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Blog Archive: March 2019

Last Of The Summer Winos
On Sunday night I headed into London's glittering West End... well, London's glistening Bloomsbury, which is quite close, to see Mr B Fischer and Mr AT Smith in their show Last Of The Summer Winos at The Museum Of Comedy. ABSTRACT: it was dead good.

The Museum Of Comedy is a RIGHT funny old place, tho possibly not ENTIRELY in the way intended. It's the CRYPT of a Church and it is FULL of comedy memorabilia, which altogether gives it the air of a rather odd Church Jumble Sale. There seem to be a LOT of over-sized papier-mache heads of long dead comedians seemingly dumped on the back of chairs, and vaguely remembered props dangle from walls. I think a guided tour would be a MAGICAL thing to do, but failing that it's a tiny bit creepy!

It's still a GRATE place to see a show though - the sense of being in a damp cave makes it feel like you're in Edinburgh, and the room where the gig actually happens is fab. This show began with Bob and Drew coming in and shaking hands with everybody before offering round a tin of biscuits and then making cups of tea for those who wanted it. They also clearly indicated that this was NOT the official start of the show, which I am very much in favour of!

The basis of the whole thing was their BLOG where they have been watching every episode of 'Last Of The Summer Wine' from the very start, considering the growth of the characters and even, as the show itself pointed out, the wider transmedia aspects of the universe created. I mean, it all sounds MAD to me - what kind of LOONIE would want to spend years blogging about an entire fictional series in the original order to investigate character development and transmedia? KRAZY!

It was an extremely interesting, also funny, and especially AMIABLE evening in which they argued very forcefully for 'Last Of The Summer Wine' NOT being the boring, claustrophobic, OLD PEOPLE's show that I remember it as (largely due to watching it as a teenager round at my Nan's) but instead a British comedy classic with much richer THEMES and characters. It is the greatest tribute I can pay to this show that it actually made me want to go back and WATCH the programme again on purpose!

The most INTERESTING FACT was the SHOCK REVELATION that there was NEVER an episode with the three main characters going downhill in a tin bath! The idea that there WAS comes from a) an episode where Compo went downhill ALONE in a PORCELAIN bath and b) a BBC licence fee advert starring Reeves & Mortimer (and Matt Lucas) as "Three Blokes In A Bath". Well I never!

Also excellent was the fact that they had an INTERVAL halfway through - a normal Fringe show lasts for an hour which is just about fine when you're a) a gentleman of a certain age who b) has had a pint, but for an EXTENDED show like this one it was essential, and looking round the audience, most of whom were a) gentlemen of a certain age who b) had had a pint, it was very grateful received!

In summary then this was a funny and INFORMATIVE show that CARED for its audience by supplying refreshments and regular comfort breaks. If there is a higher recomendation for an evening out I have yet to hear it!

posted 27/3/2019 by MJ Hibbett
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We Went To See England
On Friday after work I went to the PUB to meet my Step-Father Mr CM Smith, for LO! we were FINALLY going to redeem the VOUCHER what we gave him for his 70th birthday some NINE months ago, and go to Wembley to see ENGLAND!!

We had a pint and then some tea before heading off to get the Metropolitan line to Wembley along with approx 9,000,000 other people. I thought we had PLENTY of time to get there, but the train took AGES and then it was the usual slow stagger down Wembley Way to get to the ground. Halfway along there was a big sign saying "BAG CHECKS" so I dutifully went over to get someone to check mine, and was told that it was "too big" and would have to be placed in the special Bag Storage Place. This, apparently, was "in that car park" but when we went to look the car park contained only cars. "Sod this", I thought, and put my rucksack on UNDERNEATH my coat. As we got closer to the ground I felt a bit NERVOUS about getting DONE, but also quite relieved when I heard other people complaining bitterly about having to pay a TENNER to put a bag in the "cloakroom". When we got to the gates I leant backward, thinking this would make me look like a fat man with unusually forward legs, and continued in this pose while I was FRISKED by security. I felt quite the REBEL when I got through, although it did make me wonder QUITE how good security is.

The game had already been going for a couple of minutes when we got in, so it was a rush to get sat down, which meant that it took a while to fully appreciate WHERE we were. I've been to Wembley TWICE before, both times to see Posh, both times VICTORIOUS, but I'd never been right down at near ground level before. We were 17 rows back from the pitch, more or less in the same spot we sit when we go to Posh, and the pitch looked WEIRDLY the same size. I mean, I know it IS the same size, but when you see international football on telly it looks MUCH bigger, but here there were a bunch of normal sized blokes haring around who, every so often, you realised were REALLY famous. "He's got a Dele Alli haircut," I thought. "Oh. He IS Dele Alli."

In retrospect the game itself was GRATE, but at the time I had assumed my usual attitude at The Football of sitting there unimpressed. This is because I have been to a LOT of unimpressive football matches, often with the aforementioned Mr CM Smith, during which we sit quietly, occasionally go "What was THAT about" and more often try and work out why the referee blew the whistle just then when we weren't paying attention. THIS time however there were Actual Silky Skills on display, and the team WE were supporting were the ones that HAD them! I was very much hoping Raheem Stirling would score, because I think he is dead good, and CRIKEY he scored THREE of them! There was much cheering, and indeed some jumping around.

After it was all over and we'd eventually got back to Kings Cross to catch our respective trains there was time for a Swift Half in the station pub, where they were showing a replay of the match on telly. It was weird, because it LOOKED like what it always does on the telly, but NOT how I remembered it. Also, it looked REALLY EXCITING - and I realised that I had actually BEEN there, and suddenly got a late delivery of all the excitement that had accrued over the evening. I mean, COR! We actually went to see England!

posted 26/3/2019 by MJ Hibbett
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People's Vote March
On Saturday The Words On My Placard and I headed into central London to do some ACTIVISM by attending The People's Vote March.

The aforementioned Stops On My Tube Line suggested that instead of going for the announced NOON gathering at Marble Arch we instead aim to get to Green Park just after 1pm and join the march there, thus avoiding the usual interminable waiting about and then AGONISINGLY SLOW shuffle down Park Lane. This turned out to be a GRATE idea, and one shared by several hundred other people, who all came out of the station at the same time as us!

The march itself was ENORMOUS. We are more used to going on Anti-Badger Cull demoes, which have a slightly more SELECT crowd, but this felt like half the country was there. We had out "I (heart) EU" banners ready, and it was fun to look around and see all the creativity that had gone into everybody else's. Doing "funny" banners seems to have become a THING at demos over the past few years, and it is something I SUPPORT, not least because it gives you something to look at while you're trudging along. It was also VERY noticeable that there were no SWP or similar banners this time (as I guess they are, for reasons I am obviously too FALSE CONSCIENCED to understand, pro-Brexit) but instead a wide array of anger and GAGS. There was also a wide array of PEOPLE (and children, and dogs) of all sizes, shapes, colours and backgrounds. The weirdest thing about the day was when I kept seeing POSH people and I'd assume that they were somehow lost, but then one of them would turn out to be carrying a "Piss Off Farage" placard.

We shuffled along to Trafalgar Square and then stopped on Whitehall to eat our sandwiches, which meant we got to stand and watch as LITERALLY THOUSANDS of people marched past us. It was remarkable what GOOD HUMOUR everybody was in - Billy Bragg has said that the point of a demo is to remind everyone that they are not alone, and GOODNESS ME but that was certainly the case here. We were ALL doing this together and it was lovely!

We got up to as far as Downing Street, but couldn't get any closer to Parliament Square where the main speeches were being given. However, we DID get close to a video screen, where we heard Caroline Lucas be ACE, and then got close enough to SEE Tom Watson be... well, let's say "slightly disingenuous" about whose fault it all was. I'm PRETTY SURE he voted FOR Article 50 and AGAINST the People's Vote didn't he? Still, at least it was NICE to see SOMEBODY from the Labour front bench there.

THAT, however, was pretty much the only slightly sour note in what was otherwise a LOVELY afternoon's stroll amongst like-minded and DELIGHTFUL people. I don't know if it'll do any good - I have no doubt Express Columnists will claim we were all RUSSIAN BOTS, and I was amused to see twits on twitter saying we were ALL MIDDLE CLASS just for being there - but it's heartening to know that at least we made our opinions known. In the words of so many poets, FUCK BREXIT!

posted 25/3/2019 by MJ Hibbett
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The Tour Is Over
After our Cocktails And Pie exploits in Sheffield the other week Mr M Tiller went looking for Pieminster Pie Outlets in That London, and was delighted to discover that The Hope in Fitzrovia, just a few minutes round the corner from The King & Queen, was one such purveyor. So it was that we met at half past five (or half past PIES as he said!) for a celebratory end of tour PIE. I had mine with Swede and Carrot Mash - goodness knows what me aged 8 would have thought if he'd known I'd ever eat such a thing by choice, but it was DEAD nice!

We then went round to the King & Queen where Totally Acoustic was scheduled to happen, and were extremely pleased to find Mr S Hewitt already there. The three of us went upstairs, got the room set up, and then settled into waiting for our audience to arrive. To my GRATE delight the audience DID arrived, and so at around 7:40pm Matt went on and did his FINAL set for the tour.

It was, as ever ACE, if only slightly spoiled by some berk singing along quietly with every song hem hem. Halfway through the set Matt presented Jann, TOUR SUPERFAN, with a bottle of 7-Up to mark the fact that he had been to all SEVEN gigs, and also the promise of a TOUR MUG! He'd done one for me too but they hadn't arrived yet - they look FAB!

As I said several times last night, touring with Matt has been BRILLO. I have been blessed - BLESSED - over the years to have toured with some Very Good Eggs, many of whom even turned up to see us on THIS tour, and Matt is very much welcome within that particular pantheon of HEROES. The FABNESS of his sets is only a tiny part of the joy of this tour, especially compared to the Excellent Organisation, Ongoing Chats, and of course PIES that have been such a part of it. Several people last night asked if there was anything that had happened that WASN'T on the blog - they claimed that sometimes on my blog they can read between the lines and see where I have OMITTED certain things, which I of course could not comment upon - but for this tour there honestly hasn't been. It's all been fun! HOORAH!

Anyway, after Matt we had a short break and then I done THIS:
  • Rock & Roll Mayhem
  • Cheer Up Love
  • An Office Ballad
  • I Don't Have To Worry About That
  • Say It With Words
  • Someone Else's Turn
  • Chips And Cheese, Pint Of Wine
  • I'm Doing The Ironing
  • You're A Tory Now
  • Come On Apocalypse
  • Hey Hey 16K
  • Two Blokes, One Pub
  • The Peterborough All-Saints Wide Game Team (group B)

    There was a WHOLE LOT of new songs in there, and a COMPLETELY re-written version of Rock & Roll Mayhem which I wrote especially for the evening (with an A3 sized lyric sheet to help me through it!). I started off with a BIT that I'd thought of that morning, saying that I had listened to the British people and heard them when they said they were TIRED of me forgetting my words, that I was on their side, and blamed it all entirely on the bar staff downstairs. I mention this now because I'm pretty sure that in a few weeks we will all have entirely forgotten Theresa May's speech and have no idea what I was on about!

    The rest of the gig seemed to all go well and when I'd finished the main set Matt very kindly encouraged an encore. "Come back and do a few more," he said. Steve, I feel, spoke for the Will Of The People by saying "Do ONE more", which was very wise. We all needed a wee and/or another drink by then!

    All that remained was to sit around having a natter, try out some whisky (turns out they make ACTUALLY NICE whisky in the Cotswolds, who knew?) and then say our final farewells. It has been a BLOODY LOVELY tour all round - thanks to everyone who came, and especially thanks to Mr M Tiller who suggested it. Let's do it again some time!

    posted 22/3/2019 by MJ Hibbett
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    Lost In Bristol
    Another week, another ROCK show!

    One of the (many) GRATE things about doing a weekly tour, I am finding, is that you get into a right good RHYTHM. Last Thursday night I packed my bags with the usual assortment of clothes, toileteries, MERCH and laptop, took it all to work on Friday, and then just after lunchtime left for Paddington where I got the train to Bristol, got slightly lost (as is THE LAW when arriving at Bristol Temple Meads), found the Premier Inn I'd booked in, had a shower, and then set off for the venue. I have done much the same on SEVERAl gigs so far, and it is a lovely way to travel!

    The venue this time was the New Bristol Brewery, which was ACE. I was told when I arrived that I shouldn't worry, it was much nicer inside than it looked from the outside, and it WAS. Outside it was an industrial unit on a dark street, inside was a lovely warm bar that was part of an Actual Genuine Real Brewery. Everyone was VERY friendly too, even giving us a LOT of free beer through the evening - the 'If Bristol Could Talk' beer was described as FRESH and it really was, it was delicious!

    Matt and I soundchecked, then we were joined by the ever delightful Mr Gavin Osborn, who I had not seen for AGES. We were ALSO joined by a LOT of other people - the bar had a 75 person capacity, and we'd sold 68 (!) tickets which, with door sales and guests, meant it ended up being a SELLOUT!

    Gav went on first, and as it was his first gig in about three months he decided to do a HITS set and OH MY but what hits they were - singing along with 'Albert' and all the others reminded me of just how GRATE he is, to the extent that I worried about following him. Still, on I went and did THIS:
  • 20 Things To Do Before You're 30
  • Hibbett's Golden Rules Of Beer
  • Can We Be Friends?
  • Come On Apocalypse
  • I Don't Have To Worry About That
  • You're A Tory Now
  • Cheer Up Love
  • Chips And Cheese, Pint Of Wine
  • In The North Stand
  • Two Blokes, One Pub
  • It Only Works Because You're here
  • The Lesson Of The Smiths
  • It went pretty well I think - I was very pleased to do TWO (2) songs that I'd not done before, and there was much happy singing along throughout, but there was some Heavy Lifting for me. I think it was because of the venue's TIN ROOF, which meant that ANY talking ANYWHERE, even at the bar, got amplified, which meant that anybody else who wanted to say something to their neighbour had to SPEAK UP, and so gradually throughout the set the volume of talking got louder. It wasn't like people were being RUDE or anything, but by the end it did make it difficult to be heard - as in so many cases, I believe DRAPES would be the answer here!

    I was followed by the MAGNIFICENT Mr Tiller, who was GRATE as always, even including a song that I had not heard before, on this tour or elsewhere, and a proper actual encore too! It all finished WELL before closing so there was time for YET MORE beer, including a BROWN ALE that tasted a) a bit like cola and also b) DELICIOUS, and also some CHAT with the lovely people who had come down. I think I must have caught a cold, or possibly been hit on the head with a heavy object at some point though, as when I left the building I found myself slightly CONFUSED, and it took about twice as long to get back to the hotel as it did going. I can think of no other explanation!

    In summary then, gigs in Breweries a) are GRATE though b) may require DRAPES, while touring is just FAB in general. Only one date left now, at Totally Acoustic on Thursday. I'm going to miss all this when it's done!

    posted 18/3/2019 by MJ Hibbett
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    Talking about Spectrums
    I was up and about early on Saturday morning to head to SURBITON which, despite my suspicions, turns out to be an actual place rather than a comedy made-up name. I don't know, first Croydon turns out to be real, now Surbiton - perhaps that package holiday to Narnia wasn't such a daft idea after all?

    I was there to meet Professor Will Brooker and a couple of other Gentleman Of A Certain Age/Inclination to talk about people's memories of ZX SPECTRUMS for a film what Will is making. He said in his email that we should meet in reception and that we'd recognise each other by being the oldest people there. He was not wrong about this.

    We spent the next few hours walking from floor to floor in the building. Kingston University (where we were) has colour coded FLOORS, and each room has at least one wall painted the colour of its floor, I guess so you always know where you are, as otherwise they all look exactly the same. His cunning idea was to film each of us talking against the backdrop of one of these coloured walls, again (I imagine) to make us (mostly) middle-aged white men look a bit different to each other, and also to echo the screen colours of the Spectrum. Having seen some screen shots later on I must say this was a GRATE idea!

    We each did a brief interview on a different floor, keeping the three of us together throughout. This made it all feel a lot more comfortable, especially when you were the one talking as you could see the others nodding along with you. In between the interviews there were LENGTHY periods of us all just talking about ZX Spectrums, and most of THAT was someone saying the name of a game and the rest of us REMEMBERING. Saying "Dun Darach" or "Pyjamarama" OUT LOUD felt incredibly DECADENT, as these were SECRET WORDS that none of us had spoken out loud for DECADES. My BRANE started to hurt after a while as it was continually being forced to go and dig out information it hadn't accessed this entire century, but it was all a LOT of fun, and made me want to dash home and get an emulator running!

    Once we were all done the four of us popped round the corner for a coffee, where much the same thing continued. The only sad thing really is that the film isn't due to be finished and shown until the futuristic space year 2022 - I don't know if I can wait that long!

    posted 13/3/2019 by MJ Hibbett
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    Latveria In The Cold War
    I took the day off work last Wednesday, to go to... well, to go to UAL, where I work, but for a different reason than usual. For LO! I was heading to the London College Of Communication to spend the day at a conference about Transnational Comics.

    It was DEAD GOOD - there were lots of interesting talks, my favourite being the keynote given by Dr Ian Horton about Donald Duck in The Netherlands. Walt Disney comics are still hugely popular in Europe, and he showed how in a single issue there were stories taken from four or five different countries, also different time periods, with different backgrounds showing markedly different places. He talked about the weirdness of Donald sometimes clearly being Dutch and knowing how things worked, and sometimes clearly NOT, as well as how the different time periods all seemed to happen simultaneously. It was MOST INTERESTING, and I reckon gives a pretty good idea of what this Transnationalism is really ABOUT.

    I was doing a presentation myself, about how portrayals of Latveria (Doctor Doom's fictional homeland) changed over the course of the Cold War. It was an adaptation of a talk I did nearly two years ago, and it was a VERY different experience doing it this time. The original version had been my first comics presentation, so I STUFFED it full of quotations and footnotes, and read most of it off a piece of paper. Since then I've realised that it's actually better to SUMMARISE and express the BIG POINTS from a place of KNOWLEDGE i.e. have an idea what you are on about and what you want to say, but instead of working it all out like a SPEECH, use the SLIDES to guide yourself through it, more like a GIG.

    This way is a bit more NERVE-WRACKING but does involve a lot less LEARNING of text, and also tends to be a lot more entertaining to watch, I reckon, and it all seemed to go pretty well. The only downside of it was that, originally, I was meant to be doing a PAPER based on the original presentation but, after getting EXTENSIVE feedback from the peer reviewers, I'd decided not to. Now I'm thinking maybe I should! CURSES!

    posted 12/3/2019 by MJ Hibbett
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    Taking ROCK To Manchester
    I haven't played many times in Manchester, and so I wasn't sure what to expect when I headed off for this gig on Thursday, but my hopes of a GRATE night were raised when I arrived in town and received a text from my colleague Mr M Tiller informing me that we had ALREADY sold EIGHTEEN tickets! I know this is not quite Coldplay levels, but I am always amazed when ANYBODY books a ticket in advance (what if you can't go? why risk a fiver?!?) so was DELIGHTED!

    I was even more happy to arrive at the venue, Gulliver's, and find that it was DEAD NICE. Matt had got the PA system set up, and then we enjoyed the traditional 10 minutes of trying to get the lights to work before having to call the landlord in to stop the whole thing flashing on and off like a DISCO RAVE PARTY.

    I keep saying that the nicest thing about going back on the road is that you meet old chums, and this was entirely true again, notably with Ms E Pemberton and Ms C Birkby rolling up. There was time for some chat and a pint but then I had to go and sit on the DOOR - I really like doing the door at gigs, especially when we're also doing the lights and the sound and everything, it makes it feel as if the room is OURS for the duration! Matt went out and SCOOPED up everybody, and then it was time for me to go on and do THIS:
  • The Peterborough All-Saints Wide Game Team (group B)
  • Say It With Words
  • Cheer Up Love
  • Another Man's Laundry (hanging on your line)
  • Billy Jones Is Dead
  • The Perfect Love Song
  • You're A Tory Now
  • Two Blokes, One Pub
  • 20 Things To Do Before You're 30
  • I Did A Gig In New York

  • I had a BLOODY LOVELY time. Usually when I do a gig I get to the song before last and think "Yes, it is time for me to finish now, my angelic voice is gently hinting at amphibian qualities and I have perhaps ROCKED everybody almost TOO much" but on this occasion I could have gone on for AGES more. As you can see above, it was a funny old set full of songs I hardly ever play live, with very few actual HITS in it - I have a BIG list of songs that I want to try out on this here tour, and now that we're over the halfway point I thought I'd better get on with DOING some of them!

    After a short break Matt went on and did, I think, the best gig he's done of the tour so far. They have all been GRATE, but this time it was like he was SURFING on WAVES of LARFS all the way through, with all sorts of silliness and big belly laughs at all points. It was an absolute DELIGHT to watch, and especially to feel the whole room DIGGING what he was doing, and especially especially when he did songs about his WIFE with his Father-in-law in the front row. It was ACE!

    I had originally had Hey Hey 16K on my setlist, but when I got to it I thought "This doesn't look like an audience that would be too bothered about ZX Spectrums" so didn't bother. However, when the show was over it turned out that someone had come SPECIFICALLY to hear that song, so a small group of us went into the back room to do it. I bet you do not get THESE levels of service with Mr B Springstreen, although if you did he would probably be better at remembering all the words.

    So ended yet another GRATE night of what is turning out to be a GRATE tour. We're in Bristol next, on Friday night, if you are in the area I would advise coming along, it will be FUN!

    posted 11/3/2019 by MJ Hibbett
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    Pancake Day
    Today is that most wonderful of days related to food items - PANCAKE DAY!

    There have been loads of songs about other parts of the year, notably Christmas but also Valentine's Day, New Year's Day (sepcifically how quiet it is) and of course everybody's birthdays, but there's never been one about Pancake Day.

    UNTIL NOW!



    For LO! this is the new single, out today, from John Dredge & The Plinths, the band what I am in as a sort of cack-handed Johnny Marr to John Dredge's Morrissey without the embarrassing bits (we should put that description on the next press release, it is a sure fire winner), along with Andy Harland as Mick Joyce and the mysterious Bob Burgon as Andy Rourke. The song's available to buy and stream on all the usual sites, most notably the band's bandcamp page, and we are SINCERELY hoping that it will be the song that, in future, everybody looks to when they need to run a news item on the telly about Pancacke Day or have a MONTAGE in a Romantic Comedy about Crepes. We're basically hoping it will do for Pancake Day what Prince did for 1999!

    There's a whole other EP of Plinths songs to come later on in this year, but for now we hope you "flipping" (flipping!) well enjoy this one!

    posted 5/3/2019 by MJ Hibbett
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    Rock And Roll Mayhem In South Yorkshire
    The 'No Headliner' Tour continued last week with a trip to Sheffield which was packed - PACKED I say - with mayhem of a rock and roll kind.

    It began with a terrifying SEVEN MINUTE delay to our train from London to Doncaster which meant that we missed our connectipon to Sheffield, despite the fact that Mr M Tiller has a fantastic APP on his phone which told us exactly which platform we needed to leg it to. What it didn't tell us was that the platform we ended up on had an ACTUAL PUB on it, The Draughtsman, which was a DELIGHTFUL place to a) wait b) have a pint in. There was then FURTHER TREPIDATION when we got on the next train and realised that we might have to buy new tickets, as it wasn't the one we'd booked for! PANIC!

    But then the very nice ticket inspector was fine about it. PHEW! MAYHEM!

    When we got to Sheffield we had AGES before showtime, so decided to have our tea a bit early. We were staying at the home of The Landlady (who now lives up there) and she'd promised us that she'd do us a MICROWAVE PLATTER for when we got home, so it seemed like a good idea to eat now. As we wandered down the road we saw a sign that said "Vegan Pies" - I feel that it is vitally important to support vegan/vegetarian endevours, ESPECIALLY when they involve PIES, but also cakes and beer, so we went in. It was VERY nice, and once we'd finished our tea Matt said that he was half thinking about maybe having a cocktail. The waitress said it was 2-for-1 so what could we do?



    It would have been rude not to really.

    After all that it was time to head for The Green Room, where we found our sound engineer for the evening, Brad, setting things up. Soon Mr T Eveleigh, promoter, arrived, and soundchecks were had. We met the headline act, Mr Roger Davies, and then we welcomed the various marvellous people who had come to see us. There were a LOT of them, and they were VERY marvellous - I flipping LOVE going to Sheffield because there are TONNES of bloody brilliant people there, a huge number of whom came along!

    The evening kicked off with Eve's Alias, which is Tim's new ACT - apparently this was their first gig, but if they hadn't mentioned it one would not have known - and then Matt took to the stage and WOWED the assembled throng of Sheffield Indie Royalty. He was so good in fact that he made me NERVOUS of doing quite as many UNFAMILIAR (to me) songs as I'd been planning, so switched it round a bit and did THIS:

  • Payday Is The Best Day
  • That Guy
  • Someone Else's Turn
  • You're A Tory Now
  • I'm Doing The Ironing
  • Two Blokes, One Pub
  • It Only Works Because You're here
  • Clubbing In The Week
  • We Did It Anyway


  • Happily for me it all went down pretty well - everyone sang along with the end of Two Blokes, One Pub, as well as the choruses of It Only Works Because You're here, and I got to make some exciting and new REMARKS too. My one mistake, however, was saying that I was only doing Clubbing In The Week because I knew there was no chance of anybody suggesting it...

    The gig finished with Roger Davies, who was dead good - he doesn't SOUND like Ivor Game, who I've booked for Totally Acoustic as many times as I can, but he did REMIND me of him, in that he had all these SONGS that sounded like there were covers of HITS I'd never heard, but weren't. He was good!

    We then settled into CHAT, until one of the aforesaid Indie Royalty suggested we ACTUALLY DO go on somewhere else after closing, so a whole heap of us ended up crossing the road to The Devonshire Cat for EVEN MORE BOOZE and also GOOD TIMES, accompanied by various other delightful types such as the travelling army of Plymouth Argyle Supporters who have joined us on tour. It was BLOODY GRATE, and it was only the realisation that we had to get up in the morning that dragged us away to a taxi, and thence to the previously mentioned Micro-Platter.

    It was a BRILLIANT evening, as it pretty much always is in Sheffield. Touring is GRATE!

    posted 4/3/2019 by MJ Hibbett
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