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Discogod says0 Votes UP / DOWN
London – now that was just as good as Bristol, but for very different reasons. I thought after hearing the first two songs that they might do the whole of the first album in sequence (which they’ve said they’ve wanted to do before...), but then I figured out that actually it was gonna be pretty much all the hits in order & that’s how it turned out. Hearing the intro music they used (aborted the normal one after about 1 bar...) it was the intro to intro Love Burns – I dont think they’ve used that since the tour from the first album, now that was a blast from the past. Then they came onto stage & Rob was hugging Peter from behind as they walked on. Then ripped into love burns, red eyes (sadly no reprise) then punk song. What an opening trio!! Of course, Spread Your love followed this, what an incredible start to the show! Then Rob said something like “we’re going to play the songs as they came to us, this is Take Them On, On Your Own” – and then blasted into Stop (strangely I had a mini thought that they’d actually play the song TTO,OYO). For some reason, In like The Rose wasn’t played... (probably cos they only picked 4 songs from each record), it’s appeared at a couple of shows recently. What was after that... Six Barrel, then Heart & Soul I think... ahhh, we’re all in love too – another rare oldie!
So I talked about the opening 3/4 songs & what a great sequence that was – then it’s extended into Stop, Six Barrel, H&S.... absolutely mental. Heart & Soul I haven’t heard since the last album I think – was a nice ‘treat’ to have it back :)

moving next onto the Howl album, of course things were slowed down a bit. Again, more rare stuff – Shuffle Your Feet, not heard that for a while, same for me with Devil’s waitin, even more rare is weight of the world. With the piano at the side of the stage, am surprised they didn’t do promise too.

The energy then picked up again as they launched into Baby 81... opening I think with Took Out A Loan & THAT guitar intro... oh yes, what an intro, what a song & another ‘rare’ track...... things got mental in this one too especially at the end of the track when both Rob & Peter hammered they’re instruments. Weapon of choice & Berlin followed (can’t remember the order...) Somewhere in this mix was Windows with an emotional introduction from Rob who talked about losing Michael Been on this tour - took him some effort to say his name :(, he said that if he was still here, he’d been stood behind us all with a smile on his face :) - then he introduced Tom Ferrier, who we were told played with his father’s band The Call for 5 years. He came on and played guitar (Peter was on guitar too) whilst Rob was on the piano. Sadly, couldn’t see his face from where I was (near Pete) but it sounded intense & god, this was a cracking song.... Tom was really enjoying playing with the band, he & Pete actually stood facing each other for a bit, I could certainly see Tom admiring Pete’s playing towards the end of the song when they were both really giving it some welly! Anyway, fitting tribute to the great Michael Been, incidentally, first time I’ve heard the band mention him since his passing.
Then they went off stage & came back for the encore – surely not the end of the gig so soon? So soon? It was about 1 hour 40 so far I think....

Rob came out on his own & opened the floor to suggestions, he said, “I’ll play anything, I dont give a shit”, waited a minute whilst the crowd shouted out ideas, I guess he must have heard some left-wing idea as he then strummed into Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – how utterly odd, made me laugh & again showed his humour, talent & human side. Gave up half-way though as he “doesn’t know the rest”, then he immediately launched into Dirty Old Town which was very well received with plenty of singalong :)
Peter & Leah then came back on stage & Rob introduced the next song saying (something like...) “we really wanted to have this person here & he really wanted to be here but he couldn’t make it, so he’s done a recording that’ll play at some point, somehow you’ll hear it, but we’re not ready for it yet, it’s Iggy Pop & The Wild One” – cue Iggy Pop playing over the speakers, saying something like “This is Iggy Pop, how you all doing? (pause... lol... on a recording – anyway, people cheered), this is a tribute for Michael Been (pause... cheering...) The Wild One” The band then started playing the song... for what it’s worth, it was great to hear this song – if you haven’t already, check out the acoustic recording of Rob playing in an airport soon after Michaels passing – he’s playing it on his acoustic & some random 4 year old girl nearby starts dancing to it – absolutely amazing. I think if they had the capacity to, they should have used this video as the backdrop! Anyway, linky here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4twe7Z6my7o

After that part they moved on to their latest album, with the title song Beat The Devil’s Tattoo then Bad Blood, Half State (nice surprise....), Conscience Killer (bloody killer song to mosh to....) and finally ending Shadow’s Keeper/Step Aside/Open Invitation.

Oh, I’m getting shivers at the memories of this gig now....it’s so hard putting it all into words – I’ve thrown song titles at you but that doesn’t convey the feeling, the energy, the emotion, the passion of the music/crowd.

They had the lasers at the show again, but even better than when they last played London for that recent DVD – this time, the lasers moved :P haha... made all sorts of shapes & movements, it looked awesome & was used sparingly. I loved seeing the smoke moving through the beams, it just looked so majestic... oh wow :D great touch :)
Rob – made several advances to the front of the stage, I think he felt really connected with the audience & actually jumped down to the barrier during shadow’s keeper – I’ve not seen him do that since the last album so the guys who got him are very lucky :)
The crowd – plenty of moshing going on – the crowed at times swayed really heavily left & right – thankfully didn’t lose any of the people I was with this time.

After the gig, I caught up with some people, met Jodi & Michelle (sorry that was so fleeting!) The people at the Merch table were giving away items to people with vouchers (were they given out some people on/near the barrier at the gig?) Anyway, saw some drumsticks, drumskins, posters, signed setlists... not sure what else there was... anyone fill in any gaps? Anyway, thankfully I managed to get one of the signed setlists :)

The two-gig combo of Bristol 999 - London 1000 must be up there with the best gigs I’ve ever seen – the whole tour was been amazing, enjoyed this one more than any other. I say that now, but memories fade ya know...? weren’t the first album tours amazing, spiritual, dark, big hair, moody, intense with so much intrigue? Oh heck some of the other tours were brilliant – think back to the gigs around Camden Crawl (wasn’t the Underworld amazing, then the acoustic in Fopp!), think back to Finsbury Park, Glastonbury, Astoria, ASTORIAAAA 3 F*CKIN HOURS!! Leeds Met Uni when Nick turned up late (first gig with acoustics!), shit yet more stuff – the previous Brixton shows (nine songs anyone?) followed by the Barfly acoustic set!.. ha.... it’s up there, so many gigs, this is why I love this band. This tour particularly has been full of high/lows for me – I’ve lost perhaps about 5/6 tickets, bought from touts, bought from sick friends & people unable to go, nearly missed bus connections meaning I could have missed Bristol altogether! My friend wanted to go home after the Bristol show & miss out London – pah, I tell you, we convinced her good & proper that was a bad idea & we proved that!!

1000 shows is a lot to be proud of, the band have achieved so much, produced so much quality music with such a diverse feel to it too. And they are true to their spirits and to themselves, completely honest, decent people with time for their fans. What guys, what a band, what a tribute to Michael who sadly was lost on the path (but hey, what a path to be lost on right?) his spirit remains in the band & will always be there on record. I feel everything they do will be in tribute to him & because of him – dont underestimate the influence he had cos it was massive. Congrats to the band, RIP Michael Been, see you all on the next tour (fans and band...), love life & stay safe :)
Posted Monday, December 13, 2010 am31 at 9:31am
MissSupersonic says0 Votes UP / DOWN
You can find my review here:
http://misssupersonicsounds.blogspot.com/2010/12/brmc-1k-or-celebrating-1000-shows-of.html