Having a 33¹/₃ party is a great idea (I never got around to it but I did have one when 45). ACR have entered their 4^th decade as a band on good form (check out 2008’s ‘Mind Made Up’ LP) and tonight’s show saw them reviewing their career over 2 sets in chronological order.

Lee and I dropped the kids off at mum+dads and eventually found a place to park in Manchester City Centre near the Band on the Wall. This was our first time since the venue has been done up and re-opened and it won’t be the last!  We got in just as ACR took the stage with the drumless ‘All night Party’ with original member Simon Topping taking on the vocals once again – great to see him again!

We’re then treated to the likes of ‘Shack Up’, ‘Flight’, Knife slits water’…etc. What a back catalogue! There’s a Q+A at half time including questions fans had posted on their Facebook page. Matin put up his hand written notes of early gigs, how much they got paid and how many people were there – “Sad!” said Jez with a little shake of his head. I was just the same. When the other members of the band couldn’t remember dates, Martin came to the rescue.

Martin: We played BOTW a lot early on, look – we made £13 that night!

Dojo: they were weird but I liked it – they didn’t talk to me for a year after I’d joined!

Martin: Success? What is success – we’ve had 18 LP’s and 50 singles and are still going – most bands would love to be in our position.

Dojo: Madonna was a nightmare. Jez: she sang to a backing track with 2 other dancers, I’d never seen that before.

Martin: We supported Talking Heads on their ‘Fear of Music’ tour – it was going to be the Human League but they dropped them when they found out that they didn’t appear on stage – just did tapes and a projection.

Dojo: I loved the DIY aspect of Factory. I remember us all going in to help out – putting Durruti Column records into those sandpaper sleeves.

Jez: We had a break for 7 years, which really helped. We were happy to get back together after that. Denise Johnson: Yeah they actually smile now!

Martin: It was Rob Gretton who first spotted us not Tony Wilson. He put our stuff out on ‘Rob’s records’ saying “You’re not a proper record label til you’ve lost money on ACR”

Jez: I’m not on this photo – I’d been drinking cider whilst Martin Hannett made them play the guitars again and again. I drank 2 litles and Tony Wilson had to take me to casualty!

I’d sent some questions and they got answered –  The Jez+Vini Reilly stuff on ‘From Brussels with Love’ – was it specially recorded for that LP or was there other stuff from that session?

Jez: That was Vini’s reaction to Ian’s death and he asked me to sing on it.

Donald. you play on Kane Gangs ‘Gun Law’ – any other non-ACR stuff we should know about?

Dojo: I play drums on Liza Minelli’s LP that the Pet Shop Boys produced.

The 2^nd set Starts with ‘Wild Party” and contained blistering versions of ‘The Big E’ (dedicated to a recently deceased friend) and ‘Good Together’. Their funky soul tracks after that didn’t have the same punch for me but the final tracks from ‘Mind made up’ were pure ACR.

For an encore they did 2 songs they’d already done but no one minded – ‘Shack Up’ with Denise on Vocals and a longer version of ‘Si Firmi O Grido’ which quite frankly could have gone on all night for me – Loved it!

Bob the Chiropodist

Musicport is a 3 day indoor festival held at Bridlington Spa and I was lucky to attend a couple of days thanks to Boy-Lee who lives just up the road.There was a massive amount of talent on show from Brid bluegrass locals ‘Whisky Dogs’ to the anti apartied giant Hugh Masekela. From Goldies band of marvelous misfits to Kentucky saw players.

There were 3 standout acts for me, the first of which was Andy Kershaw, interviewed by Ian Clayton (who I happily sang ‘Blueberry Hill’ with later, as his son tinkled the ivorys). Andy didn’t really need an interviewer as his book title ‘No off switch‘ suggests, the hour he did was nowhere near enough. There were some fabulous anecdotes including the Radio 1 DJ’s Xmas dinner (recorded in September) where Jimmy Saville wheeled in the turkey dressed as Santa (“why would you need acid!”). He ended up nearly throttling Simon Bates (as enacted in the photo below) after some he’d slagged off the striking minors, but was (un)fortunately stopped by Peel and Walters. Looking forward to reading Ians book too which he signed “Does it upset you when people mistake you for Ian McMillan” “YES! No not really we’re good friends” .

Chris Wood was someone I was unfamiliar with and it was a happy accident I happened to catch his set. Brilliant guitar playing and songs that showcased an English storytelling style that had me hooked with ‘One in a million’ – wondering what the hell was going to happen……and at the end of which I shed a quiet tear – I won’t tell you if it’s a happy ending or not……..but I must be getting soft in my old age….

I first saw Mary Coughlan in May 1987 and just loved her early LP’s. I haven’t heard much of her stuff since she battled alcoholic demons. “This is a song I used to listen to again and again 17 years ago when I was getting over my alcoholism” before doing a sublime version of ‘Love will tear us apart‘. Her pianist and double bass player were amazing musicians. Her voice is as sexy and seductive as ever – Can’t wait to get hold of her new stuff.

A great little festival – highly recommended!

Bob the Chiropodist

More Vids here

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again……Jeffrey Lewis doesn’t dissappoint! A wonderful night watching a guy at the top of his game – Hell, I even gave him the shirt off my back – what a show! Lee couldn’t make it due to a flu bug so babysitter ‘Boy-Lee’ came instead. Jeff kindly signed a Vinyl copy of ‘A Turn In The Dream Songs‘ to Lee which might ease her dissappointment of not seeing this………

Fellow QUIMS member Jez reports – ‘Jez Lewis does Jeff Lewis’…….

Jez Lewis (no relation) had been looking forward to this for some time.

Ok so girl Lee couldn’t attend so we had Boy Lee,  Simon and Jez (no relation) excitedly gulping down Brown Ale at Jack’s merchandising stall as Bobby Dazzler sweet-talked Jeff into signing newly purchased vinyl in return for his t-shirt. This led to… Dufus!

There was a strange lone dancer in the audience as Seth treated us to a grab bag of acoustic guitar anti-folk, pausing briefly at half time to plug in his iPod and belt out an acid rap. Anyone who gargles a middle 8 to a song is okay by me! Most entertaining, which led to… A revisit to Jack to purchase a Dufus CD.

I’m not sure of the name of the next support act: ‘Care in the Community’ would have been appropriate. It turns out the strange dancer is their Bez! The highlight is the piñata with Lego rather than the Aspergers inspired “Let’s memorise international dialling codes”, although lyric of the night (so far) goes to “I don’t know the Spanish for my poncho has vanished”. Overall, a good idea poorly executed, which led to… Consumption of more brown ale.

Jeffrey’s (no relation) promo material promised low-fi folk, sci-fi punk and low-tech special effects. Jeff & The Junkyard delivered aplenty. We were blown away by great songs from right across his catalogue – “How Can It Be”, “Heavy Heart”, “Big A Little A”, “An Alien’s Bright Idea” highlights for me.

A great performance – new keys player came with a fine shadow; jack on top form; wonderfully low tech – Jeff kneeling down to sing/narrate his graphic art so that he did not block the hastily configured projector propped on a beer crate at his feet. He even dealt with Bob’s brown ale fuelled heckles with as much understated confidence he could muster – “Marco Polo… He was born in Venice?”… “According to the information I have, yes” replied J Lewis, Esq.

Once or twice in a generation a group/solo artist comes out of New York that changes everything… The Velvet Underground, Blondie, The Strokes, definitely. LCD Soundsystem, possibly. Is Jeffrey Lewis (no relation) the best NYC artist of the Noughties? According to the information I have, yes.

J Lewis, Esq.  (No relation).

Bob the Chiropodist

A strange old night with everybodies favourite Prestwich band. I was discussing with Tony before the gig that even though they have a dodgy reputation, I’d never seen a bad gig by The Fall…….this one was somewhat shambolic – but no less entertaining for that. They opened up with a version of Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London” and it was obvious from the start that MES was rather worse for wear…..just managing to stay upright before retiring to ‘sing’ off stage. What a backing band though – more energized than ever. Bumped into Mark who’s off to see them in Edinburgh tomorrow night “I’ll write you a ‘compare & contrast’ piece” – I can’t wait!

Digger saw them play on 5th Nov to a packed house in York and says they were fantastic – Mr Pharmacist to end no less…..

Thanks to Mr Keenan & Tony for the freebie.

Bob the Chiropodist