Monday 28 September 2009

Islington Mill

We kicked off our little jaunt quite respectably at Islington Mill, despite the fact that no one could find it. After an afternoon practicing in a boomy and rather desolate ex-warehouse, we turned up to the venue to discover that it was erm ... not that different to where we'd been practicing. It did have some very friendly and helpful people in it, and a very, very tired Former Utopia, and a few fairy lights.

After a couple of hours, a lot of heel kicking [the other bands were lost in traffic] and some foul chips [John really enjoyed these, in a way which was completely disproportionate to their edibility, and which I guess was an indicator of how hungry we were by then], everybody else turned up.

We played:
Night of the steep learning curve
New hat
Hard work of simple things
Etymologist's lament
Black plumes for Hot Peas
Canon
Stone beats this

'New hat' and 'Canon' felt a little sticky, but the others seemed to come out right. Tom played a blinder on 'Hard work' and the song soared off at the end in a way that I don't think it ever really has before. Probably never will again, now!

Julie, Fred and Dan were very, very good. Some things were [very satisfyingly] predictable - quiet and pretty renditions of the quiet and pretty songs from the last few LPs, sweet as you like. Others were more surprising - big blasts of bluesy guitar, tumbling drums. And then some lovely songs with Fred and Dan singing too. The whole thing was also very relaxed and funny [attendance was on the 'light' side].

Anyone toying with idea of picking up a ticket for the Luminaire show is strongly encouraged to do so ...
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