Sinister: The glass wall

[Caitlin Ross]

This one was taken before the band started playing.  The compere is 
on-stage trying to fill in a gap in the show.  Behind him, Stuart is 
sat by the keyboards, riffling through a sheaf of papers.  He's 
drinking something from a white mug, with a teabag tag dangling from 
the side.  Richard is stood at the edge of the stage, looking all 
beardy.

It's nice to post something that's on-topic, instead of all th usual 
diary posts that just say "My parents think I'm a freak! My doctor 
wants me to move house and my landlord wants to evict me!  My cat is 
upset!"  It's even nicer to have something on-topic to ost about.  Last 
night's gig was billed as an "oh no, it isn't really Belle and 
Sebastian, honest, so don't get your expectations up" gig; but as it 
turned out, the whole band were there (although Bob only just made it), 
and it all went rather well.

I'm no good at remembering set-lists, and I didn't catch all of the 
song titles; but the set started with "Step Into My Office, Baby", 
"Wrapped Up In Books" and "Roy Walker".  Later on, Stevie was in charge 
of covers of Johnny Cash and Pink Floyd songs, and their encore was a 
cover they've done before, "Alone Again Or".  Some of the audience 
seemed disappointed that the band didn't play any songs they've already 
released; but they explained that they've spent so long in the studio 
recently working on new material, they've forgotten how to play all the 
old stuff.

The new album that will hopefully come out of all this session time 
will be interesting, because it will be their first 'proper' album, 
discounting Storytelling, to be recorded before Stuart David left the 
band, never mind about Isobel.  It may just be the effect of seeing the 
band perform on their own rather than with an additional string 
section, extra woodwind players and so on, but they now seem to be 
producing a closer, harmonic sound, very much in a 1960s pop style.  
Most songs have two or three guitars together, and two- or three-part 
vocal harmonies.  There's no need to squeeze a 'cello part into as many 
songs as possible; Sarah's viola only came out for one of the band's 
own songs, and played pizzicato at that.  In fact, Sarah seemed a 
little under-used: on several songs she did little but sit at the edge 
of the stage nodding her head along to the music.

These new songs aren't really a 'new direction' for the band.  In fact, 
they aren't at all.  This is traditional B&S, albeit with slightly less 
variety in the songs.  It's not as if these songs are fresh this week 
from Stuart and Stevie's notebooks; these are all well-formed and 
carefully worked-on.  Two of them have already been performed for John 
Peel - including "Step Into My Office, Baby" with its bluesy flute riff 
- and it feels like Stevie's been performing "Travelling Light" for a 
couple of years now.

This picture is of Stevie before the gig.  He's sat cross-legged on the 
floor, quite near the front of the room, listening to a political rant 
from the stage.  He's leaning forward with the light catching his face, 
his chin resting on his knuckles.  He's nodding, and smiling.

It was lovely to be able to see B&S playing in such a small venue.  
I've only ever seen them play in large venues or theatres before, like 
the Barrowlands or Carnegie Hall; this gig was a refreshing change.  On 
their last tour the Guardian's reviewer (a former Sinisterine himself) 
said he thought their large-venue style with lots of added musicians 
was liable to alienate and disappoint their original fans.  Last 
night's gig proved that it's still the core band that matters, not 
complex production or session artists.

The glass wall between us and them was still there, but there was still 
a lot of intimacy.  They weren't way up above the crowd; we could have 
reached out and touched them.  We were close enough to see Sarah's 
trainers and Stuart's sensible shoes.  When Sarah was spare and sat 
down, it was as if someone from the audience, sitting at the front, had 
managed to sneak onto the edge of the stage.

I was quite surprised that the whole band fitted onto the stage, as it 
happened.  Not only was there plenty of room for all seven of them, bt 
they even squeezed in a rather large glockenspiel, which some of the 
band took turns to play.  Chris was upright and precise, treating it 
like a keyboard.  Sarah was less sure of herself, and might have 
slipped a couple of wrong notes in.  Stuart bent over it and hammered 
away like a dervish.

This is my last Ink Polaroid from the gig, and it's the only one I have 
of the band performing.  I can't remember which song it's from; but 
Stevie is on guitar and Stuart just has a tambourine in his hand.  They 
are turned towards each other, and Stuart is pushing Stevie's glasses 
back up his sweaty nose whilst Stevie keeps on playing.  They are both 
grinning, and there's a look of joyful intimacy in their eyes.


xx
caitlin

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