Sinister: A century of strippers

[Aurore]

      *---*      HAPPY BIRTHDAY SINISTER BABIES    *---*

Those of you who were at the gig in Leeds will know what I'm talking about
- maybe someone else from the list has mentioned the rearranged
lines of "A century of fakers" , but I was flooded in sinister-digests
which I couldn't read in their totality. It might be getting a bit late
for another gig-review, I might say things that have already been said,
but my friend Myles told me I should post something to the list so there
you go. I should have written that ages ago, but work didn't allow me to. 
Those of you who served a few years at the Edinburgh observatory (am I 
thinking of anyone in particular? Paul?) might know about the horror of 
writing observing proposals.

There were a few of us (basically Stephane, Myles and myself) to have come
from Frogland especially for the Belle and Sebastian gig. We met Stephane
at the Duchess of York, 2 hours after we'd said we would. Blame British
Midland for the delay that made us miss the bus, and the (crap) Leeds
Airport bus services - one bus to the town centre every 2 hours. So we had
to have a pint at the airport to kill time while waiting for the bus. How
dreadful. The Duchess is somewhat different from what I'd expected, and I
didn't feel like staying there a long time. And luckily, Stephane spotted
us, because we'd only briefly met before and I wasn't sure to recognise
him if he wasn't wearing his B&S T-shirt (and he wasn't). Anyway, I will
pass on the not-so-exciting details of the afternoon to go directly to the
pre-gig meet-up at the Whitelocks pub. We arrived pretty early and kept
waving a Belle and Sebastian badge at each new person we saw - alas, in
vain! But we did look stupid alright. So we walked outside and studied the
faces of the various young people enjoying their well-deserved Friday
night pint(s). I suppose some people must look more Belle&Sebastian than
others since it didn't take us long to spot them, all smiles, chatting in
front of their drinks. Looking back, I find it very strange that the first
group of people I walked up to and said "I'm looking for people out of the
B&S mailing list" actually said "Well that's us". Weirder still was to
hear their names and remember seeing them on the list. Wow, Nick Dastoor
really *does* exist. Well it was great meeting you all - sorry about not
having been very social and gone to the club, but I have to say the
after-gig hang-out had its moments and nice surprises, too (which I'll
tell only if you ask nicely - not that it's that interesting anyway). I
was especially pleased to meet Pam Berry (hello Pam!) again. Now that was
a very nice surprise. 

WAITING FOR THE DOORS TO OPEN: of course we wanted to choose our seats 
near the front, so we started waiting in front of the venue fairly early. 
There, we met other Frenchies who'd come to see Eliott Smith without 
tickets and who were desperately looking for some. One of them went to 
wander the streets to pursue his quest, and came back ten minutes later 
smiling like a Cheshire cat. "I haven't got tickets" he said "but we're 
seeing the concert anyway". He explained "I was asking random passers-by 
if they had any spare tickets, when this bloke comes up to me and says: I 
think I can do something for you. I'm the singer of the band and I can 
put you on the guest-list".

THE GIG: I won't comment on Eliott Smith who I didn't know at all before 
the gig (and indeed the fellow sitting next to me would make a much 
better description in his broad Yorkshire accent) except that he's a 
bloody good guitarist. Then Belle & Sebastian came onstage for an hour of 
pure brillance. The sound was very good, not too loud (I wasn't deaf for 
3 days afterwards. These details turn out to be important when you're an 
ageing popkid like me), the voice came out very soft and clear. I don't 
have the set-list, but I remember they played, among others and in no 
particular order:
the boy with the arab strap
is it wicked not to care
judy and the dream of horses
get me away I'm dying
spaceboy dream
I don't love anyone
a century of fakers
beautiful
seeing other people
like dylan in the movies

oops, I may get a few of those wrong. The songs didn't sound too
dissimilar from the LP versions, as far as I can remember, which is not a
bad thing, as you all know how good the songs sound on the records.
Anyway, I could go on and on about how good they were that night. There
were some lovely moments when Stuart forgot the lyrics, and Isobel and
Sarah could not play their recorders properly because they were giggling
too much. An honourable mention goes to the guy at the front who kept
shouting at the band and saying he wanted to dance, and to the both
Stuarts for their witty remarks and improvised lyrics concerning that
event. A criticism? Yes, the gig was too short :) It was too good to stop
after just one hour. But the hour was so charming that you can't really be
angry about that. 

On the whole, it was great. I don't regret a single penny that I've spent 
going over to Leeds from Paris (and it must have cost me 180-190 quid!) 
to see Belle & Sebastian. 

I'll just breathe a word about the after-gig (not the one at the 
night-club, as we were tired and lazy and hung out outside the venue for 
quite some time afterwards). Then this bloke comes up with his 
tape-recorder and says he's writing an article about how mad B&S fans are 
(he didn't quite put it like this, and said something more like "I'd like 
to interview people who'd come from far away for the gig") and I ask if 
it's for a fanzine and he says it's for the Melody Maker... So we went on 
raving about how good B&S are. But, ok, enough of that.


sorry for writing so much,
and a special hello to all those I met at the Whitelocks,
Aurore

ps: Another honourable mention goes to the bathroom of the B&B we were 
staying at: the walls were painted in a sky-blue fresco representing nude 
nymphs and Greek Gods. On the floor was a stuffed duck. And in front of 
the entrance door stood two carved stones in the shape of a lion shagging 
a sheep (we thought)...

----------------------------------------------------
MUMBLY - http://www.mygale.org/00/aurore/emumbly.htm
----------------------------------------------------





+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
      +---+  Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list  +---+
 To send to the list please mail "sinister at majordomo.net". To unsubscribe
   send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
 "majordomo at majordomo.net".  For list archives and searching, list rules,
   FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister
          +---+   "legion of bedroom saddo devotees"  +---+
 +-+  "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list"  +-+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+