Guide Me O Though Great Jehovah; Immortal,
Invisible, God Only Wise; Finlandia and the 3rd movement of the Karelia
Suite by Jean Sibelius; The Intermezzo from the English Folk Song Suite and
Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus by Ralph Vaughan Williams; The
Queen Bee by the Count Basie Orchestra; Carrion by British Sea
Power: If I were to have a funeral to which people would come and pay their
respects, they’d have to listen to a CD featuring, in an as-yet undecided
order, this selection of tunes. How the Brighton-based purveyors of high-church
amplified rock music came to be in such exalted company is something for
another place and time, but it speaks volumes for them that they are.
As the clock struck midnight at the end of the first day of
GMT, and Sunday became Monday, I arrived home after a tiring and stressful
100-mile round trip to Edinburgh where I had gone to see BSP at the Liquid
Rooms in Victoria Street. I was compelled to make this pilgrimage, not by
warnings that this would be the last tour for some time, but because of the
significance of the venue. On Saturday the 9th of April 2005, the
day Prince Charles eventually married Camilla Parker-Bowles, I hopped on a
train to our nation’s capital on a damp, spring evening for my first live
encounter with a band that the fates and me had conspired to miss on a number
of occasions in the previous couple of years. Was last night’s sojourn the
final chapter in a five and a half year saga of ups and downs and to and fro
and trains and boats and planes (and cars and buses)? I am less sure of the
answer, and less secure in my opinions, than I was when I left home just before
six o’clock.
I witnessed a mature, sensible, polished, yet jolly
performance from a band renowned for its on-stage antics, as much as its music
and its passionate, enthusiastic fans. The Liquid Rooms does not lend itself to
climbing, jumping, stage diving and other frivolities (I have a vague memory
from 2005 of Eamon being trapped at the back of the stage unable to perform his
trademark march around the audience with the big drum) and this has an effect
on the crowd, which was so subdued that I wondered if they'd all been
tranquillised. I didn’t go to the front, to avoid any hearing difficulties but
also to avoid the legendary Bill, but it transpired that he had been ejected
for urinating against a wall. I presume he couldn’t navigate his way to the
toilet. Even one of the staff had no idea where it was!
I arrived too late to see the first support act, Ducks Fly
To Moscow, otherwise known as the band’s guitar tech, Malcolm. I also missed
most of Electric Soft Parade’s set, but they were sounding better than I have
ever heard them. Then it was time.
They opened with Remember Me, not a particularly
inspiring rendition, but sometimes it’s a good idea for a band to get its
best-known song out of the way before a set of more recent material. Next came We
Are Sound, which Scott dedicated to the recently departed Bill. In my
belated, initial appraisal of Valhalla Dancehall, this was one of the
tracks I resolved to ignore in future and it appears I was more than a tad
hasty in arriving at my assessment: having not seen them for over two years, I had not
heard any of the album’s songs live and the stage is where this band and its
songs can come to life and assume totally new personalities. The immediately
recognisable bass introduction to Oh Larsen B was sufficient to warm the
cockles of my cold, dead heart, as it brings back wonderful memories of the
late-2005 tour. They followed this with
Who's In Control?, which, no matter how many times I hear it, is
unlikely to become one of my favourites. Bear from the Zeus EP
followed and, again, I had never heard this track live, and it shone in that
setting. Neil took centre stage for a trio of songs and opened his mini-set
with a complete surprise; Open The Door. I was disappointed not to be
treated to Moley and Me or A Lovely Day Tomorrow, as Open The
Door is not one of my favourite tracks, but it reminds me so much of one
particular gig (New Brighton) and two wonderful people (Deborah and Morgan)
that I can’t complain too much about its inclusion. One of the best tracks on Valhalla
Dancehall came next, Mongk II, a track ideally suited to a live setting. It was one of my highlights of the evening.
I’ve said it before, in other places, that the ‘easy, easy’
chant annoys me, but last night I came to the conclusion that it distracts (and
detracts) from what is one of the best tunes (and lyrics) ever written by Neil
and one of the finest tracks ever recorded by BSP, No
Lucifer. In another, more enlightened world, this song would have been top
of the charts for a long, long time. Next came a song from Open Season,
and one that I will always associate with that night in 2005, North Hanging
Rock, and this was followed by another one of my non-favourites, Living
Is So Easy. It would be ironic if the lyrics weren’t ironic.
Another one I underestimated at the time was Observe The Skies and again my opinion has been changed by hearing it live. This is no bad thing, as it means that I am finally warming to more of what I still believe is a rather incoherent jumble of an album. Their last dip in form occurred, strangely enough, with their second album, the lead single from which was the very Echo and The Bunnymen-like It Ended On An Oily Stage; again, no bad thing, as the Bunnymen were the only band I ever felt similarly about. The (uncharacteristic, and hopefully, temporary) mature, sensible side of the band was obvious during The Spirit Of St. Louis, which was always one of those numbers that provided an excuse for mayhem, both on and off the stage, but not last night. Next came Waving Flags from Do You Like Rock Music and, finally, from the same album, The Great Skua; a flawless performance and a powerful, emotional ending to the set.
After a few minutes, an encore: Apologies To Insect Life, another one of those tunes designed to get the band and audience going; again, not tonight, and finally, Carrion, topped off with All In It.
They think it’s all over. It had better not be.
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