Tour pt 3 - The Gong.

THE PATCH // 18 MAY

Paisley Park, Briscoe + Yae!Tiger

Owen from Y!T - Simply The Best

Raining. Dee and I got there first and we walked through a rowdy, harshly lit front bar to the band room at the back. It looked pretty decent - nice sized stage, good PA, lighting rig, dance floor, decent. THIS IS NOT WHERE YOU ARE PLAYING. Back out to the beige-tastic front bar where we were actually playing, we'd missed the stripping waitresses by five minutes - they'd left ripples of burbling misogyny in their wake though. The stage was dismal: shallow and wide with twin flat-screen gargoyles perched above it. Yae!Tiger politely disguised their horror as they arrived and to their credit, were very civil to me. I felt bad.

The Rugby League was switched off, most of the clientele vacated the premises and Y!T proceeded to rock what was left of the house. They were once a 6+ piece but they took a break and slimmed down to 4 and it really is a helluva rebirth. The songs, which were always great, are so much bolder and clearer as a four piece. It's pop that rarely goes where you expect it to, but still gets its hooks into you. Totally creative and engrossing. 

Half of Briscoe arrived just before we were set to go on, and the first words we said to each other were "one, two, three, four" then I proceeded to offend one of the only punters who had hung around in response to a heckle I may have misheard. It had been a rough week and this iced the cake. Context aside I think it was one of our tightest sets. Surprisingly, a group of people who had been drinking with their backs to us turned around when we finished and shouted "change yer name and play another set!" I'll be quoting that in the next press release for sure.

Locals Paisley Park came on after us for their maiden show and my heart broke for them as the sound guy tried without urgency or success to tame the feedback that was dominating their first few songs. His solution in the end was to turn off the singer's microphone and to rest on the laurels of that nobel-worthy decision for the next two songs. It. Sucked.

READ PART 4 HERE

Brooke and Cat (Y!T) getting psyched