.R.
Twydale's Lament
Transmission
I Hate Nerys Hughes
