Winter Seems Fine

Thanks to everyone who came last week! We had a wonderful night and all three gigs were amazing. Katie was first on and although a little nervous (her first gig outside Scotland and she hasn't played on her own much at all) turned in a short but sweet set that included a Marianne Faithful cover and ended with "Miss Myopia" - one of my favourite Tibi Lubin songs. The Icicles really impressed me, and the rest of the crowd as well, I'm sure. Using borrowed equipment, they made it sound and look so simple. Well rehearsed, some coordinated stage moves, matching striped outfits and a pocket full of hits made us shout them back in for an encore - "Snowman" on request. A friend said they even stole the scene from Harvey... Shawn from Microindie was with them and recorded the gig - will be interesting to see how that turned out. Harvey Willams certainly seemed to enjoy himself as much on stage as we enjoyed hearing his songs. He started out with some 'newer' ones on the keyboard. Some of them were so 'new' they were written after California, like "Snow Plough". People were humming along, and as he switched to acoustic guitar and Another Sunny Day material the hums turned into all-out singing and shouting. He played "I'm In Love With a Girl That Doesn't Know I Exist", "What's Happened?", "You Should All Be Murdered", "Horse Riding", "Rio" (with whistling solo!) and "I Don't Suppose I'll Get Another Chance". Of course, he came back in for an encore and the night ended perfectly with "She Sleeps Around" and a Hit Parade cover. What's more, some friends of his had come along for the Malmö and Gothenburg gigs, and they weren't just anyone! Tim Hopkins, once in The Visitors, whom I met a few months ago was there, and Ben who writes the excellent Fire Escape Talking blog (head over there and check out the lovely Julian Henry interview if you haven't read it yet). It was great to see Tim again and Ben was very entertaining, he promised to come back for a dj-set at So Tough! So Cute! next year. I know you can't wait either...