Sinister: Edinburgh (belated) reporting back

[Amy Baggott]

Hello all,
Well, nearly a month after the event, I finally decided to do some reporting back from Edinburgh, partly because nobody else has yet and partly because it is something to do that is more appealing than the work I ought to be doing.
My good friend Heather and I were front of the queue to be let in, like true geeks, and managed to secure ourselves a spot on the front row.
I didn’t really get Scatter, though Heather found them so awful that they had the bizarre and unfortunate side effect of making her physically sick. This put a dampner on the evening somewhat for poor Heather, and indeed for the rest of the week that she had to spend ill off work. Damn you, Scatter!
As a little aside, I thought that the guy playing keyboards and bass in Scatter was a member of Franz Ferdinand (guitarist?). I was pretty certain, having seen FF just the other week at the Venue. However, Heather was equally certain that he was someone else entirely, having also seen FF as support at the Sheffield show just the other week. Hmm. I was pretty adamant that I was right, but lost the heart to argue with Heather being unwell and everything. If anyone could clear the matter up for us, it would be much appreciated. (Especially since I’m right, Heather!)
Anyways, B&S were amazing, gush gush gush etc etc. Can’t remember the exact setlist, though it was along the same lines as the other UK shows. A nice touch was playing She’s Losing It and You’re Just a Baby back to back with each other. In fact there were a fair few Tigermilk songs there, which sat quite nicely in amongst the newer stuff. I got my wish for a Christmas song granted when they did O Come, O Come Emmanuel. I really only noticed Isobel’s absence then, because the girl who they got to sing her part got it all wrong and ran off the stage looking horrified. I think she may have been a Maisonette, though I felt very sorry for her whoever she was. Sarah picked up where she left admirably, but I do feel that Isobel sang that part better than anyone else has done since. Tracey-Anne Campbell from Camera Obscura did it quite nicely last time I saw the band at Christmas, but it’s just one of those things I’m a bit nerdy about.
Stuart was chatty and so were the audience. There was one particularly vocal person who had some interesting ideas on the liberation of Saddam Hussein, as I recall, though I can’t remember much of the banter, amusing as it was.
The highlight of the set, for me, was Lazy Line Painter Jane. The band started playing it and I was wondering who was going to sing the girl’s part. When it came to it, Monica Queen herself sprang out of the wings, to do the job as no one else can. “Huzzah!” we all cheered. Twas truly great.
The encore was Judy and the Dream of Horses followed by Sleep the Clock Around, a nice combo indeed.
My only gripe (apart from that with Scatter) was the lack of dancing. Is it impolite to dance like a loon when all around you are standing stubbornly still? I felt a slight pang of guilt as I trod mercilessly on the toes of all around me, but I just couldn’t justify remaining motionless when the music was so very danceable to. Personally I think it is ruder to go and see a band and not dance than it is to stop dancing because nobody else around you is moving. The people around me certainly did not appear to be very elderly or disabled, so I cannot see that they had any reasonable excuse. Tsk.
We proceeded on to the aftershow party where Chris was DJing. Unfortunately Heather, still suffering from the adverse effects of listening to Scatter at close proximity for an unsuitable length of time, had to retreat home early. However, I stayed on with some other friends and smiled shyly at Chris lots.
Starting university in a new city is a strange business. One of the girls I was with I had met only a few weeks ago at a clubnight where we were both DJing. She played SIMOB in her set and I played Pastie in mine and we got talking about the band. It was odd because when we met I had the weird feeling that I had seen her before, though I couldn’t place her or remember actually meeting her ever. You meet so many people in your first term, and forget or half-remember the majority, that I just dismissed it as being one of those incidents. However, on our way walking home from the aftershow party, we were talking about when we’d seen the band play before. She happened to mention that she’d danced on stage with them the last time she’d seen them live. Suddenly, it clicked. 
“Was that at Coachella?” I asked, “to ‘Boy with the Arab Strap’?” 
“Erm, yes,” she replied, looking somewhat surprised. Where had I seen her before I ever met her? Yup, that’s right, on the flipping DVD. I had the weirdest sensation that my sad little life was eating itself, or inverting or imploding or something along those lines. 
Oh well, back to that sad little life.
Love,
Amy
x 




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