Gemma Hayes / Death Cab For Cutie
Two gigs to natter on about... on Friday night I went to see Gemma Hayes at the Zodiac. This was the second-and-a-half time I've seen her (the half being a five-song acoustic set she did at the Rapture store in Witney). Unfortunately before I went out there was an unwanted intervention from an annoyingly-timed nosebleed, so I was a bit late and only caught a few songs by the support act, Duke Special, who were pretty good actually and more than a trifle odd. Tim and Katie were there also, since the work of persuading them to go had been done years ago when we all went to see Gemma Hayes at the Zodiac. I hadn't seen those two in a while, since for some reason none of us have been to the pub quiz we used to frequent, so it was good to catch up with them. Anyway, Gemma Hayes was very good, if memory serves it was mostly songs from the new album with a few thrown in from her first, sadly no 'Evening Sun' though which I'd kind of been hoping for after she played it at that acoustic set. The set was about an hour long, which isn't too bad I suppose but still seemed a bit short at the time. I managed to swipe a Gemma Hayes poster as well (as did Tim since he felt left out once I had one). After that we walked - yes, fairy_of_ice69, walked - back to Oxford and went to Chequers for another pint. Ah, cidery goodness.
Saturday morning / early afternoon I didn't do very much, since I was in one of those wishy-washy moods where I couldn't really work out what I wanted to do. I just pottered about for a bit, before finally heading into Oxford to meet up with fairy_of_ice69 at the station. We went to Chequers first for a couple of drinks (during which time, much to my dismay, Vicky had a sip of my Strongbow and the term "Vicky Vomit" was brought into play to express her opinion of it), and then headed up to Brookes to catch Death Cab For Cutie. We arrived to find a long queue, but it didn't take too long to get in and we didn't miss anything. The support act was John Vanderslice, who was okay but reminded us both of someone else (I still think he sounds a bit like Bright Eyes but with a significantly less whiny voice). By this point we'd settled in a spot at the front on the right-hand-side, and had a good view except for the occasional time when the one of the security guys decided it would be fun to stand right in front of us - cheers for that, dude. Death Cab For Cutie opened with 'Marching Bands Of Manhattan' just like I'd predicted, and played a good mixed set with songs from all the albums - sadly no 'No Joy In Mudville' though which is my favourite. They didn't do 'Coney Island' either - I'm not familiar with that one, but that's Vicky's favourite and she didn't squeal at any point so I assume it wasn't played! They did however do a cover of an R.E.M. song, 'Driver 8', and they did it very well too, so that earned them major brownie points from me.
We did stay right until the end, despite knowing it might be tight to get back in time for Vicky's train. It was actually a lot tighter than I thought because it took ages to get on a bus - I'd thought it'd be easy, but on reflection I was forgetting that last time I got a bus back from Brookes I'd had to queue to get my coat back from the cloakroom, so by the time I was at the bus-stop there wasn't a big bundle of people waiting for the bus like there was for us last night. I never think of these minor details. Anyway, once we got back to Oxford we had to run to the station and Vicky caught the last train with literally seconds to spare... unfortunately this meant I forgot to give her the CD I'd been carrying around for her all night due to her impractically-small handbag. What is it with women and impractically-small handbags? What is the point of a bag you can barely fit two things in, I ask you?! I can fit more stuff in my pockets. Anyway, never mind, the CD will get to her eventually.
My bus journey home was then livened up compared to the usual, thanks to a really quite drunk Scottish girl sitting next to me and chatting me up all the way home. She was quite sweet actually, but she definitely had her beer goggles on and for all I know she was probably under the impression that I was a Brad Pitt lookalike or something (a notion which would have been rudely dismissed if she'd sobered up). Still, it was more interesting than watching the trees whizz past the window, that's for sure.
Right, I've got a good start on digesting my roast dinner, so I'm off to the fridge to get me another pint of Vicky Vomit. Actually, no, that's Strongbow, and all my parents have got here is Blackthorn... lord only knows what colourful name Vicky would come up with for that!
Saturday morning / early afternoon I didn't do very much, since I was in one of those wishy-washy moods where I couldn't really work out what I wanted to do. I just pottered about for a bit, before finally heading into Oxford to meet up with fairy_of_ice69 at the station. We went to Chequers first for a couple of drinks (during which time, much to my dismay, Vicky had a sip of my Strongbow and the term "Vicky Vomit" was brought into play to express her opinion of it), and then headed up to Brookes to catch Death Cab For Cutie. We arrived to find a long queue, but it didn't take too long to get in and we didn't miss anything. The support act was John Vanderslice, who was okay but reminded us both of someone else (I still think he sounds a bit like Bright Eyes but with a significantly less whiny voice). By this point we'd settled in a spot at the front on the right-hand-side, and had a good view except for the occasional time when the one of the security guys decided it would be fun to stand right in front of us - cheers for that, dude. Death Cab For Cutie opened with 'Marching Bands Of Manhattan' just like I'd predicted, and played a good mixed set with songs from all the albums - sadly no 'No Joy In Mudville' though which is my favourite. They didn't do 'Coney Island' either - I'm not familiar with that one, but that's Vicky's favourite and she didn't squeal at any point so I assume it wasn't played! They did however do a cover of an R.E.M. song, 'Driver 8', and they did it very well too, so that earned them major brownie points from me.
We did stay right until the end, despite knowing it might be tight to get back in time for Vicky's train. It was actually a lot tighter than I thought because it took ages to get on a bus - I'd thought it'd be easy, but on reflection I was forgetting that last time I got a bus back from Brookes I'd had to queue to get my coat back from the cloakroom, so by the time I was at the bus-stop there wasn't a big bundle of people waiting for the bus like there was for us last night. I never think of these minor details. Anyway, once we got back to Oxford we had to run to the station and Vicky caught the last train with literally seconds to spare... unfortunately this meant I forgot to give her the CD I'd been carrying around for her all night due to her impractically-small handbag. What is it with women and impractically-small handbags? What is the point of a bag you can barely fit two things in, I ask you?! I can fit more stuff in my pockets. Anyway, never mind, the CD will get to her eventually.
My bus journey home was then livened up compared to the usual, thanks to a really quite drunk Scottish girl sitting next to me and chatting me up all the way home. She was quite sweet actually, but she definitely had her beer goggles on and for all I know she was probably under the impression that I was a Brad Pitt lookalike or something (a notion which would have been rudely dismissed if she'd sobered up). Still, it was more interesting than watching the trees whizz past the window, that's for sure.
Right, I've got a good start on digesting my roast dinner, so I'm off to the fridge to get me another pint of Vicky Vomit. Actually, no, that's Strongbow, and all my parents have got here is Blackthorn... lord only knows what colourful name Vicky would come up with for that!