I booked a pair of tickets before checking either autoroute (which would have told me St Albans to Sheffield is ~260miles) and the train website (which would have told me the trains don't run late enough to get me back) and my mate's work schedule (which would have told me I was going on my tod!).
Anyway, after arriving and finally getting some parking, I met up with three fans on their way as we were all lost. This included a guy called Col, who I promptly mistook for the Col who posts here!
We arrived pretty much as Gundog came on stage, who I wasn't familiar with. Loud, crashing guitars and punky, powerful vocals. They were good but faced I think with an audience that didn't know Gundog's stuff and which hadn't had enough to drink by then. And also, perhaps many of the blokes were too busy leching at the two guitarist frontwomen who, it has to be said, are as foxy as hell.
Met up with a friendly Col (the real Col
) who recognised my T shirt from the board. Had a chat as Robochrist came on to what sounded like the theme from "The Omen"! Here's a guy with issues! Coming over like a cross between Baron Samedi from Live And Let Die (check out the makeup) and those rather odd characters who stand on boxes in city markets pretending to be statues, and then move suddenly to scare the bejesus out of some poor kid. Hardly any speech, an odd manic glare, and some heavy riffing along to a backing track ensued. He has the enthusiasm, but the problem is nobody really seemed to care. The backing track was so heavy and distorted that, as Col pointed out, you couldn't even really tell if he was even playing the axe or not. Overall a very bemused reaction to this strange, strange act.
Finally GatSC came on to the theme of GTT in the background, all except Ginger, who came on last and they all pile in to Ugly like the night was nearly over.
The rest kinda goes by in a blur, as all the best gigs do. "Sonic Shake!" screams someone to which Ginger replies "Patience, patience!". Instead we get some "My friend the enemy" followed by "Drinking in the daytime" which sounds the crowd wild. Such a great song, completely recreated live - even down to the piercing scream, now supplied not by Dave but by one of the wah-wah girls (who incidentally looked like they were having a great time). Conny and Ginger are a class act, playing off each other and laughing and joking. Someone has posted already they look like they could/should be brothers, and I see their point.
And on it went... "Mother City", "Bulb", "Only Lonely", "10 flaws down", "only a problem" follow each other with, as promised, the awesome "Sonic Shake" dropped neatly in the middle and some rocking covers. As Ginger explains "Once we start, we tend to just carry on. So don't feel bad if you feel you have to catch a bus. We won't mind."
The night finally draws to a close with the familiar riffage of "29xThe Pain" which the enthusiastic crowd (me included) goes wild for.
A great gig which made up for missing Download for me.
