Fri 26th May - Worthing, The Rock Station
Allen Taylor

Well I was there, right at the front. It was a gig from hell and you have to feel very sorry for the band, they did brilliantly considering the problems.

Marty did have sound problems with one guitar, and pratically dropped it onto the stage at one point., knocking over both of his bottles of beer. Andy rescued one,(and drank it!) Andy was in brilliant form and during one of the duets with Jules, Marty sat crouched at the side of the stage, watching. At the end, Jules appeared to mouth a good natured obscenity in his direction.

The stage was very small (areas and height), at one end of a long narrow room, with a bar on one side. The loos were either side of the stage, so people were constantly moving around during the songs. It was VERY HOT! It must have been hot because my girlfriend complained that she too was hot. She never gets hot. She'd have cold hands in the tropics. Marty was understandably upset with some of the audience who were talking during the set, but quiet during the in between bits. There was no encore, and Marty started dismantling his gear as soon as the last song finished.

All I can say was I wish I was at Leeds. However my heart goes out to Jules and
Andy, they performed brilliantly!! I guess gigs like that make you want to give
up.

Allen Taylor

Sat 27th May - Leeds Variety Theatre Crispin Bateman Damn, and here's me thinking I was going to be the first to say how good tonight's gig in Leeds was! ... I've just got home (it's 1.45am) and am still buzzing from what was a really memorable evening. The venue was very nicely appointed, the band had a decent stage to play on, and even had some nice lighting around them, including some subtle, revolving projections during a gorgeous rendition of 'Martha's Harbour'. The banter coming from the band was as funny and as off-the-cuff as ever. They really seemed to enjoy themselves, and when that happens, it really comes across in how they perform the songs. It was nice to see they'd changed the set list a bit. I was maybe hoping that they might be playing a completely new list, but having said that, I think they achieved a nice balanced between the ones which went down very well from the earlier unplugged gigs (Freeze was again quite stunning), and some new arrangements. A really enjoyable show, and I can't wait for the planned dates in my neck of the woods: the north west. I'll be at every one! Roll on the autumn! Chris Owen

Sun 28th May - Worcester, Mars Bar Club
Steve H
Just had a great evening down at the Marrs Bar Club (no, honestly that is the name) and I'm still coming down from the effects. The set has changed slightly but the old favs are still there. They've dropped 'Wishing ' (a personal fav) and 'Finer' but have included a couple of oldies ('Mystery We are', 'Mine' (not a personal fav I have to admit) and 'Farewell Mr.Sorrow'), plus another song possibly from Marty's solo albums (Someone will be kind enough to let me know which one no doubt).

The banter was more frantic - regrettably the chat from the bar was too - Marty had to sort em out at interval. The hardware let them down too in small places (Marty kept breaking the strings on Andy's guitar - Andy finished up playing with a guitar with two strings missing - not surprising - Marty was a man possessed, the fretwork was a controlled mania, with hair-raising strumming of lightning speed proportions - I thought the instrument was going to melt.

Talking of melting (on a personal level) - Julianne gave a polished performance (as per) despite two microphone's switching off in mid-song. Good on the audience for singing on. JR was truly inspired on 'Share it' and was bouncing up and down for
'Every Angel' the 2nd encore (those strepsils must have been bloody powerful)

This wasn't a Worthing - more like a Peterborough, but with a few rusty corners hardware-wise. Every concert's had it's own special kind of atmosphere and events. Every venue has it's own idiosyncracies (like where to bloody park half an hour before
the gig). Leeds appeared to be to some the best gig of the tour so far (I missed it- too bad) and this leads (no pun intended) me to think that the seated - (more controlled) areas are slightly better than the clubby venues (Warwick Uni, Bath over
Peterborough and Luton for example).

Great night and I'm the first to say so.

Steve H (Sid the Stringer)

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