Thursday 29th July 1999London - Brixton - The George IVA home town gig, and one that I have been trying to sort out for ages. The George IV was the venue for a great 'secret' Carter gig during the 'Dave' tour and I have very fond memories of the place. For once in my life a gig day went almost exactly to plan. My bruv Bam Bam turned up on time (which has never happened before) and we went to pick up the van from the hire place in darkest Peckham (123). The van was a bit dodgy but we didn't worry much as it was cheap and we only had to go to pick up the gear from New Cross (crikey, another Carter name-check) and then on to Brixton (this is getting ridiculous). We arrived at The George just in time to sound check. The engineer / promoter / DJ John Walsh took a while to check Ben's drums and poor Ben was exhausted by the time we got around to sorting out guitars and vocals. The sound was fine and we thanked John and settled down for the long wait until the doors opened. I walked back home via Dalberg Rd (ha ha) and printed set-lists, guest lists and had a bit to eat. In the meantime Alain and Andy headed down the pub for a few swift halfs. I got back to the venue just in time to set up the CD / T-shirt stall with helpers Der and Andy. Then I settled down to watch the first band on, Mushin. It took me a few songs to adjust to the sound of the band as they are rather odd and quirky, but after a while I eased myself into their headspace and really enjoyed it. Bass player Eileen, who runs Hum, one of the local music shops, looked gorgeous. Next on were Gabba who I'd seen a few weeks before at The George and just had to have them for the gig. The Gabba concept is 'Ramones do ABBA' and that's exactly what it is. They look like the Ramones, sound like the Ramones but play ABBA songs. The singer is also more than 7' tall! They were great, such a brilliant concept and so deftly executed. And, what's more, they are top blokes. I'm hoping to hook up with them again. Check out www.gabba.co.uk , it's great. Then it was time for Abdoujaparov to do our stuff. Me and Ben couldn't find Alain and Andy, but we got up on-stage anyway to encourage them to come up and do their fang! It was nice to be on-stage again in Brixton and all sorts of weird parallels with the Brixton Academy kept popping into my head. It is still an ambition to once again tread the Academy boards. But for now The George IV will do very nicely. Although the faithful Abdou crew were there in abundance, it was also lovely to see the local crowd turn up. Lots of faces from the shops and bars of Brixton beamed at me from the steps that lead down to the stage. SETLIST Abdoujaparov Theme Song Benjamin And Jumble (new song) It was a fine set (if I say so myself), I particularly enjoyed playing the new song, although it was a bit tricky to remember even more words than usual. That was one song that the human autocue Rob, couldn't help me with, but he did a fine job on the others ;-) After coming off stage the evening turned into the usual drunken and debauched session, then it flowed over into my place. I got to bed around 4am but there were people still chatting away in the garden until the late morning. Well, that was a busy week, wasn't it? What with Jim's first gig with his new band and the first true home gig for the Abdous. I had a great time, but now....I want to lie down for a bit... See you at the next one. Love fruity xxx |