Man - The Limelight Crewe 6th March 2002
Set list: Intro / Do it / Hanging On / Love isn't Love / Face to Face / Walrus / Wings of Mercury / Asylum / Stuck Behind the Popemobile / Many Are Called But Few Get Up // Spunk Rock
Firstly, for all you whiners out there, if the set list is wrong blame Bob Richards because he was the one who went through it with me after the show!
Oh, that's not very nice is it? Blaming one of the band like that? Well, no, it isn't but, hey, that's life. Why wasn't I paying more attention to the songs they played? I was, it's just that they played a few I wasn't familiar with (off the Endangered Species album which I'm still too poor to buy) including one song off an album that hasn't even been released yet! What’s that high-pitched, incessant whine? Oh, bugger! It’s me. God, don’t you just hate those whining, maggoty, motherless humps?
Firstly, for all you whiners out there, if the set list is wrong blame Bob Richards because he was the one who went through it with me after the show!
Oh, that's not very nice is it? Blaming one of the band like that? Well, no, it isn't but, hey, that's life. Why wasn't I paying more attention to the songs they played? I was, it's just that they played a few I wasn't familiar with (off the Endangered Species album which I'm still too poor to buy) including one song off an album that hasn't even been released yet! What’s that high-pitched, incessant whine? Oh, bugger! It’s me. God, don’t you just hate those whining, maggoty, motherless humps?
Anyway, enough padding out the review, let's get down to the nuts, as they say in somewhere-or-other. This was my first Man gig in almost exactly two years - poverty does that to a person - and my firstborn daughter's first ever Man gig. I had been preparing her for this experience for several weeks before the event and she was quite up to speed with most of the albums, up to and including, Call Down the Moon. In fact the track she favoured most, pre-gig, was Asylum (mainly because I had been playing it at her since she was born) and Wings of Mercury and Call Down the Moon, one she had found all by her little self.
It would be fair to say that apart from Do It, the first half of the gig was a completely new to her and, ashamed as I am to admit it, to me also. Nevertheless, it was all well performed and extremely enjoyable. The newer songs are strong and I'm sure will, in time become classics in their own right. What it does actually show is, that an awful lot of effort has gone in to rearranging the set from the 1999 version, which was predominantly older material. Whilst I was expecting to hear C'mon, The Ride and the View, Brother Arnold's Red and White Striped Tent, Manillo and Daughter of the Fireplace, we were treated to songs like Hanging On, Love isn't Love, Face to Face and Walrus. Each one of these shows the signs of becoming standards for the 21st Century, especially Walrus.
It would be fair to say that apart from Do It, the first half of the gig was a completely new to her and, ashamed as I am to admit it, to me also. Nevertheless, it was all well performed and extremely enjoyable. The newer songs are strong and I'm sure will, in time become classics in their own right. What it does actually show is, that an awful lot of effort has gone in to rearranging the set from the 1999 version, which was predominantly older material. Whilst I was expecting to hear C'mon, The Ride and the View, Brother Arnold's Red and White Striped Tent, Manillo and Daughter of the Fireplace, we were treated to songs like Hanging On, Love isn't Love, Face to Face and Walrus. Each one of these shows the signs of becoming standards for the 21st Century, especially Walrus.
The second half of the show was more familiar territory, yet, once again displaying the efforts that have gone in to making the 21st Century Manband experience different. Wings of Mercury caused a certain amount of jubilation to issue from the immediate vicinity of my daughter. That, however, was nothing compared to the ululations, which I heard reverberating around the Limelight Club when they announced Asylum. I looked around to see who the retard was bellowing like a pregnant Bison with its tail on fire and was somewhat surprised that it was me! It's many years since I've see Asylum played live. It was a refreshingly new rendition and signified a most welcome return to the set, for my money, at least.
The excellent Stuck Behind the Popemobile and Many Are Called But Few Get Up rounded out the set proper and after a rather lacklustre response from an apathetic wet-Wednesday-in-Crewe-crowd, the band came back on for an encore. If it had been me, I think I would have seriously considered coming back out and telling 99% of the crowd to 'Piss off!'
Sometimes you wonder why some punters bother to pay their money and turn up, they don't seem to enjoy the band, they just get smashed and shout out execrable bollocks all night. Like I said, I would have told them to bite my shiny metal ass and explain why they didn't deserve an encore, but hey, that's just me and that’s why I write about others doing it and don’t tread the boards myself. Still they did come back out and they surprised me for one, by not playing Romain and Bananas, for what must be the first time in decades. Instead, we were treated to the splendid Spunk Rock. For the first time that night the crowd actually created a noise as the band left the stage for a second time and I think everyone expected them to return for the obligatory Romain/Bananas but it was not to be. Crewe really didn't deserve it.
The excellent Stuck Behind the Popemobile and Many Are Called But Few Get Up rounded out the set proper and after a rather lacklustre response from an apathetic wet-Wednesday-in-Crewe-crowd, the band came back on for an encore. If it had been me, I think I would have seriously considered coming back out and telling 99% of the crowd to 'Piss off!'
Sometimes you wonder why some punters bother to pay their money and turn up, they don't seem to enjoy the band, they just get smashed and shout out execrable bollocks all night. Like I said, I would have told them to bite my shiny metal ass and explain why they didn't deserve an encore, but hey, that's just me and that’s why I write about others doing it and don’t tread the boards myself. Still they did come back out and they surprised me for one, by not playing Romain and Bananas, for what must be the first time in decades. Instead, we were treated to the splendid Spunk Rock. For the first time that night the crowd actually created a noise as the band left the stage for a second time and I think everyone expected them to return for the obligatory Romain/Bananas but it was not to be. Crewe really didn't deserve it.
Post gig, the band were as approachable as ever and I cornered Deke to get him to sign mountains of stuff, books, CDs, tickets and so on, before grabbing each band member one by one for a chat and stuff-signing duties. Bob was especially nice and gave my daughter a drumstick (which he signed) as a memento of her first Man gig. He's never given me a drumstick... but I don’t care because I’ve got one signed by Corky Laing!
I asked the band about the major changes to the set, from say, a couple of years ago and the top and bottom of it is that they just felt it was time for a change and to give some of the older stuff a break. (Actually, they just got fed up of playing C'mon, was the actual answer, but who's keeping notes? Well, apart from me, that is.) Interestingly, I remember asking the same question in 1999 about Asylum and the answer, at that time, was exactly the same! Ah, plus ca change, the more they don’t.
I intend to see a couple more Man gigs during April. I sincerely hope that the Crewe contingent doesn’t turn up and infuse the proceedings with the same level of excitement that they displayed on Wednesday. I don’t think that the world is ready for that piquant mix of sedation and apathy just yet.
Mark L. Potts
The God of Thunder
9th March 2002
Click here for reviews of some older gigs
I asked the band about the major changes to the set, from say, a couple of years ago and the top and bottom of it is that they just felt it was time for a change and to give some of the older stuff a break. (Actually, they just got fed up of playing C'mon, was the actual answer, but who's keeping notes? Well, apart from me, that is.) Interestingly, I remember asking the same question in 1999 about Asylum and the answer, at that time, was exactly the same! Ah, plus ca change, the more they don’t.
I intend to see a couple more Man gigs during April. I sincerely hope that the Crewe contingent doesn’t turn up and infuse the proceedings with the same level of excitement that they displayed on Wednesday. I don’t think that the world is ready for that piquant mix of sedation and apathy just yet.
Mark L. Potts
The God of Thunder
9th March 2002
Click here for reviews of some older gigs
About the photos...
I knew when I was taking them that the majority would be too dark and grainy because I was too far away, but did I listen to myself? No, I didn't, cause I'm a jackass!
I'd never taken photos of Man before and going to see a band is one thing but going to see a band and then taking some decent photos of them - I'm not just talking about half a dozen to remember the gig by, I mean with a view to publishing them for others to see, either in print or here on my website - is an entirely different thing indeed. Anyway, some of these came out OK.
The best ones I got were some close ups of Micky, Martin, and Deke but these only account for about five or six of the total. Mind you, five or six good ones is better than all crap ones. Next time, I shall know better and I shall get some cracking pics.
I'd never taken photos of Man before and going to see a band is one thing but going to see a band and then taking some decent photos of them - I'm not just talking about half a dozen to remember the gig by, I mean with a view to publishing them for others to see, either in print or here on my website - is an entirely different thing indeed. Anyway, some of these came out OK.
The best ones I got were some close ups of Micky, Martin, and Deke but these only account for about five or six of the total. Mind you, five or six good ones is better than all crap ones. Next time, I shall know better and I shall get some cracking pics.