The Jesus And Mary Chain, Rock City, Nottingham

 

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The Slow Readers Club, Rescue Rooms, Nottingham

 

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Interpol, Civic Hall, Wolverhampton

 

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The Libertines, Rock City, Nottingham

 

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Los Campesinos!, Foundry, University of Sheffield

 

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The Breeders, Rock City, Nottingham

Supported By Big Joanie

Tonight’s openers are London based Big Joanie. That’s a band not a person, named after founder Stephanie Phillips’ Mum and with the ‘big’ meaning confident. They formed amid London’s DIY punk scene in 2013 and have two albums out there.

The four piece take the stage with guitar, keyboards, drums and Phillips wielding a tambourine. It’s an odd mix but they add in bass and a second guitar later. Are they a punk band? or something else? It’s hard to tell. They do entertain us with some interesting wordplay and reasonable tunes but they’re not really for me. 

So on to the headliners...

Midway through tonight’s set The Breeders’ Jim Macpherson gets out from behind his drum kit and comes down to the front of the stage. He introduces the rest of the band and then casually mentions that it was 1993 the last time they played Rock City.

Surely not? It really has been a while then. I didn’t actually see them in Nottingham on that occasion. For reasons I can’t recall, I mean it was 30 years ago, I went to Sheffield University to see them the night before. I probably had some football going on. They did then play Nottingham Trent in 2008 but I didn’t make it to that either.

Often I give my apologies why I haven’t seen a band for a long period. This time, with only one chance in 30 years, it’s clearly not all my fault. Meanwhile other people have the better excuse of not being born. Tonight the audience is about a 50-50 split tonight between young and old, so the band can feel smug that they’re introducing a whole new generation to their music.

Therefore tonight is special is for many reasons and from the first few bars of ‘Saints’ everyone is buzzing. It’s not just about music because here is the nicest band on the planet who are clearly ridiculously happy just to be here and that makes a big difference to everyone’s experience. Even if it has taken them 30 years to find the right page on the atlas.

They’re going to be at Glastonbury the next day, as they tell us obviously, and if you watch that performance they grin their way through that one too.

The set is, as you’d expect, ‘Last Splash’ heavy but there is excellence too from their debut ‘Pod’ (‘Doe’ is amazing, ‘Opened’ is amazing etc etc) along with selections from their other records such as the wonderful ‘Huffer’ from 2002’s ‘Title TK’.

Kim Deal and her cryptic lyrics dominate most of the night but it’s over to sister Kelley for ‘I Don’t Get Along and then to Josephine Wiggs for the penultimate track ‘Megagoth’ which morphs into the Pixies ‘Gigantic’ which of course Kim originally wrote and sung.

And of course there’s the legendary ‘Cannonball’ with its classic opening of those distorted vocals and amazing bassline.

In total it takes them only ninety minutes to blitz through a 21 song set of songs that rarely break three minutes and often don’t even exceed two. 

Then there are two more to come in the encore, the last of which is the pure delight of ‘Divine Hammer’ that sends everyone home with a smile as wide as the band’s. Who.. have I mentioned how nice they all are? Just to prove that Josephine ends the night by taking all the band’s set lists which have been turned into paper planes and sends them flying into the crowd. Such a nice night.

Frank Turner: World Record Attempt, Saltbox, Nottingham

Tonight I head down to somewhere called Saltbox for the first time. I don’t even know the place existed and I find it lurking near the Ice Stadium. I don’t know what’s on at the Arena itself but there are loads of stalls selling feather boas and kiss me quick hats. Which is worrying. Although I’m sure it’s nothing to do with Frank Turner, which is why I’m here. A quick internet search tells me it’s the Clubland Arena Tour. So that’s cleared that one up... not.

Tonight it’s Frank Turner’s World Record Attempt. He’s doing 15 shows in 15 cities in 24 hours which will be a new Guinness World Record.

With Frank only due to play around 25 minutes it’s good that we’ve got a support act. George Gadd walks out shouting 'You pies!'. Yes he’s a local and clearly not from the red side of the city. It’s also immediately apparent that he’s a wannabe Frank Turner but he’s very confident with it. He's also pretty good and chatty with it. He tells us he used to be in an Emo band and has been to B&Q today!

He plays us some tracks from his forthcoming début album that he says has been 42 years in the making since he was aged two. It includes a ballad about his dog Leo who he lost during Covid and couldn’t say goodbye to due to restrictions. He also covers Frightened Rabbit’s ‘Swim Until You Can’t See Land’. 

He goes down well and George seems slightly overwhelmed with it all. At half an hour our support act has played longer than the headliner is schedule to do. I don’t think that usually happens.

Saltbox is a nice venue albeit with a small stage and although bigger in actual size to the Rescue Rooms it's probably got about the same 400 or so capacity, due to its layout.

Frank is due on a 9pm and his kit e.g. guitar, pedals etc arrive from Chesterfield at 8:45. So it looks like we’re on schedule. It must be hard lugging stuff into a different places unless you’ve cased the joints first but then perhaps they have.

Bang on time Frank Turner takes the stage wearing a T-shirt with the slogan ‘Whose stupid idea was this anyway?’ and welcomes us along to gig six of his mid-life crisis. 

The eight song set draws mainly from his new album ‘Undefeated’ which I get handed a copy of when I enter the venue. The gig plus the CD for only £18.50 and in aid of the Music Venue Trust. So I order a T-Shirt as well.

Alongside the new material he slots in a couple of classics in the shape of ‘The Ballad of Me and My Friends’ and ‘Get Better’. Both of which induce a mass crowd singalong.

Then after a finale of another newbie ‘Do One’ where the chorus appropriately goes ‘I’m still standing up’ he leaves for his next appointment in Birmingham in only an hour’s time.

Of course he went on to achieve his aim in Southampton the next day and now he’s a World Record holder as well as having raised some money for the Music Venue Trust while being the complete legend that he is.