tisdag 6 Jun 2006, 18:24

What a hoot the show was!

Nick as he put it himself was "blootered" due to having in-bided some of the amber nectar during the day/evening and so we had a very entertaining time with various ramblings, discussions about what we wanted him to play next etc plus obligatory string break/replacement. Nick's guitar seemed to be a bit drunk at some points as the tuning was going a bit wayward at points :-)

I unfortunately put my proverbial size nines in it even before things got started. We were walking down the corridor to where Nick would be playing and I was explaining to Kate my girlfriend (who has never seen Nick before) what Nick was like and so was telling her what a mutual friend's opinion on having seen Nick for the first time was. Her opinion was along the lines of Nick had a swollen ego and that the audience were sycophantic and would cheer even if all Nick did was fart…. which I was about to counter with he is really entertaining but at this point the chap walking down the corridor in front of us turned round to speak to us… I then realised it was Nick!

God was I embarrassed but as Nick himself said some people think he's a complete twat while others think he is God. He said my friend Louise was entitled to her opinion and that it was good to be humbled sometimes. So when Nick came on the first thing he said was "Morning… I feel very humble tonight…."

I won't list the set as I can't, I just wanted to enjoy the show and not worry about remembering stuff plus having consumed four pints of Tetleys already I wasn't capable! Songs that I can remember were (and in no particular order or completeness )…

She Rules my World
Aeroplane
The Kilty Stone
Guitar Man (diverting into Led Zep)
Radio Silence (I think)
In our Time
Titties and Beer
a track from the Instrumental album (the only one Nick can remember)
The Magnificent G7
Experienced? (which was introduced with relish as to Mark Thatcher's arrest for supplying arms to one his old school mates so he carry out a military coup. This also featured the obligatory string break but he had assistance from his Echoplex unit to cover up the gap but how the heck he got his A string in tune with only a couple of twangs at it is a mystery to me!)
The Galaxy Song

Towards the end of the gig we were treated to an extended version of Titties and Beer due to a memory lapse which led to an argument between the "Old Nick" and Nick as to who was playing the guitar ("Old Nick" won btw). For the final final encore Nick un-plugged the guitar and climbed into the audience for the second time that evening to serenade a lady sitting right in the middle of the front row.

The venue btw was almost like sitting in your living room with Nick playing for his mates as it was so small. It used to be a cinema but is due for demolition sadly. There was lots of chit chat with the audience but best of all the sound was great with real clarity on Nick's singing which was impressive as ever.

Nick invited us all to come along to Thursday night gig for free where he promised to not be as "tired" :-) so I got to do it all again!
Nick Harper