Blog: Leicester

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Off to lovely LEICESTER last night on the Last Train Before Prices Go KRAZY. I arrived with AGES of time to spare, so went for a quick look around the new Cultural Quarter. OOH! There's a MASSIVE new theatre being built, which looks like it's been DROPPED from a mighty height, SQUASHING several old factories and INTIMIDATING The Old Odeon - I find i now talk like an OLD person re. Leicester. "It's near the old Ritzy's - YOU KNOW". All around the area things had been CLEANED, swanky new flats were in evidence, and there was even a RESTAURANT. It almost made up for the continuing demolition of pubs. Almost.

I got the the Firebug STILL with plenty of time, so stood around having a chat with Mr Steve Haggis, our promoter for the evening, before first Tim then Tom arrived. LO! there was much setting up of GEAR, alongside the Mai 68s, who got there at the same time.

We had a mini-soundcheck, as neither Emma nor Frankie were there yet, and then greeted The Wilsons who'd arrived somewhat FLUSTERED. They'd cunningly booked the hotel DIRECTLY opposite the pub, had been VERY pleased to see it was THAT close... and then been told they were double booked and then SHUNTED across town to the rather LESS handy and salubrious Hotel On Top Of The Multi-Storey Car Park. BOO!

Phil got soundchecking and we went downstairs, where there was a MEETING of many many lovely people who'd come to see us - it turned into a Meeting People's Girlfriends For The First Time BONANZA, as not only did Mr Whitaker introduced me to his young lady AND The Tiger the TIGRESS, but ALSO Mr J Sutcliffe turned up with HIS new Mrs. It was GRATE! ALSO also i had plenty of time to discuss DR WHO with Mr Lawson (MOFFAT! WHOO!) and it was good times ALL round.

We went upstairs for The Mai 68s and found Mr Haggis looking RELAXED and HAPPY, which was rather good. After them Mr Wilson came on and i was WELL pleased, as a) he was dead good and b) people there really liked him. Large chunks of audience were PALS we'd bought along (NOTABLY from Tim's work and Tom's FRISBEE club) who didn't realise the extent of his LEGEND, but just liked him because he was dead GOOD. It was FAB, and at the end there was audible SINGING ALONG from gentlemen arranged at the bar at the back.

And finally it was US, and we did THIS:

The Gay Train

Do The Indie Kid

Post-Subsonic Bass

Billy Jones Is Dead

My Boss Was In An Indie Band Once

Leave My Brother Alone

Being Happy Doesn't Make You Stupid

The Lesson Of The Smiths

Easily Impressed

In The Rain

It was GRATE! I am very proud to say that I did not make a SINGLE mistake throughout - OK, my contribution to The Music Of The Future may have been slightly ILL ADVISED (i was VENTING), but otherwise it was all good, helped along by the really good sound. It was THOROUGHLY enjoyable to start to finish, and when it DID finish we got Phil to come back on and do In The Rain with us - we'd been expecting it at the end of HIS set, but when that didn't happen we got him back for the end of ours. This time i DIDN'T lurk around like a Dad At A Disco with my cup of tea, preferring instead to DANCE AROUND, occasionally managing to remember to pretend to join Emma at the microphone.

It was all rather lovely, and there was MUCH hugging as we all went our seperate ways, including me heading back to Tom's for WHISKY. WHISKY! It was BRILL!

posted 23/5/2008 by MJ Hibbett

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