It's amazing how many people have asked about pre / post gig arrangements. And it's amazing how many times the details have been posted. Oh well, here we go again: Scarborough: There's a coach leaving York at 5pm, or meet on the beach. Bring food and drink for a picnic on the beach opposite the theatre. As always, just look out for people wearing button badges upside-down. Preston: Nothing beforehand as yet, but there's a club opening specially for us afterwards. London: Picnic by the Albert Memorial on Friday afternoon, starting about 2pm-ish, and then more and more people will gradually turn up when they finish work. Bring food, drink, and an inflatable hippopotamus. Picnic in Greenwich on Saturday afternoon after the gig. Bring hangover cures. Birmingham: We get in and out of Birmingham as quick as possible, because it's a dump. (Anyone got a sofa / floor to spare in London? In return, I'll promise not to stand in front of you at the gig...) Anyway, the Peel Session. Not as good as the last session they did on first impressions, maybe the songs will grow on me. First song: Shoot The Sexual Athlete. Good to see the band maintaining their policy of giving songs the most bizarre titles imaginable. Was that Stuart M or another band member doing the Peacock Johnson style can't-be-arsed-to-sing-so-I'll-just-talk-instead-and-hope-noone-notices vocals? My first thought on hearing it was "Lou Reed in the mid-80s". Except it was about the Go-Betweens instead of being about drugs. Long-time viewers may recollect that I'm not a big fan of the Go-Betweens. 'Nuf said. The Magic Of A Kind Word: When it started as a Gentle Waves song, with Isobel's trademark gerbil-having-an-asthma-attack singing, I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. But then the rest of the band joined in, the tempo upped, and it turned into a bit of a knees-up. The arrangement didn't seem to quite gel though, it has the potential to turn out fantastic when it's recorded properly in the studio. Incidentally, it turns out the sinking feeling in my stomach was the burger I'd eaten earlier. Nothing In The Silence: A duet between Sarah and Isobel. Will be popular with people who liked Beyond The Sunrise. (My Girl's Got) Miraculous Technique: My favourite of the night by a distance. I would put good money on it being the last song on their next album; it has a kind of atmospheric, finality to it, in the same way as Pulp's song David's Last Summer could only ever appear at the end of an album. By the end of the song, you're so engrossed that you don't know if it lasted for 2 minutes or 10. Which is a good thing. Am I the only one who thinks "I Love My Car" sounds like the kind of thing Father Jack would say? Big Stu +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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 +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+