Up All Night @ The River Bar

2001-08-22

The River Bar
206-208 Tower Bridge Road

The first act of the evening (supposed 8:00 start, actually 8:15, but then that's to be expected) is Daniel Print who does very literate and wordy songs, for example quoting Jean Luc Godard.

The room is fairly empty when I begin – Aiden McGee and Chris Schüler have come to see me specifically, and there are a few other people dotted around. By the time I finish (by some strange elision) the room is fairly full of people who have come to see the next act. They are very well-behaved, considering (I have seen gigs where people just chat through all the acts that they have not come to see specifically).

I had intended to start with The Things You Get and put in Obvious, but it didn't seem appropriate, so I start with Little Games, and move on to Mr Wrong, The Secret Agent's Dream and other usual suspects. My Risky New One for the evening is Unison, quite fittingly because I wrote the lyrics walking back from here one time, but I don't mention that. Where Did It All Go Right? goes quite wrong (ironically, I suppose). I finish, as tradition demands these days, with Comforting Lie. I still haven't written anything else like that.

But all in all it is a lot of fun, and my inadvertant audience are attentive and kind, which is always nice. It feels like a good performance.

I sit and watch a lot of the next act's set (since they had been so polite to me), and they remind me (for some reason) of the Young Marble Giants, but since the TMG must have split up when this band were in nappies, I imagine that there's no actual influence there and probably stems from my fond imaginings.

Then I repair upstairs to chat to Chris and Aiden, and then go home.