Blog: Hove

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Onto the little local train on Sunday afternoon and off to Victoria I went, there to catch the train to HOVE to play my gig with The Lovely Brothers and The Bobby McGees. I must admit to being quite PLEASED with the way I'd worked things out - several times before I've gone down to Brighton only to find myself walking MILES to venues which were actually in HOVE, and it's taken me this long to realise that, actually,you can go straight there by train. BRAINS!

It was a lovely afternoon when I got there and I strolled down to the venue, saw Ben from The Lovely Brothers, then wandered round the corner to my hotel. I know it's a bit FINANCIALLY INEFFICIENT to do gigs this way, but staying in a hotel every now and again is just GRATE - you don't have to dash off to catch trains, you don't have to wait around for other people, you can have a cup of tea when you like and, BEST OF ALL, you can have a right proper shower in the morning before you head back to work. This latter I did this morning, and it was BRILLIANT.

Anyway, after eating the Complimentary Biscuits I nipped back to the venue to find The Lovely Brothers starting to soundcheck, so nipped down the road for Traditional Seaside Tea: CHIPS AND PEAS. LOVELY. When i got back they were stil soundchecking, with Metal But Lovely SoundCheck Guy - there are several kinds of Soundcheck Guy, and Metal But Lovely is one of the BEST kinds. He's the one who, initially, you think doesn't UNDERSTAND anything but METAL and gives every impression of being about to be horrible and/or make everything sound rubbish BUT turns out to COMPLETELY know what he's doing, be full of knowledge which he is eager to SHARE, and makes things sound ACE. HOORAH for Metal But Lovely Soundcheck Guy!

Once he'd sorted them out the Bobby McGees, who'd JUST arrived, did their soundcheck, then it was my turn - we had some ISSUES with my pick-up making a noise, but otherwise all was GOOD, not least because I'd discovered the bar upstairs was serving BADGER BEER. WHOO-HOO!! When I'd arrived I'd thought "MEMO TO SELF: Do NOT drink grotty tap bitter and DEFINITELY not lager, it is GUINESS for you my lad" so was OVERJOYED to find one of my favourite beers EVER was readily available.

I sat around having a chat to people various and soon it was time for my set, which was THIS:

The Peterborough All-Saints' Wide Game Team (Group B)

I Did A Gig In New York

Being Happy Doesn't Make You Stupid

The Gay Train

I Come From The Fens

Do The Indie Kid

The Lesson Of The Smiths

Easily Impressed

Boom Shake The Room

Hey Hey 16K

It was REALLY good fun. Most Brighton gigs I've done have been a bit disappointing and EITHER ill attended OR ignored, but this went DEAD well, not least because, halfway through the first song, a bunch of LOAD people came in, cheering, and proceeded to DANCE throughout. RAH! I'd intended to do a quiet set with loads of new stuff and no Easily Impressed or Boom Shake The Room, but I changed my mind when they DEMANDED these songs at the start and must say i was rather glad - what could have been a bit DULL and UNSURE turned into a ROCKING set, complete with ACTUAL ENCORE (prompted by ANOTHER chap who'd come in T-SHIRT) and a burst of I Come From The Fens as an EXPLANATION of my pronunciation of the word "Love" at the end of The Gay Train. Someone said like I am "Northern", which I suppose, in HOVE, pretty much EVERYBODY is.

After me it was The Bobby McGees, who did a very different set from Friday night - there was no double bass and no make-up, so it made things LESS like a Performance and MORE ... Well, intimate really. Both are good and this was LOVELY, with quite a lot of NEW songs thrown in - and AAAH, it was lovely watching them being all SUPPORTIVE of each other when they tried out some of them solo. AAAH! Also, BLESS!

And then finally it was The Lovely Brothers who, as ever ROCKED THE HOUSE, and did so HARD. They really are a FAB live band, and every time I see them it feels like i've forgotten exactly HOW FAB they are: VERY. The excellent sound (manned by now by Eleanor McGee, as Metal But Lovely Soundguy had gone home poorly) really brought out the ROCK DYNAMICS of the songs, which you sometimes miss from the costumes, and it was GRATE.

It was thus a very happy Hibbett who straggled down to the sea front to see if i could see any meteors. I didn't see any, but HEY! I saw many STARS!

posted 13/8/2007 by MJ Hibbett

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Comments:

Someone said like I am "Northern", which I suppose, in HOVE, pretty much EVERYBODY is

not quite everybody, as exeter fans proved a few seasons ago, after one of our delightful churubs was scythed down by some tesco-bag wearing, homeless brighton and hove actually player he was regaled with chants of "YOU DIRTY NORTHERN B@STARD"
posted 13/8/2007 by CarsmileSteve

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