This is a big one...
So, I was now living in swinging London; and I had a bit of money to throw about too. I think this averages out to a concert every eleven days for an entire year. Which strikes me as a very good thing indeed.
08/02/01 Kristin Hersh at the Underworld, London.
Aw, yes, this would have been the one that Saira was working at! Bless her. For me, it was just more of the same: but I don't mean that in a bad way, because I like things to stay the same.
23/02/01 Hefner at the Underworld, London.
They were playing two nights, and the conceit was that they would play songs from the first two albums on this first night, and then songs from the other two on the second. And so we were firmly instructed not to yell out requests for 'The Sad Witch' on the second night...
24/02/01 Hefner at the Underworld, London.
And, well, someone had to do it! As they took to the stage, before they'd even played a single song, some joker yelled out "The Sad Witch!". "All right," replied Darren, "I guess I have to admit: that was quite funny." But he was really funny himself, in full Bruce Forsyth mode: "You've been a lovely audience... better than the last lot!" Only then realising: "Actually, you're probably just the same ones again, aren't you?" And then the fair Amelia came out and sang with them on this second night (I'm certain of it this time), and it was really nice.
02/03/01 Butterflies Of Love/Airport Girl/Comet Gain/The Chemistry Experiment at the Bull & Gate, London.
Would this have been a Fortuna Pop night? Seems plausible. I'm having trouble discriminating between the four bands in my memory. I know that none of them were dreadful, but none were especially good either.
10/03/01 Camera Obscura/The Lollies, upstairs at The Garage, London.
I remember that I liked The Lollies, but I don't remember why. It was probably just the name. Camera Obscura were okay, and I could have sworn that I spotted members of Tompaulin (see below) in the audience. But the most interesting thing was that Camera Obscura's roadie was none other than Stuart Murdoch out of Belle & Sebastian. I had a word with him as he was packing up the equipment at the end. As I've already mentioned, I hate talking to popstars, as I get so starstruck and tongue-tied: but there were rumours that B&S were going to be touring, and I had to ask him when this was likely to be, since I was planning a holiday and I didn't want it to clash with the tour itself, or, preferably, even with the moment when the tickets would be going on sale. He put my mind at rest, and then invited me for a dance; but I needed to run for the last tube, so he just wished me a happy holiday and I headed home.
17/03/01 Tompaulin/Airport Girl at the Spitz, London.
Tompaulin were great. Are they still around? I don't know, and I don't much care, but they made three really good singles in a row, and a pretty good album too. The main singer was really ugly, and that's always unfortunate, but the tunes were good.
30/03/01 Manic Street Preachers at the Brixton Academy.
This would have been the Know Your Enemy tour. Little stands out, aside from the fact that I was glad to have only a five minute walk to get to see them.
26/04/01 Kristin Hersh at the Shepherd's Bush Empire.
Bloody hell, it's that woman again!
15/05/01 Damon & Naomi/Trembling Blue Stars/The Clientele at The Garage, London.
The Clientele did have one truly amazing song, only they didn't play it at this show. Trembling Blue Stars were the remnants of The Field Mice, but not as good. And Damon & Naomi were the remnants of Galaxie 500... but not as good. I had hoped that this night might have partially compensated for my being so foully misled into going to see The Sundays in 1990: but it really didn't. A little portion of my heart is still reserved for hatred for The Band of fucking Holy Joy.
02/06/01 Miss Black America at the Strawberry Fair, Cambridge.
I hadn't been to the Strawberry Fair for some years, and I didn't spend a whole lot of time there this year either, but I did want to take a look at Miss Black America. R*E*P*E*A*T were raving about them, and (far more importantly) so was John Peel. And they certainly did look like a band should look. Indeed, Seymour, the singer, looked uncannily like Richey Edwards, circa 1994. But most of their songs just weren't that great. Oh well.
09/06/01 Stereo Morphophonium at the Notting Hill Arts Centre, London.
I think that was how they spelt it, even though there seem to be too many 'pho's in the name. This was a side-project by Darren out of Hefner, and they only did two gigs, of which this was one. They weren't very good, but I did get quite excited when the DJ played a Destroyer song after their set.
15/06/01 Mos Def at the Shepherds Bush Empire, London.
I happened to spy a handbill, lying on the beer-strewn ground, which noted that Talib Kweli was appearing at something or other in the UK that week. And I rather regret picking up that handbill: because, equipped with that knowledge, I would have actually been rather disappointed if he hadn't made a surprise guest-appearance here. I'd have much rather preferred it if it might have been a genuine surprise. But, sure enough, he bounded on in a baseball cap, a few tracks in, and we were treated to a brief-but-proper Black Star set. They even did a bit of freestyling together, and I have rarely heard anything quite so impressive.
28/06/01 Moldy Peaches at Borders Bookshop, Oxford Street London.
As I had been queuing up at the Ticketmaster stand at Tower Records (as was) on Piccadilly Circus, to get a ticket for that Mos Def show -- still not quite getting the hang of doing these things online -- I had been contemplating the notion of also getting a ticket to see The Strokes at Heaven this night, simply on the basis of what I'd read about them in the NME. But I didn't. And then I actually heard their single, and realised what a mistake I'd made. Only, by then, the tickets were sold out. Anyway, Moldy Peaches were due to be supporting them, and they also did an in-store performance in the afternoon. I went to that, and then went down to the Embankment, and talked to the touts. But I didn't get a ticket. The touts were quoting silly prices. They surely wouldn't have heard the single themselves, but they must have heard that other people had heard it. I went home.
29/06/01 Belle & Sebastian at the Royal Albert Hall.
Unlike in 1991, I was down in the stalls this time, and it was wonderful. Was this the one where they persuaded Isobel to join in with an impromptu cover of 'Je t'aime, moi non plus'?
30/06/01 Camera Obscura at the Spitz, London.
Stuart Murdoch was with his charges again, twiddling the knobs. I see that Camera Obscura are playing in London soon. I don't think I'll be going. I haven't heard anything they've done since the first album.
01/07/01 Belle & Sebastian at St David's Hall, Cardiff.
Yes, I followed the tour. This was a very 'twee' time in my life! They played plenty of their own songs, as you might expect; but then, in the middle, Stuart asked: "So, who was the greatest band ever to come out of Wales?" Various answers were suggested from the crowd, but none were correct. "Badfinger!" And so they proceeded to play that Badfinger song. The one that isn't 'Without You' -- I'm sure I'd know it if I heard it, but it escapes my memory right now.
02/07/01 Belle & Sebastian at the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham.
At each of these shows, the band would invite requests from the audience. Not for their songs, just for any songs, and then they'd just go ahead and play whatever they were asked to play. I think they did David Bowie's 'Heroes' at this one. Completely unpredicted and unrehearsed, and yet they got near enough every note and every word and the full band arrangement right. Most impressive. But my strongest memory here is of a girl in the bar whose scars didn't just go up her arms, but over her shoulders and onto her face. Poor love :o( Oh yes, another memory from the bar: strictly speaking, we weren't supposed to be smoking in there, but the folks on the merchandise stand had evidently been exempted from that rule. I was sitting just next to them, and Katrina shoved their ashtray my way. I thought that was such a sweet gesture.
05/07/01 Belle & Sebastian at the Ipswich Regent.
This one was really special, and certainly the finest show I saw on that particular tour. It was a seated theatre, but some of us went forward and danced about at the front. The support on the tour had been John Shuttleworth, only with one of his newer characters, and Stuart had asked to see if we knew who he was, and I couldn't help but cry out that he was Jilted John! And so they brought him out, and he sang 'Gordon Is A Moron' with them. It was very funny. Isobel even put aside her cello to play the bass guitar. And then, at the end of the set, they were playing 'The Boys Are Back In Town' (the old Thin Lizzy song, as I'd hope I wouldn't need to tell you), and Stuart let himself fall backwards at the drop of the stage, in a sort of game-of-trust, and he was caught by the hands of the crowd; but then, what's more, they actually managed to project him back up onto his feet; and he was still playing his guitar the whole time, without missing a single note. I really was quite impressed by that.
31/07/01 A.R.E. Weapons at the Barfly, London.
I thought they might be interesting. They weren't.
14/08/01 Tompaulin at the Dublin Castle, London.
Oh, lovely Tompaulin. You made some lovely records. Such a pity that your singer was so ugly!
12/09/01 Manic Street Preachers at the Scala, London.
This was the second of two concerts that Q magazine staged, with Stereophonics playing the night before, and Saira got my spare ticket. I wasn't in the best mood for a concert. My darling grandmother was dying in hospital, and I was sad for the loss of large parts of a city that I rather loved (look at the date). But I did have to giggle at a comment in the NME: after reflecting on the loss of 9/11, they said: "And, as if to add insult to injury, The Stereophonics still went ahead with their concert that night."
01/10/01 PJ Harvey at the Brixton Academy.
I'd established that my pals in lower Manhattan were okay, but I was still pretty gloomy about the fact that my grandmother was now dying quite rapidly. I can't say that I enjoyed the show.
02/10/01 Daniel Johnston at Bar Risa, Mile End, London.
And yet, somehow, I really did enjoy this one. The bar downstairs had a two-for-one happy-hour deal, and so I ordered two pints of Stella. And I was presented with four. Not quite what I'd meant: but I wasn't going to complain! They only wanted a fiver for four pints, so I downed one and carried the others upstairs. As for Daniel, he had been at a gallery show across the way that afternoon, and I'd got his autograph there. His father was keeping a strict eye on him at the concert itself: but it was amazing. There was piano and everything. Truly sublime.
14/10/01 Jonathan Richman at the Shepherds Bush Empire.
There were people talking over him. Which didn't really bother me: not as much as the people who started laying into the culprits, attacking them for talking over him. They were just drunk and happy, that's all.
15/10/01 Karlheinz Stockhausen at the Barbican Hall, London.
Yet another now-dead avant-garde composer that I once saw in the flesh. They were playing some operatic piece that he was working on, and he went up onto the stage to chat for about half an hour beforehand. Back in the day, Cage and Stockhausen had been on the same perch in my mind, and so I couldn't help but compare them. But, no, Stockhausen was no John Cage. Nothing like it! I listened patiently through the first half, but then abandoned the show in favour of a dérive of North-East London. (Mind you, I failed to get a ticket for Hymnen: I would certainly have stayed for that).
23/10/01 Andrew W.K. at The Garage, London.
Now, this was more like it! When I bought my ticket, it had been scheduled for Cargo in the East End: only then they upgraded it, due to demand, from about 300-capacity to about 500. And he was great! I think that this might well have been the world première of his band, and he did a magnificent job. Nowadays, we have the unfortunate memories of The Darkness to look back on: but they were nothing like this. This was actually good!
26/10/01 Hefner at the Shepherds Bush Empire.
Them again? Well, I liked them! The main thing I remember from this one is that I was sitting at the back, working on some paper or other where I was able to find a bit of light, and then suddenly noticing that Darren was, like, right there!, chatting to someone at the merchandise stand. Naturally, I didn't approach him: haven't I told you, I don't like talking to popstars?
21/11/01 The White Stripes at The Astoria, London.
As with Godspeed You Black Emperor! the year before, this was my birthday and I remember little more about it than that.
28/11/01 Pulp at the Brixton Academy.
Likewise. On the 'meta-' level, I remember that this was when they were doing what was billed as a krautrock reworking of 'Common People': but I still remember very little, even of that.
05/11/01 Camera Obscura/Tompaulin at the Spitz, London.
Yes, both of them on the same bill, and it was lovely.
06/12/01 The White Stripes at The Forum, London.
I thought I'd seen them at both places: I just can't remember either one very well.
10/12/01 Hefner/The Clientele at the ICA, London.
The Clientele still didn't play my favourite song, and consequently weren't very interesting. But this was Hefner's final show. I wouldn't go so far as to compare it to Nutmeg in 1991: but it did mean something to me, nonetheless.
20/12/01 Belle & Sebastian at the Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow.
But this one was really, really special. A little place, and opposing the war in Afghanistan. And I chatted to some girl about Ethiopia. And they did lots of covers, which sounded wonderful. And Stuart had to admonish the crowd for talking all over a quiet song that Sarah had been singing. And they staged a raffle (I didn't win). Without a doubt, one of the best concerts that I have ever attended in my life -- almost as good as the Ipswich one -- and well worth the five hour train ride.
08/02/01 Kristin Hersh at the Underworld, London.
Aw, yes, this would have been the one that Saira was working at! Bless her. For me, it was just more of the same: but I don't mean that in a bad way, because I like things to stay the same.
23/02/01 Hefner at the Underworld, London.
They were playing two nights, and the conceit was that they would play songs from the first two albums on this first night, and then songs from the other two on the second. And so we were firmly instructed not to yell out requests for 'The Sad Witch' on the second night...
24/02/01 Hefner at the Underworld, London.
And, well, someone had to do it! As they took to the stage, before they'd even played a single song, some joker yelled out "The Sad Witch!". "All right," replied Darren, "I guess I have to admit: that was quite funny." But he was really funny himself, in full Bruce Forsyth mode: "You've been a lovely audience... better than the last lot!" Only then realising: "Actually, you're probably just the same ones again, aren't you?" And then the fair Amelia came out and sang with them on this second night (I'm certain of it this time), and it was really nice.
02/03/01 Butterflies Of Love/Airport Girl/Comet Gain/The Chemistry Experiment at the Bull & Gate, London.
Would this have been a Fortuna Pop night? Seems plausible. I'm having trouble discriminating between the four bands in my memory. I know that none of them were dreadful, but none were especially good either.
10/03/01 Camera Obscura/The Lollies, upstairs at The Garage, London.
I remember that I liked The Lollies, but I don't remember why. It was probably just the name. Camera Obscura were okay, and I could have sworn that I spotted members of Tompaulin (see below) in the audience. But the most interesting thing was that Camera Obscura's roadie was none other than Stuart Murdoch out of Belle & Sebastian. I had a word with him as he was packing up the equipment at the end. As I've already mentioned, I hate talking to popstars, as I get so starstruck and tongue-tied: but there were rumours that B&S were going to be touring, and I had to ask him when this was likely to be, since I was planning a holiday and I didn't want it to clash with the tour itself, or, preferably, even with the moment when the tickets would be going on sale. He put my mind at rest, and then invited me for a dance; but I needed to run for the last tube, so he just wished me a happy holiday and I headed home.
17/03/01 Tompaulin/Airport Girl at the Spitz, London.
Tompaulin were great. Are they still around? I don't know, and I don't much care, but they made three really good singles in a row, and a pretty good album too. The main singer was really ugly, and that's always unfortunate, but the tunes were good.
30/03/01 Manic Street Preachers at the Brixton Academy.
This would have been the Know Your Enemy tour. Little stands out, aside from the fact that I was glad to have only a five minute walk to get to see them.
26/04/01 Kristin Hersh at the Shepherd's Bush Empire.
Bloody hell, it's that woman again!
15/05/01 Damon & Naomi/Trembling Blue Stars/The Clientele at The Garage, London.
The Clientele did have one truly amazing song, only they didn't play it at this show. Trembling Blue Stars were the remnants of The Field Mice, but not as good. And Damon & Naomi were the remnants of Galaxie 500... but not as good. I had hoped that this night might have partially compensated for my being so foully misled into going to see The Sundays in 1990: but it really didn't. A little portion of my heart is still reserved for hatred for The Band of fucking Holy Joy.
02/06/01 Miss Black America at the Strawberry Fair, Cambridge.
I hadn't been to the Strawberry Fair for some years, and I didn't spend a whole lot of time there this year either, but I did want to take a look at Miss Black America. R*E*P*E*A*T were raving about them, and (far more importantly) so was John Peel. And they certainly did look like a band should look. Indeed, Seymour, the singer, looked uncannily like Richey Edwards, circa 1994. But most of their songs just weren't that great. Oh well.
09/06/01 Stereo Morphophonium at the Notting Hill Arts Centre, London.
I think that was how they spelt it, even though there seem to be too many 'pho's in the name. This was a side-project by Darren out of Hefner, and they only did two gigs, of which this was one. They weren't very good, but I did get quite excited when the DJ played a Destroyer song after their set.
15/06/01 Mos Def at the Shepherds Bush Empire, London.
I happened to spy a handbill, lying on the beer-strewn ground, which noted that Talib Kweli was appearing at something or other in the UK that week. And I rather regret picking up that handbill: because, equipped with that knowledge, I would have actually been rather disappointed if he hadn't made a surprise guest-appearance here. I'd have much rather preferred it if it might have been a genuine surprise. But, sure enough, he bounded on in a baseball cap, a few tracks in, and we were treated to a brief-but-proper Black Star set. They even did a bit of freestyling together, and I have rarely heard anything quite so impressive.
28/06/01 Moldy Peaches at Borders Bookshop, Oxford Street London.
As I had been queuing up at the Ticketmaster stand at Tower Records (as was) on Piccadilly Circus, to get a ticket for that Mos Def show -- still not quite getting the hang of doing these things online -- I had been contemplating the notion of also getting a ticket to see The Strokes at Heaven this night, simply on the basis of what I'd read about them in the NME. But I didn't. And then I actually heard their single, and realised what a mistake I'd made. Only, by then, the tickets were sold out. Anyway, Moldy Peaches were due to be supporting them, and they also did an in-store performance in the afternoon. I went to that, and then went down to the Embankment, and talked to the touts. But I didn't get a ticket. The touts were quoting silly prices. They surely wouldn't have heard the single themselves, but they must have heard that other people had heard it. I went home.
29/06/01 Belle & Sebastian at the Royal Albert Hall.
Unlike in 1991, I was down in the stalls this time, and it was wonderful. Was this the one where they persuaded Isobel to join in with an impromptu cover of 'Je t'aime, moi non plus'?
30/06/01 Camera Obscura at the Spitz, London.
Stuart Murdoch was with his charges again, twiddling the knobs. I see that Camera Obscura are playing in London soon. I don't think I'll be going. I haven't heard anything they've done since the first album.
01/07/01 Belle & Sebastian at St David's Hall, Cardiff.
Yes, I followed the tour. This was a very 'twee' time in my life! They played plenty of their own songs, as you might expect; but then, in the middle, Stuart asked: "So, who was the greatest band ever to come out of Wales?" Various answers were suggested from the crowd, but none were correct. "Badfinger!" And so they proceeded to play that Badfinger song. The one that isn't 'Without You' -- I'm sure I'd know it if I heard it, but it escapes my memory right now.
02/07/01 Belle & Sebastian at the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham.
At each of these shows, the band would invite requests from the audience. Not for their songs, just for any songs, and then they'd just go ahead and play whatever they were asked to play. I think they did David Bowie's 'Heroes' at this one. Completely unpredicted and unrehearsed, and yet they got near enough every note and every word and the full band arrangement right. Most impressive. But my strongest memory here is of a girl in the bar whose scars didn't just go up her arms, but over her shoulders and onto her face. Poor love :o( Oh yes, another memory from the bar: strictly speaking, we weren't supposed to be smoking in there, but the folks on the merchandise stand had evidently been exempted from that rule. I was sitting just next to them, and Katrina shoved their ashtray my way. I thought that was such a sweet gesture.
05/07/01 Belle & Sebastian at the Ipswich Regent.
This one was really special, and certainly the finest show I saw on that particular tour. It was a seated theatre, but some of us went forward and danced about at the front. The support on the tour had been John Shuttleworth, only with one of his newer characters, and Stuart had asked to see if we knew who he was, and I couldn't help but cry out that he was Jilted John! And so they brought him out, and he sang 'Gordon Is A Moron' with them. It was very funny. Isobel even put aside her cello to play the bass guitar. And then, at the end of the set, they were playing 'The Boys Are Back In Town' (the old Thin Lizzy song, as I'd hope I wouldn't need to tell you), and Stuart let himself fall backwards at the drop of the stage, in a sort of game-of-trust, and he was caught by the hands of the crowd; but then, what's more, they actually managed to project him back up onto his feet; and he was still playing his guitar the whole time, without missing a single note. I really was quite impressed by that.
31/07/01 A.R.E. Weapons at the Barfly, London.
I thought they might be interesting. They weren't.
14/08/01 Tompaulin at the Dublin Castle, London.
Oh, lovely Tompaulin. You made some lovely records. Such a pity that your singer was so ugly!
12/09/01 Manic Street Preachers at the Scala, London.
This was the second of two concerts that Q magazine staged, with Stereophonics playing the night before, and Saira got my spare ticket. I wasn't in the best mood for a concert. My darling grandmother was dying in hospital, and I was sad for the loss of large parts of a city that I rather loved (look at the date). But I did have to giggle at a comment in the NME: after reflecting on the loss of 9/11, they said: "And, as if to add insult to injury, The Stereophonics still went ahead with their concert that night."
01/10/01 PJ Harvey at the Brixton Academy.
I'd established that my pals in lower Manhattan were okay, but I was still pretty gloomy about the fact that my grandmother was now dying quite rapidly. I can't say that I enjoyed the show.
02/10/01 Daniel Johnston at Bar Risa, Mile End, London.
And yet, somehow, I really did enjoy this one. The bar downstairs had a two-for-one happy-hour deal, and so I ordered two pints of Stella. And I was presented with four. Not quite what I'd meant: but I wasn't going to complain! They only wanted a fiver for four pints, so I downed one and carried the others upstairs. As for Daniel, he had been at a gallery show across the way that afternoon, and I'd got his autograph there. His father was keeping a strict eye on him at the concert itself: but it was amazing. There was piano and everything. Truly sublime.
14/10/01 Jonathan Richman at the Shepherds Bush Empire.
There were people talking over him. Which didn't really bother me: not as much as the people who started laying into the culprits, attacking them for talking over him. They were just drunk and happy, that's all.
15/10/01 Karlheinz Stockhausen at the Barbican Hall, London.
Yet another now-dead avant-garde composer that I once saw in the flesh. They were playing some operatic piece that he was working on, and he went up onto the stage to chat for about half an hour beforehand. Back in the day, Cage and Stockhausen had been on the same perch in my mind, and so I couldn't help but compare them. But, no, Stockhausen was no John Cage. Nothing like it! I listened patiently through the first half, but then abandoned the show in favour of a dérive of North-East London. (Mind you, I failed to get a ticket for Hymnen: I would certainly have stayed for that).
23/10/01 Andrew W.K. at The Garage, London.
Now, this was more like it! When I bought my ticket, it had been scheduled for Cargo in the East End: only then they upgraded it, due to demand, from about 300-capacity to about 500. And he was great! I think that this might well have been the world première of his band, and he did a magnificent job. Nowadays, we have the unfortunate memories of The Darkness to look back on: but they were nothing like this. This was actually good!
26/10/01 Hefner at the Shepherds Bush Empire.
Them again? Well, I liked them! The main thing I remember from this one is that I was sitting at the back, working on some paper or other where I was able to find a bit of light, and then suddenly noticing that Darren was, like, right there!, chatting to someone at the merchandise stand. Naturally, I didn't approach him: haven't I told you, I don't like talking to popstars?
21/11/01 The White Stripes at The Astoria, London.
As with Godspeed You Black Emperor! the year before, this was my birthday and I remember little more about it than that.
28/11/01 Pulp at the Brixton Academy.
Likewise. On the 'meta-' level, I remember that this was when they were doing what was billed as a krautrock reworking of 'Common People': but I still remember very little, even of that.
05/11/01 Camera Obscura/Tompaulin at the Spitz, London.
Yes, both of them on the same bill, and it was lovely.
06/12/01 The White Stripes at The Forum, London.
I thought I'd seen them at both places: I just can't remember either one very well.
10/12/01 Hefner/The Clientele at the ICA, London.
The Clientele still didn't play my favourite song, and consequently weren't very interesting. But this was Hefner's final show. I wouldn't go so far as to compare it to Nutmeg in 1991: but it did mean something to me, nonetheless.
20/12/01 Belle & Sebastian at the Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow.
But this one was really, really special. A little place, and opposing the war in Afghanistan. And I chatted to some girl about Ethiopia. And they did lots of covers, which sounded wonderful. And Stuart had to admonish the crowd for talking all over a quiet song that Sarah had been singing. And they staged a raffle (I didn't win). Without a doubt, one of the best concerts that I have ever attended in my life -- almost as good as the Ipswich one -- and well worth the five hour train ride.