Mercury Rev to Supergrass 7 May-13 May 1999 hi all ! Mercury Rev well Friday work went well, finished work and rushed to town. strange cos I planned to meet Emma and her friend Diana at 6:45pm. Exactly one week ago I was 2 mins walk away from the bomb that went off in Soho, so it was with quiet introspective reflection as I got off the tube, bolted up the escalators, and ran through the turnstiles without a ticket pushing the hungarian woman in front of me as she dithered over why the machine has swallowed her ticket. Diana we met 3 weeks ago, she is an australasian vietnamese girl who can speak more languages/dialects than I have big digits. We head to Wong Kei's for dinner, taking a detour through Soho Square, we've just missed a 2 minutes silence for the victims..err..survivors... and walk past the floral tributes. Have a great meal, I ordered duck and BBQ pork and rice and it was lovely to crunch down on some juicy fatty food after an absence. We finish at 8pm and have 1 1/2 hours to kill before the concert. Walk past Astoria LA2 venue which is normally a heavy metal/alternative venue, tonight is death metal (?) band Cathedral so there are lots of black-clothed people who look like normal people underneath their makeup. Head to Covent Garden, they grab some Haagan Daas ice cream, people normally line up to pay 4 UKP ($12 NZ) for a small tub of this stuff which is just like normal ice cream but more exoticically named. Head to Virgin Megastore for the free instore gig, Diana thinks she may be able to sneak in, unfortunately it is reserved tickets only (which I got had the week before) and there are about 200 people outside so she heads off home. It takes us 2 mins to walk down the line to the end but it moves quickly and we are soon inside and surprisingly it doesn't look too full. We grab complimentary bottled water and I gulp mine down, I've been feeling quite dehydrated lately... It is hot and I'm getting tired, surrounded by alternative people, industry types,hacks for music mags...the band comes on at 10:10pm, and in a slouched relaxed laidback drawl they say they'll do side 1 of the latest album. The band comprises of 2 keyboards and 2 guitarists. Lots of strumming ethereal guitar, lead singer looks like Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds. Great voice ! They play for about half an hour, musicianship is good, just like listening to the cd ! There is time afterwards for signing but I don't have anything to we leave and head back and crash after a long hard day. Saturday sleep in, must get second Supergrass album to hype myself up before the concert so go down the road to a secondhand music store. No luck, but find a bin of 20p (60 cent cds) so pick up a few. Tee I got you a For Real cd, I also picked up a great copy of U2 - Achtung Baby cd ! yay ! cheapo ! In the afternoon go see movie called Happiness, Daniel Clowes is the guy who drew the poster for it so it gets my vote. It's a good movie about non-teenage suburban sexual angst. Walk around town afterwards and then catch up with Mark and DJ a couple we know from the hostel who are working in the Lyceum pub along the Strand. Across the road a film with Sean Connery and Johnny Depp is being filmed and they hope they'll be in soon as some of the film crew have called in already. It's Saturday night and it's pretty dead which is good for us and not too loud. Suede Sunday sleep in, go to Brick Lane markets after phoning up Mum and reverse the charges (thanks Mum ;-) Was supposed to come here some weeks ago but it was closed due to a bomb. Walk through Petticoat market and it is hot hot hot, shouldn't have worn a jacket. Head to Brick Lane and the whole street is full with Bengalis celebrating their New Year ! Lovely weather, as we walk down the street I stop intermittantly to buy a samosa and other goodies. Curse myself for not having my camera. Looking down the whole Lane it is a splash of bright colour and brown skin. There are 4 stages of entertainment for all ages, one is some middle-aged guys singing and all the young guys are jumping onto the stage and whooping it up and getting into it so I suspect it was some traditional songs. On one stage all the young boys are watching an indian dj bang out some drum'n'bass tunes which sound great. And of course on some other stage there are dancers. At Art Space they have now opened up a new art gallery in an old warehouse space on the top floor of a building, the view here of the street is splendid. Check out Brick Lane and YAY pick up a microwave rice cooker for 1 pound, also pick up a small screwdriver set as well to fix up the tapeheads as well as some food and other nicknacks. Head back home and make a detour to go into a secondhand store in Soho to pick up some videos : A Better Tomorrow, The Killer. yay ! Tired and exhausted I get back at 6:30pm and crash. Awake and head off at 7pm, past the many ticket scalpers - I hear some prompt refusals to buy tickets at 65 UKP (it's not so bad, most ticket scalpers would probably go down to 20-30 UKP but they always try to get as much as they can), there are LOTS of people hanging around waiting for tickets. Sure glad I got in fast ! I bump into Shane and his korean girlfriend from Hamilton, I'm still writing up the first time I met him at the Brixton Street Market last July, he is one of the people that got me to come to London as well we keep bumping into each other at street markets and concerts !!! I pensively walk in with my camera in my trouser pocket, hidden from view under a baggy shirt. Luckily they have no restrictions like oh so big american star Alanus Morrisette concert ! Doors opened at 7pm. Get into the venue and not that many people on the groundfloor, though the unreserved seating up top are full. Just like the Bernard Butler concert I am totally struck by the number of japanese/malaysian girls and a few guys here, heaps of them. As you may know japanese culture really loves androgynous, glam, kitch imagery which is what Suede used to/still exude ! Also lots of thin foppish guys with floppy hairdos. (me included !) Darkstar (all three members used to be in Levitation) came on at 7:20pm and played 5-6 songs for 30 mins. I wonder if they are named after a track from the Suede album ? it is 3 guys, ususal setup, noisy and not much melody. I was up front for this band. Up close I can see the MTV screen projections and am suitably impressed by the editing and camera angles. Every now and then a camera on rollers rolls past us in the front row beaming our happy humdrum faces skyward. At one point the drummer almost has a fit as a highhat goes bust and the instrument techs come on and screw it back on...... Afterwards I hung at the back when Ultrasound came on and put on my earplugs. a group of 6 members, lead singer is called Tiny and is a guy bigger than Meatloaf ! Once again I can't get into it, vocals are pretty strained and I've heard it all before. I'm near the stagedoor and a fellow passes by and a few people pat a guy on the back. Later on I realise it is Simon Gilbert the Suede drummer. Ultrasound play for 30 mins then we wait a while until Zane from NZ comes on to announce them. Zane was the lead singer Urban Disturbance, he's come to London and is a MTV presenter now. Prior to this I work my way from the very back to about 6 metres in front of stage in the middle. I now have myself a prime position right behind a tall person which I prefer so I'm not obscuring the person's view behind me. A couple, a bespectacled tubby white drunken guy and his drunken girlfriend who wore a bit too much makeup have a tiff and he ends up pouring his pint of beer over her. This happens at the same time Zane says Suede will be out soon so me with my earplugs wondered whether the female populations cause for mirth was the beer pouring or the imminent arrival of Suede. Checking the newsgroup alt.music.suede there is a discussion about this episode. Supposedly the girl had been talking all through the support bands and annoying everyone. After a few minutes the lights dim and the band comes out one by one. My best made plans are laid to waste as the crowd goes crazy for the first 4-5 songs and in the crush I end up 2 metres from stage and at one point though at the end I manage to get out of the crowd and find a nice group of people who are dancing in their own space. Feel sorry for the small short asian girls cos they can't see or end up getting crushed. Once again I am always amazed to know I am actually seeing a real live rock star in the flesh ! The crowd goes crazy and starts singing along to all the songs. I don't dare take out my camera for fear of damaging it in the crush and bustle. the setlist was : Can't Get Enough/Electricity/Trash/She/Everything Will Flow/Indian Strings/Beautiful Ones/Elephant Man/Down/He's Gone/Lazy/Savoir Faire/Crack In The Union Jack encore : so young/saturday night The show was visually great and exciting with the band giving it their all, for at least half the songs Brett is jumping around the stage and always ended each song with a leap in the air and sitting on the edge of the stage ! Not since Level 42's Mark King have I seen so much love for the crowd and exuberance and dare I say 'joie de vivre'. Unfortunately no sign of 'Animal Nitrate' my favourite Suede song. Also no appearance by Neil Tennant from Pet Shop Boys 'Crack In The Union Jack' was just Brett on guitar. The concert was 1 1/4 hours and this was the same for all the headliners this week, all nice enough to fit into (m)tv. During the concert there is only one crowd surfer, he gets a bit annoying especially as he almost landed on me the SECOND Suede started ! He keeps getting forward to the front and is grabbed by the bouncers and like a dog that you keep hitting in the head he keeps coming back lolling his way through the crowd. At one point as I am imagining grabbing and snapping his little finger two guys next to me decide to take a swipe at him..soon after he disappears.. Also the pint-head girl he dragged out from the front of the crowd, she looks drunk and remorseful. A little later a japanese girl has fainted/passed out and has to be carried out by the bouncers. A few minutes later pinthead girl makes her way up again saying she needs to find her boyfriend. Here is a review of the concert from a UK paper. "Suede Empire, London W12 Other groups have sold more records over the past decade, but Suede can boast a career that runs like the backbone through the body of British rock in the 1990s. And on Sunday, the day that their fourth album, Head Music, rose to No 1 in the charts, they demonstrated exactly why they have maintained such a consistent momentum while others have drifted off course or fallen from grace. Headlining the first night of MTV's Five Night Stand - a series of five shows recorded at the Shepherds Bush Empire for transmission on MTV next week - the five-piece band from the London suburbs turned in a sleek yet good-humoured performance of towering authority. Securely anchored by the increasingly stony-faced rhythm section of drummer Simon Gilbert and bass player Mat Osman (who is slowly turning into Bill Wyman), they stormed through the opening sequence of Can't Get Enough, Electricity and Trash in short order and at unusually high volume. Keyboard player Neil Codling maintained a discreetly fragile presence on the wing, while singer Brett Anderson hogged the limelight as usual, twirling his microphone around his head like a latter-day Roger Daltrey. But guitarist Richard Oakes was a compelling presence too, playing to the hilt the role of Mick Ronson to Anderson's David Bowie. His guitar tone, so harsh and often poorly integrated on the new album, meshed much better with the overall sound on stage, although there were times when his increasingly busy parts sounded as if they were competing with rather than counterpointing Anderson's vocal lines. The wood-chopping drum tattoo and doomy, spiralling chord sequence of She gave way to a sequence of songs celebrating the band's more graceful side. Everything Will Flow and Indian Strings, both highlights from the new album, were followed by a sublime Beautiful Ones from their 1996 album, Coming Up, during which Anderson stepped up the pace. Smiling broadly and singing the chorus in his high, stylised yodel he sent a pair of maracas flying into the crowd, not to be seen again. Elephant Man revived memories of T. Rex in full flight, while He's Gone proved to be another new song of gentle and timeless beauty. The set ended with encores of Starcrazy and Saturday Night, Anderson optimistically pointing the microphone at the crowd, whose valiant attempts to sing along were hopelessly overwhelmed by the noise of the band. History is a fickle judge, but this was the kind of performance which suggested that Suede may yet come to be regarded as the greatest English rock'n'roll band of their day. " Also check out : http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/hottx/music/bottom_review.html?in_review_id=137435&in_review_text_id=112998 Get out from the gig, grab and tshirt and some other goodies (;-) for some friends. The merchandise goes quickly and I almost miss out on some stuff, outside there are no bootleg tshirts but as usual lots of people selling posters. Some people hang around for autographs I join them but we are ushered out by security. Some guys who have done a new romantic fanzine are walking round trying to sell them so I pick one up for the 30 page article on classic UK new wave band The Associates !! Catatonia Rushed home from work and got there at 6:20pm. Ticket scaplers greet us at the tube entrance. Quickly grab a bit to eat and head off to the venue to try to catch the support bands. Today we have got level 1 tickets and we are in the centre and 3 rows away from the edge, Me, Emma and Andrew feel like royalty as we have an utterly fantastic view of the stage and can sit back and enjoy the scenes below and above us. The normal night goes like this all week : first support band plays from 7:20pm-7:50pm second support band plays from 8:30pm to 9pm Main act comes on at 9:30pm and plays to 10:45pm So we catch Puressence and they are amazing, great vocals and songs, some of them I recognise, though Andrew remarks that they are a bit formulatic (sp?) In front of us is a young couple with their young daughter. When Catatonia comes on she will dance and sing along to all their songs. Similarly there is a late 20s bespectabled guy who is going nuts to Puressence until told to sit down by the bouncer but is allowed like everyone else is to go dance next to the MTV camera man in his stall on the side. After some keyboard problems Deus come on. They make a right noise, every song is an overture in itself and definitely not formulatic. They comprise a guy that looks like Beck on keyboards and violin, 4 guitars all with they own look i.e. different hair, fashion, stage presence/style. Unfortunately because of the keyboard problem they introduce the last song but then have to backtrack and leave as they are out of time. A real shame cos they were fun to watch and listen to. Our idea of a great view is slightly lost as the reserved seats in the first row are filled and these people sit forward blocking...well, a lot of people's view, I unconstructively say something sexist and the guy in the 2nd row asks the girls to sit down so we are ok ! At 9:30pm Catatonia come on, Cerys the lead singer is dressed in red highheels, a spangly red dress (for want of a better description) a handbag, feather boa and black jacket which she takes off after the 3rd song to much whoops of delight. Lots of slinking around the stage and playing up to the crowd, people throw nice things like soft toys and flowers to her and not so nice things such as plastic pint glasses to which she replies "I don't go for this cheap stuff give me some expensive shit" (or similar without embellishment). I believe that because she is a woman the mixed-gender audience was very very vocal, or maybe cos they are welsh... speaking of which there was a liberal sprinkling of welsh flags about. The first couple of songs were a bit blah and sound like any other band as her distinctive voice didn't come through. They played about 12-13 songs. The fifth song was "Dead From The Waste Down", they also played "Strange Glue". As you can tell I'm not up on their song titles. All the while throughout the whole entire concert the bouncers up front have to come off their perch and keep asking people to get off shoulders holding the welsh flag, we reckon he is getting annoyed but he just grins and enjoys the nightly game. Best songs were Road Rage where the sound system came into its own and I cannot describe the feeling of power as everyone sings along and I swear I can literally feel my hair being swept back by the blast ! The first encore is a Kate Bush like ballad, I thought this when I heard it and Andrew mentioned it with the same words later on. When introducing the second encore someone throws onto stage some alien balloons and Cerys says "and here is something for those aliens out there..." and the crowd goes crazy as they launch into "The Ballad Of Mulder And Scully" which once again blows the roof off. We leave the venue abuzz, check out the merchandise. The tshirt I like is orange and has CURSED and BLESSED on the front and back respectively and no mention the band, the best kind of tshirt, unfortunately it is LARGE size only so I nix on it. There are bootleg tshirts but they are boring. Get home and play the radio, and straight away hear the new Catonia single which we had heard tonight, after it is a song that blows me away, emotional male vocals bordering close to a female's, plaintive lyrics and music, I hunch near to the radio to find out who it was - it was Puressence. Supergrass Get home at 6:40pm get home and there is a note from Andrew, as he feared he was not able to make it so dispose of the ticket as we see fit, I rush down and Emma has tried to locate Leila who expressed disappointment at not being able to get a ticket (sometimes I wonder if I should always buy spare tickets cos everyone seems to always want to go), at the end we leave a note for her and make sure no one pinches the ticket. We arrive to catch the end of the first band Straw who are filling in for Kent who are indisposed. As you recall we saw Straw support Alanis. Much louder now but still catchy. We perch in the back of the venue on a landing next to the entry door and watch the people politics and people come in. A heroin-chic girl walks around asking for money off guys and gives them a kiss as thanks then later has the cheek to sit next to some of them with her boyfriend with drinks in their hands. Next support Medal come on, previous reports are good but they bore me so much with something I've heard already. Shame as Kent I was looking forward to see. Prior to Supergrass we head down as close as we can, the whole venue and people are vastly different from Suede night. There is a giant mirrorball above the stage, MTV have got one of those cameras on a liftie elevatory thing which zips above the heads of the people on the groundfloor, which is absolutely packed, normally one can find space in front of someone but not tonight. Naturally there are lots of tall people so I spy a lot of short girls in front of the left speaker and we end up 5 metres from the stage with a pretty clear view. Expectations are high for tonight and everyone here is "up for it" ! As we all squeeze in closer the band comes on and WOW ! Not since the Depeche Mode concert have I been able to sing or know every song they played ! everyone song I wanted to hear they played. This is the same of everyone else as we all dance and jump and shake and make a lot of noise which is used upon by the band as they get us to sing some choruses. Their first album is quite fast punky, the second album is more anthemic and it's these songs that get me going. Unfortunately being so close to the bass bins we get a bit of distortion, luckily we all know the songs so can pick up on it. ALso we have on our earplugs ! yay ! Below is a review of an earlier show with same setlist taken from a website: "As soon as Supergrass took to the stage, the sell out crowd went mental and didn't let up for a minute throughout the whole show. Starting off with an excellent performance of Richard III, and the crowd doing a very good performance of 'Crush the people at the front', Supergrass looked in fine form - it was hard to believe this was only their second gig in more than eight months. Once the roar of approval from the crowd died down a bit, Gaz introduced the next song, Mary, the first of the five new songs they played, all of which sounded stunning. Next up was the oldest new song, Out Of The Blue, which got it's first airing at last years' Glastonbury Festival. I'd not heard it before, but I immediately liked it. I'd Like To Know followed, then they dropped the tempo dropped a little for Late In The Day. 'That' song (Alright) was next which just made the crowd go crazier than ever and the crowd surfers came out in force. Gaz introduced the fourth of the new songs, Jesus Came From Outer Space, which has to be my favourite of the new songs (with Mary a very close second). Sun Hits The Sky, one of my favourites from 'In It For The Money' was next, which was followed by the new single Pumping On Your Stereo which received cheers from the crowd (and, of course, lots of clapping at the end). Three more favourites, in the form of Going Out, Strange Ones and Lenny ended what was (quite literally for us at the front) a breath-taking set. The encore began with It's Not Me with Gaz on acoustic guitar and Bob and Mick on keyboards and backing vocals. The final song was one of my all time favourite's, Caught By The Fuzz, which seemed to send out some subliminal 'You Must Crowd Surf Now' message, as loads of people started coming over my head! Less than three minutes later, and that was it, it was all over. The show had simply flown by - but what a show!" Check out this newspaper review: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/hottx/music/bottom_review.html?in_review_id=137439&in_review_text_id=113946 Now my own points : the lead singer was literally dripping in sweat after the 5th song, he was polite and gave a big thank you after each song. For 'Late In The Day' the middle crowd of people from the stage all the way to the back was pogoing in replication of the video for this single where the band are on pogos. He introduced Alright with "y'alright ?" and we all go crazy as the keyboardist starts playing that familiar piano beginning. The crowd was wildest here as 3 crowd surfers abounded. I am pretty sure they also played these songs also : Tonight, Cheapskate, Mansize Rooster, We're Not Supposed To. get out of the gig, the official tshirts are bland and not unique so I pick up a bootleg tshirt which has their globe symbol on the front and a big 10 on the back which looks real good except the collar is a bit naff. On the way back home we grab some cheap food and go home and munch out....... Friday night I have a workdo and on Saturday will go to Brighton for the festival http://www.brighton-festival.org.uk/ good night !