Beef raised it with me again on the way to the Man/ Woman/ Chainsaw gig last Monday (gig 1,457), and it then dawned on me that the gig fell on a night that my wife was staying over in London with the daughter of the house, taking in 3 (!!!) musical shows over 2 days! So, given the choice of shit Tuesday night telly on my own (Logan likely being up in his room as usual) or a gig, the rock won out and I booked up! Felt a bit crappy in the morning, but after a quiet day I was up for it, so wandered through the alley to Beef’s mums, where he and his mate (and our driver tonight) Andy (yup, another one) were waiting. The 3 of us then picked up Dean after a weird google maps diversion, and attacked Oxford from the North, finding a free street parking spot by St. Margarets Church, a 10 minute hike from the venue. Got there at 7.20 and met Andy’s sister Min and husband Mark outside, then repaired to the fabled old Jericho upstairs room, scene of so many noted 80s/ 90s gigs (including 4 by the afore-mentioned Parachute Men, in whose honour I was t-shirted up tonight!) being greeted by a Monty Python homage (“Crucifixion?”) from Popguns guitarist Simon Pickles on the desk, before grabbing a seat and whiling away the wait with some old school gig chat.
Beef had bumped
into Popguns vocalist Wendy Morgan in the corridor, who’d given him the
heads-up that they were due on at 8.30, no support. So he and I took a spot down
the front of the stage, house left, along with an ample and expectant crowd of
veteran indie fans. The 5 piece band took the stage through the crowd at 8.40,
Wendy last with a breezy, “good evening!” before the robust guitar jangle of an
equally brisk and bright “Because He Wanted To” both kicked off proceedings,
and pretty much set the sonic template for the set. “It might have been 1991
when we were last at The Jericho Tavern?” queried Wendy, prompting a debate
between the front row locals before an ironically titled “Finished With The
Past”, then the undulating melodic chorus of a pacey “Put Me Through It” was an
early highlight.
“It’s mine and Simon’s Silver Wedding Anniversary today!” announced Wendy to cheers, the subsequent indiepop groove of “Gasoline” featuring the entirely appropriate hook of, “I’m happy how my life turned out”. Odd that they’d choose to note such an auspicious occasion by playing in front of a few dozen folks in Oxford, but the “happy couple” celebrated fittingly, Wendy’s voice the key feature throughout, grown slightly softer through the years but still capable of strident power, and underpinned by hubby Simon’s intricate and undulating jangly and 80’s influenced fretwork, giving more than a nod to the likes of Johnny Marr. “Who Never Found Love” was a slight outlier for the set (“a bit of a heartbreak song; that’s a surprise coming from The Popguns,” announced Wendy), being a pastoral, slow burn and delicate ballad; “Still A World Away” was a bouncier indiepop number with a yearning vocal hook and a big crescendo outro; and a looser, almost funky “Every Dream” saw Wendy brandish a borrowed tambourine, Wendy mock complaining that it was harder to play then her usual one!
But they’d saved
the best for last; the trio of “Landslide”, “Bye Bye Baby” and my favourite
“Waiting For the Winter” were all tough, dynamic and fast-paced soaring indie
bangers to round off an hour of very entertaining and well-played upbeat and
largely wide-eyed optimistic jangle pop from these scene veterans, much better
than I’d anticipated. They even got tempted back onstage by the enthusiastic
reception for a 2 song encore culminating in a singalong, swayalong “Someone
You Love”. Brief chats with the band and signatures on my set-list afterwards,
then a considerably easier walk back to the car (we must have taken an
unnecessary dog-leg on the walk there!), home about 11.30. Last minute, yes,
but entirely worthwhile in the end… Happy Anniversary to Simon and Wendy, and
thanks for a good night’s indie-pop entertainment!
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