thanks to neil j. comfort
the gig was dead good and some folk left due to disorietation during
"herod" and i got deaf in the left ear it sure was fucked up shit.
big aitchie and bionic martin were very nice...stuart looked fuckled and
barry went in a bad mood(which never happens and he didn't know why it was
happening now) martin's wee brother went into the toilets cos it was too
smokey in the bar.(wee lamb)
some wee guy fae stirling took acid the day before and did not know how he
got there and ended up staying at mine.
a total of ~5 strings were broken 4 of which were during herod which rocked
like like yer grannies chair.
kev dillon drank too much whiskey and declared that something in it went
right through him.
i bounced aboot on bucky, eccie and white lightning and talked to all of
the above and snow patrol.
demonic's beard and head hair appeared to have the same length colour and
consistancy as his brother's arm hair
some guy tried to storm the stage during fear satan, but security guided
him gently into a position where his only option was to flying heeder the
floor. he then got up and ran into the woods and was never seen again. a
year later his footage was found.
the relic was nowhere to be seen. and neither was fat aiden.
big dom says his cousin is a spoilt arse (and he's no far wrong, but she is
a honey so we'll let her away wie it)
anyway not much else to think aboot but there you have a random review of
the gig. alright.
um, thanks for that...
wake and stuff at about 9.00 and it's time now to shower and split for glasgow.
leave for glasgow at about 11.00. drive up, stop at brothers in warrington on the way and make their child cry. she (my niece) is 2 and a half and afraid of strangers. i look very strange. i look tired. i am tired. still catching up from wednesday.
head off again and get to glasgow. stop and call in for directions. it turns out that i'm stopped by the cathedral and the barrowlands is right near. find the venue. it is big. the front lights up apparently. park the car.
get inside w/ friendly assistance from the bouncer on the door. get in, go up the stairs and see martin and say it's fucking big and he says hi rob my mum and gran are standing behind you. ooops. i apologise.
they've just soundchecked. stuart skateboards around the place and i say hi to mick. see the rest of the guys and stuff. go to the dressing room and stuff and there's friends and girlfriends there too.
turns out that spectrum are on next (i wasn't expecting that). they're getting their stuff ready to soundcheck. then ligament. watch them s'check for a bit. backstage stuart is pulling ollie's onto the furniture. i'm pretty sure on the next tour they'll get a mini ramp on the rider or something.
chill and stuff and sonic boom and i talk for a while. also, stuart gets interviewed by some guys with a camera and chris is there, later he says about how welcomed he feels and about how much of a good time he's had and that he has to go back to london tonight / tomorrow and he's working out either getting a train but in the end he gets offered and finally accepts a lift to london w/ ligament.
i drink irn bru and i'm staying at john's tonight and so after a while when things are calmed down we head out to his bedsit to drop my car off and we get a cab back. there's his road and we drop by bag in, nice single room bedsit place, stuff everywhere and that and we walk to get a cab and right outside there's someone being dropped off so we just get right in and say barrowlands please.
nip to the chippy across from the venue and the grill is off so no egg / egg bacon batches so instead i pass on food for now and he gets a haggis. in a while my phone rings and my brother calls to say get the daily express because there's a mogwai interview in it, full page. i nip over to the shop and get a copy and dom reads it and says that everything stuart is quoted to be saying was said by dom and vice versa. i read a bit of it aloud and then proceed to leave the paper around and leave it in the dressing room (they'll be another copy at home i would think for the scrapbook).
outside the queue is building and when martin comes in and says it's around the block we hear that pre sales are 1480 or something. martin's little brother john is around as well. he's a good lad and nifty at fifa 99 as well.
as the evening comes around there's a lot of pacing up and down. people are definitely shiteing it. i think everyone is nervous. i know i am. weird. go watch ligament w/ dom and barry and jaffa comes by and the band are a rockin'. these guys are fucking good. i'd never really heard much about them before the tour but you should check them out. back into the dressing room when they're done.
talk to kay (brennan) about kelty life. she says everyone is okay and we talk about stuff, you know how it is. go watch spectrum w/ john - he's watching sonic play how you satisfy me then transparent radiation on his guitar. he is chuffed about that. chill in the dressing room again and people are even more shiteing it.
talk to sonic again. talk to chris too. wait for them to come on, i leave the dressing room to give them space for a while and then head to where keith is dj-ing to check out the gig w/ him and the amp rack for the subwoofers is out and keith is still spinning, they're due on stage and simon is hanging around checking everything out. but the bass end of the p.a. isn't working and that is bad.
ally is so nervous he's tuning every guitar 3 times and pacing around and fidgeting. the p.a. guy lofty gets a dvm out (if he gets a soldering iron i'm getting really nervous). simon looks nervous. he says to ally tell me when it's working. ally says what if it doesn't? simon says as cool as you like we'll cross that bridge if it happens. he looked nervous though. like can we get it working? is it enough to pull the gig? it gets fixed. in the end.
they come on and keith and i go into the middle of the venue. the response is amazing and keith and i are all smiles, i mean the place just erupted. it was like no need to be nervous, these guys are so stoked to be at this gig right now and the band meet their expectations, they were fucking amazing.
it was an event as much as a gig. awesome. superheroes of bmx first with the band playing over the sample. xmas steps third and it seems all the crowd wanted to hear was the loud bit. and mick was pushing the p.a as well, it was loud. one guy in front of me was dancing (nutter) and the at the front dudes were all moshing to it.
they did stanley kubrick and christmas song and they've been good all tour, excellent songs. then i cry during helicon 2. i heard the intro and just cried. it helped. mogwai fear satan was the last song and it was fucking a real finish, building and the ending... it was like 'yes!!'. fucking brilliant.
they were fucking amazing. they went on again to do like herod. in the end there was tim from ligament playing drums on 2nd kit and a friend on guitar. keith goes to get ready and check the decks i go watch the last few minutes from the side of the stage and they come off and it's all hugs and smiles and drinks. in the dressing room after a girl (sorry, name unknown to me) is crying (as well).
chris said he cried during helicon 1. backstage there's parents, brothers and sisters and cousins, all sorts. willy's there as well. there's one chap talking to kay all night and he's kinda n her face like and she's just taking it in her stride, he's drunk and stuff.
then kim said that they got a cab and the driver goes who's playing tonight and she points to martin and says him! people start to move to the downstairs bar for the after show. sit and chat with a few guys (friends of stuart's) that i met at t in the park. but i'm crap with names. then laura comes over and introduces herself.
things quieten down after a bit and people are heading downstairs. i have a lie down for a minute though and crash out, and laura who i met earlier on, well she kinda chills out as well for a minute. i think she's high. head down to the bar later and see kevin lynch. chat to him and stuff and say that he's got a credit on the single, he didn't know about that, so that was cool.
i say i'll tell mick that you're here (he's doing the load out) and i go find him and stuff while the guys are stripping the p.a, lights and stage and the gears getting hoisted down. walk around a lot meet people, like stuart is with the guy from the chemical underground studio, chat with them for a short while.
find kay and talk to her and mick comes back and i tell him about kevin and he goes to look for him. talk to kay some more (they have a hotel for the night in glasgow). pretty soon it's throw out time, and keith comes in searching for his scotland cricket top and he also thinks his jacket has been nicked. i find the scotland top but then it's time to go and we head downstairs and then out of the venue.
i don't know of the jacket turned up. and there's talk of a party at laura's. it's raining. say goodbye to everyone outside, dom and his lady walk away, kim and martin etc. chris goes with ligament.
a great ending to a great week. but then it isn't over, there's john and i and also dave (old guitar tech) and john's friend joanne staying at his tonite and this party and i have graham's sh101 under my arm and the hood up on my coat. walk to find a cab, it's like 3.00ish time to go party thing.
back to laura's and sit on the inflatable chair, talk to joanne, a friend of john's from way back it seems. nice girl though, very friendly. mitch is there too (he gets around as much as i do it seems) and colin and his lady are there . share a piece of chewing gum and colin says i should write a tour diary. i say i will.
get into a kind of a conversation about the band and we're just talking and stuff and john is 21 and black sabbath were all 21 when they were starting. after a while in conversation i decide i need a change of pace and i go lie in the kitchen in a corner and after a while someone puts a coat over me. pj harvey then stanley kubrick is on in the background.
then it's time to go. a cab is called for and it arrives and i'm kinda 'woken' and i'm straight up and into the cab and we head back to john's. i get my blankets from the car and we go into the room and i make a bit of a nest and curl up and sleep (clothed).
http://web.archive.org/....mogwai.clara.net/ukdiary2.htm