Hey, as you may know I’ve been away travelling for a while, but on returning, I was delighted to see that ZVG would be playing in my hometown.
We were actually sitting having a quiet drink in a bar prior to the gig, when the whole band turned up. We had bumped into them earlier and had just a quick chat, so they seemed happy enough to join us for a drink. Kim and MJ also seemed to remember me from the Edinburgh gig last year which kind of helped break the ice. What a lovely bunch of people. It was all really quite relaxed, and the band seemed happy to chat away, and have a laugh and a joke and tell a few stories. They all seem so happy and upbeat.
Camera Obscura come up in discussions, (may have been me ha ha!), and the band seemed delighted to let me know they were playing a gig over the weekend at a bar called Underachievers Please Try Harder.
Sadly for Paul and others, it looks like the “Go Away Birds” output may a bit slow in coming for a while. Catherine has moved to Brighton, and although she and MJ are still friends, obviously, and will probably do something sometime in the future, I think MJ was alluding to the fact that they are both a bit distracted at the moment with current projects. There was mention of a film in the context of GHTG.
MJ then told me this was the bands 5th anniversary, and things really seemed to be moving forward for them all of a sudden. I had to admit honestly, that I hadn’t had much time to listen to the new album having only got my hands on it the past week or so, but mentioned this wee forum, and how there had been some fantastic comments made about the new album. Obviously, I was looking forward to spending some time with it over the coming months.
Apart from me bringing up the subject of the artwork on the last album and how brilliant I thought it was, I then had to ask the question about the “turn around once and tap three times” lyrics from The Best Treasures Stay Buried. This seemed to be a lyric that Matt had penned, and he got quite animated and maybe slightly frustrated trying to explain how it was something within the deep recesses of his brain, something from childhood, the school playground, but could not really put his finger on exactly where it had come from. I had to tell him, how for days, weeks almost, I was trying to find a source for this lyric, as it had frustrated me the same way on hearing it the first time. It seemed familiar, but I just couldn’t place it, and I knew it was something from childhood. I then mentioned my “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” theory. The band seemed to be genuinely thrilled on hearing this, and we had a laugh, while I joked about me being a bit of trainspotter/anorak/geek.
MJ then pulled out a pen and a scrap of paper, and the band were teasing him, as this was going to be the setlist for tonight, and they were hoping it was not going to change mid show like it normally always does. I asked if I could take a photograph of him doing this as a bit of fun as his face was a picture, as he seemed to be really thinking quite hard and struggling with the setlist. I also managed to get this scrap of paper at the end of the gig as wee memento of the evening.
I politely asked if he could include TBTSB as I had never heard it live and really liked the track. The band all seemed to agree this was a definite possibility and MJ scribbled it down while I thanked them all. I was really looking forward to the gig, which happened to be a small intimate affair.
Setlist (as annotated by MJ, Sackville missed, and there was supposed to be a TFC cover but I think the band ran out of time)
Mountain
Cake
Sweathearts
Another
Islands
Ghosts
Karate
Extremities
Foxtrot
Tyrannosaur
Treasure
Bread
The new stuff really works well live, and Matt managed to get the crowd involved asking the left side to do a bass drum sound, and the right side doing snare. This was really funny and everyone was enjoying the fun. He also had the crowd doing a sort of backing vocal on Tyrannosaur.
Treasure was outstanding for me, so gentle, then thunderous kicking drums while the melodies of the guitar, bass and violin surrounded the place. What a gigantic track. I filmed this, the sound is not too bad, and will try and upload it later. It was nice of the band to mention Michelle and I had requested this.
At the end of the show, my tipsy daughter and her friends managed to get some photographs with Matt, who I must admit, seemed to be really be enjoying all the attention.
Great band, Love 'em.
Pete
[img][/img]
Home 
