A rare live treat as the band with the worlds funniest lyrics ‘Half Man Half Biscuit’ came to town and what a glorious occasion it was. ‘Calvin Party’ got things off to a raucous start with ‘Lies and Government’ being one of my faves since I heard it live on John Peel many moons ago. HMHB were of course favourites of Peelie (& Kershaw but I don’t want to talk about him in the past tense…..fingers crossed for a come back soon). Their set tonight covered all of their albums and had us all laughing. I felt like the only one in the audience who didn’t know all the songs!
Nigels banter was worth the entrance fee alone “I visited Morley cemetery – the bloke who invented the crossword is buried there…..his grave is 7 down and 4 across” and he demanded more from the smoke machine threatening to do ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’
From old favourites like ‘I left my heart at papworth general’ (“Jim can you fix it for me, to come round and suck out your kidneys. I’ve got this young brother you see, who wants to stay alive to watch Bilko”) to the joyous ‘Joy Division Oven Gloves’ and ‘Vatican Broadside’ (“…The singer out of Slipknot went to Rome to see the Pope and the Pope said to his aide – ‘Who the fuckin hell are Slipknot?’…”).
They don’t come round often so do yourself a favour – get a ticket when they do and buy their albums so you can happily sing along.
Bob the Chiropodist
Another review here