Saint Etienne @ Leamington Spa Gig Review

Saint Etienne @ Leamington Assembly
26 May 2012 Gig 28


So whats a mere 6,646 days between dates or 18 years, 2 months and 10 days, this is the period of time since last seeing Saint Etienne in concert, the first time was at Manchester Academy, Mrs P was at Uni at Manchester, it was my first year at work, I had to get up at the crack of dawn having slept in student digs and traverse the nightmare M6 traffic jams. What was a little disturbing was that Sarah Cracknell doesn't appear to have changed physically at all in that period, right down to the sparkly hugging dress and white feather boa whereas the ravages of time have definitely taken their toll on this side of the stage, particularly in the follicle area. In fact the only suggestion that Sarah may be older was the apology made half way through the gig for a mix up in songs and resulting (mild) swear word to her kids on the balcony.

Bob and Pete hide away

Saint Etienne are an interesting live prospect, Pete and Bob hiding at the back of the stage in the shadows looking proudly as Sarah is front and centre distracting everyones attention spotlighted through out, plus the unheralded multi instrumentalist backing vocalist and co songwriter on one track, who is so unheralded I can't find reference on the web to her name, great pipes though. This is all coupled with the backing of arty films to every song on the big screen behind, my favourite being the 'Top of the Pops from the 70's pictures' (with some rogue ones) - I would recommend the 35 years behind the times TOTP on BBC 4 Thursday at 7:30 to anyone.


When I say interesting, I suppose I mean different, with incredible highs, such as 'You're in a bad way' singing along to every word and bouncing up and down a bit more hum drum ones when the songs are just a bit more average and Sarah doesn't manage to add any sparkle. Luckily there were more of the former tonight than the latter. Sarah is a great front woman, although her style brings more to mind of trying to listen to what the lovely lass at the disco is saying in between the songs she sings along to and dances to rather than any amazing rock posturing, which is fun.


Fun is a definitely part of Saint Etienne's make up, which the signed sleeve of you're in a bad way on my wall demonstrates. Collected at a signing by Mrs P many years ago, its made out to me saying 'To Neil, I bet you're foxy as hell, love Sarah' which beats the best wishes of most bands.


Highlights for me were the obvious singles as ever, sing alongs with Sylvie 'Over and over and over and over again.....' and others (much appreciated by the band) and some of the flustered topics by Sarah. We had the wrong song intro a couple of times, a missed verse in he's on the phone and the story about coming here because she had seen Primal Scream at the venue and loved it twice, and a focus of one of the songs being a missed opportunity as a Eurovision song entry.


As you would expect there was were a number of songs from the new album, which Amazon has failed miserably to deliver this week, one of which was summed up as being about playlists with lyrics by Pete, although Pete did note that the song was far more complicated than this! They were pretty good but as ever need lots more listens, first single 'Tonight' definitely benefitted from this.


The gig ended with the whole crowd hands above heads cheering off the band, a great night had by all, and a pop next door to The Great British Take Away for some of the most tasty, lovingly prepared (i.e. slow) chips I have ever eaten, worth the wait, and another reason why the Assembly seems to be the venue that everyone enjoys the most with its Laurence Lewellyn Bowen chic.
   
Will I wait another 9,570,240 minutes before seeing Saint Etienne again in the flesh, who knows, but if they keep on being innovative with their merchandise with reissues (Giant Subutteo man sitting on my shelf attests to this) then I would imagine their songs will last longer than most. 


Not got too much to say about the support act, apart from it being the only gig where they referred to their songs as 'pieces' and were fine as backing music while we caught up with some friends, oh and as Mrs P rightly pointed out, as ever the 2 giants in the venue came and stood in front of us.......again! A better way to spend a Saturday night than watching Englebert fail at Eurovision miserably definitely.


p.s. - sadly I don't pay enough attention in life, the b/v's are provided by Debsey and she's been around for ages, as this clearly shows being the original mix with her vocals, I'll get me coat (cheers Patrick & George).

Bow Wow Wow Gig Review

Bow Wow Wow @ Leamington Assembly Rooms


Gig 21: 1 May 2012


Tumbleweed


Walking into the Leamington Assembly Rooms was an odd experience this time, said my name on the door and could see only 3 names with e tickets on the list, upstairs to the bar, 4 people milling around and no queue, into the venue itself and it was dark with no one in there. 


Was I mega early, no, not at all, doors opened at 7:00, I got there at 8:00, no one else did. So a bit of milling about was called for and people started drifting in, but let me emphasise, slowly.


However that was a shame, because what was to come was a good night indeed. 

After quite a while on came Pint Shot Riot, reasonable indie band, playing to the 25 or so people who had now gathered. Great stage presence from the front man, keen to gauge reaction of new songs, he could have asked us individually really. For me the song (presumably called) Breakdown was stand out, but the songs did nothing really to stand out from the crowd. Pretty good enthused indie rock.

Rough count is 40 here now, it's very sparse. The tunes while we wait a good selection of Clash tunes to get people in the mood. A quick audience watch reveals a cowboy hat, vivid red died hair mom dragging round her lad, funny bobble hat, no one under 40 except for the lad, some stand out stand up hair (which may just be hair envy on my part).

A potter to the merchandise stall shows it to be unmanned and just support band merch of which there is a signed album, unsold, t-shirts unsold, free cd singles, 'please take one' the chap standing near the stall says, 'nothing to do with me but I have been asked to try to clear them, in fact there's 2 different ones take a couple each for friends.'

So I did. To be polite......

On came the blokes of Bow Wow Wow a quick instrumental and drew us in. The drums set things apart from the first beat, the Burundi drums inherited from the ex ants (as original drummer isn't with Bow Wow Wow) are incredibly fresh sounding. 'Where is she?' was the call and then on came Annabella Lwin, she's filled out a little at 45 but the voice and energy were undiminished from 30 years ago.




Annabella drew everyone closer to the the stage and launched into her set, her first song showed that there were a few die hard dancers such as Whip it (with the cowboy hat) and the big fish little fish cardboard box man, who was so impressive he got to high 5 Annabella. This would have been more impressive if he hadn't missed then injured her hand.

The passion in the songs came thick and fast, no bum songs with Annabella whirling and chatting throughout. Not bad for a 45 year old, sorry in hind sight phenominal for a 45 year old, loved it! She had so much energy and passion for the gig, backed by the original bassist (a suitably bald bloke) and 2 glamorous replacements who probably hadn't been born when the tracks were first released.

I want candy and C30 C60, C90 go were the highlights for me, but I will be pulling my Bow Wow Wow greatest hits off the shelf to investigate more as the quality of the other songs was superb live, such as afrodisiac.

They went off and the small congregation managed to keep up enough noise for the full 5 minutes to warrant a 3 song encore, including another instrumental.

Then it was the end and I realised that I had a strained face from having grinned my way through the set, not taking themselves too seriously, drums galore and bringing the small crowd to life made thus gig somewhat special. I did kind of go wild in the country for the night.


Why so few people there? touring one hit wonders from 30 years ago is a challenge, but they could be using social media to drum up support, dull facebook page, no twitter, no show times on line, no website for updates......a staple in the modern day and age, as they had been doing the traditional stuff like Radio interviews.