Hammersmith Apollo
Tuesday 20th September 2005
reviewed by Cars
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Let's start at the beginning though! I got into London way too early so went for a coffee. I ended up being one of those speccy four eyes that sits in Starbucks with her head in a book looking mildly intelligent. In my quest to look intelligent I didn't realise I'd been sitting there far too long & was now running late. In my hurry not to leave Zoe waiting for me outside the venue I grabbed a KFC Twister & ate it whilst standing on the tube (I did pay for it - I didn't grab it from someone). Not only did a kind man share his germs with me by sneezing in it but I also ended up dropping most of it down myself. I arrived on time albeit stained & smelling of chicken. "Serves you right for eating crap" was the reception I got. I made a mental note to leave her waiting in future.
What's this got to do with Stereophonics? Nothing - I just thought I'd tell you about it that's all.
So, onto the gig - the support band were the Dead 60's. I only knew the new single & I always find it hard to judge a band I have heard very little from. Apart from flitting a bit too close to reggae in places for my liking they were pretty good. I'll give their album a try.
Making us feel old incident number one happened whilst we were sitting back observing the incoming crowd. Okay, technically the first old thing may have been the fact we were sitting back but whatever. The audience were old - I'm talking Cocoon extras type old. We couldn't understand it as when we first got into the 'phonics it was trendy to like them. Okay, so it was also okay back then to use the word trendy & shorten it to the 'phoincs but still.
We had a view good view until the old codgers arrived near us. In front of me I had a 7ft Keith Miller from Eastenders look-a-like & to my side a woman obviously going through the menopause who kept smacking me in the face with her chicken style dance. Incident number two of us feeling old was when we discussed how "if everybody sat down we'd all get a decent view".
Whilst we're giving incidents I may aswell tell you the third one was after some drunk threw beer down our backs & we discussed the cons of drinking & smoking in gigs. I now smelt of chicken & beer (Ludacris would have approved)
All that aside I still enjoyed the gig. Kicking off with the fantastic new tracks Superman & Doorman before raising the roof with the classic A Thousand Trees. The majority of the set comprised, thankfully, of the new & debut albums. Rightly so the Performance & Cocktails stuff got a good airing too. Even better they skated over the iffy JEEP era & diabolical You Gotta Go There To Come Back. They did a few tracks from those but stuck to the more bearable ones. Although I must admit to having the biggest of urges to break open a bag of Werthers Originals during the dreadful Step On My Old Size Nines.
A couple of days before the gig my Mum asked me who I was going to see & when I told her the response was "Oh, I don't like them, they sing about handbags". She was jesting of course (I hope!) however it struck a chord tonight as I was looking at the crowd. There must have been a moment when suddenly 40 plus people got into them. Whenever an old song came on we were singing along & whenever a 3rd or 4th album track came on the oldies started singing. I blame the Gladrags entirely. Huge mistake that.
Anyway, they played a brilliant show sounding very tight. You wouldn't have known the drummer hadn't been with them since the start. Kelly's vocals were spot on all night. Out of the 4 times I've seen them at various stages in their career this was probably the best I'd heard him sing.
Not only that but he got a good old chat in with the audience too. Now as much as we love him Kelly isn't usually known for crowd interaction between songs but tonight he was happily talking away. Stories about his pulling days & writing songs on paperbags when he worked on a fruit & veg stall. Pretty amusing too he was. That'll show the people who say he's grumpy!!
I enjoyed tonight so much more than I expected to. It wasn't like watching a tribute band as I'd feared. They have shown people that had given up on them (me included) that they are still relevant & still capable of making great tunes. Dakota & Devil sit quite comfortably between Roll Up & Shine & Bartender & The Thief in terms of greatness in my view.
Highlights were Devil, Mr Writer, More Life In A Tramps Vest, Too Many Sandwiches, Local Boy In The Photograph, Traffic, Just Looking, Dakota
Fingers, legs, toes, eyes crossed that they don't slip back to the dark side of You Gotta Go There To Come Back.
(oh & fourth moment of us feeling old was deciding we're going back to Hammersmith in November to see Athlete!)
8 out of 10
Setlist:
Superman
Doorman
A Thousand Trees
Madame Helga
Vegas Two Times
Devil
Mr Writer
Rewind
Roll Up & Shine
Pedal Pusher
Hurry Up & Wait
More Life In A Tramps Vest
Dead Head
Step On My Old Size Nines
Too Many Sandwiches
It's Alright (You Gotta Go There To Come Back)
Maybe Tomorrow
The Bartender & The Thief
Local Boy In The Photograph
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Traffic
Just Looking
Dakota
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