478 YOU ARE HERE, Cold Fusion, Swindon Victoria, Thursday 21 December 2000

So my good friend Tim has finally got his shit together and formed a band of his own, also featuring occasional gig buddies Andy Belcher and Mark Hawkins. I'd missed their debut gig in July thanks to my peritonitis recovery, so I wasn't about to miss this one! So I picked Rachel and her friend Aaron up, hitting the Victoria in Old Town for the first time for a gig, surprisingly so as the Vic is local, and owned by Kev and Nicky Fitzgerald, 2 old friends of mine. Nice to gig in Swindon again, even if this means having to put up with sub-standard local supports such as Cold Fusion, who admittedly started off well with a spritely pop/rock number which recalled Power Of Dreams, but then degenerated into sub Bon Jovi pseudo anthemic stadium dirge, with a few twiddly prog rock flirtations along the way.

Mark had said beforehand that for this, YAH's 2nd only show ever, he was feeling seriously nervy. They took the stage at 10.15 to a busy crowd in this small back room venue, and also to a volley of, "rock cliché!" catcalls from myself, as I'd noted they'd put their single last on their set-list! However - and I'm not saying this because they're mates, I like to think I'm more objective and honest than that, and I've certainly slagged off bands Tim has been in before (Ish!) - they were bloody good straight from the off. Unsurprisingly, given the influences at work, You Are Here have a very American rock sound, but in an intelligent, low-fi way rather than the current power riffery and shouty rap nonsense that passes for US alt rock these days. Surprisingly jangly, prompting thoughts of early REM and their Brummie impersonators Onionhead, they came across as tight, together, well practised and even confident. "Feeling Confused", their Cold Water Flat sound-alike, and self-consciously understated yet almost jolly single "Not A Summer Song" were highlights of the set, and Mark, despite clutching to the mikestand for dear life throughout, didn't seem overly nervy at all.

A thrilling punk rock demolition of Wham's "Last Christmas" was a fun encore, but an odd juxtaposition for a band who have craft, intelligence and lots of potential, and who we should all take more seriously. You Are Here - guys, you are almost there!

479 YOU ARE HERE, Steerpike, Stretchmark Vixen, Swindon Victoria, Sunday 31 December 2000

Amazingly this is the first New Year's Eve gig I've ever been to! So I was happy to welcome in the New Millennium (oh yes, its' this year, not last one...) with some live rock for once! Drove up to the George where the usual suspects were gathering for a night on the piss there and at the boring old Savoy. Yawn. Surprisingly, only Rachel fancied the rock instead, so we left and hit the busy Vic at 9, meeting Tim and crew in the back room, Tim particularly impatient for this set to be over so he could get bladdered!

But this being Swindon, we had to endure some sub-standard local stuff before the cream of the crop. This meant a PJ Harvey wannabee, all light and shade but appropriated and fake screeching angst, and also a bewigged Swedish "Doctor Of Love" laying down some misogynist nonsense even Barry White would've been embarrassed to sing. The appropriation of a Bill Hicks line merely showed him up as mutton dressed as Goat Boy. Main support Steerpike, featuring landlord Kev Fitzgerald on mandolin, at least kicked up some style and talent, but the Levellers politico-fraggle gravy train left this particular station some time ago.

So, to 11, and the main dish of the day. You Are Here kicked the place - and the New Year festivities - off to a T with a great set which was looser and more chaotic than the tight-as-a-gnats-chuff dynamics of 10 days ago, but actually benefitted from it. Mark even let go the white knuckle grip of his mikestand once or twice and indulged in some self-conscious but expressive shapes! And as for the rock, well the understated strum was veering more towards mutant howl tonight, but the tunes and the fun still shone through, as a moshpit, including myself and Rach, frugged our way towards 2001. We had "Not A Summer Song" mid-set this time, following my shouts of "rock cliché!" 10 days ago, and it benefitted from its' new placement (but then I would say that, wouldn't I?). As for the encore, this time we were treated to a new number allegedly written, "last Thursday," but which had a huge American Hi-Fi style riff and hook. One for a single, perhaps, when they finish it!

The guys headed to the bar afterwards for powerful amounts of beer, and I danced in 2001 to some vintage punk rock over the PA. And a bizarre end to the evening as well; after an abortive trip to a New Year's Eve party, we ended up helping Tim take his wildly drunk girlfriend home. After the entertainment You Are Here provided tonight, though, it was the least I could do!

480 Striptwister, Tangible Fruit Squad, YOU ARE HERE, Woking "Boston Experience", Sunday 14 February 2001

Joining an eclectic bunch of bands (Del Amitri, Kingmaker and The Railway Children!) whom I've seen 3 gigs in a row (but still short of U2's 4 in a row record), we're off to see You Are Here again! This is also the first time since his former band 101 days that Tim's managed to persuade me to see one of his bands out of town. Actually he didn't need to do any persuading - I was there like a shot! So Rachel and I headed cross-country to Woking, a less arduous journey than thought - 1 1/2 hours through Bracknell and Bagshot. Easy! Less easy was finding the venue, as we'd parked over the opposite side of the station, then once over the right side, we ignored the venue's dirty great neon sign outside. D'oh!

Met the boys in the venue, a first floor wine bar wannabee with polished beige floor panelling and windows all along one side, giving it the feel of a nouveau riche youth club. Weird! The "Boston Experience" element extended to a smattering of pictures on the wall of Beantown and "The Bruins" Ice Hockey team, including one of their old ground "The Garden". Soundchecking came and went, as we chewed the cud with the boys, and the place filled with a suspiciously older looking clientele. I felt quite young really!

You Are Here were first on, getting the tap on the shoulder at 9. Taking the stage (or corner of the room, as it were), they bounded into their increasingly familiar jangly US-inspired intelligent rock. Despite their criticisms afterwards of not hearing the sound very well "onstage", the mix from where we were was pretty much spot on, clean and clear, with no one instrument dominating. The boys did it full justice with a committed and flaw-free performance. "Not A Summer Song", again mid-set, got me and Rach really throwing shapes with gay abandon, and the triumphant finale, "Trying To Write", with the insistent "On A Rope" grooved riff, the descending bassline and the strident, "yeah yeah" yelp of the chorus, surely must be polished up as their next single. And their increasing stage confidence showed, with Mark actually cutting loose from his mikestand for the "yeah yeah"s!

And we sussed out the true meaning of the "Boston Experience", because, as in Boston, Rach and I were the only ones dancing here as well! Despite that, YAH were very well received, particularly by the vocalist of Cranberries wannabees Striptwister, who gushed approval as we helped the guys pack gear up afterwards.

Stood at the rear for the second band, a bunch of baggy chancers with good musical technique but no togetherness whatsoever, who showed YAH's set up for the fault-free jewel it was by also being beset with technical and sound problems. We didn't stay for Striptwister - we'd heard their soundcheck! Bade farewell then had an equally swift and trouble-free drive home, again extolling the virtues of You Are Here!

493 YOU ARE HERE, plus terribly ham-fisted support, London Kentish Town Bull And Gate, Monday 26 March 2001

Took a late call on this one, hot-footing it up to Kentish Town with Rachel, missing the turning on Camden High Street and taking a lengthy diversion in the process. D'oh! Got there, however, in time to meet up with Tim and co, and chill in the Bull And Gate pub, before scooting through at 9 to see a totally ham-fisted lot play some terrible hackneyed punk metal posturing noise which I have to confess featured one reasonably good Therapy?-ish number.

This is the first time YAH have played in the capital (although not for 101 veteran Tim) and they were obviously keyed up to make an impression. Sometimes, though, this has a habit of backfiring on you, and unfortunately this turned out to be the case tonight. From the moment they took the tall Bull And Gate back room stage they looked nervy and unassured, and made a real hash of the mid-point of opener "Hard To Stop". The next few numbers were subsequently affected, and didn't display the usual You Are Here brightness or dynamism. A couple of new numbers also need rework to turn them into proper YAH songs, as "Confidence In Me" currently sounds too much like an attempt to write a Midway Still song, and "Sick Of It All" like a Chris Colbourn Buffalo Tom track.

However, I'm happy to report they pulled it back at the end. "Happy" had its' usual tension, choppy guitar verses and strident chorus; final newie "Far Cry" was the best (and most YAH-ish!) of the new numbers, and they couldn't mess up "Trying To Write" with its' insistent punk rock guitar groove and insanely jolly "yeah yeah" choral yelps, if they tried! Especially as Andy had introduced a descending bass-line into the fadeout, as per my recommendation!

Afterwards, they were all apologies, and realistic that this one was a bit of a duff show, but took heart during my chats with them (individually and collectively) that they can learn and improve from it. After all, they've been top notch before, so it's easy to get back there! This one then turned out to be somewhat surreally like Seafood's Fleece gig last year, insofar as people who'd seen them for the first time tonight were still impressed, but we know they're better than this, and that's a good thing!

500 Slap, YOU ARE HERE, London Islington "Red Eye", Thursday 19 April 2001

Another big gig landmark reached - I'm halfway to the thousand now! However, I didn't have too much time to contemplate this landmark, as I was too busy manhandling a hired 12 seater Transit van (which I'd offered to do as a favour for the You Are Here boys) with dodgy locks, a crappy gearbox and a soft brake pedal. D'oh! Still, after anticipating a long journey down, and subsequently meeting everyone at the Footplate for a 4.45 departure, we had a really good traffic-free run to Islington, parking outside the venue at 1/4 to 7! Met the YAH boys as they finished soundchecking, and decamped to the splendidly named "Lark In The Park"!

Rachel joined us after her meeting in Ipswich, and we heard that YAH had got bumped down the bill, so left the pub at 8.30 for their 8.45 start. After eventually getting Mark to take the stage at this scuzzy little venue (the essence of rock'n'roll!), You Are Here got started with upbeat opener "Happy". And from the opening bars, and their general relaxed demeanour, it was evident they'd addressed the nervousness that dogged their recent Kentish Town gig. The old confidence and togetherness was back, and they pretty much nailed the first 3 numbers perfectly, sounding more guitarry, upfront and dynamically rocking than in recent shows. "Not A Summer Song", was however a bit disjointed, but its general bounciness won over, and didn't affect the momentum. "Confidence In Me", now reworked as a Midway Still-esque high adrenaline punkish romp, was much more like it, and "Hard To Stop" sounded hard edged and dynamic. The jewel in the crown, as ever, was closer "Trying To Write", the insistent beat the backdrop for some happy "yeah yeah" yelps delivered by Mark, shorn of his mike-stand comforter, as it had broken a couple of numbers previously!

All in all, a fine, in your face, harder edged set from a band learning from experience and putting it into practice pretty quickly. And well worth the accolade of my 500th gig!

Next band on, Slap, featured a statuesque blonde punkette as vocalist, but peddled a weak jazz/ ska melange. By then, however, I was planning the route home. And we hit the road at 10.30, joined by Rach and vocalist Mark, plus a big amp! I finally hit the hay at 2.30 am, after roadworks in London, toilet stops, dropping my passengers off at their homes, then realising the van's back door wouldn't lock so dragging Tim out of bed at 2 am to come pick his amp up! An eventful - but enjoyable overall - gig 500!

505 YOU ARE HERE, Cold Fusion, Swindon Victoria, Thursday 17 May 2001

You Are Here's triumphant return to gig action in their home town - and I'm late on parade! Domestic issues dispensed with, I hit the venue at 9.45, in time to catch the dying throes of the support band's Bon Jovi-isms. Persuaded the Big Man out of the bar and into the back-room venue by virtue of the DJ playing 3 songs by The Skids in a row over the PA! Cool!

Had more vintage punk over the PA before You Are Here came on at 10.30. They took some time to settle to their task after a surprisingly nervy start and a couple of missed beats from Alan, but worked their way through, and after a shambolic "Summer Song" which saw Alan indulging in completely different drum patterns than usual, much to Tim's surprise, they settled back in and totally nailed next number "Confidence In Me", now sounding the finished article in amphetamine-urgent punky thrashes. "Far Cry" suffered a little from Tim and Alan surprisingly abstaining from backing vocals in the strident chorus, leaving Mark to quickly change octaves and do his own backing vocals! However set closers "Hard To Stop" and the inevitably superb "Trying To Write" were much more like it; melodic, upfront, confident US-alt influenced rock, with Mark on top of his game and untangling himself from the mikestand. Encore "Ordinary Day", despite still being half-formed, was well-constructed and well-delivered, boding well for the future. All in all, not their best, but still an enjoyable and well delivered set which got me up and dancing anyway!

528 YOU ARE HERE, Phase Rotate, Swindon Victoria, Thursday 13 September 2001

I thought I'd give my new boots a debut rock gig, then nearly regretted it when I had to park in a small space and kept hitting both pedals with my very chunky boot sole! Nevertheless, I sorted it out, and Rachel and I met up with YAH guitarist and good friend Tim in the pub. Chatted while the support band plied their dull AOR sounding trade in the back room. We actually ventured in to check them out for a couple of numbers; and quickly wished we hadn't bothered! However, they were running late which meant You Are Here didn't get onstage until 10.30.

The band, now featuring new bassist Liam, took a couple of numbers to settle back in; "Confidence In You", with its Midway Still-esque stop/start riffery, sounded a little rushed, and they made their usual mess of "Not A Summer Song", Tim this time the culprit with some spectacularly off-key guitar work! However they settled during a fine "Feeling Confused" and delivered a fine sounding and rocking set. The guitar sound dominated the mix and lent a harder edge to their sometimes introspective pop, and new guy Liam is obviously a veteran of this type of thing, relaxed and confident onstage, throwing some quips around between songs and giving a more visual dynamic to this often static band by jumping about and throwing shapes. This even rubbed off on Mark, the normally static vocalist abandoning the mikestand and prowling around the stage staring menacingly at the floor.

Newie "Ordinary Day" was the highlight, perhaps their best song yet, with a more sophisticated, Sebadoh-like construction, and "Trying To Write" the breathless set finale, before encore "Hard To Stop" closed the evening. You Are Here are well warmed up for next week's big Garage show, and on this form should impress. Keep reading...

529 YOU ARE HERE, Isaacs, Redman, London Highbury Garage (Upstairs), Tuesday 25 September 2001

Not working at the moment, so spent the day in London shopping in Camden, before meeting Rachel (who's working up the Smoke this week) and heading over to Highbury Corner for 7, grabbing some dinner at the Old Cock Tavern (a pub I can't go into without thinking about the Gigolo Aunts!) then hitting the venue at 8.15.

Took a seat as the place filled up and Redman opened. They were good; a dynamic young singer reminiscent of Talk Talk's Mark Hollis, and one very good sinewy and spooky number reminiscent of Joy Division. A promising start. You Are Here and the Swindon supporters coach arrived as second band Isaacs were on, boring us all witless with their Oasis impressions (even with a bank of keyboards!).

Swindon's You Are Here - guitarist Tim and vocalist Mark in particular suffering with colds - kicked off at 10.15, rushing through "Confidence In You" and for once playing a good "live" version of "Not A Summer Song"! The sound was a little uneven - the dynamic guitar sound of the last gig was occasionally absent - but overall the boys rose above their illnesses, laughed off their odd errors (a good thing!)and played well on a tight and small stage, which obviously restricted any movements. However, Mark once again let go of the mikestand and the band rocked out, "Ordinary Day" now sounding spot on, and the punky "Trying To Write" finale receiving a huge roar of approval. Good stuff! Then I saw Rach into a cab back to her digs, and joined the YAH coach home!

580 YOU ARE HERE, Ipanema, Swindon Victoria, Thursday 21 November 2002

The threat of rain drove us to drive up the hill to this one! Lazy, but there you go. Met Tim and Mark before popping downstairs to catch Ipanema, Wiz from Mega City Four's new band. Despite being the wrong side of 40 these days, and with the salad days of MC4's Top 40 hits some years behind him, Wiz nevertheless still retains an admirable enthusiasm for playing rock'n'roll music, evidenced by his willingness to haul ass to Swindon to support a local band in front of half a dozen people on a school night! Ipanema retained the usual Wiz formula of amphetamine-fast rock with helium-fuelled vocals, but like MC4 before them, failed to make a lasting impression on me.

You Are Here were next up at 10.15. This was the first time I'd seen YAH since former drummer Al's departure from the drum stool, and the subsequent recruitment of a new drummer and bassist as "musicians" rather than mates. This seems to have coincided with a shift in attitude from both Tim and Mark, as the new numbers debuted tonight showed an increased maturity and confidence, whilst retaining YAH's obvious 90's US alt-rock influences. Also, this was reflected in the performance; "Ordinary Day" was great, and the brooding "Far Cry" never sounded better. Mark is transforming into a confident sounding frontman, and his vocal performance - particularly on Posies cover "I May Hate You Sometimes" - has benefited.

However, there's a ways to go; on occasions the new bassist sounded understated to the point of invisibility, and conversely Mr. Drummer threatened to take over the show, turning "Hard To Stop" into a drum exhibition, over-complicating and suffocating the song in the process. Very much a "work in progress", this new You Are Here need more gigs to bed in the new line-up and find their identity. Good luck to them!

583 YOU ARE HERE, Swindon Victoria, Thursday 20 March 2003

Easing slowly back into the gig swing of things still; this time it's a jaunt up the Vic to see Swindon faves (and our friends, of course) You Are Here! Drove up the hill with Rachel and got to a quiet Victoria at 9, meeting Tim and Mark up there. Chatted while the local (and poor sounding) support were on.

YAH are in danger of over-playing the Vic - there were only about a dozen of us present when the boys eventually took the stage at 10.15, and those were mainly family and friends! Nevertheless, YAH again showed potential and some improvement from their previous gig here, last November. The new boys sounded more like part of the band, and Mark in particular has grown in confidence, becoming a focal point and performer as well as vocalist, especially during Posies cover "I May Hate You Sometimes", and set closer "Goodbye". YAH - slowly realising their full potential; a shame more people weren't there to see it!

587 Four Kings, YOU ARE HERE, Northern Girl, White Knuckle, London Camden The Verge, Thursday 10 April 2003

Despite obvious fatigue, we're off to another gig, the third in 3 nights. We're troupers - John Dragonetti said so! So, we're off in this organised mini-van supporting Swindon's own You Are Here, our friend Tim's band. Took a circuitous route to Camden, arriving at this toilet-circuit venue just as the opening trio were completing their painfully loud and crap set. Larked around while second band Northern Girl - a trio of presumably Northern girls and a sheepish-looking bloke drummer - plied their innocuously St. Etienne-like strummy pop onstage. Nice, but really not the type of music you want to listen to when you're fighting to stay awake!

You Are Here, on just after 10, were much more like it. Kicking off with the strum-along, groovy "Down To Me", they delivered the best - and best-sounding - set of the last 3 occasions I've seen them with the new line-up. Clear, concise and together, and with the new drummer sounding more like a band member than a virtuoso solo-ist, this was the sound of a young band starting to come together. "Hard To Stop" was much more straightforward than of late, and closer "Goodbye" saw a fine vocal performance from young Mark.

Hung out outside with Tim afterwards before catching some of the baggy-ish headliners, then leaving halfway through their set for another circuitous journey - home this time!

634 "Boston Rock Promotions" presents THE PILLS, YOU ARE HERE, Swindon Broadwalk, Sunday 23 May 2004

"Boston Rock Promotions" presents the Pills? Well, that's Rachel and myself! After 24 years and 633 gigs as a fan, I'm finally helping to put one on! Taking advantage of an opportunity - The Pills were in the UK and mainman, and Boston friend, Corin Ashley, asked about gig possibilities in Swindon; finding little enthusiasm from the people I approached, I finally thought, "why not do it ourselves? How hard can it be?"

The answer? Not too hard at all actually! Corin suggested a free date in the Pills' UK schedule, we got the venue for free as they're not normally open on a Sunday but were happy to open for bar takings from a guaranteed audience, Tim's band acted as both support and equipment/drumkit providers for the light-travelling Pills, Tim also offered to put a couple of the band up for the night (as did we). Tim also recommended a soundman (who I duly hired for £150 guaranteed), I ghost-wrote a piece for the Swindon Advertiser, my brother offered to be "Larry Lights", friend Stuart Gould's company did posters, flyers and tickets for a discount, and we were all systems go!

So, we headed on down to the venue at 4.30 on the big day, to find the sound guy already unloading! Tim's band arrived shortly thereafter, and my brother arrived at 5.30 with some impressive light-rigs. Got the call at 5.45 that The Pills were in town (Corin serenading me on the mobile with "The Boys Are Back In Town"!) so I duly greeted them from the station, then brought them back to the venue which was ready for their soundcheck. Popped home briefly with my brother during the soundcheck (to get the ring - more later!), then headed back to the venue. The Pills' soundcheck was done by then, so we gave them a nice surprise; a letter from XTC's Colin Moulding, delivered to the venue, wishing them well for the gig! This, needless to say, bowled Corin over somewhat, but wasn't the only XTC-related incident that night...

Doors opened at 7, so Rach and I took turns on the door, as the punters - mainly our friends whom we'd sold tickets to - arrived. I stayed as "Norman The Doorman" during You Are Here's support set at 8.30. The sound, a little loud and lairy during soundcheck in the empty venue, was sorted for the set and from my door vantage point sounded pretty damn good. You Are Here belied their expected ring-rust and delivered a slick, professional and enthusiastically-rendered set of their 90's US Alt-rock influenced pop. As usual, shades of Buffalo Tom and Sebadoh, but with less of the nervousness of yore, particularly from vocalist "The Hawk". I danced with Rach to a perfectly-executed and heartfelt "I May Hate You Sometimes", which ironically served as a perfect prelude for what was to come...

So, just before the Pills were due on, I dragged Rach onstage under the pretext of jointly introducing the band, then got down on one knee and, to a couple of incredulous gasps from the audience, asked her to marry me! Luckily she said, "yes!" Incredible!

So, after that little bit of thunder-stealing, we actually did jointly introduce The Pills, who broke into a perfectly-timed "Halifax", as Rach and I accepted - and fended off - congratulations from all and sundry down the front. The Pills were "on it" from the outset, and belted through the first five numbers with their trademark non-stop amphetamine fast enthusiasm and intensity. Sounding perfect - how does our soundman not do this for a living? - and playing with a frenzied full-on throttle speed, the Pills won over this Swindon crowd with their blend of upbeat, very idiosyncratically English (Kinks, XTC and Costello evident influences) yet swaggeringly American pop.

"Engagements happen all the time at our gigs," said vocalist Dave Thompson, somewhat inaccurately, before "Apologise", dedicated to us. A splendid "Rub My Eyes" was introduced by Dave as, "a song I wrote about my wife," before he then introduced the flippant "Continental Breakfast" as, "a song I wrote about his (guitarist Dave Aaranoff's) wife!"

The hour-plus set dashed by far too soon, but we dragged them back onstage for a couple of encores - "Butternut", as requested by none other than Holly Partridge (Andy Partridge's daughter, who in the other XTC-related incident tonight had shown up, introduced herself to Corin and gotten the Pills in a right old state, phoning her dad and getting him to talk to them!), and an unexpected, unhinged and raucous run-through David Bowie's "Suffragette City". A great climax to undoubtedly the show of the year, and one of the greats of all time.

The one hitch I was panicking about came afterwards - guest Pills drummer Matt from Bleu, apparently a "soft hitter" according to my watching brother, a drummer himself, had managed to crack YAH drummer Danny's large crash cymbal, so the £120 clear profit we'd made - which we'd originally planned to give to The Pills, had to go towards that instead. D'oh! But this didn't detract from an extraordinary night.

Back to ours afterwards, where we cracked open the celebratory sparkling wine kindly provided by the venue, then talked Boston Rock with the boys until the small hours. Then after a short nights sleep, we all met up for breakfast in the Grove's Company Inn (except Corin, who'd caught a train in the morning to see his mum, also visiting the UK!) before the boys left on the midday train.

God bless The Pills, the musical accompaniment to one of the most important nights of my life. Incredible!

653 MIDWAY STILL, You Are Here, Swindon Victoria, Saturday 5 February 2005

After a lot of badgering by Tim, Midway Still finally return to Swindon for their first gig since their "last ever", first time around. So we were up for a bit of Still tomfoolery, and managed to drag quite a few people out for it as well!

Hung out in the Vic awhile, mainly taking the piss out of the Big Man's massive new t-shirt, before joining the assembled punters, mums and dads (!) for You Are Here's first gig since their Pills support. They again belied any ring-rustiness they may have had, delivering a very together set despite poor sound. Mark seems a completely different frontperson from the mikestand-clutching waif of yore; showing a nice line in fancy footwork during "Feeling Confused", not getting fazed when forgetting lyrics during an excellent "I May Hate You Sometimes", and ranting away like a good 'un during set closer "Goodbye", this was probably his best frontperson performance yet. And ably backed up by Tim and Co. with some rocking US college pop-influenced stuff.

Old favourites the Still were on at 10.30, tuning up with some Sabbath style heavy riffery before blasting into an ear-splitting "Counting Days". they also were beset with sound problems - particularly the bass - but attacked the set with venom and fire. A couple of new numbers augmented the set, drawn otherwise mainly from early 90's post-grunge Dinosaur Jr./ Husker Du influenced debut LP "Dial Square". Slack, fucked up laze rock at its' noisiest and most dynamic, capped with a vicious "You Made Me Realise", despite a false start.

Had a quick chat with Still mainman Paul Thompson after my 11th Still experience - he complimented my Damn Personals "Our Rock Will Fuck You" t-shirt. You know, that slogan is just as appropriate for the Still!