hey ho folks, i'm sat here in the dullest recesses of troon, new years eve, cursing the fact that my inability to get up and back from glasgow means missing a Stevie performance and a chance to meet D & K again and tell them how great they are... sigh. instead i'm sat posting you all my story of the sunday evening show whilst listening to the BEat Patrol tape, (thanks PAul!!) which is entertainment at it's finest :-) a drink would be good though... sigh :-( 'see' you all in '98. keep the faith, the duke. ---------- manchester sunday ---------- Driving into and through Manchester for the first time Im struck by the similarities to Glasgow, both in the Victorian architecture and in the street geography. At once it feels like a city of dreams, and the story of the venue being chosen for this show as a result of an early morning road trip by members of the band sparked by boredom makes perfect sense. Despite this, however, initial signs for success are not good. The bad karma surrounding David and Katrinas van disaster casts a sour note, and Stuart Davids less than positive comments about both the stage set-up and the previous nights show similarly cast doubts as to whether this is really all going to work out positively. However, after a few beers, Stuart and Isobels approval of my Postcard t-shirt, a bite of Stuarts veggie burrito and an aborted attempt to play Star Wars Monopoly (abandoned due to Simpsons interest), things begin to look rather better. The arrival of Tim and Emily further lightens the mood, and more beer is naturally consumed. Allowing Stuart and Isobel to take our taxi into town (we figure they have more pressing business ), we step into the one they had ordered and head for the town hall after a brief check to see that the Square Albert is closed, we head right into the Town Hall, and straight to the bar. We meet several familiar faces from Union Chapel, including Mark, who is doing vox-pops for Q magazine. More of which later We totally miss Future Pilot, which is not altogether accidental, and have another beer and a chat. I am gobsmacked when David turns up and thrusts a wad of notes into my hand; payment for all the sold copies of the paper Belle Lettres all 46 copies sold where I had honestly been expecting to be lucky to sell ten. I spend a few minutes worrying about a flood of mail demanding refunds. We have a look at the stage and agree it is a thoroughly bizarre set-up in a thoroughly divine setting. Looking around the hall and foyer I am again struck by the similarity to Glasgows City Chambers and find myself happier than a sandboy for the fact that I am not standing in some crap traditional rock venue. Looking around the hall and foyer, there are a lot of smiling faces and a lot of young earnest boys. I prefer the smiling faces. Belle & Sebastian take the stage and with little fuss immediately embark on a delectable take on Modern Rock Song. If there were sound problems at the previous nights show, they are clearly sorted, since the band sound like a beautiful sonic cathedral. Their Pop lineage is clearly illuminated in the first song, and is cemented by the perfect State I Am In, during which Stuart uncharacteristically forgets no words, and the band sounds uncannily like The Velvet Underground in their most melodic and rhythmic mood. Indeed this parallel is immediately highlighted when, during the first and longest of their now traditional extended periods of dithering, Stevie delivers an impromptu few lines of Ill Be Your Mirror. Other between songs highlights include the take on Matchstick Men and Stevies demonstration of the similarity between the riff of Le Pastie De LA Bourgeoisie and the theme to Emmerdale. From Yummy Fur graffiti to bad TV shows its truly amazing where inspiration can come from. Many grumpy faces meet the between songs entertainment, but at least both Tim and I smile and delight in the pure un-rocknroll-ness of it all. Long may their ineptitude rule. Much less entertaining however is the slip in sparkle that accompanies a lacklustre Seeing Other People and Pastie, although delight is wholeheartedly redelivered in the performance of the exquisite Loneliness Of The Middle Distance Runner. Stuart tells us later that if they had managed to get a good recording of the song it would have been an EP lead track, but as it is may only just sneak out if the Modern Rock Song EP happens. Cross your fingers, kids. After Loneliness comes more glorious highlights in the shape of Shes Losing It, a truly exquisite Seymour Stein, Century of Elvis complete with Stuart David reading from his little notebook and a couple of new songs of unknown title. It comes as no little delight in fact to discover my own biggest heartflutters coming from the new tunes, and as Tim indeed points out, not since the days of The Claim has he been more excited by new songs than old at a show. I heartily agree. But speaking of heartflutters, the biggest and best comes when Isobel steps up to the mic and the strains of Orange Juices In A Nutshell creep across the tracery of the Town Hall ceiling. Belle & Sebastian perform cover versions with some irregularity, but choose and deliver them with such amazing class and poise that I can only stand and dumbly grin at the perfection of the reference points. I am genuinely transfixed by Isobel as she sings, backed by Stevies magic sha sha shas, and I find myself hoping that everyone here will at the very least determine to go and discover the original for themselves. And so it goes. When the lights go up, applause rings out, the lights start coming up and Tim turns and says, simply, they dont, do they?, to which I reply I certainly hope not. In the bar foyer we bump into Mark again, who is poised with his tape recorder doing his vox-pops. Stupidly I insist that both Tim and I get to participate, but all I can think of to say is that Belle & Sebastian are our generations Velvet Underground. And Orange Juice. And that is all. Even more stupidly I actually tell the truth about both my age and occupation I sincerely hope the photo does not come out. After this embarrassing moment we trail out slowly, saying goodbyes, and a few hellos as well to Andy, who attests to the improvement between Saturday and Sunday, and Beth, who arrived late and is still apparently shaken after train hassles. Its all very rushed and I wish we all had longer to chat, but food beckons, and its getting late. After show we sit and argue about the egalitarianism of Pop versus Telly and the positive or negative nature of Belle & Sebastians between song ineptitude whilst eating Chinese. Later we head back to the hotel, drink more beer, feel sorry that David and Katrina have had such a stressful time, have a good old natter and eventually hit bed around 3am. By 9am we are back in our car and heading out again on the second leg on our journey to Scotland. Which is where I am now writing this new years eve. Its been an amazing year. I cant even begin to think what the next is going to bring, but whatever does transpire, I know that the magic that was Belle & Sebastian in 1997 will stay with me forever. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . 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