The Assembly, Leamington Spa gig – 28 January 2010
Ah, the beautiful sparkling healthy spa water of Leamington, in Warwickshire. But what news you, of the gig itself?
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23 Letters Sent:
Chris The Siteowner
OK, over to you, those who were at Leamington. A couple of YouTube videos here and here.
Jan 29th, 2010
dagenham dave
Thanks Chris. I’d never been to The Assembly Rooms before, in fact I’d never been to Leamington Spa before but as it’s within a few hours of London I couldn’t miss the opportunity of seeing ‘the national treasure’ that is HMHB.
What a great venue, perfect size and they serve drinks in glasses! Can’t remember the last gig I went to when this occurred. Anyway, after a quick Guinness without any fanfare or introduction on come the band, there was a slight delay whilst the bass was plugged in properly and then they were off. I was enjoying myself far too much to record the very long set-list but there was something for everybody.
As at most HMHB gigs there was a wide cross-section of people from those who knew every word – special mention to the bloke standing near me who literally screamed “Luton Town Millwall 1985″ at the top of his voice as if his life depended on it – and there were those who remember the band from the early days. They were rewarded with ‘Dukla Prague’ and ‘Trumpton Riots’ with ‘Vatican Broadside’ in between. That section increased the moshpit (not sponsored) by 100% as a large number of middle aged blokes threw themselves around the front of the stage. We also had a rousing ‘Fred Titmus’ and a particularly vociferous ‘Nerys Hughes’.
There was some controversy when during ‘Twenty Four Hour Garage People’ Nigel increased the price of the Pringles to £2.40 rather than the previous £1.35 – it’s funny what some people get upset about.
My personal favourite of the night was ‘Used to be in Evil Gazebo’.
The sound was the best I’ve heard which allowed everyone to enjoy the between song banter, Nigel introduced one number as being about those people who before they post a letter have to check the address. He made a good point that a better place to check that would be at home not by the post box. He puts it down to a form of OCD, well actually CDO – that’s OCD with the letters arranged in alphabetical order.
The cover version was The Shadows’ ‘Apache’. At one point I thought they were going to do the Shadows’ walk. They didn’t.
All in all an excellent gig, everyone was walking out with big grins on their faces and I’ve been humming ‘I hate Nerys Hughes’ all day.
Now to buy a ticket for Cambridge…
Jan 29th, 2010
dagenham dave
oh for those interested in these kind of things there was a smattering of Dukla Prague shirts but I only saw one set of oven gloves, I couldn’t see if they were Joy Division ones…….
Jan 29th, 2010
AM
As far as I remember and not in this order….
For What Is Chatteris
Mate of the bloke
Joy Division Oven Gloves
We Built This Village on a trad arr tune
Restless Legs
Bad Losers On Yahoo Chess
National Shite Day
Fuckin’ ‘Ell It’s Fred Titmuss
I Hate Nerys Hughes
Trumpton Riots
Monmore Hare’s Running
Light At The End Of The Tunnel
Running Order Squabble Fest
Irk The Purists
Uffington Wassail
Used To Be In Evil Gazebo
24 Hour Garage People
Bad Review
Deep House Victim’s Minibus appeal
Vatican Broadside
Evening of Swing
Everythings AOR
The Best Things In Life
A Lilac Harry Quinn
Bob Wilson Anchor Man
Dukla Prague Away Kit
Apache
News At 10 Annual signed by Sandy Gall!
Jan 30th, 2010
Swanaldo
They played ‘Look Dad, No Tunes’ as well IIRC.
I was amongst those heckling NB over the price of Pringles. He seemed to enjoy it.
Brilliant Gig. Sound was fantastic, great set list.
Jan 30th, 2010
Greasby Shark
Great gig.
Apologies to those whom I might have bored with my Wirral related heckling.
For the record, I had no idea that the ‘Comodores’ bridge in Prenton used to be known as the ‘Rockers’ bridge. Thanks Nigel.
Oh, and it was also interesting to learn that Nigel was once a Can Lad on Corporation Road.
Roll on Shrewsbury!
Jan 30th, 2010
s.g.d. A Shropshire lad
A great night .
My girlfriend was ridiculed for predicting an extortionate £2.22 for Pringles – she who laughs last…
O.C.D. or C.D.O. to put it alphabetical – pure genius
Yes roll on Shrewsbury I have been waiting 25 years for a home gig.
s.g.d.
Jan 31st, 2010
Swanaldo
That lad with the oven gloves went mental when they played ‘his’ song.
I’m still chuckling at Nigel’s story about sending a mate to bet on a horse called Dirty Carpet, ‘cos it had never been beaten.
Jan 31st, 2010
Chris The Siteowner
Short review here from The Stirrer
Feb 1st, 2010
DF
I think they also did Lock Up Your Mountain Bikes as far as I remember.
Feb 2nd, 2010
Jim
I think they did Lark Descending also.
Just a brilliant gig, in my hometown too.
Waited a long time to see the band and they didn’t disappoint.
Amazed that Nigel didn’t need oxygen after a few of the songs.
One of our finest groups ever.
Feb 2nd, 2010
dagenham dave
I don’t remember ‘…Mountain Bikes’ but they deffo did ‘Lark Descending’.
Feb 2nd, 2010
Jim
Thanks Dave, what an epic set list and my memory sometimes plays tricks on me.
From up on the Balcony, fantastic view of the band and mini moshpit and the sound keeps getting better each time I’ve been.
Cheers
Feb 3rd, 2010
Third rate Les
I got a setlist – will write it up when I get home.
I love the venue more and more; the only whinge I have it that the “shock and awe” tactic of blasting us with flashing lights and Hawkwind to make us clear the floor seemed a little heavy-handed. But as ever – nice cheap bar, good restaurants nearby, good crowd without being packed – perfect.
There was some good banter at the start while Neil tried to get his bass amp working – it turned out he’d just plugged it in the wrong way. Duh. Performance -wise it was ace, with the only glitches being that Nigel was rushing the lyrics a bit on I Hate Nerys Hughes (or as he would probably argue, the drummer wasn’t going fast enough), and I think he fluffed the opening line of “deephouse victims minibus appeal” too.
Pringles now £2.40, although I think that got reduced to £2.30. What’s the world coming to, eh?
I think they actually were making a half-hearted attempt to do the Shadows walk, although Nigel also just sat against the back of the stage for some of it too. Ace.
Also – I think they had lilac (well, purple anyway) lights on during A Lilac Harry Quinn. Ah – I see what you did there. Production opulence. The crowd yelling along to Sturmey Archer Campagnolo was something to remember.
And apparently the 24-hour garage man has a key fob with “I Love the Stig” on it.
Feb 3rd, 2010
Swanaldo
Indeed he does. He also follows Valentino Rossi on Twitter.
Feb 3rd, 2010
Ben
@ Third Rate Les. Are you saying the light show’s “excellent!” there? I smell Petri dishes and other assorted equipment.
Feb 3rd, 2010
Third Rate Les
Set list reads as follows:
1. Light tunnel
2. Squab
3. H. Quinn
4. B. Wilson
5. Deep House
6. F. Titmus
7. Bad Losers
8. E. Gazebo
9. Monmore-slippers
10. Chatteris
11. Irk
12. Uffington
13. Bad Review – Europe
14. AOR
15. San Antonio
16. D. Prague
17. Slipknot
18. T. Riots
19. 24hr Gge
20. Shite Day
21. Restless Legs
22. Look Dad-LARK
23. Village (N Hughes?)
24. E/Swing
25. Apache
26. JDOG
notes:
2. i.e. Running Order Squabble Fest
9. “slippers” being the “there is nothing better in life” bit from “The Best Things In Life
13. Was supposed to segway neatly into “you can’t put your studs up in Europe” from I Went To A Wedding, but he forgot until he looked at the list
17. i.e. Vatican Broadside
23. Glad they decided to do Nerys Hughes – not sure if it was before or after Village
Feb 3rd, 2010
Dave F.
Pedant alert: segue not Segway (Ed’s note: the American folly which, amusingly, is now British).
Sounded like a great gig. Isn’t it about time they started unveiling some new material?
Feb 3rd, 2010
Third Rate Les
gosh – I never realised segway and segue were the same word.
Thanks, and many sincere apologies. I’ll be saying “should of” next.
I was wondering if we’d get some new material, some new material, some new material. Perhaps they’ll be playing it on the quiet, like. Secret.
Feb 3rd, 2010
Neil G
The use of the Segway is well illustrated in Weird Al Yankovic’s White and Nerdy video.
Feb 4th, 2010
Charles Exford
Did any other Projectistas find themselves tuning in to last Friday’s Mastermind on the iPlayer (to see the poor bloke who got the lowest ever score) and thanking Nige for giving them the answer to the question about the world’s oldest lawn tennis club? (I think Mrs. Exford was suitably impressed).
I did and I wasn’t even at the gig – thanks to Roger’s review on hmhb.co.uk!
Great idea this gig section :-; . Thanks for the review Dave – that CDO line is one he recycles from time to time but it’s a good’un.
Feb 4th, 2010
nick
Haven’t seen the Biscuits for 14 years before this gig. Bought a couple of houses, got married, had three kids and three jobs – but some things never change. It was like their triamphant return at the 1990 Reading Festival, when the whole tent (unsponsored in those days) showed their distate for Nerys Hughes. Best thing though was that it was in my hometown, at a superb venue, 15 minutes walk from my bed! I count myself very lucky.
I am going there to see a Joy Div tribute this Saturday – the oven gloves might not go down so well!
Feb 4th, 2010
Mad Dave
A good mix of old and new, where do you start and stop! Bet the bloke in 24 Garage People reads Dan Brown. Looking forward to seeing them again when they’re down this way.
Feb 18th, 2010
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