Fangbase - Reviews

Montey's, Knaresborough

Saturday 24th April 2004

 

This one was very definitely an, er, experience!

The place was packed solid and a substantial portion of the assembled hordes seemed to have been taking full advantage of the bar's extended Happy Hour. I had to be very choosy about my vantage point to avoid (a) pools of sick, (b) piles of broken glass, (c) various drunken Herberts making nuisances of themselves, (d) people being thrown out and (e) the odd punch up. I managed to wedge myself next to the exit doorway which seemed reasonably safe from the aforementioned hazards - mind you, to be honest, aside from being right at the front it wouldn't have mattered where I stood because the lack of anything resembling stage meant the view of the band was a bit (to say the least) restricted. Dave's quiff bounced into view every now and then and Captain's head and shoulders could been seen - but the rest of the band were all but invisible.

Despite these various drawbacks the band put on a good, crisp performance. I thought the sound was pretty good too, although possibly not quite as loud as sometimes. Things kicked off with Melody Lee and the other songs were (in no particular order - see below for reason of lack of concentration - I hope I've included them all) Fan Club, Eloise, Street of Dreams, Amen, Would You Be So Hot, Shadow of Love, Under The Floor Again, Ignite, Neat Neat Neat (brilliant but without Break On Thru in the middle), Anti Pope (with Captain's brother doing a fine job on vocals and Dave acting as conductor from the side), History of the World, Absinthe, Curtain Call and things brought to a close as always with a superb Smash It Up - featuring Dave astride the the speakers. This was the only time I 'd really seen him clearly all evening, I think he would have stood up if his mic lead was long enough, which have really got the bouncers worried - they looked a bit alarmed as it was. It also included the rather surreal sight of Captain making his way through the crowd with his guitar during Part I clad in his pink party frock and long blonde wig, then up the stairs at the back, exchange a few V signs with Mr Vanian before making it back on stage just in time for Part II. Good to hear (if not see!) some different songs in the set list - some surprising absentees too with Disco Man, Blackout, Love Song and New Rose all (I think) missing in action.

It was a bit hard to concentrate on some of the songs as the over exuberant crowd threatened to engulf the band - as well as no stage there was no barrier. In fact things were stopped three times for order to be restored and it did cross my mind more than once that things were going to be brought a premature close. The band went off for 10 minutes at one point - when Captain had to sing Happy Talk on their return to calm things down you know it's getting serious! Things reached a bit of a "peak" during Absinthe when a full blown fight developed which was a bit of a nuisance as it's one of my favourite songs. Leo the tour manager made a venture into the crowd at this point to deal with one particular miscreant - that'll teach 'em! It might have been my imagination but I'm sure the crowd thinned out a bit after this. There were another couple of scuffles too at various points during the proceedings.

Things drew to a close at five to one and I vanished into the night - I should have stuck around 'cos I hear that Eddie and The Hot Rods rounded the evening off.

Certainly the most boisterous show I've been at for a while, probably not to everyone's taste but I enjoyed it and I'm glad I made the long trip to Yorkshire for it.

Froggy