Sinister: re: century of...

[Charlotte Hall]

manchester was just plain weird though. yeah, doing gigs in 
the round has been going on since before the globe theatre 
was built. but usually the audience is around the players... 
8)
     
(and yes, given that all the staging was brought in it could 
easily have been arranged into a long, wide stage but i kind 
of like the way they tried something different)
     
     I was there on Sunday night. I liked it too, the way the audience was 
     corralled into such a small area, and subsequent band movements caused 
     maximum confusion, and most of us opted to stare hopefully at the 
     empty mike stands, instead of craning our necks to see the top of 
     Stuart M's head ... so I had time to look around me and listen to the 
     songs and watch the steady progress of a wee girl in a sheepskin coat 
     who crept past me and who wouldn't be able to see a thing unless she 
     got to the front.
     
     Afterwards, driving to  Birkenhead in the pouring rain we talked about 
     how we felt about it. Four people's conclusions approximate as 
     follows: Futile pilot were shite. The stage setup was unconventional, 
     but worked. B&S kept us waiting an awful long time before they came 
     on. But that was OK, because they were brilliant, technical hitches 
     notwithstanding. Maybe a bit more polish next time but who wants 
     slickness? 
     
     I've seen a lot of bands (beginning with Japan at Edinburgh Playhouse 
     when I was 14 in, er, 1982) and B&S was by turns one of the most 
     moving, and quirky, and funny, and flawed. I think that's a good 
     combination. Even the flawed part made no difference. It was just part 
     of the experience.
     
     One note of dissent: I think Orange Juice's version of In A Nutshell 
     could never be bettered. Or is this too dogmatic?
     
     Charlotte
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