A review of a gig what I went to tonight (19)

Is it naive to think that if all America just got together, sat down and watched a few bands over a couple of pints of decent bitter, then they could all just be friends, look to the future and hope for the best? Obviously it would have to be a bloomin' big bar, but I'm sure it'd help things.

I went to see some more bands at Fibbers tonight. They made me feel good, and nobody had to invade anybody else to provide that feeling.

I was all on my lonesome again, mainly this time because I hadn't bothered to ask (almost) anyone else along. But that didn't really worry me. And the first guy on was also on his own, though he did seem to have a lot of friends in the audience.

Thom Mills was his name. I'm still not sure about that spelling of Tom. I know yer Radiohead blokey has been using it for years, but it seems slightly wrong. Does anybody know any Tims who spell their name "Thim"? No, of course you don't, it'd be ridiculous and people would laugh at them. So why do we allow "Thom"s to get away with it? And don't give me any crap about "Thomas" having an "h" in it either...

But despite the crazy spelling, he was really good. Looked a bit like Will Young, but had some great songs, and a great voice. He appealed for people to join him as drummers or extra guitarists for future gigs. I refrained from offering my services because I suspected he wanted people who were competent. And also he wasn't very tall and I'd have made him look little if I was near him.

After him... I Am Jack. There were more than one of them though, and I don't know if any of them actually were called Jack. Lead singer looked like a grey (one of them alien types, not one of them accountant types). But other than that, they were again really good. Not unique, but very enjoyable. Don't think they were happy about the election result though...

And so then onto tonight's headliners, Cherry Falls. I've seen them once before, supporting Ooberman back in March '03. I don't really remember what they were like, but I'd managed to remember them in a positive enough light for me to have bought their last two singles. Which then hadn't impressed me hugely... But live, they were a different proposition. Think of early period Travis (which I mean as a compliment). Lead singer (and probably the whole band) is Scottish and very chatty and personable. Good tunes.

So I had a pretty decent night out, all told. To cap it all, I heard the new single from Grandaddy, "Nature Anthem" on the radio on the way into town, which is a fantastic little tune.

"I want to walk up the side of the mountain,
I want to walk down the other side of the mountain,
I want to swim in the river and lie in the sun,
I want to try and be nice to everyone."

And that's the entirety of the lyrics. It builds nicely and has a kid's choir towards the end. It's too early to tell whether it's one of those songs whose simplicity will make it a classic, or whether it will just become annoying.

On the subject of that band, I think my favourite song of theirs is "He's simple, He's dumb, He's the pilot". Remind you of anybody? :-)