Thursday, 29 July 2010

410 MILES HUNT, Corinne, Oxford Zodiac Downstairs, Friday 9 July 1999

Downstairs in the small bar-type hall of the Zodiac for this one; Clive, Rachel and I hit the venue in time for support Corinne, who came on at 8.30 and was largely ignored by the punters, which was no surprise as her wallpaper Alannis-esque angst-by-numbers was hardly diverting.

Miles was on at 9.15; on his own this time, without faithful wingman Malc Treece, and playing an all-new set. It started well enough with Miles in good chatty form, but he got increasingly annoyed with the hubbub during his songs, and unfortunately ended up taking serious umbrage, initially calling the evening to a halt midway through, then racing through the rest of this set in stony-faced silence. A shame really, as Miles' new material is so much stronger than the disappointing Vent, and harks back to the simple sharp and flippant pop which his former charges the Wonder Stuff played so well. However, he's not in the Stuffies any more, having taken the decision to break them up, and he's not playing big venues; he's doing solo stuff in dives like the Zodiac (downstairs, even, not in the bigger upstairs room!) and background chat is a bit of an occupational hazard at places like this. There are ways of dealing with it; this didn't seem the right way, in my opinion.

So a disappointing night; the pre-tantrum "Immortalising Chase" and the immediate post-strop "I Hope I Get It Right This Time" (when it briefly seemed he'd turn the situation to his advantage) the only highlights. We hope you get it right too Miles, we really really do... Maybe next time?

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