Sinister: why is there so much cake on the floor?

[mummy i ve grazed my knee]

Many greetings to all the sinisterettes and sinisterines out there in internet land - it's been a while.

Well, as the boy Walton has already said (complete with what I first believed to be an overly anal recollection of songs played, until it became apparent that a set list had been pinched in true fanboy style), a performance from Brit Award winning reclusive cult pop band/pop band cult, Belle and Sebastian, was witnessed this weekend and some reporting back is due.

It was a funny old business. I don't, as a rule, 'do' festivals. I have an aversion to being cold, wet and in a field whilst Kula Shaker regale a bunch of city boys drinking pimms with their 'greatest hits' set, which I can just about hear above the piercing shrieks of attention seeking teenage girls as it drifts in the wind, alongside the rancid stench of portaloo - an antiquated piece of unpleasantness which the advance of technology has consistently passed by for over 30 years.

For this one day however, I was prepared to make an exception. The return of my favourite band after a four year absence, complete with the promise of an orchestra a la Hollywood Bowl, was not something to pass up. What's more, Latitude takes place just a few miles from my childhood home - the place where I first heard Steve Lamacq play Lazy Line Painter Jane one balmy summer's evening back in 1997, and instantly fell in love.

I won't go into too much detail re: Latitude clientele. Safe to say, Ken's description was pretty spot on. They are mostly called Felix and Harvey. Once you get over the stench of hummus and deck shoes though, it's really a very pleasant place to be.

Three questions were troubling me about the return of B&S:
1. Would they work as a headline act
2. Would anyone still care, and most importantly
3. Would I still care

All were answered pretty swiftly.

Whilst I accept that my ability to remain objective on matters B&S related is questionable, my take on the evening is a little more positive than Sam's. The band were in scintillating form. Struan had the audience in the palm of his hand from start to finish - a thoroughly engaging frontman who directed proceedings with a real penache. The banter was top notch and the set list dipped lovingly into every era (minus FISHYCLAPS). Admittedly the two new songs were little more than average, but to pass judgement on forthcoming material was not really the purpose of the night.

The cry from an audience member for "nothing after If You're Feeling Sinister" following the announcement of Stevie's latest dittie warmed my heart, but it was the well meaning mass 'shushing' of one over talkative couple during the end of TWATTYBUS which really reminded me how B&S gigs used to feel. The audience lapped it up from The State I Am In to Sukie In The Graveyard.

It seemed that after all this time, people really do still care, and to my great relief, so do I. I genuinely can't remember the last time I grinned so much for so long...there may even have been a tear or two of joy.

Whilst the orchestra that some of us had got in a lather about may have been little more than an augmentation of the band's usual string section, and the new tunes hardly set the world alight, for me this was nothing less than magical. For an hour and a half, I remembered how the 15 year old who joined this list all those years ago used to feel.

Perhaps as new material appears and media cynicism sets in there might be a mass re-evaluation of their relevance in 2010, but right now I'm just thrilled that B&S are back, making people smile in a way no other band can.

love to you all

chris x


      


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