GIG NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOUR
Who
I travelled on the ridiculously busy Holyhead train from Wolves, which was my first ever time on the route, and I was unsurprised to observe that everyone got out at Telford leaving me finally able to bag a seat of my own. By the time I got to Shrewsbury and the conductor announced the train would be unnecessarily splitting into two I was relieved to get off. Shrewsbury station looked like a dump until I got outside and realised the exterior was actually a stunning castle-like building! In fact Shrewsbury looked absolutely lovely. I think I've been there when I was little but I have no memories of it and was amazed to see how many old buildings the town has and I resolved to come back here to explore properly one day soon. It was a crying shame that I had to work the next day (on my birthday) and to check out of the hotel so early, and it would have been nice if the show had been on a Friday night instead of Thursday. I had quite a walk in the rain to my hotel on the other side of town (across the English bridge) and received an embarrassingly warm welcome making me feel like I was the only person staying there! Annoyingly due to my early start the next day I had to decline breakfast and I was quick to dry myself off and venture out again, being concerned that the band may grace the stage early and not wanting to miss the start. There were lots of nice pubs but it was raining and I was very mindful of the time so I settled for a modern and cheap pub, where I had a nasty pint of bitter and a Guinness. I also had one of the strangest fish and chips ever with almost no batter on it, making me feel like they'd simply forgotten it! Nevertheless I was in a good mood and quite appreciated the lighter portion and the fact I'd been sensible enough to avoid a pricier meal. I'd completely lost my appetite on holiday and was annoyed to find I'd regained it so much already, no doubt putting all the weight I'd lost back on! I then walked across the Welsh bridge on the other side of town, which I thought was a nice counterpoint to the English bridge. I was also surprised to learn afterwards that this was the River Severn itself!
The venue was modern and rather nice and I picked up my ticket from the box office which was promptly confiscated in exchange for a stamp on my hand when I entered the room itself. I was especially annoyed that this was the last I saw of my ticket and I've had to keep the debit card receipt instead as my memento! As I had no interest in drinking mediocre beer out of cheap plastic cups I pretty much stuck to the room itself, which was nice but a bit bland and had already been set up for the band. I then waited patiently, finding time to start drafting this review on my phone, as it was pretty much the first time I'd stopped moving since I'd returned from holiday! HMHB went for an 8:30pm start and no support band which worked out perfectly as I really needed an early night and this helped justify my decision to stay in a hotel. In fact the band kept ambling onstage to fine-tune the set-up before coming on properly (Carl with tons of bottles of water!), fiddling around a bit then launching into The Light At The End Of The Tunnel (Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train). Fuckin' 'Ell It's Fred Titmus continued the pleasing start and Nigel reeled off a list of all the places they'd tried to visit earlier in the day, all of which had been closed, before they'd settled with Burger King! He also commented how professional they'd been with sound checking and about what a nice/posh venue it was. They seemed to enjoy it, with Carl in particular smiling throughout and some excessive smoke leading Nigel to question if Ken actually was on fire! The sound quality was excellent, perhaps so perfect it took away the rock 'n' roll edge, and the lightshow was generally excellent if excessive at one point.
However this was now the eighth time I'd seen HMHB and there was no hint of any new songs (I wish they'd release more albums, although 11 albums so far is hard to complain about!) and they were relatively lacking in the new/improvised elements that make them such an exciting band to see. For example, a certain song was introduced by Nigel as "here's a song about Bob Wilson being an anchorman", and it was just generally nice and enjoyable without, for the most part, sticking out from their other excellent shows. All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit was an unexpected choice and somewhat out of season, making me wish I'd managed to find that kit in Prague. Sadly I hadn't had much time to look, and my internet research wasn't very helpful at pointing me in the right direction anyway! Footprints is a firm fan favourite and they don't play it very often but the bulk of the set was made up of tunes I'd heard before with few new elements to review. Perhaps it's because I didn't make fuller notes at the time and it was uniformly good, but I have very few comments to make! The most intriguing section of the main set was when HMHB launched into a surprisingly proficient run-through of Apache which segued into the completely unexpected 1966 And All That. I don't recall the band ever playing so much from Back In The D.H.S.S. and anything I've never heard before is especially welcome, even if Apache was surreal! Twenty Four Hour Garage People was as amusing as ever and Vatican Broadside was delivered as a standalone rather than being tacked-onto the end of a mid-tempo number as is usually the case. Nigel commented on a juicy fruits smell and a packet was promptly thrown onstage, which Nigel threw over to Ken. Also the caravan guitar made a welcome appearance to some large cheers but not as much ceremony as it had received the first time. Clearly I'm not the only one who sees HMHB every time they get near the Midlands so these are treated as long-standing jokes by many fans?
The crowd reaction was fairly typical, with mostly gentle appreciation and singing plus a bit of furious moshing down the front. It reached a peak during Everything's A.O.R. and this was the only point I was tempted to join in. It was a fantastic song as usual and I wish they'd re-record some of their early hits to capture the energy (and proficiency) that some of the original records don't quite live up to. However this was slightly tarnished by a completely gay bouncer who spent the whole gig scrutinising the moshpit then heading into it and randomly picking out a person and forcing them to stop enjoying themselves! What this tosser failed to realise is that if anyone wasn't enjoying the moshpit then they simply could take a few steps back and be out of the action. The main set finished with We Built This Village On A Trad. Arr. Tune but the highlight was to come when they shocked my ears with a tune I never thought I'd ever hear live - God Gave Us Life! It was perhaps the best birthday present ever and despite cutting out the opening exchange between Neil and Nigel it was fantastic to hear and they drew it out too, although Nigel was struggling to improvise names of other people who God gave us! I was wondering if this was the first time they'd ever played it but upon researching it afterwards it seems to pop up in a few shows nowadays, which is great to know even if it made it a bit less special! However I'm still deeply frustrated to have never heard Rod Hull Is Alive - Why? or The Bastard Son Of Dean Friedman live, which I do see on other setlists every now and again. I think it's about time a West Midlands audience were given the chance to enjoy these classics too! And on a similar note I still can't quite believe I've never heard HMHB play anything from Some Call It Godcore before, and someone else heckled for A Shropshire Lad, which certainly would have fitted in nicely!
After an energised rout through Joy Division Oven Gloves, the show finished at around 10:30pm with an unknown cover version, which I learned afterwards was River Deep Mountain High, but I think Paintball's Coming Home would have been a better choice and this was a strange way to finish? I was pleased to have enjoyed everything sufficiently that sleepiness was no longer a threat but I also knew I needed to dash straight back before the week started to catch up with me. I did spend a few minutes helplessly walking around the venue trying to identify where the bouncers had hidden our tickets, pretty much being too shell-shocked about it to think of asking them! But I gave up and made the long walk back to the hotel as quickly as I could and headed to bed, not having time to draft the review that night. The next day I realised why commuting from Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton is far from ideal, as I had to get up especially early and got lost on my way to the station, accidentally heading towards the venue instead! It was rather sad to have to leave such a lovely town and go to work rather than relaxing and sightseeing, but I guess unless gigs are at weekends or I'm prepared to sacrifice precious holiday leave there's not much I can do about it. Annoyingly my train ticket had been stamped both ways so there was no hope of using it again! However the night out was extremely worthwhile. HMHB are always great and God Gave Us Life had made it special, it maintained my excitement levels after a great holiday, kept my birthweek going nicely plus gave me a taste of how nice Shrewsbury is, and it's amazing to learn that at my age considering how close by it is!
Mark: 8.5/10
Half Man Half Biscuit
Where
Shrewsbury Walker Theatre
When
25th March 2010
Price
£16.00
Who with
No-one
Position
Towards the front
Comments
By this time I'd booked my long-awaited trip to Australia and felt this show would provide an excellent post-holiday activity to keep me going. Also I never miss a chance to see HMHB playing locally and the thought of spending the eve of my birthday seeing them then staying overnight in town before heading into work the next day was an intriguing one saving me the hassle of having to travel back home afterwards. Also at this point I had no idea if the band would announce their usual date in Bilston, which in fact I noticed had been confirmed when checking their website on the day of this show! Nevertheless I'd already booked tickets and the hotel, and have no regrets as I'm happy to see them play as often as I can! Coming back from Australia was quite a shock to my system, especially as I'd never had to return to work so suddenly after such a long trip, so to have a birthday week full of activities was very welcome. In fact, as I was born at 7am the next day, this night out was closer to my actual birth than my birthday night was! I was short on time so only managed to listen to each album once and was surprised to find that there were a few songs on Four Lads Who Shook The Wirral I barely recognised, plus I'm still coming to grips with CSI: Ambleside. The day itself was busy at work and I was rather tired after venturing out to watch The Lovely Bones the previous evening, which was yet another masterpiece from Peter Jackson which bafflingly had been ignored by most. I had very little time for packing but I managed it and I guess I should be grateful that I still have money and that my holiday wasn't as expensive as it could easily have been.
Setlist
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel (Is The Light Of An Oncoming Train)
Fuckin' 'Ell It's Fred Titmus
When The Evening Sun Goes Down
Outbreak Of Vitas Gerulaitis
Lock Up Your Mountain Bikes
Running Order Squabble Fest
Bad Losers On Yahoo Chess
Bob Wilson: Anchorman
Lark Descending
Monmore, Hare's Running
Look Dad No Tunes
Restless Legs
All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit
Petty Sessions
For What Is Chatteris...
Footprints
P.R.S. Yearbook (Quick, The Drawbridge)
Irk The Purists
Apache
1966 And All That
Twenty Four Hour Garage People
Vatican Broadside
Evening Of Swing (Has Been Cancelled)
Everything's A.O.R.
National Shite Day
The Trumpton Riots
We Built This Village On A Trad. Arr. Tune
God Gave Us Life
Joy Division Oven Gloves
River Deep Mountain High
