An Icicle Works fan since 1984, when as a student at Loughborough University, I supplemented my non-existent grant by working for 'Stage Administration' which basically meant being an on-site slave-labour roadie for gigs that were taking place in the Students Union. The Icicle Works were a late addition to the Autumn schedule and hence volunteers were requested. Thinking that the Icicle Works were Roddy Frame's band, Aztec Camera, I volunteered and, fortunately, it was the best mistake of my life. How ironic that Ian was later to support Aztec Camera in 1993. Surely Ian and Roddy Frame must be two of the best singer / songwriters over the last 15 or so years?
Back to the Loughborough gig - the majority of the equipment was late arriving so we spent most of the afternoon sitting around with nothing to do; when it arrived, I remember Ian being apologetic as we rushed to get the stage set up in time. Watching the gig, I immediately realised that The Icicle Works were for me and so it began . . . What made the gig even more memorable was, after it had finished and we were putting all the equipment away, Ian came out and thanked us all for our efforts before the band left. In the two years I worked on Stage Administration no other artist did this and demonstrated what a good bloke he is.
Since then, I have seen The Icicle Works and Ian on many, many occasions in venues ranging from a small, tacky club in my home town of Blackpool to the Hammersmith Odeon. The last time I saw Ian play was also at the Junction, Cambridge on the solo tour promoting Head Like a Rock.
During this period, I converted my, now ex-girlfriend, Belinda Jane May, to The Icicle Works to such an extent that she now relates more to Ian McNabb than to me! So my soul mate and school sweet-heart (from afar at the time) has now escaped me for ever. "Understanding Jane" therefore has a special meaning for me.
Well, Tuesday, 3 November, started as a shitty day - woke up feeling all flu-like (no doubt due to the influx of new students, carrying viruses from their tropical holidays, courtesy of Daddy) and was then involved in 4 heavy meetings from 10.00am until 4.45pm, without having any lunch. I'd persuaded my good friend Joe Mottershead (aka DJ Motty) to come along due to being a person of excellent musical taste, though he had somehow managed to avoid the beauty of Ian's work up till now.
We arranged to meet in the pub close to the Junction, the 'famous' Earl of Derby before the gig. I arrived first and to my great surprise noticed Ian sat at a table with the rest of the entourage. Seizing the moment, I asked for his autograph on the back of the tickets to which he wrote:
To Tony, Rock On! Ian McNabb '98
He also asked me if I'd like him to play any songs, to which I replied (trying to think on the spot) "Conscience of Kings" - didn't go down well, Ian gave a quick rendition of the opening line and said he didn't do the Walker Brothers anymore! I asked for "Tin Can" (as a laugh) which was well received, but then seriously asked for "Into the Mystic" even though it isn't Ian's song. Ian said "I'll do it" and off he went. We'll see, but the day was definitely getting better!!
Ian said he was due on stage at 8.00pm, but given the time it took for people to turn up, it was closer to 8.45pm before he took to the stage, telling the audience repeatedly "I Love You" to which the crowd (approx. 250) replied "We love you." Seating had been laid on to make the venue look more intimate, but Ian's invitation to stand up and come towards the stage was immediately accepted and suddenly the crowd looked bigger and you could feel a good gig was about to happen creating an excellent atmosphere.
Ian announced that he would be playing a lot of songs from the new album because he likes them as well as plenty of old stuff. No problem with that at all, and the set (see below for full details) started off with six songs from A Party Political Broadcast of The Emotional Party.
For "Liverpool Girl," he stopped after singing 'She's a Liverpool girl, she likes her crisps' for a pause and said the line deserved it, before starting from the beginning again.
Ian had said in the pub that "Little Princess" was the big song of the set, and was the only song where the lighting changed. Despite the absence of the sax solo this song sounded excellent live with some great guitar playing from Ian, effects pedals and all.
During "Fire Inside My Soul" Ian paused to take applause from the audience when he sang the line 'These days I go my own way, people seem to like the song I sing.'
Before "Child Inside a Father" introduced his 1971 Les Paul guitar with great delight and also announced that today was his birthday.
Before "Too Close to the Sun" Ian mentioned this was a song for Nick Drake of whom Danny Thompson refers to 'Nicky - great bloke'.
During "Merseybeast" Ian announced he would try to sing the original version which the 'bastards at the record company wouldn't let him release' to great applause.
The encore of "Birds Fly" was an excellent acoustic version.
All in all an excellent gig, Ian played for 1 hours and seemed to enjoy the response from the audience though the size meant it wasn't practical to encourage audience participation to sing the chorus of so many songs. Nevertheless, it during "Hollow horse" it was a good opportunity for Roy Corkill to come on stage and plug the lyric book, which was on sale. If you haven't got one, buy it! Very nicely designed to match the new album, and mine was a signed copy!
The set list was as follows (in order):
Great to see Ian playing live again, excellent new album and the old songs sounded just as fresh, and a good bloke to meet in the pub. I really hope a live CD of this tour is made available as the guitar playing deserves to be heard time and time again.
And my mate Joe went home happy.
Rock on!
Tony Tomlinson, Cambridge
12 November 1998.
This review Copyright © 1998, Tony Tomlinson. All rights
reserved. Reproduced with permission.
The right of Tony Tomlinson 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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