Early arrival at the recently refurbished Half Moon in Putney found the pub quite empty, the main centre of attraction being the footy on TV. A few familiar faces from the Quo and 4 Bills scene were dotted around and by the time doors opened at about 9pm, a small crowd had developed. A support act filled the time up to 9.45m, but I preferred a chat with fellow list member Kevin Sullivan. Later I heard that the support were actually quite good and the last couple of songs we heard seemed OK. Unfortunately, this left Egypt to come on stage at 10pm (well, they had to finish watching the footy too!) and so only an hour or so of them to come.
A crowd of about 50 welcomed Little Egypt on to the small Half Moon
stage at dead-on 10pm and saw a much shorter than usual performance.
Even Nick Rossi (lead singer and lead guitar) commented that the band
expected to play their usual 90 minutes, resulting in some chopping and
changing from their prepared set list. The set was a notable compromise,
consisting of a mixture of covers, material previewed from the new album
and familar tack from the "Eyes of the World" album (which in my opinion
just sounds better and better). Most of the audience seemed unfamiliar
with most of the material, so the inclusion of a few covers was a good
move if only to display that the band can actually play. Nick's lead
work was again excellent, while Kieran on bass and Duncan on other
guitar (and harmonica) slotted in seamlessly with drums and Nick's front
work. I can understand Kev's feelings about seeing a young Francis on
stage when looking at Nick, it really can be quite uncanny, but as he
said that shouldn't be the only reason for going to see them.
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