OK, so I went to see some band play on Thursday. You might have heard of them. As is traditional, I'll start with an inaccurate setlist, probably missing at lesat one song and certainly not in exactly the right order, but fairly close... Quite a few pleasant surprises in there... The State I Am In (sounding much fuller than normal, and better than ever - maybe they've just got a better soundman now?) Another Sunny Day (why on earth hasn't this been a single yet? It's easily the most radio-friendly song on the album - are they just waiting until the summer to release it?) Funny Little Frog Belle And Sebastian (!!! Not heard that one live for years !!!) Sukie In The Graveyard (the one song from the new album which didn't really work as well live as on the record) Electronic Renaissance (worked remarkably well live. Although I now know why Stevie doesn't normally dance on stage...) Song For Sunshine (because every album has to have its clunker, right? And it's not nearly as bad a clunker as previous albums... I just keep wondering why they sing "Sunshine, the OC" in the chorus, have they become addicted to rubbish TV shows?) We Are The Sleepyheads Dress Up In You (which apparently is approximately 26% a true story...) Slow Graffiti (Yay for another blast from the past...) Portland, Oregon (Stevie's song, performed only once before when they played Portland 5 years ago. A bit cheesy sounding, but one of his better tunes. The lyrics might need some work though - "It's a rainy state, // But it's great when you're on a date") Jonathan David (still sounding as great as ever - I never understood why some people didn't rate this song) Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying Your Cover's Blown (I can understand why people didn't rate this one though... The middle bit's great, the rest is forgettable) I Don't Love Anyone (yes, it still sounds like a Beautiful South song) I'm A Cuckoo White Collar Boy (featuring more evidence of why Stevie shouldn't dance on stage) Judy And The Dream Of Horses For the encore, Stuart asked for requests from the audience, and they got together and decided which ones to play. The winners were: Expectations Lazy Line Painter Jane (as usual, featuring a girl pulled out from the audience singing the Monica Queen part. The difference being, for possibly the first time when I've seen them do it, the girl who came up not only knew the words but could actually sing) So, a massive four songs from Tigermilk, plus another even older song from the Dog On Wheels EP, but no Twattybus or Fishyclap... They sounded fantastic throughout, so much more energy onstage than in the old days (or maybe it's just because I'm not allowed to drink at the moment so I was actually stone cold sober at a gig for the first time in ages? Seriously, it's over two months now since I got really ill, this is the longest I've gone without alcohol since I was about 15...) They were on good form for the between-song banter as well, whether it was complaining about the magically self-detuning guitar, or complaining even more about Stevie's whistling during the subsequent short delay. For the fashion police out there, no real surprises: Stevie in a suit, Stuart in a tight white T-shirt and bowler hat, Sarah in a hoodie, Mick in a checked shirt, Richard gurning behind the drumkit, and Chris completing his 70s throwback look with a pornstar moustache. You know, B&S fandom might not be the same as it used to be - Sinister and Bowlie are both pretty much dead, and most gigs aren't one-off events any more - but the music's better than ever. As the Duke would say, Keep The Faith Kids. Big Stu (noticing that the Decemberists, the Shins and the New Pornographers are all playing ATP, and wishing he could go... All three ex-B&S support acts, and the first two both from right here in Portland...) +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+