Although arriving in the city in plenty of time, we sadly missed the sound check as, once again, we got lost trying to navigate our way around Liverpool to find the Lomax Club, which was deliberately hiding up a tiny back alley!
So we filled the ensuing hours drinking in any pub which wasn't in the midst of a fight breaking out. Eventually found one...
Got back to the Lomax around 9 pm and it was already heaving. My God, I thought Life Café was a small venue--but we could barely get through the door of the concert room on the first floor--it was so packed! Oh well, waded in and exchanged bodily fluids with many fellow sardines!
Eddie Shit was just concluding his set. No words to describe this really. You had to be there!
He was shortly followed on stage by the totally excellent (and I confess never even heard of before) Real People. Non-stop noisy guitar based sound with great lyrics to boot. I advise you to check them out fellow non-scousers!
At 10 pm, Ian was duly announced as the last ever perfomer at the Lomax (at it's Cumberland Street location--as they are moving elsewhere) and on he came with a full band at last. Ah, there is a God! Roy Corkill on bass, Danny Stitt-thingy on drums and Mokka (shy as ever, hidden in the furthest corner) on keyboards and guitar.
Ian was looking totally relaxed and ready to have a good time!
Set list:
"Hollow Horse"
"Love Is A Wonderful Colour"
'Lets go back to the eighties--quickly', was the invite. 'All those bands that were around in the eighties that everybody hated--man, they were good!'
"Birds Fly" - "Who Do You Love" - "I Want Candy" - "Magic Bus" - "Birds Fly"
"When It All Comes Down"--He was completely relentless on the guitar. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven during this number! It was also nice to see him using a few new additions to the usual guitar assemblage--a twelve string Ricky, a hollow-bodied Gibson and a Fender strat. Mmmm, Nice.
Ian asked us if we'd enjoyed Eddie Shit's set. A whisper in the ear from Roy and then he confessed 'Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me--I did all Eddie Shit's backing tracks'.
"Still Got The Fever"--A new victim, as it was Christine Aguila (sp?) who was the brunt of the 'When I hear .... sing' attack.
Midway through SGTF Ian told some disrespectful person to 'Stop yawning or go to the back'..... 'I've forgotten where I am now'..... 'Shouldn't you be like watching a young band or something?' He also happily encouraged a couple of canoodlers, saying 'That's what music's for'. As usual, he finished the song with homage to 'Sir Matt Busby, Doris Day... dig it, dig it'.... 'Mott the Hoople on TOTP in 1974--you weren't born (directed at the sleepy guy)--the golden age of Rock and Roll'.
Midway through the set, Ian decided he was going to mellow out a little and tried plugging in the acoustic Martin, whilst the rest of the band took a well-earned breather. But the gremlins had struck and although he gallantly improvised with an unplugged "Looking For A One True Love" it was nothing doin'.
He finally gave up and told us all to get a drink and he'd see us in 10 minutes...
The sound team was still trying to sort it out, without success, when Ian returned to the stage. 'Sort it out boys, these people have been here all night'.
There was plenty of good-humoured audience heckling going on. Someone called Ian a hippie--'That's Mr. Hippie to you, mate!', he retorted.
The gremlin was determined, however, and Ian finally lost the will to wait and said--'Fuck it--bring the band back on!' and to my delight resumed the lecky guitar widdling. Knew it would be worth tipping those sound guys!
At this point we were formally introduced to the rest of the band and then 'a word to the PA crew--never try working in a folk club!'
And so it continued..
"Fire Inside My Soul"
"I don't Wanna Talk About It"--'if you've loved and lost... sing it'
"Evangeline" - "Gloria" - "Evangeline"
"Look What She Did To My Mind"
At this point they made their first exit but soon re-appeared proclaiming we were 'a great audience--it's a pleasure to play for people like you'.
"Little Girl Lost"
"Mr. Tambourine Man"
Off again, but not for long and this time stage-shy Mick Hinley (sp?), the Lomax's founder, was dragged on too, with much praise ('that gets me in for now for another year') and he was forced to make a speech. 'Try to say something other than No, you're not fucking coming in!' advised Ian.
"Understanding Jane"
'We got 'em now Robbie,' was the reaction to our clamours for more.
'We can keep going off and coming back or we can just stay on.' Much applause. 'Has anyone gotta be anywhere? Has anybody got a hot date?.... You have?...Better get off now.'
There were more technical hitches and so Ian filled time by amusing us with tales of how, when he went to see Black Sabbath in Birmingham, every time there were a few problems Ozzie Osbourne just went 'Way-ay-wa-ay-wa-ay-ay-a' and it seemed to work .... So let's try it...'
We willingly indulged him.
Then followed a totally cool Ozzie Osbourne take off.. 'What is this that stands before me' etc etc. 'Well that's one of Ozzie's songs.' And so back to his own...
"Stone My Soul"--Usual audience participation as he said 'You know what to do'.
And then he wound it all up with his final thanks to the Lomax, Mr. Shit and The Real People. And then 'The last ever song song at the Lomax at Cumberland Street'...
"Rocking in the Free World." And I mean ROCKING!
And so there it ended. It had been a pure rocks-off barrage of classic Icies stuff, tried and tested solo numbers and cover versions.... No new stuff whatsoever. All in all, the verdict was that it was definitely worth the journey, getting lost, the crush, etc., just to see some stunning guitar playing, along with the full hands on band scene.
Er, quite remarkable!
--Trina Heath
Received 6 March 2000. Posted 1 April
2000.
Copyright © 2000, Trina Heath. All rights
reserved. Reproduced with permission. The right of Trina Heath to
be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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