Sinister: Ally ally o

[stephen troussé]

So... Sunday. Get stuck in a two hour jam in Birmingham and arrive in
Manchester ghost-town very late and irate. Check in at what must be the
swankiest youth hostel in the world, and set out to find the pub. But the
Square Albert is closed and there's a note saying 'We've gone to the Ferris
Wheel'. We ask lots of people if they know of a pub called the Ferris
Wheel, but no-one knows it. Sometimes I think I'm not literal enough.
Anyway, we get into the hall, which is a vision of splendour, and meet lots
of mad list people (Soozy, Susannah, Kate, Keith, Rob, Tag) all telling me
how fantastic the aftershow had been. Curses...why did I have to come on
the Sunday?
Anyway, missed Future Pilot. Finally went into the actual hall just before
B&S appear. They've decided to adopt a very strange stage line-up, as
though they're about to play a particularly one-sided game of British
Bulldog: Stuart M, Stevie, Mick, Isobel and Sarah facing directly opposite
Chris and Richard, with the PA piled into a kind of totem pole in the
middle.
Two songs into the set and they're already living up to their reputation
for being world-class shamblers, as the cello seems to require some kind of
intensive care. Stevie amuses us with Matchstick Cats and Dogs, and points
out the resemblance of the riff from La Pastie to the beginning of
Emmerdale Farm.
I'm feeling alternately a bit irritated and a bit amused at the shambolic
set, when suddenly Isobel sings the most beautiful version of Orange
Juice's 'In a Nutshell' you're ever likely to hear, with 'Sha sha sha sha
sha' BVs from Stuart M, and the gig really takes off. The new songs in
particular, with Stuart at the keyboard were just stunning.
A qualified triumph, then, with Stevie Jackson again claiming the title of
Greatest Living Scotsman.
Hello to everyone I met, and everyone I didn't meet, come to think of it.
May a strong wind blow the t-shirt thief straight to hell.

Stephen
xxxxxx

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