I remember, a good few years back having to sprint across Bristol following a gig at the Louisiana by Dawn of the Replicants. Quite a pleasant night all in all. Too much to drink, a late start and the prospect of a taxi home if we missed the last train. A last gasp at teenage silliness perhaps.
So for tonight, there was no excuse. Staying a little too long to try to watch the Delgados' last song. Drinking far more than is strictly good for me, and experiencing the long awaited but nevertheless difficult final moment of an ancient crush as the band played on. Ten years ago it would have made a good song, a great sixth-form poem. Today it just reminds me how old I have become so soon, and in a rather cold-hearted way how much of the last decade I wasted on something futile.
But the Delgados have sort of grown up with me - producing album after album of epic, widescreen pop music. The most recent 'Universal Audio' is wonderfully free of pretension. A cheery romp by Delgado standards, and tonight some of the most spirited performances are from the new record. By the band's own admission, they are still finding their feet on this tour, but there are occasionally stellar moments where this seems unimportant. I remind myself that the band are in the unique position of having two songs on the 'Mike would dance in public to this' list. I manage to avoid embarassment thanks to an almost dangerously overcrowded venue.
The simple fact is that tonight, indeed over the years, nobody has hurt me or depressed me any more than I could have done. Enter the Delgados. A bruised, stumbling but curiously joyous tumble through a range of emotions. At one point I can understand how they end up on Radio 2, at others its all quite new and unexplored. Lots of noise and lots of melody. The new Bay City Rollers?
I must also mention Sons and Daughters - a deranged and discordant Glaswegian blues band, who made a big racket and kept me guessing whilst my fate was decided! Thanks folks. Buy their album - I know I plan to...
Overall, despite my ramblings a good night. I think I left a gentleman, even if my instincts made me feel an insufferable blackguard.
Lost::MikeGTN
I've had a home on the web for more years than I care to remember, and a few kind souls persuade me it's worth persisting with keeping it updated. This current incarnation of the site is centred around the blog posts which began back in 1999 as 'the daylog' and continued through my travels and tribulations during the following years.
I don't get out and about nearly as much these days, but I do try to record significant events and trips for posterity. You may also have arrived here by following the trail to my former music blog Songs Heard On Fast Trains. That content is preserved here too.
