Went to see Arab Strap of Friday night and it was a most bizarre experience.

The venue was unexpectedly packed although no more than a third of the audience appeared to have come to hear the band, preferring to talk amongst themselves, breaking off only to heckle and jeer. Things got even stranger when some girls at the front got sent out for talking before the second song (Packs Of Three) as Aiden Moffat refused to carry on with them there. It seemed a bit curmudgeonly at the time, especially as the Strap's lyrics work better for me when thought of as overheard snippets, rather than finely-wrought poetry. However, as the gig wore on and it became increasingly difficult to hear the band over the row of the audience, you began to take his point. Anyway, for the most part they were pretty good, especially the long dancey versoin of "Girls Of Summer".

I was there too and had a great time. I had great difficulty hearing what Aiden Moffat was saying, partly because of the aforementioned talking but also because he's pretty difficult to comprehend at the best of times. Still, the music was cool and I mellowed out to it (with the help of some alcoholic beverages) and was terribly happy all night. A friend of a friend managed to blag his way backstage to meet the band and I hear that they were snorting coke with rolled up twenty pound notes. Very rock and roll. Mark ___________________________________________________________________________ Mark Iles, Tel: +44 (0113) 2065042 Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Fax: +44 (0113) 2340183 Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory, Ashley Wing, Email: iles@boreas.leeds.icnet.uk St James's University Hospital, Beckett Street, Leeds, "Libraries gave us power" LS9 7TF Manic Street Preachers U.K. ____________________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . For subscribing, unsubscribing and other list information please see . http://www.majordomo.net/sinister . For questions about how the list works mail owner-sinister@majordomo.net . Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa -----------------------------------------------------------------------