Blog: Leicester

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I think I'm beginning to get the hang of this GIGGING thing now - this one was PEASY!

I got to St Pancras SO efficiently i got an EARLIER train, and was met from the train by The Span Of My Bridge who had travelled up in ADVANCE. We strolled to the Ibis which really IS just five minutes (EXACTLY) from the train PLATFORM, and I was pleased to find that, as ever, they had given me my usual room (STILL an hilarious GAG! STILL!). I had a quick shower and NIPPED off to The Firebug where I met Mr Twesta and The Crookes, who seem like nice young men but TERRIFYINGLY YOUNG. I said hello to the soundman, and we agreed that I didn't really need a soundcheck - years ago, when soundmen would say I'd only need a linecheck i would be UPSET and INSIST that I needed one in order to make the point that, just because there is only one of me i STILL require the RESPECT afforded to full bands. Nowadays I realise that a) i can command said respect simply by ROCKING IMMENSELY HARD and b) if i DON'T have to hang around waiting for a soundcheck I can go to the PUB.

THUS I soon found myself enjoying a Cheeky Half in The Criterion (Oakham Ales IPA - tastes TANGY like all their beer, but very tasty) before hotfooting it round to ASK to meet The Chillis In My Arrabiata and THE TIGER for some tea. It was LOVELY, so we were a pleasantly fulled trio by the time we got back to The Firebug just in time to watch The Crookes, have some BEER, say hello to the many various lovely people who'd turned out, and then to go onstage and do THIS:

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

The Gay Train

Hey Hey 16K

It Only Works Because You're Here

A Little Bit

(theme from) Dinosaur Planet

Do The Indie Kid

The Lesson Of The Smiths

I had a THOROUGHLY EXCELLENT time. Things started well when i said "WHOO! HELLO EVERYBODY!" and got the typical Leicester response of a few mumbles and someone eventually saying "... hiya." LEICESTER! One of the [MANY] things I love about my adopted hometown is that people DO NOT MAKE A FUSS - this extends to ALL aspects of life and can seem a little FLAT if you're not used to it in a GIG ENVIRONMENT. OH, that London Bands I have seen play in Leicester and be DESTROYED by the lack of RIDICULOUS OVER-EXCITEMENT they were used to! I think it's GRATE tho, it means when people DO clap then they actually MEAN it, also LARF and CHEER etc etc.

It DOESN'T, however, mean that people will JOIN IN very willingly, so I changed the set accordingly from the pre-Indietracks MASS SINGALONG I was planning to slightly LESS interactibe and, as I say, had a LOVELY time. It was GRATE to be playing a solo gig in Leicester after AGES not doing so and ESPECIALLY GRATE to NOT be singing an entire set of songs about DINOSAURS. I did a couple of Dinosaur Planet songs tho, and was pleased to get a couple of WHOOPS for 'A Little Bit' when introduced as being about Academic Research. HECK YES!

So yeah, GRATE stuff, and afterwards I got to reassure SEVERAL people that I really wasn't joking about having written a Science Fiction Rock Opera about DINOSAURS: I had brought some flyers with me just to completely SEAL the DEAL. There was also some BEER, some LARFS, a demonstration by The Tiger of where to find the SECRET NICE BOURBON behind the bar and MUCH hugging. Ideal for an Indietracks warm-up, and good times all round!

posted 24/7/2009 by MJ Hibbett

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