overlap

New venues sometimes make me slightly nervous, whether it's a city I'm not familiar with or somewhere new to park the car, there's always the slight possibility of it going wrong. With something over 200 venues under my sizeable belt, I've mostly got used to it and on this occasion it turns out straightforward enough once I've done a lap around the block including a diversion round a building site, and the pleasant guy on the door has told me where it's safe to park. All the same I can read dire warnings of clamping on the wall and it'll be a couple of songs before I relax into forgetting that.

And to be fair, that's probably what I need. I've had a couple of difficult weeks, a couple of job interviews that have meant I've seen a few 3AMs running over interview question and answer cobblers in my head, and despite that and filling in half a printer ink cartridge's worth of forms, nothing came out of it all. So that's plenty of work and not a small amount of lost sleep for nothing, though this week has been a bit brighter, and I've started casting my net a bit wider and throwing my CV at all manner of unsuitable things. If nothing else I have the small consolation of wasting the time of certain recruitment agents as much as they waste mine!

It's only a dozen gigs since I last saw Miles and Erica, supporting The Proclaimers. Last time I saw a setlist from subsequent shows, it promised a rather more varied selection of songs and last night was to be no exception.

The support act sort of passed me by, nothing wrong with it and nothing to identify or commend it much either. Not unusually for an acoustic gig, we were treated to a couple of people who thought going to a loud environment to have a shouted conversation over something everyone else was trying to listen to. More than one person got politely requested by more than one other person to shut the hell up, and it does always put bit of a dampener on a gig, being unavoidably distracted by idiots.

Nevertheless, this was a fantastically well put together set featuring a few songs I've not listened to in ages, and the odd new story as well as some familiar favourites. I'm a little set in my ways these days, and it usually takes something truly outstanding to really affect me; nevertheless there's a shiver up my spine at the newly-bearded Miles telling the meeting Kirsty MacColl story prior to Welcome To The Cheap Seats, even though I've heard it before. And it's not the particular relevance of that song either, nor is it just that Kirsty is someone I had the privilege of seeing perform several times, but it's small consolation she remains unforgotten and rightly so. Unfaithful and Inside You sound great in that stripped down two-piece format, and Cartoon Boyfriend is another unexpected addition to a gig that turned out a hell of a lot better than it threatened to do when the conversation posse first got going. We didn't quite get as far as getting ready for a fistfight, but it's the sort of thing that it would only take a tiny bit more booze and testosterone to turn undesirably unpleasant. Instead it turned into a very good night though!

* Better Get Ready For A Fistfight is a song from The Wonder Stuff's Escape From Rubbish Island album

That setlist in full:
Send Me Onions
Not In My Plans
DWI
Fill Her Up And Foot Down
The Cake
Oars In The Water
The Sum Of Us
The Test
Plans In The Sky
Welcome To The Cheap Seats
Piece Of Sky
Sing The Absurd
Room 512
Unfaithful
Inside You
Circlesquare
Cartoon Boyfriend
Here Comes Everyone

Labels: Erica Nockalls, gigs, Miles Hunt

One thing you're at the mercy of at a seated gig are the vagaries of who you end up sitting next to, or between. It's a factor that makes a bigger difference to me than it does to many people, particularly in certain circumstances, and one thing that leavens the question somewhat is knowing who your fellow audience may be. In any case I traded the delights of taking my new handbag out for a quick chat with the turn, but it was mildly pleasing to find my judgement turned out spot on. And for future reference, well that's worth knowing. Getting inside the venue and heading up the stairs to hear 'ladies and gentlemen, tonight's performance will start in two minutes, please take your seats' is a slightly more elegant way for the show to start then a roadie shining a torch towards the sound desk and flashing it. And promptly at 7.30, Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls walked onto the stage to play for what I suspect is a bunch of folk predominantly unfamiliar with them. I gather I'm not the first to observe how grown-up and professional someone is when not swearing once over the forty minute set, and for just an acoustic guitar and a fiddle and mostly one voice, the sounds was flawless. Sat in the front row of a balcony section, I had a great view, and the mix of songs from Catching More Than We Miss and more familiar songs drawn from both Miles' solo work and The Wonder Stuff was pretty much spot on. Erica singing on Plans In The Sky was a particular highlight, and one of the things it brought to mind was whether she might end up also providing the Kirsty MacColl backing vocals on Welcome To The Cheap Seats at some point. Funny that Miles then told a story about his first encountering the sainted Kirsty, and they played Welcome To The Cheap Seats. The final song of the set was, less predictably than you might think, Size Of A Cow. Less predictable because this is the first time I've seen it done in a duo format with Erica's fiddle dualling the keyboard lines and guitar stabs, which is both a refreshing re-invention and set-closing cue for most of the crowd's familiarity reflexes to be touched. Ace! After a quick chat with Miles & Erica, and another venue PA warning to return to one's seats, The Proclaimers took the stage in front of a fairly partisan audience. I'm sure Cap In Hand has a certain resonance when it's played in a country that isn't England, and for me those subtler moments are the finer part of the set. I'm not sure whether the rhythm section were turned up to eleven on purpose, but at times it sounded more like the driving, muscular approach of The Who or Dr Feelgood than the sort of finesse or delicacy I'd rather hear. I'm On My Way could be a rogue Status Quo song that escaped and grew up north of the border, Erica returns to the stage for Sunshine On Leith, and from my vantage point I'm watching the crowd as much as the stage. I mentioned before the familiarity reflexes, and it's true that I'm taking a slightly less partial view than I normally would just because I didn't come for the headliners really. It's more than diverting to watch the security staff trying to get certain people to sit down, and confiscating a bottle that was being passed around, but it's equally observable how 500 Miles in particular has everyone out of their seats clapping slightly out of time and for the most part immediately sitting down again once the one song they really know is over. Interesting! After a brief excursion to play the return for the encore game, and a bit more help from Erica, the lights go up and it's all over bang on ten pm. This is both fitting for a proper theatre venue, and curiously un-rock n roll, but a gig where I could have been home well before half past ten had I not made a slight detour to run an errand on the way is a rare thing indeed! Miles & Erica setlist DWI\Fill Her Up and Foot Down\Corny But True\Circlesquare\The Cake\Stay Scared Stay Tuned\Amongst The Old Reliables\Plans In The Sky\Welcome To The Cheap Seats\Size Of A Cow

Labels: Erica Nockalls, gigs, Miles Hunt, The Proclaimers

First gigs in places hitherto unvisited are always a source of a tiny bit of time pressure, directions pressure, parking pressure and the general stuff of unfamiliarity. Even if the venue's own website is somewhat rudimentary and yet the venue is sufficiently distinctive to be visible in the google maps satellite view, it shouldn't be that tricky. In a small town where there may not be hundreds of bars/clubs/pubs/venues and other sources of entertainment for a friday night, any kind of night out may turn out to be more of a night out than just another gig. Which is how I found myself surrounded by pretty young things in their friday best, in a venue that's rather smarter than my manky trainers, tracksters and t-shirt are fit for. Of course I'm not jealous, in any way. First support is Ben Squibbs from the Calling Card - no, me neither. He's pretty chipper for someone who doesn't get everyone's full attention, and seems rather good humoured about it. In his quieter moments he sounds not unlike Dave Gibbs in his Kid Lightning guise, but there's also more than a hint of voice-as-instrument power that leaves me missing the words. I'm sufficiently impressed that I will have another couple of listens to what he's got on myspace, and he's young enough you never know what might yet happen. Second support goes without being named. Partly because I'm not so keen on slating things I don't really enjoy. I'm a big fan of bombast in the right place, and that's in the hands of Clarence Clemons and Roy Bittan, not in an acoustic guitar that's played almost entirely for rhythm, and not in a voice that's got power and urgency by the bucketload but falls short on melody and subtlety. I know, different strokes and all that, and I just don't get the sainted Damo either for the same reason. Making any sensible kind of comment on someone I've seen more times on a stage than anyone else is not easy. To answer the question of what keeps me going back, it's definitely something to do with making the acquaintance of new material that I've not heard done live before or revisiting old tunes that are being partially revised and reinvented. The convenience of relative locality helps, especially when the novelty of a venue new to me like this one is added in. In some ways it's refreshing and in others it's predictable how people who don't go to multiple gigs by the same artist within the same month still seem to have the same predictable expectations. Ok, so nobody should be surprised that a couple of particularly high profile hit singles over fifteen years ago stick in people's minds more than the other twenty-odd singles, or their b-sides or associated album tracks. Sure, there's the odd exception - see the Weddings Parties Anything I saw last year - but I gave up on the fantasy setlist game a long time ago. And that's probably the nature of what you should generally expect to read here, it's as much about my relationship with the material and/or the artist as it is a description of an event, and often more so. And likewise nobody wants to do the same thing at work day after day after day without some kind of variation, so it's only right that those people who do that particular kind of thing for a living must embrace the differentness wherever they see it. As with football matches, there's barely a gig where there isn't something to differentiate it from the one the week before or the year before, or even the decade before. Sometimes it's the travelling to get there, sometimes it's running into people I was or wasn't expecting to see, and every now and then it's a song I haven't heard in ages coming back to say hello in different clothes. In this case it's plenty of the latter, as Miles and Erica have worked out ways to play some things I've not heard them do before as well as adding forthcoming single Stay Scared Stay Tuned from Catching More Than We Miss. That and DWI are the higlights for me from the new stuff, but I'm delighted by Miles doing Can't Shape Up all by himself, and the duo versions of Cartoon Boyfriend and especially this version of The Animals And Me are tremendous. Overall probably not a career-defining highlight gig, or much in the way of a radical departure, but a thoroughly decent gig representing excellent value for money. If only everyone's every gig lived up to that description, but that would only make for more boring predictability! That setlist in full. DWI/Corny But true/Back On the Charm Offensive/Stay Scared Stay Tuned/Rogue's Biography/Fill Her Up And Foot down/Welcome To The Cheap seats/Mission Drive/Circlesquare/Room 512/Can't Shape Up/The Cake/The Animals And Me/Cartoon Boyfriend/Amongst The Old Reliables/Golden Green/Unbearable

Labels: Erica Nockalls, gigs, Miles Hunt

And after a short break... I've had a vague but growing feeling something was missing over the last month or so, and so I've just checked. There's only a couple of times in the last five years I've gone more than forty days between gigs, which answers that question! Despite discovering yet another new variant of how to make a mess of finding my way into Brum, I ended up parked with time to spare. There's a good reason why I try to build room for manoeuvre into my travelling plans! The recently re-opened after refurbishment Town Hall is a magnificent building, and a far cry from the sticky beer floored venue across town I was in last time. This is a great example of how local authorities can do venues well, and for future reference it's definitely a big handbag venue for grown-ups rather than a minuscule clubbing purse venue for teenagers, which has its own obvious attractions. In a change from common practice, this was a one-off (for now) event where instead of a support act and a headliner, the idea was to showcase a number of people whose songwriting has influenced the headliner, and a chance to introduce some fans to some other artists who they might be less familiar with. * Katell Keineg (sounds like cuh-TELL cuh-NEGG) opened the evening. I hadn't checked her out on myspace beforehand, partly because I quite like the idea of complete newness, and partly because I am idle. Over the course of a twenty minute set, her nerves settled and she went down very well. Female singer-songwriters, especially of the acoustic kind, are always going to suffer from comparison with Joni Mitchell, Janis Ian et al. Katell reminds me more of the latter, with a hint of what Carina Round could do with a bit more songwriting discipline and a bit less catharsis-screaming. * Roddy Frame shouldn't need much introduction beyond the two words 'Aztec Camera', but his solo stuff is also excellent. I hadn't seen Roddy for a couple of years, but it's great to be reminded of what a stunningly gifted guitar player he is, and I really should make plans to see him again. Setlist(ish): Small World/Black Lucia/Bigger Brighter Better/How Men Are/Down The Dip/Oblivious/Birth Of The True/Reason For Living After a short break, the audience settled into their seats again for the next act. One of the interesting things about this sort of multi-performer show is the variation among the crowd of who is there to see one act in particular, and this was especially apparent if mildly suprising in view of the varied age groups. * for many people Nick Heyward is inseparable from his Haircut100 days as the face of magazine covers, but that was quite some time ago. In recent times, the Now And Then tour has kept him on stages around the country, which sort of explains how people half my age may have encountered him if they've been dragged along by their parents to see Bananarama and Curiosity! He noted that that sort of exposure has its drawbacks, explaining how much he was enjoying playing a few select pieces of new material rather than the N&T hits medley. All the same it takes a certain boldness to do Love Plus One in acoustic guitar and vocal format though I'm sure I'm not the only one who could hear the sax line in their head anyway. Fantastic Day closes, with the help of someone from the crowd that he knows from myspace, and her friend who was delighted to get on stage with a hero, and help him with the odd forgotten line or two! Great fun. * If you'd asked me beforehand, I'd have said I'm really not sure I know anything by The Mission, and certainly have never seen (and have nothing by) either them or the Sisters Of Mercy, which is what Wayne Hussey is probably most famous for. So it's a minor surprise when we start with Wasteland, which I recognise as familiar, and then move into Severina, a song I'm certain I haven't heard in twenty years but which nevertheless dislodges long-dormant memory cells of it being on the telly, presumably on The Tube, though I could be wrong. We also get a cover of Ashes To Ashes, Butterfly On A Wheel and Erica Nockalls joining him on stage to add some fiddle. Then Miles joins the pair of them for a final romp through Tower Of Strength, which rather sounds like Vent414-go-goth. Unlike a certain saving the world type with a mate whose hat is permanently glued to his head, Wayne even makes wearing shades indoors look cool. Nice one. * With the new album Catching More Than We Miss on sale tonight in advance of its proper release in a month or so, Miles and Erica give us the first live sighting of a handful of new tracks, some in collaboration with Erica's Nemesis String Quartet, a quick run through Mission Drive for fans of The Mission, er, no, for fans of The Wonder Stuff, and close with Amongst The Old Reliables which sounds a bit more delicate with strings. As an intro for fans of some but not all of these acts, this was a great opportunity to check out some other people they might not immediately have thought they'd like, and makes a refreshing change. Excellent idea, Miles! Miles & Erica's setlist: D.W.I./Corny But True/Back On The Charm Offensive/The Rogue's Biography/The Test/Fill Her Up And Foot Down/Everything Is Not Okay/Mission Drive/Amongst The Old Reliables

Labels: Erica Nockalls, gigs, Katell Keineg, Miles Hunt, Nick Heyward, Roddy Frame, Shared, Wayne Hussey