[kj] Fleece Review

[LONESTYLE at aol.com]

Good one Jamie and thanks! I like the part with the Devil and Jaz you funny 
 guy you. :)
 
 
~ LB
 
 
In a message dated 9/26/2010 5:09:49 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
jpwhkj at aol.com writes:

Ade - you were well pissed if you thought they played Butcher!  <grin>
 
I was stone-cold sober due to the impending drive back to London, so I  
remember it all very well. I showed up at the venue at about 6.45, to find  
Antoni, Joker Jon, Paul R, and Jon's mate whose name escapes me right  now.  
Wayne showed up shortly after I did... crucially, with my  ticket!  (Nice one, 
thank you Wayne.)
 
We went in pretty early (7.30?) and I thought: "this foyer is rather  
nice".  Then I thought: "why is there a stage in the foyer?"  Then I  thought: 
"what an amazing venue".  It's definitely the smallest place  I've seen the 
Joke.  Apparently the capacity is 450, but that can only be  if you pack 5 
people into each of the toilet cubicles.  Service at the  bar was pretty swift, 
and really the only downside was that there were quite a  few pillars 
supporting the ceiling, which interfered with the view a  bit.  (But I suppose 
the ceiling falling in would have interfered  more.)
 
Rumour was that the Joke would be on at 8.45, but 8.45 came and  went.  I 
spotted roadies putting drinks on top of amps, which seemed like  a good 
sign, but we waited some more. 9.00 came and went.  ("The band  will be on no 
later than 9 pm" according to the Fleece website.)  Mick  Head showed up, en 
route from Leeds to Cornwall, having told wife and  family that he needed to 
stop for petrol in Bristol.  By this time I'd  written down the setlist (22 
tracks) and was very glad that I hadn't bet on  getting the train (last 
train at 10:33).  "Maybe it's quarter past rather  than quarter to."  But 9.15 
came and sent as well.  Finally, at  about half past nine, the opening chords 
of Faith Healer crashed out, and  finally the Joke took the stage.
 
They opened with Tomorrow's World, which provided ample demonstration of  
the underlying funk of early Joke (you could see Youth living the rhythm)  
coupled with a very hard edge.  Great!
 
Next up was In Excelsis, which featured Jaz singing.  So, also  great.  The 
crowd seemed to like it, and I really hope they stick to  playing a large 
number of new tracks on the rest of the tour.
 
Next was Wardance.  Groan.  I knew it was coming, but still...  give it a 
rest, fellas.  Actually, I have a theory that Jaz may have made  some 
Faustian pact with the devil way back in '79, along these lines:
 
Devil: This song is great!
Jaz: Do ya really like it?
Devil: Yes.  (pause) Would you play it for me?
Jaz: (thinks) OK, what will you do in  return?
Devil: You can be vocalist with the best band in the world.
Jaz:  I already am.
Devil: Good point, how about Absolute Ruler of the  World?
Jaz: OK
Devil: Right, you must play this at every gig.
Jaz: No  problem.
 
...unfortunately for Jaz (but luckily the rest of us), Satan is holding  
out to see if Jaz keeps his word.  So we're probably stuck with  Wardance.
 
After that, Change, which I love - but could do without the stupid  sirens.
 
Then Bloodsport.  I know they've played that a lot in recent years,  but - 
like Tomorrow's World - it's an early track that isn't a single, so  still 
scores rarity points with me.
 
Next, oh joy, European Super State.  As predicted, this was a  fantastic, 
bouncy number, with the perfect Joke mix of a dance beat with  Geordie's 
razor-sharp guitar.
 
This World Hell... really didn't do much for me.  Sounded fairly  clunky.  
Maybe we *are* going to be a microchipped people ruled from  microwave 
towers (as Jaz told us before they played it) but frankly I just  wanted it over 
and done with.
 
Fall of Because. This track occupies a special place in my heart, as it  
was the first Joke song I heard... and loved.  That said, it wasn't an  
especially good version, but never mind.
 
"We wrote this for Paul."  The Raven King was one of the highlights,  not 
just because it was a genuinely poignant moment, but also because it seems  
to be one of the strongest tracks from the new album. I'm looking forward to  
hearing the studio version.
 
Requiem.  OK, I know they play it almost as often as Wardance, but  it's 
still a great track.
 
Great Cull.  As with This World Hell, this didn't do a lot for  me.
 
Madness.  I was never keen on this - basically it's too long - but  just 
because it hasn't been played much, I'm happy to hear it.  Sounded  very solid.
 
Fresh Fever.  This was good.  My memory of it from the past was  that it 
was weak, but it sounded fine.
 
Well, you knew it was coming, didn't you?  "Aaasterrroiid!"  I  like it, 
but seem to have heard it enough.
 
Depth Charge was good.  Quite punky, bouncy stuff.
 
The Wait.  The pit - which had been fairly subdued - suddenly went  mental. 
 I guess everyone knew proceedings were drawing to a close, and  gave it 
their all.
 
When The Wait finished, there was the briefest pause, and then "ow-oww!"  
(or however you write it) and they played Pssyche.  Whenever I hear it  live, 
I remember the review in Sounds / NME / MM describing it as the fans'  
"disco favourite".  And it is!  Again, that incredible combination  of dance 
beat and vicious guitar...
 
And despite waiting around for an encore, that was it.  Not sure why  there 
was no encore (licence? planes to catch?) but it was still a great  set.  
They were very tight, and - it's worth saying again - it was  fantastic to 
hear so much new material.
 
Disappointed not to hear Ghosts... or Kali Yuga.  But maybe at  
Hammersmith.  Disappointed that Big Paul was tucked away at the back, but  difficult to 
do otherwise with such a small stage.  But nonetheless, a  great opener for 
what will hopefully be great tour.
 
One of the funniest moments was Youth trying to get Jaz to talk to the  
audience.
 
Youth: Jaz is going to talk to you now.
Jaz: No I'm not.
Youth: Jaz, they want you to talk to them.
Jaz: I'm feeling shy.
Youth: (to audience) What do you want Jaz to talk about? Pick a subject,  
any subject...
 
(Doubtless I don't have that exactly right, but you get the drift.)
 
Here's the set list that I copied down.  The ones in square brackets  
didn't get played.

Tomorrow's World
In Excelsis
Wardance
Change
[Absolute  Dissent]
Bloodsport
European Super State
This World Hell
Fall of  Because
Raven King
Requiem
Great Cull
Madness
Fresh  Fever
Asteroid
Depth Charge
The  Wait
Pssyche
------------
[Primitive]
[Complications]
[Pandemonium]
[End  Game]
 
Jamie
 
PS I'm having email formatting issues.  Hope this comes out  ok.






-----Original  Message-----
From: ADRIAN WASON <adrianwason at btinternet.com>
To:  gathering at misera.net
Sent: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 11:49
Subject: [kj] Fleece  Review


I accidentally had 12 pints of pear cider and 2 large red bull vodkas 
before the  gig so its a bit blurry.The venue was awesome i think they opened 
with 
 Butcher,Fresh Fever was brilliant, most of the new songs were very catchy. 
 Ithink they did asteroid but they didnt do an encore and there were 4 more 
songs 
 on the setlist.BPF was hidden away in the corner but generally all on 
form.We 
 saw Jaz in the bogs and he  was completely wasted about an hour and a half 
 before they went on so how he gets himself together I'll never know. There 
was a 
 bit of moshing but there was a poor fella in a wheelchair down the front. 
I seem 
 to remember they did the wait. Hopefully someone else can provide a more 
 coherent review so I can remember it!
 _______________________________________________
 Gathering mailing list
 _Gathering at misera.net_ (mailto:Gathering at misera.net) 
 _http://four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/gathering_ 
(http://four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/gathering) 





_______________________________________________
Gathering  mailing  list
Gathering at misera.net
http://four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/gathering

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://four.pairlist.net/pipermail/gathering/attachments/20100926/5eff326a/attachment.htm>