Thursday Night

And so the current leg of the 'let's see how many places we can get to play this year' tour ends up with two sold out nights at the Borderline in London. We all know how great they are sounding these days, how great it is to have them back and all that so rather than tread the same ground again, I'll try and give an account of my thoughts and feelings about both nights.

For anyone that went to the first Borderline gig in January, you'll know the venue isn't ideal for an acoustic gig. Big bar, lots of talking etc etc, so I must admit I wasn't expecting the greatest gigs of the tour and was also worried about Juliannes voice following her numerous apologies about it at Cambridge the previous weekend.

However, my fears were ill founded. The first night seemed to be mostly full of people genuinely there to watch and listen. There was minimal talking with many people singing along to the songs which Julianne seemed to appreciate. The whole setup is also much improved on this leg with her standing in the middle of the stage rather than off to one side. Something that was forced upon them at Chelmsford but which they've kept top great effect.

Be it due to medication or the wine, her voice showed little evidence of the problems of Cambridge. In fact, they were all on really fine form and full of smiles and just enough chat to make the evening fun without disrupting the flow.

Comments about Peter Tork (from the Monkees if you don't know) playing there on Saturday and not selling it out were met with an impromptu verus and chorus of I'm A Believer.

You've all heard the setlist by now. Needless to say the performances just get better and better. The band have more confidence in what they're doing, really finding their feet together again and if the new finale of an almost anarchic (yes, even on acoustic guitar) Every angel doesn't make it to FLN2, someone needs shooting.

Highlights? How about the whole gig. Well, if you're going to press me. You Bring Your Love is turning into a major classic, Are You Lonely always sends me drifting away on the waves of Juliannes voice and the new Every Angel is simply stunning.

So and so we all went home with big smiles on our faces and got ready to do it all again the next day.

Friday Night

A small and select group turned up outside the venue very early on Friday and thought we were enjoying listening to the soundcheck until Julianne wandered round the corner saying she was going to be in trouble for being late. Must have been the recording of the previous night.

Upon my enquiry as to her health, she croaked that she wasn't supposed to talk. Obviously the throat wasn't in full fitness. Slight worries creep into head again.

So we all piled down to the front of the stage again, the expectation lighting up our little faces (is this getting boring for the band do you think?)

Set list was moved around about again and both Mine and Yesterday Goodbye made welcome returns, not having been played on all the dates. And if Juliannes throat was troubling her, there was little evidence until right near the end when some of the high notes proved a bit of an effort to reach. But how many people really noticed? Not many I suspect.

There was more of the Friday night crowd out this time and the talking from the bar got quite loud at times causing Marty to offer them their money back to leave and even Julianne swore at them. Took the edge of a fine performance but I hope the smiling faces in front of them made up for it.

I'm A Believer made an extended return with a great crowd sing-a-long. An inflatible sheep made an appearance on Andy's chair due to comments from him the previous night about his and Marty's night-time activities. It ended up watching most of the second half sat on top of a monitor until Marty kicked it into the crowd. Well, it was putting Julianne off.

At the end, the final Every Angel went on and on hypnotically as Andy's bass had gone out of tune and he was trying to get it back while Marty kept playing the same riff over and over. A very strange sight watching the two of them trying to correct it with Julianne waving her hands about to indicate if it sounded right or not. A bizarre ending. Goes to prove that you can't take the Eves for granted these days, that's for sure.

And so we all drifted back out into the London night, having felt we were somewhere else entirely for the last few hours. Somewhere very special.

To be honest, it's all a bit of a blur now. A most pleasant blur it has to be said but remembering specifics gets hard when you enjoy the whole experience of being there with like-minded people as much as listening or singing along to the songs themselves.

What struck me most from these shows is thinking back to the original Borderline one and noticing the difference. There's more confidence coming through. Some arrangements have been changed and sound better for it. Juliannes voice may have changed over the years but it's still fabulous and Andy even smiles and talks sometimes now. The big revelation for me has been Marty and the way he is willing to experiment. Sometimes it works, sometimes not but there's certainly never a dull moment wondering what he's going to do next.

A great two evenings entertainment. I won't say music as it's more than just that. They really entertain and in my book, no greater compliment can be paid.

Howard Crowe