The colour of the new republic.
The Day After / Ghosts Of Cable Street / Wishing Well / Bounty Hunter / Shirt Of Blue / Barratt's Privateers (Swill) / Parted From You (Swill) / A Boy Named Sue (Cush) / Donald Where's Yer Troosers? (Cush) / Billy Morgan / Singing Elvis / Rosettes / Smugglers / Nightbird / The Colours / Ironmasters // Green Fields Of France // Greenback Dollar / Bank Robber / Walkin’ Talkin’
"I've been waiting twenty years to see them, and they were terrible"
Thankfully that was years ago, hundreds of miles away, a completely different band and someone else complaining. I've been waiting twenty years to see The Men They Couldn't Hang, and they were fantastic.
The first time I failed to see them was in Lambeth in the late summer of 1985, when the Pogues, the Men and three other bands were playing for a fiver, and I didn't have a fiver. I wasn't as disappointed about that at the time as I was later. About ten years later I got a ticket to see them in Edinburgh, but found out that the promotor had neglected to mention that it was an acoustic show by two of them rather than the whole band. I had a good time, but I think Myf was less impressed - she courted a dumping by describing The Green Fields of France as "some dodgy old folk song". Maybe I should have, actually. It might have saved some trouble later.
When I was in Cambridge, there were rumours of gigs and festival appearances, but nothing I found out about in time. A few months ago, though, they announced the Glasgow gig. My presence was a foregone conclusion.
The train across wasn't, due to engineering work which I only found out about after buying a ticket, so I was deposited at Glasgow Central in time to catch the second support, a band called (I think) The Wakes. I didn't really get into them because I was getting a drink and seeing if there was anyone there I knew. Nobody, as far as I can tell. They seemed fairly good, though. Wouldn't mind having a closer listen sometime. This was in the Arches in Glasgow, which seems to be under about a quarter of Glasgow Central station. I saw Half Man Half Biscuit there a couple of years back, and the two concerts didn't seem to have shared even a single square foot of the venue. I don't really know how much more there is of it. George Clinton was playing in some other bit of it the same night, but there was no sight nor sound of him or his fans save a notice telling people to go to the other door. The sound was a bit woolly, but good enough for folk-rock.
The third and final support was Darren Poyser, a gobby political folksinger - the sort of thing I quite like, in other words. After a couple he announced that the next one was a Manchester folk song, and then fingerpicked his way through Love Will Tear Us Apart, which was oddly charming. There was a poster up advertising his website, and it and some cards had a cellphone number - as he said, "so now you can heckle by text message."
The Men's set was as detailed above, and they might as well have asked me to write it. It wouldn't have differed significantly. I'd said to CJ earlier that I didn't expect it to be a lifechanging event, but it was noticeably closer than I'd expected. They were on excellent form. I'd forgotten how much I liked Parted From You, pile of mushy crap that it is, and the songs I didn't know - Barratt's Privateers in particular - were very good indeed. Apparently this tour is to raise money for a new album, which they expect to be out in the spring, with tour attached. I'll be there if so. They really were excellent live - chatty, engaging, and energetic at all the right moments. I thought Cush had a fair nerve doing DOnald where's yer troosers so near the heilanman's umbrella, but he seemed to get away with it. There probably aren't as many random teuchters kicking around there as there were.
In other news, I now know which one's Swill and which one's Cush. Apparently Swill was actually born in Oban. That's two of us that don't sound it, then.
"I've been waiting twenty years to see them, and they were terrible"
Thankfully that was years ago, hundreds of miles away, a completely different band and someone else complaining. I've been waiting twenty years to see The Men They Couldn't Hang, and they were fantastic.
The first time I failed to see them was in Lambeth in the late summer of 1985, when the Pogues, the Men and three other bands were playing for a fiver, and I didn't have a fiver. I wasn't as disappointed about that at the time as I was later. About ten years later I got a ticket to see them in Edinburgh, but found out that the promotor had neglected to mention that it was an acoustic show by two of them rather than the whole band. I had a good time, but I think Myf was less impressed - she courted a dumping by describing The Green Fields of France as "some dodgy old folk song". Maybe I should have, actually. It might have saved some trouble later.
When I was in Cambridge, there were rumours of gigs and festival appearances, but nothing I found out about in time. A few months ago, though, they announced the Glasgow gig. My presence was a foregone conclusion.
The train across wasn't, due to engineering work which I only found out about after buying a ticket, so I was deposited at Glasgow Central in time to catch the second support, a band called (I think) The Wakes. I didn't really get into them because I was getting a drink and seeing if there was anyone there I knew. Nobody, as far as I can tell. They seemed fairly good, though. Wouldn't mind having a closer listen sometime. This was in the Arches in Glasgow, which seems to be under about a quarter of Glasgow Central station. I saw Half Man Half Biscuit there a couple of years back, and the two concerts didn't seem to have shared even a single square foot of the venue. I don't really know how much more there is of it. George Clinton was playing in some other bit of it the same night, but there was no sight nor sound of him or his fans save a notice telling people to go to the other door. The sound was a bit woolly, but good enough for folk-rock.
The third and final support was Darren Poyser, a gobby political folksinger - the sort of thing I quite like, in other words. After a couple he announced that the next one was a Manchester folk song, and then fingerpicked his way through Love Will Tear Us Apart, which was oddly charming. There was a poster up advertising his website, and it and some cards had a cellphone number - as he said, "so now you can heckle by text message."
The Men's set was as detailed above, and they might as well have asked me to write it. It wouldn't have differed significantly. I'd said to CJ earlier that I didn't expect it to be a lifechanging event, but it was noticeably closer than I'd expected. They were on excellent form. I'd forgotten how much I liked Parted From You, pile of mushy crap that it is, and the songs I didn't know - Barratt's Privateers in particular - were very good indeed. Apparently this tour is to raise money for a new album, which they expect to be out in the spring, with tour attached. I'll be there if so. They really were excellent live - chatty, engaging, and energetic at all the right moments. I thought Cush had a fair nerve doing DOnald where's yer troosers so near the heilanman's umbrella, but he seemed to get away with it. There probably aren't as many random teuchters kicking around there as there were.
In other news, I now know which one's Swill and which one's Cush. Apparently Swill was actually born in Oban. That's two of us that don't sound it, then.