Happy
Birthday to me! And what better way to celebrate another trip around the sun
than a gig, although not the initially intended one… Nope, this was actually scheduled
to be a “Boys Weekend” down the South Coast with Logan, seeing 80’s art school punk/
New Romantic legend Adam Ant at Brighton Centre, then an overnight stop at a friend’s
house and a shopping Saturday in Brighton, but unfortunately Adam tested
positive for Covid so he postponed this one. Bah! Nonetheless, Plan B then came
into operation in the shape of this, the first date in a triad of shows by
recent Southsea powerpop favourites The Stayawakes, a triple-threat which,
improbably, includes headlining next Saturday’s Cheese and Chilli festival at
Lydiard Park in… Swindon! Yowsers! Still, not willing just to settle for that
one, I was up for a birthday jaunt to the South Coast; on my own this time,
Logan deciding to sit this one out (“The Stayawakes? Aren’t they playing in
Swindon next weekend? Well… they’re playing in Swindon next weekend!”)
Took
Logan karting this afternoon for an impromptu replacement birthday event to
celebrate his own 15th, 2 days ago, then dropped him home just after
6, got changed then hammered down the inclement A34/M3 beat route to Soton,
parking around the corner from this old school pub venue just after 7.30. Got
“carded” on the way in for the first time in 30 years (a crime prevention
thing, rather than being due to my youthful looks!) before heading downstairs,
expecting to find a small subterranean room… wrong! The staircase took us past
the venue room on the left (where The Stayawakes were soundchecking), then
opened up into rock pub Narnia, with a tiered drinking balcony overlooking a
wide open-air courtyard and wooden gazebo. Nice! Very “indie” as well,
underlined both by the soundtrack (Bowling For Soup in particular on heavy
rotation) and the clientele, one punter complimenting my new “birthday” green
Tuk creeper sneakers, after I’d done likewise to his blue tartan trews! Met
Dave, an old friend of The Stayawakes’ Jimmy who’d read my blog review of their
recent Fareham gig (gig 1,224), and we compared notes before being joined by The
Stayawakes for birthday drinkies and rock chat, the boys being happy to see me
and not at all fazed about being “sloppy seconds” to Adam Ant (As bassist Jimmy
noted, “we’re probably not the first [to be]!”).
Before
too long it rolled up to 8.30, so we funnelled into the small venue room
(completely neglecting to pay the £2 cover. Whoops!) where the guys set up and
donned the ubiquitous matching pink polka dot shirts. In a hurry to crack on
through their packed set-list, Steven launched the set into life via the
thunderous rolling drum opening of “Wendi”. Unfortunately, that was initially pretty
much all I heard… Steven being such a hard hitter, and the room being so small
and fairly sparely populated (probably about a dozen hardy punters venturing
in) the mix was submerged by the drum sound for the opening couple of numbers,
but thankfully, by the excellent, snaking “Please Steve Just Drive” it had
settled to the point of the drums dominating rather than completely overpowering
the mix. The Stayawakes, as ever, manfully powered through, taking this and
other issues (Andrew breaking a string on his sole guitar and needing to borrow
Everyone Lies vocalist’s instrument!) with good humour, Andrew remarking,
“we’ve not played [The Hobbit] before… drunk here plenty of times…!” I powered
through as well, rocking out from my stage front, house right spot as much as
the now 57-year old knees allowed!
“Pink
Wave” was superb, Peter’s undulating riffery finally rising above the dominant
drums, then Andrew wished me a happy birthday (nice!) before the more sombre Pixies-ish
march of “Stepping Over Cracks”. A racey, rocky “Cologne” was poignantly
dedicated to a late former booker of the band, Peter unfortunately “twatting” Jimmy
on the head with his guitar during the middle 8… The brooding, Hi-Fi like
flippancy of “Back In 95” was probably my highlight tonight, the subsequent effervescent
hooky brilliance of “Lovestruck” inevitably running it close. “It’s Cool, It’s
Rad” concluded a set again initially beset with mix issues but again replete
with The Stayawakes’ trademarks of verve, energy and upbeat enthusiasm. One day
I’ll hear them play a venue with the sound pindrop-perfect from the off… now
that’d be something…!
I
grabbed a balcony bench afterwards, the boys joining us after packing away, for
more rock (and other stuff!) chat, drinks and rounds of superb home-cooked
pizzas. Amongst other things, much comparing of rock’n’roll histories ensued,
as I once again found much common ground with a splendid bunch of fellows who
clearly relish being in a band together (Jimmy in particular eulogising about
their shared musical bond). We ended up chatting over Stankfinger’s set, which
veered between formulaic pop-punk and shouty noise (what little I remember of
it, anyway!), but we all wandered back in to catch tonight’s headliners
Everyone Lies. Openers at that Fareham gig, they again kicked off with some
fast-paced Oi! Punk, but by now my knees were suffering from both the karting
and rocking out to The Stayawakes, and, in danger of seizing up completely, I
bade my farewells and headed off to the motor for a more circumspect drive back
up to the ‘don, hitting home, somewhat wiped out, just after midnight. So, not
the planned Antmusic gig and Brighton weekend, but Plan B still worked out
splendidly, thanks to The Stayawakes!
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