venta

Brief comments, since it's bedtime:

Last time I went to see NMA, I commented that they'd seemed a little subdued. This time, I found myself trying to see the gig as it would appear to someone who'd never seen them before, who maybe didn't know the music that well.

What did I see ? A bunch of aging blokes, fronted by an almost cartoon aging rocker with wild, staring eyes and wild, staring teeth. The Zodiac's poor sound (and habit of turning it way up) rendered a lot of the guitars down to a muddy mess which hurt the ears and numbed the brain.

If I'd just blundered in, first time, to the gig myself would I have come home and raved about it ? Probably not, to be honest.

Leaving afterwards, I found myself reluctant to ask

onebyone or

wimble what they'd thought of the gig. As (I believe) people in the situation I'd been accidentally emulating, I didn't really want to have them confirm my doubts.

Because it's not the first time I've seen them, and even though they'd compiled the first two-thirds of their setlist out of songs I'm less bothered about, they're still the band I've been trotting round the country to see for more than ten years. Sure, seeing them is partly force of habit but to me the magic's still there.

New Beardy Guitar Guy (who probably has a name) seems to be making his impression, shoving extra bits of guitar-wank in all over the place. I'm not quite sure yet whether I approve. Nelson also seems to be beefing up his basslines, too, which can only be a good thing.

Surreal moment of the evening goes to Justin Sullivan managing to shove a vague rant about the state of the floor in the Zodiac into the middle of Poison Street.