394 MILES HUNT AND MALCOLM TREECE, Bristol Fleece, Sunday 13 December 1998

This one started with a bit of a panic; Rachel's friend Sarah blew out at the last minute due to illness, so we had to offer a spare ticket around. Could we find a taker? Could we heckers like! Still, they'd regret missing this one...

We eventually sold the spare ticket outside the gig and got in just after 8, to an already packed venue, full of grebos, fraggle rock rejects and other assorted old Stuffies fans, including of course Prov! Rachel and I then decided to blag backstage for a chat with Miles and Malc, claiming "friend of a friend status" with Phil Hurley, ex-Gigolo Aunt, as the friend in question! Miles was prepping with the roadie, but Malc - a thoroughly nice bloke - was happy to take time out to chat, saying he'd seen both Phil and Steve recently during their recent US jaunt!

The boys came onstage at 9 - just the 2 of them, armed with big chunky guitars and heads full of instantly recognisable pop tunes - plugged in, and cracked open a couple of old Stuffies numbers like vintage wine. This pretty much set the tone for the evening; an entertaining 1 1/2 hours of Miles' banter, a few new numbers, 2 Vent songs, but mainly Stuffies numbers done acoustically but with no less oomph. Some didn't work so well in this context, lacking the full band volume of the Stuffies, but the simple catchy pop stuff - "Golden Green" being an example - worked the best. After a final "Unbearable", they packed up, but then re-emerged for pix and chats with the lingering crowd. That made Rachel's night - a pic of her and Miles!

404 THE VIOLENT FEMMES, Hefner, London Kentish Town Forum, Wednesday 5 May 1999

Clive got 1/2 hour off work, so this was an earlier than expected jaunt up the Smoke with Rachel and myself for the usual park and tube run from Shepherd's Bush. Got over to Kentish Town via hordes of touts on the tube station; a sell-out one, this!

Into the already-busy venue for Hefner, sole support at 8.15. Despite their good rep, they were merely OK; a little too wet for my tastes, methinks. This was C86-ish pleasant strumalong pop a la Chesterfields, which unlike their stuff, went nowhere for me.

We, however, went for a wander during the interval, which was a big mistake, as by the time The Violent Femmes took the stage at 9.20, the place was so packed we couldn't get back onto the dancefloor, and had to settle for a very crowded vantage point by the back bar! Despite being a fan of these ramshackle US indie rock veterans for donkey's years, this was my first "live" experience of them, and they lived up to expectations and their reputation by playing a corker. Their stripped back, ramshackly hillbilly take on US rock was excellent "live", as they transformed into America's No. 1 Good Time Band. The crowd reaction was astonishingly enthusiastic, particularly for the creepy "Country Death Song", and a storming "Blister In The Sun", which totally raised the roof!

The set was slightly overlong thereafter, and I could have done without the bassist's Offspring-like rabble rousing. However, a superb "Gone Daddy Gone" featuring a splendid nasal vocal from Gordon Gano, as well as a totally rocking xylophone (!) and "Add It Up" were worth waiting to the end of the 1 1/2 hour set for. Less might have been more, ironically, but nevertheless a great enthusiastic evening from an enduring American Country rock band!