Once again I'm convinced that an evening with Ian McNabb is about the most fun you can have without a pot of yoghurt, an some diced Kiwi-fruit and a couple of chambermaids. The Witchwood is a small venue, with room for around 150 people, but it was packed by the time he walked on at nine-thirty. He gave everyone a wave and a smile, then said "I did a gig in Leeds last night, and I was very aware that I talked too much, so I'll try not to do that tonight."
There was a comical silence, then "But since you ask, this is the first song from the new album, which is called A Party Political Broadcast On Behalf Of The Emotional Party - I'm trying to plug it, you see, because I'm a Professional" Laughter, then into a simple, solo "Sex With Someone You Love" ("It's not about me - it's observational. Third party"), "A Guy Like Me And A Girl Like You" and then he stopped and I gave him a swig from my beer bottle before he embarked on another chat. He said "This next song's about all the terrible shit that's..." but a heckler cut him off with "Aw, shut it Ian, and play us a record," so he shrugged, chuckled and went into "The Man Who Can Make A Woman Laugh."
I tried my best to remember what he said next, because he did a five minute stand-up that had everyone bent double with laughter. Here's what I remember:
Am I allowed to talk at all? This next one's another song about Liverpool. Someone's got to keep a record of that place, because there's some pretty weird shit going on. Anyway this one's about the girls who live there. By the way, it's nice to see some girls here tonight. My shows are usually like a record fair. In fact when i go to a record fair I feel like I ought to be doing a set, but that's just me. Give me lights and an audience and I'll play all night. When I open the fridge door I do ten minutes. So it's good that there's some girls here tonight, although I bet your boyfriends dragged you along. 'Who is he? Ian McCulloch? Oh, I like him, he was in Dingo and the Bogeymen.'
"Liverpool Girls," of course, came next, then Roy Corkhill joined him with a lovely fretless bass for "Bloom," followed by a switch to electric guitars for "Little Princess."
After the break McNabb announced that he'd play anything we wanted, and from where I was stood (three feet from the front) I could see his own personal Top 40 on the floor by his feet, with "Understanding Jane," "Hollow Horse," "Camaraderie" and all the rest of the live favourites. He played about fifteen of them, then took requests, but to start with he ran through some of the old Icicle Works B-side cover versions. "Roadhouse Blues," "Goin' Back" and "Into The Mystic," before Corkhill, an unknown keyboard player [ed: Mokka?] and a drum machine launched into Neil Young's "Cortez The Killer" with a grunge dynamic that sent grown men reeling. He announced it by saying "Mr Sound Guy, turn everything up fucking LOUD!" and then he proceeded to murder an electric guitar and most of the front five rows.
Then he started taking requests, which I kept on passing to him scrawled onto beer mats. In fact, so successful was I at getting his to read requests that some of the people around me thought I was part of his entourage. After "Hollow Horse," "Understanding Jane" and an encore of "You Stone My Soul" he said, "This is one of those nights that I don't want to end, but the management have told me to stop at midnight, so I'm gonna have to go." And that was it. He'd been on stage for around three hours, and it seemed like ten minutes. I can't wait for Preston and Sheffield so I can do it all again. Cheers Ian! And thanks for the Yoda quote.
23 October 1998.
This review Copyright © 1998, Russell Jones. All rights
reserved. Reproduced with permission.
The right of Russell Jones to be identified as author of
this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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