I started off seeing Belle & Sebastian gigs in groups of two or three at a time. I guess I was making up for my first big mistake - staying in the bar at the ICA during the support band when the Tindersticks played at the end of 1996. Two days later I had "Sinister" and I've been kicking myself ever since. Next time was different: the two concerts at the start of 1997, QMU in Glasgow and the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh the next day. Both fantastic. Then the first London show at the Union Chapel (terrible compared to the Scottish shows) and the Oxford Zodiac the next day (brilliant). Then two shows in New York. Recording a TV show called the 54th Sessions or something (was this ever shown? I'd love to see it) and the Angel Orresanz Foundation a few days later (Stuart dancing to "What Goes On", clearly overjoyed to be in NYC). I could only make one Manchester show at Christmas, so when they played Leeds, Nottingham and London, I had to go to all three to make up. I made some notes at the Leeds show. I was going to write something about going to all three shows. I took some photos. The pics were so bad, the piece was never written. But here's the interesting bits of what I noted down in Leeds. It's mostly just their banter. There's the making of an Ink Short Film in here somewhere. THAT NIGHT IN LEEDS IN 1998 Thursday 17th - sinatra the movie years - Friday 18th chas n dave - 19th royal family - the ultimate tribute to queen - freddy mercury - built in 1865 - chaplin and houdini performed here - ³Come on² is that a member of the verve in the audience - mad bloke up at the stage - stand where you want - get him onstage to dance - b&S bez - come on and dance down the front - ³Century Of Fakers² - he tried his best but he ended up looking dumb - Century Of Strippers² - ³The Wrong Girl² - can we have a starry backdrop for this one - the girls sit down =- ³Spaceboy Dream² =- ³Get Me Away² - ³has anyone got their tickets for chas and dave. I¹ve got mine, chas and dave are much better than us - ³Yeah!² ³To Sir With Love² - what a rabble - big cheer - dog on wheels - dream two -= stevie so stern with his little flourishes - mick forward and gorgeous trumpet - ³Loneliness Of The Middle Distance Runner² - used to work in this building - serge gainsbourg song - ³all the girls have to take their tops off² s: ³boys too² - ³state I¹m in² - everyone singing - ³Lazy Line Painter Jane² steve doing the soulful singing = plays his guitar like every chord is his last - ³It could have been a brilliant career² - chris and stuart david on guitar - dylan - losing it - has anyone got a two pound coin I can have - self conscious stevie - chick factor - someone shouts ³you;¹re sexy² sixty, do I look old? - forgotten the words on the last song =- rollercoaster ride - I MENTION ALL THIS BECAUSE... I'm doing three nights in a row again myself - London, Oxford and Nottingham - and I can't help think of how much my life has changed since the first three night stand. I should think so too: it's been five long years. But even so. You don't expect so much to happen. But it does. It happens all the time. You can't stop it. For some reason, I've got "In My Life" playing in my head right now. Nice harpsichord. Anyway... How Does It Feel To Be Loved? across the nation (well, a bit of it) June 19th, Buffalo Bars, Underneath the Famous Cock Tavern, right outside Highbury & Islington tube, London, 9pm-2am, £3 in - guests The Happy Couple (Germany's finest indie Motown DJ team) June 20th, Upstairs @ The Folly Bridge Inn, Abingdon Road, Oxford. 7.30pm - 11.30. £3 entry. June 21st, Junktion 7, Nottingham - with Fosca, The Liberty Ship, Hellfire Sermons and me and Stuart Murdoch DJ-ing. Adm: £4/5. Nottingham Stop the War Coalition Gig & Disco If you hear "In My Life" at any of these nights, you'll know why. x http://www.howdoesitfeel.co.uk http://www.lyricsdomain.com/lyrics/6207/ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ 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! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+