The day before the 2017 General Election, I texted Dig “See you tomorrow” “If I haven’t committed suicide” – Well, the suprise result made us both rather chipper and after singing with Commoners Choir in Leeds city centre (we were going to sing whatever the result) and having a pint with friends (good to have you back Caz) I met Dig and we skipped along to the Howard Assembly Room – a rather grander venue than when Dig last saw Richard Dawson (The Fulford Arms in York) and with a lot more people on stage.

I first heared ‘The Vile Stuff’ on Marc Riley’s 6Music show and was mesmerised with a ‘WTF is this’ type reaction…..and imagine our joy when we recognised the same bar we’d been to on our Jim Jones Revue trip to Newcastle. This 11 minute howl of abrasive guitar playing is fairly typical of his work. Dig’s misses accused him of liking it because no one else would – how wrong she is – the sell-out crowd tonight were well up for it. There were jokes and banter (mainly at the expense of the bass player) and extraordinary music that is really hard to define. Imagine Capt Beefheart doing folk and it’s not even close.

We hung around after for Dig to buy the CDs he didn’t already have and had to explain that he didn’t want Richard to sign them as his 19yr old daughter Anna had taken the piss out of him for being a fan-boy when she’d found his other signed ones……so cruel! I’m a fan-boy too – give him a go

Bob the Chiropodist

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Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip go from strength to strength with concerts up and down the country and airtime on BBC 6Music. It’s no suprise to anyone in Leeds who’s followed Mik’s somewhat surreal journey with him over the years. He manages to be hilarious and poignant – often at the same time. 2 full sets tonight with a break in the middle to buy teapots and mugs….and masking tape (!)

The first half contained a lot of new stuff that had the crowd in fits of laughter, with a sure-fire second half of classics that culminated in ‘Sweet Leaf of the North’. You can’t underestimate how much Jonny’s amazing guitar playing and Benson’s groovy bass add to the songs….They still manage to be ace in a field in Glastonbury with minimal equipment, but to hear Jonnys many guitar stylings on a proper stage was a treat.

I loved his hat but couldn’t find one like it on line so messaged Mik to see where he got it from “I got it from a charity shop, Barnado’s on Armley. Cost me £1.49” – What a bargain! Hope to catch him at least once over the Glastonbury week-end….they’re well worth the effort!

Bob the Chiropodist

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The Divine Comedy are our good friends, Boy-Lee and Nicki’s favourite band. He asked if we wanted to go to this years city of culture to see them support Paul Heaton & Jaqui Abbot with Billy Bragg too……Of course we do! All the acts had an opinion on this weeks election and this topic in Hull – was far from dull…….

The official info said Billy would be on at 6.45 so we got ther in time to park up for 6.30 – and he was already on! As it happened you could hear him as clear as a bell outside the rugby ground so we didn’t miss much. Loads of old favourites including Levi Stubbs tears and A New England (with Kirsty MacColls added verse of course).

Neil Hannon is one cool dude. The Divine Comedy’s set was Chock-full of wonderful tunes “I can’t do political speeches like Billy Bragg but here’s my attempt” introduced ‘The Complete Banker’ – a work of genius – and ‘Indie Disco’ turned into a Blue Monday jam – Excellent stuff!

Met some lovely Hull-ites (although Darren was slightly worse for wear) who supported the rugby team from the other stadium but were happy to be here today.

We got to see Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott last year at Glastonbury and so were really looking forward to this one – and they didn’t disappoint. The set was packed with Housemartin and Beautiful South hits as well as a few of their own – The political  heart on sleeve continued as they opened with ‘Heatongrad’ – “Where your friendly, local tax doger is lynched for all to see, and the newspaper editors swing from neighbouring trees. When trains and buses, education, health and safety’s free – welcome to Heatongrad”

With ‘Happy Hour’ and ‘Caravan of Love’ as the encore – everyone went home happy bunnies

Bob the Chiropodist

A wonderful all-dayer at everyones favourite venue – 14 bands for £15 – what’s not to like. Met some new friend, found a new favourite band: The Blinders, who stole the show early on and things got a bit messy in the moshpit by the time Cabbage stormed the stage….the whole day was a joy!

The Boxing

Fling

Caro

They had none of our usual brew ‘Double Chocolate Stout’ so we started on this…..

The Blinders

The Blinders from Donny, for me, were the band of the day – they were only on so early because they were headlining at the Great Escape festival in Brighton later that night. I had a quick chat with the lead singer before he got in the van for the journey as it was photographer Paul Husband who’d tipped me off to them (more about him later…) – lovely lads – go see them!

Swimming Girls

Narcs

Narcs were the only band on the bill besides cabbage that I’d seen before. The lead singer (in white T-Shirt) came into the crowd as if keeping an eye on his bandmates who were wildly rocking out….

Around this time we needed a break so ordered Pies and I posted this up on facebook.Paul Husband soon got back to me with….

…..so I did the old “Hiya Lauren! – you don’t remember me do you!”  “Errrm…do I know you..?” Turns out she’s called Mandy (or was it Wendy?) and an Uber-Cabbage fan – goes all over – even to Europe watching them. Nice to have a chat

And then we got chatting to the couple behind who missed out on the pies as they’d all sold out…..

Her’s

Shitkid

Gothic Tropic

Coathangers

The Coathangers were very entertaining – loud punky, swapping instruments – great fun! Got chatting to gig photographer Mark Wheelwright who loved them so much he got a signed multicoloured vinyl copy of their LP – he wasn’t working – just there for the music….

Kagoule

Shame

Shame went down a treat with the crowd – very energetic!

Dune Rats

Got talking to this guy with a Dune Rats T-shirt on just before their set and he couldn’t wait for them….I’ll be surfing before you know….and he was….before they broke into their 2nd chord!

Cabbage

The night came to a close with Cabbage who had a lively moshpit jumping for joy – I lost my glasses in there for the first time in years! Everyone helped out and found them unharmed…….then slept on them at the night and broke ’em………Crazy man crazy!

Bumped into the lovely Mark on the way out, who wrote up the last all-dayer we went to, but  hadn’t been to the gig – was hanging out for a drink…….lovely bands, lovely venue, lovely people, lovely day. God Bless Nathan and the crew xxx

Bob the Chiropodist

 

 

Cover Star: Dave McGuire

A few weeks ago I tried walking up Table Mountain with my cousins. After half an hour of walking straight up, my legs were shaking “How much more of this is there?” “About another 2 hours”…..so I took the walk of shame back down, got in the cable car and met them at the top. ‘That’s it,’ I thought – ‘I need to get fit’. So I started on the couch to 5k programme and found it really tough to begin with, but after 5 weeks – I’m up to 3x 5mins runs through the woods next to our house and really enjoying it. I think the first week was particularly hard because I didn’t realise you could have your music on too whilst the nice lady was encouraging you to keep going “You’ve only got 30 seconds of running left – keep going!”. As soon as I had music in my ears, running was a lot easier…..which lead to tonights theme. John has done marathons previously (singing along to British Sea Power ‘Easy, Easy’ at the 14 mile mark), Jez has successfully done couch to 5k and continues to run 3x weekly, Simon prefers his bike with 80miles just a stroll in the park for him, Matt is a physio and we know how rediculously fit they are, and Roger…..he gets to walk the dog. Baked Camembert and Springbok biltong were amongst the menu delights tonight with lashings of beer and inane banter…..always a pleasure…..

Run Run Run – Velvet Underground (Bob)
6 Underground – Sneaker Pimps (Roger)
Restless Legs – Half Man Half Biscuit (Simon)
No Lucifer – British Sea Power (“Easy-Easy_Easy”). (John)
Conduit For Sale – Pavement (Matt) – “I’m Tryin’”
Lust for Life – Iggy Pop (Jez)
Miss You – Rolling Stones (Bob)
Running up that hill – Placebo (Roger)
Out of Breath – Frank Turner (Simon)
Step it out Lively Boys – Ivor Cutler (Simon) – hijack
Sweat In Bullet – Simple Minds (John)
Speedy Gonzales – Pat Boone (Matt)
Another Journey – Joie/Dead Blonde Girlfriend (Jez)
When you’re near me I have difficulty – XTC (Bob)
Stronger – Kanye (Roger)
Fill in the Blank – Car Seat Headrest (Simon) – come to the gig 31st August Stylus – one ticket up for grabs
Pure joy – the Teardrop Explodes (John)
Run To Your Mama – Goat (Matt)
The Road Goes on Forever – High Contrast (Jez)
Extended Dance Mix – Fujiya & Miyagi (Bob)
With a hip – Echo and the Bunnymen (Roger)
Come On Feet – Pete & the Pirates (Simon)
Run – Amy MacDonald (John)
Hit It Run – Run-DMC (Matt)
Map of the Problematique – Muse (Jez)
Can U Dig It? – PWEI (Bob)
Marathon Man – Ian Brown (Roger)
Club Foot – Kasabian (Simon)
Million Miles -The Wedding Present (John)
Run For Your Life – The Beatles (Matt)
Gone Gone – Grey Revell (Jez) “Run run, faster than the sun”
Strange Town – The Jam (Bob)
Go faster – The Black Crowes (Roger)
Don’t Give Up – The Noisettes (Simon)
Until the colours run – Lanterns on the Lake (John)
The Dead Are Walking – The Liminanas (Matt)
It’s Good to be on the Road Back Home Again – Cornershop (Jez)
Run like hell – Pink Floyd (Bob)

Bob the Chiropodist