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On Friday last week I dashed home from work, ditched (semi)sensible work clothes, grabbed a pair of cut-off shorts, a t-shirt with the sleeves hacked off and an old black Norwegian Army Shirt, now old enough to order its own drinks at the bar, and headed back out to the wilds of Brixton.
Unfortunately, due to an unfortunate "tram arriving at station one minute after train has left" incident, I was slightly later than planned. That said, I did bump into Carrie (WINOLJ) and have a quick chat with her while waiting for the next train.
Arriving at Brixton, I worked my way through security to the merchandise stall. I tend to only buy t-shirts at events, so this was going to be my last chance to pick up some Carter merchandise. And I did. And then I spotted that the other shirts on show had the back-print "Where's Me Jumper?". At which point I discovered who the support band were ... just as they started playing that song. However, I was still in the process of paying, and it's quite a short, fast song, so I got into the auditorium only in time to hear the last chorus and see them leave the stage. Apologies to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
steveandabigail for the somewhat perfunctory greeting on the way.
Taking advantage of the traditional "bar and toilets" exodus, I made my way further forward through the crowds, most of the members of which were gratifyingly adopting my body shape, and fetched up next tomeryc and nils, beside one of the intermittent barriers across the Academy's sloped floor. Alex began to bemoan the fact that the sound guy had obviously ditched the "Sound Man's Union CD", of AC/DC, Metallica and other rock standards for the "Early 90s Indie Sound Man's Union CD", which was rather good. Now, the traditional rule is that if the between band tunes are good, the show may not be up to much, and Alex was loudly bemoaning this fact, accompanied by Blur's Song 2, James' Sit Down, the Inspirals' Saturn 5, Ned's Kill Your Television and, bizarrely, the Fratellis' Chelsea Dagger, played twice, all of which had a backing chorus of Brixton Academy. Nils, meanwhile, displayed some bizarre lacunae in his otherwise extensive musical knowledge ... it's rare that I identify a tune and he doesn't.
Anyway, eventually the house lights started to dim, and the famed "Academy Surge" indicated that something might happen. The "You Fat Bastard" chants started in earnest, rising in volume whenever a torch moved at the side of the stage, as the smoke machines increased their output. And then a horrible vision hove into view. John "Fat Bastard" Beast, the inspiration for the original chant, sauntered onto stage, his bare chest emblazoned by the markered slogan "No More" and his only clothing appearing to be a polystyrene cup affixed with masking tape to protect his modesty. He shared a couple of hitherto unadmitted Carter facts with us for this last gig - the fact that Carter never played their instruments, being managed by Milli Vanilli - and the fact that Fruitbat couldn't sing, which he suspected we knew.
And then James "Jim Bob" Morrison and Les "Fruitbat" Carter casually sauntered onto the stage, a guitar each ... and the crowd went wild, losing years (and pounds) for two hours of classic Carter. Jim Bob may have ditched the unfurled fringe, and Fruitbat was wearing full-length trousers, but they managed to summon up a fair simulacrum of their old energy, backed by a large screen which displayed the band, the crowd, various lighting effects or clips of the relevant old video. Stand-out tracks were Rubbish, Sheltered Life, Do Re Me So Far So Good and, well, to be frank, the whole set. Two solid hours of Carter's greatest. Yes, we all had personal favourites that probably weren't in the list they chose for the end, but hell, it's their music and their swansong. At one point Jim Bob was slightly bemused by the fact that the programmed intro that started wasn't for the next song on his copy of the setlist, but Fruitbat just pointed out that he was wrong, and they went with it. Not everytrack was high-energy, and the tempo took a break for England, never one of the world's most cheerful tunes, but it picked up again afterwards. Fruitbat returned for the encore in his old cycling cap, t-shirt and shorts uniform, causing Jim Bob to double-take, and drank his first beer for seven months (he'd gone on the wagon in preparation for the 'end of Carter' bender after the gig). "Give me an S! Give me an H! Give me an E! Give me an R! Give me an I! Give me a double F! Give me another F! Give me an A! Give me a T! Give me an M! Give me an A! Give me an N!" Possibly the longest obvious build-up to a song ... [grin]
And, when it was all over, JimBob looked slightly wistful, as if he didn't really want to leave after all. He and Fruitbat waved and left, and that was the end of Carter USM. Again. John Beast came out to tell everyone that that was it, but that Jim and Fruitbat were still touring and could be seen with their new bands. And that we should just, now, "F**k off!" At which point the screen behind the stage lit up with the face of Graham Chapman on the cross, and Eric Idle's voice cut in, with Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.
I've seen Carter several times at Brixton. I'd even seen them in their brief existence as a six-piece at the Hull Adelphi withthecesspit, when he'd managed to identify the support act (the Slingbacks, for those who care) from hearing their soundcheck as we were parking the BigRedHappyFunBus™ (my old Passat estate). And while I'd caught their appearance at FourForWiz at the Islington Academy, I'd missed their previous big "Sod it, we're back for a Christmas one-off" due to going to a works ($companyCarFirm) black-tie Christmas event at Thorpe Park - which was crap, and left me wishing since that I'd gone to the gig instead. At least this time I was there. And I've got the bruises to show it.
In the melee that was the highly enthusiastic bouncing mosh-pit (personally I prefer the pits at NMA gigs - they tend to circle rather than bouncing), I encounteredchris_damage and suicideally and eventually ended up next to billyabbott, who'd decided to go in the end, and was discovering a slight lack of dry cloth on which to clean his glasses. Then, on the way out I passed rainbowskye and flooks - and then a couple more people from the Army crowd while heading for the bus.
On the way out, I picked up the new Abdoujaparov album, the best of Jim Bob and, finally, a CD copy of the Sultans of Ping F.C.'s classic album, Casual Sex in the Cineplex, which hitherto I'd only owned on an old C90.
Unfortunately, due to an unfortunate "tram arriving at station one minute after train has left" incident, I was slightly later than planned. That said, I did bump into Carrie (WINOLJ) and have a quick chat with her while waiting for the next train.
Arriving at Brixton, I worked my way through security to the merchandise stall. I tend to only buy t-shirts at events, so this was going to be my last chance to pick up some Carter merchandise. And I did. And then I spotted that the other shirts on show had the back-print "Where's Me Jumper?". At which point I discovered who the support band were ... just as they started playing that song. However, I was still in the process of paying, and it's quite a short, fast song, so I got into the auditorium only in time to hear the last chorus and see them leave the stage. Apologies to
steveandabigail for the somewhat perfunctory greeting on the way.Taking advantage of the traditional "bar and toilets" exodus, I made my way further forward through the crowds, most of the members of which were gratifyingly adopting my body shape, and fetched up next to
meryc and nils, beside one of the intermittent barriers across the Academy's sloped floor. Alex began to bemoan the fact that the sound guy had obviously ditched the "Sound Man's Union CD", of AC/DC, Metallica and other rock standards for the "Early 90s Indie Sound Man's Union CD", which was rather good. Now, the traditional rule is that if the between band tunes are good, the show may not be up to much, and Alex was loudly bemoaning this fact, accompanied by Blur's Song 2, James' Sit Down, the Inspirals' Saturn 5, Ned's Kill Your Television and, bizarrely, the Fratellis' Chelsea Dagger, played twice, all of which had a backing chorus of Brixton Academy. Nils, meanwhile, displayed some bizarre lacunae in his otherwise extensive musical knowledge ... it's rare that I identify a tune and he doesn't.Anyway, eventually the house lights started to dim, and the famed "Academy Surge" indicated that something might happen. The "You Fat Bastard" chants started in earnest, rising in volume whenever a torch moved at the side of the stage, as the smoke machines increased their output. And then a horrible vision hove into view. John "Fat Bastard" Beast, the inspiration for the original chant, sauntered onto stage, his bare chest emblazoned by the markered slogan "No More" and his only clothing appearing to be a polystyrene cup affixed with masking tape to protect his modesty. He shared a couple of hitherto unadmitted Carter facts with us for this last gig - the fact that Carter never played their instruments, being managed by Milli Vanilli - and the fact that Fruitbat couldn't sing, which he suspected we knew.
And then James "Jim Bob" Morrison and Les "Fruitbat" Carter casually sauntered onto the stage, a guitar each ... and the crowd went wild, losing years (and pounds) for two hours of classic Carter. Jim Bob may have ditched the unfurled fringe, and Fruitbat was wearing full-length trousers, but they managed to summon up a fair simulacrum of their old energy, backed by a large screen which displayed the band, the crowd, various lighting effects or clips of the relevant old video. Stand-out tracks were Rubbish, Sheltered Life, Do Re Me So Far So Good and, well, to be frank, the whole set. Two solid hours of Carter's greatest. Yes, we all had personal favourites that probably weren't in the list they chose for the end, but hell, it's their music and their swansong. At one point Jim Bob was slightly bemused by the fact that the programmed intro that started wasn't for the next song on his copy of the setlist, but Fruitbat just pointed out that he was wrong, and they went with it. Not everytrack was high-energy, and the tempo took a break for England, never one of the world's most cheerful tunes, but it picked up again afterwards. Fruitbat returned for the encore in his old cycling cap, t-shirt and shorts uniform, causing Jim Bob to double-take, and drank his first beer for seven months (he'd gone on the wagon in preparation for the 'end of Carter' bender after the gig). "Give me an S! Give me an H! Give me an E! Give me an R! Give me an I! Give me a double F! Give me another F! Give me an A! Give me a T! Give me an M! Give me an A! Give me an N!" Possibly the longest obvious build-up to a song ... [grin]
And, when it was all over, JimBob looked slightly wistful, as if he didn't really want to leave after all. He and Fruitbat waved and left, and that was the end of Carter USM. Again. John Beast came out to tell everyone that that was it, but that Jim and Fruitbat were still touring and could be seen with their new bands. And that we should just, now, "F**k off!" At which point the screen behind the stage lit up with the face of Graham Chapman on the cross, and Eric Idle's voice cut in, with Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.
I've seen Carter several times at Brixton. I'd even seen them in their brief existence as a six-piece at the Hull Adelphi with
thecesspit, when he'd managed to identify the support act (the Slingbacks, for those who care) from hearing their soundcheck as we were parking the BigRedHappyFunBus™ (my old Passat estate). And while I'd caught their appearance at FourForWiz at the Islington Academy, I'd missed their previous big "Sod it, we're back for a Christmas one-off" due to going to a works ($companyCarFirm) black-tie Christmas event at Thorpe Park - which was crap, and left me wishing since that I'd gone to the gig instead. At least this time I was there. And I've got the bruises to show it.In the melee that was the highly enthusiastic bouncing mosh-pit (personally I prefer the pits at NMA gigs - they tend to circle rather than bouncing), I encountered
chris_damage and suicideally and eventually ended up next to billyabbott, who'd decided to go in the end, and was discovering a slight lack of dry cloth on which to clean his glasses. Then, on the way out I passed rainbowskye and flooks - and then a couple more people from the Army crowd while heading for the bus.On the way out, I picked up the new Abdoujaparov album, the best of Jim Bob and, finally, a CD copy of the Sultans of Ping F.C.'s classic album, Casual Sex in the Cineplex, which hitherto I'd only owned on an old C90.