Manchester Show

[garyc]

awesome. tight. fun. hits, no mrs.

thank you thank you thank you

[andy42g]

Constructive
Sequestered
The Swish
Hoodrat
Magazines
You can Dance
Massive Nights
You Gotta Dance
Multitude
Cheyenne
The Cutters
Navy Sheets
Chips ahoy
Charlemagne
Bangin'camp
Jamaica
Discouraged
Stay Positive
Slapped Actress
- - - - -
Positive Jam
Stations
Girls like Status
Killer Parties

[mattjs]

that is a killer encore!

[wonderboy]

Was there last night, amazing show. Started off on the right by Koob but it was a bit quiet so headed for the middle and ended up smack bang in front of CF about 4 rows back. The crowd in my mind were brilliant, jumping up and down and singing along but also possibly the most considerate crowd I've ever stood in. In comparison to most gigs where people just rush to "get front bar" so they can brag about it, there was almost a consensus that the people who knew all the words and wanted to go crazy ended up at the front. Plenty of space to jump around and high fives and hugs aplenty.

As for the guys, I don't know what to say, CF cemented his position as the best frontman I have ever seen, so understated and humble but with so much joy and enthusiasm, Koob rocked (loved when he spun his guitar round and the double neck for Discouraged). Unfortunately that's all I was able to take in (was going to head to the left to give Franz some respect but got ensnared by Craig).

Personal highlight for me was Banging Camp (although Killer Parties was incredible as well). Also the suprise of the night was Navy Sheets, was a bit indifferent when I heared the album, but it realy worked live.

2 final points-
I love the way CF repeats his lines away from the mic
What the hell was the pink monster thing at the end? Anyone any ideas?

Best gig ever.

[motörben]

That was gayrilla. Awesome awesome awesome show. Cheyenne, Cutters and Navy were brilliant. Mutlitude, Banging. My memory shuts off after Banging Camp but I have a vague recollection of PUT IT ALL DOWN ON TECHNOLOGY AND LOST EVERYTHING WE INVESTED.

The Unified Scene are magnificent.

[missalabamanobody]

Sounds like a great show and, yeah, amazing encore.

I had no idea gorillas were contagious, but it looks like they caught 'em from DBT.

[wealdstone]

Memory failure or more likely modesty has prevented Ben from owning up.
He was that Gayrilla

[stevietix]

Fantastic show.
Best atmosphere (but I was closer to the front than I normally am). You guys were bringing it and REALLY made the show special. You could tell the band appreciated it.
Best sound (by a LONG way - I was about 10 feet out in the centre and the sound was amazing).
Best beginning (Constructive - Sequestered - Swish - Hoodrat)
Best end (Stay Positive - Slapped Actress is a real one-two-knockout)
Best company (I need to give Mrs Tix more credit but I was REALLY surprised that she LOVED it!)
Best gay gorilla I've EVER seen
and....... POSITIVE JAM!!!


THANK YOU ALL.


I nearly forgot - GREAT Abduls kebab at the end. Not had one since my student days.

[theblondette]

It was AWESOME!!!

I will do a full write up later. Sadly I had to leave fairly soon after the gig ended, so apparently I missed karaoke with the BAND (WHAT?? The Hold Steady did karaoke and I missed this???). But it's safe to say there will be other massive nights with you guys and those guys. Huzzah!

PS. my back hurts.

[lilhan]

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!!!
thank you everyone for making it such a great night.
ben, i am surprised you are still alive!

so much fun in big hands and charlie's.
so little sleep.
i am off to bed. photos and wonders tomorrow.

1. there was cake
2. i met bobby, finally!
3. i has setlist, signed
4. POSTIVIE MOTHER FUCKING JAM
5. being awake after 2am makes me weird. sorry to all who had to talk to me...
6. i love you ALL SO MUCH.
7. THE HOLD STEADY REALLY DID ALMOST KILL ME... my ribs and neck kill!

[roywalker]

last night was awesomeeee. best time i've seen them, although that might also be because it was the first time i've seen them drizzunk.

i guess a bunch of you were at big hands? me and my boss/friend ended up there via the advice of some girls. i was the the balding, but incredibly handsome guy with black hair and a grey double knit hoodie, which my or may not have been taken off to reveal a public enemy t-shirt, who was generally being a pest talking to absolutely EVERYONE and dancing far far too enthusastically to Dancing in the Dark.


sorry if i any of you were had the misfortune of me talking bullshit to you. i may have been on some kind of upper drug for the first time in my life.

but anyway, awesome awesome. all the guys and girls at the front were brilliant.

[nosferatu]

that opening four songs were absolutely breathless.

Koob's guitar spin was my highlight though - I can take about an entire Hold Steady set of pure joy, but that was the moment that pushed me over the edge... it was like "koob is back! thank fuck!" before that I was marvelling at how tight the show was and how packed with hits it was and how much Craig was enjoying himself... Bobby and Koob were jamming little breaks and stuff all night without batting an eyelid - you could see what touring with DBT had done for them.... Franz was wonderful as always, even if he seemed a little worried about the speed of Chips Ahoy! And I still love the way Galen stays and soaks up the atmosphere right at the end as Koob's guitar loops echo out around the building... Gayrilla was inspired. Craig's baseball swing during You Can Make Him Like You was priceless. Oh, and POSITIVE JAM into STUCK BETWEEN STATIONS. Wow.

I also digged koob throwing the lick from "waterfall" by the stone roses into the breakdown during ...Hoodrat.

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

[zimmerframemosher]

What a night, every time I see the guys they just get better & better.

Koob guitar swings was one of the hightlights.

Great meeting up with the Scene before & after in Big Hands.

Like Lilhan my ribs are wrecked today - pinned to the barrier meant I could jump around too much.

A great night & a set list to die for.

[toastie]

I've just got home.

Will put up links to pics and full report when I recover!

[andy42g]

www.flickr.com/photos/21570559@N03/sets/72157611120203358/
Pics from Sheffield and Manchester (and a couple of vids - check out Hannah giving it loads to Stations!).

GREAT night. Thanks to the band and to all I met.
Hannah - you ROCK .

[theblondette]

Andy, great pics! Much better than mine. But I shall include some pics anyway cos that's how I rule. And now onto the report!

everyone was funny
everyone was pretty
and everyone was coming towards the centre of the city

I got to Manchester at 5pm in my 70s rockstar coat. The city air was cool, and I liked the way my new boot heels clicked on the pavement. It was, I felt, going to be a massive night.

I met my girl Katie and we grabbed a hot chocolate - Starbucks, Lord I'm Discouraged - and we caught up. There was talk of gender and fandom and all the things that we are geeky about. And then we clipclopped along to the bus stop to take us to Oxford Road, and then after a slow but steady walk we got to Big Hands. I saw a glimpse of navy sheets shirts and knew our people were there! I spoke to a few people and smiled at a lot more. I brought cake. I got plenty of hugs from Han and Mike. I drank vodka lemonade and squeed with Katie. It was her first THS gig, and she was feeling pretty excited!

Outside we clustered in that aimless way people do when they're about to go somewhere but are waiting for someone or something, though no one is ever really sure who or what we're waiting for. This was fine by me, because it gave me the chance to take blurry photos of scenesters.





After a couple of minutes we rolled along the road to the venue. Security guards pawed through my overnight bag and made comments about my bra. I could have brought some sex discrimination smackdown right there. It's lucky I'm not easily embarrassed, but if they'd done that to someone more shy and retiring then it would have been unpleasant I think.

Katie and I scoped out the new and improved Academy 1. The US, of course, flocked towards the barriers. I wasn't doing that because I didn't think I should take someone using a cane into the melee! So we sat by the bar as the (indiedreary) support played, and then just before 9 went to find ourselves a spot safe from crushing. We got right up to the front, funnily enough - everyone did that weird thing of insisting on being dead-centre, ignoring the fact that if they stood slightly to the left or right, they could be closer to the front... I don't mind viewing Craig in profile. Plus we were near Tad, and he's looking pretty hot these days. (Though a bit sad, I thought... Hopefully he was just feeling Particularly Intense in his koobish way.)

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We were still waiting for the band to come on! I felt pretty gleeful. Although strangely chilly. Academy 1 is a big ol' venue and the aircon was up high. Though we could be glad of that later.

And then, suddenly, in a blaze of hot soft light, there were our boys.



They opened with Constructive Summer. I didn't care that it's December. We can all be something bigger any time of year. And I think in the dark long days (sunrise at 8.30am up north!) a bit of summer is good for me. They rocked that song, and they rocked Sequestered. A nice opening for the fans who may have come to the gig only knowing Stay Positive. An easing in to things. And then a couple of golden oldies for the guys at the front.

I liked looking round at the crowd. People were feeling it. You could tell there were people there who didn't know many songs, and there were those who knew all of them and were raging, and those who knew all of them and were happy to stand back and nod along. We're all The Hold Steady, and it's nice to see how that manifests. I felt a little pang for not being in the crush, but that was made up for by seeing Katie gleeful about what was going on. I'd told her we could go sit on the balcony, but she was adamant she wanted to try standing - and she stood for the whole thing. That's my girl!

Everyone was very slick. The boys are looking good! Tours are meant to make people bloated and pasty, but instead they all look sleeker, sound slicker, but they're still showing the joy. Craig's unbounded enthusiasm never ceases to delight me. And the more I see Galen the more I love his mop-haired dorkiness. Koob was rocking those guitar solos like nobody's business. His guitar rack is sleek as you like. Someone else will probably have good photos of that.

Ben appeared next to me at one point and handed me a half-drunk beer. He disappeared a while later. Little did I know that he was going to be reappearing soon after in something a little brighter...

I found myself getting pretty choked up at Slapped Actress. I kept wanting to put my hand over my heart, weird though that sounds. But I saw Craig do it, too... Something about that song really resonates with me the way Stuck Between Stations did last year. 2008 has been weird. A lot of painful things as well as a lot of good. Sometimes actresses get slapped. It can be hard getting back up after that. But man, we make our own movies. You and me and them and us.

The encore was great. I got my Stations as always. Can't do without it. Got to see Katie's smile at that speech we all know so well but she'd never heard - "there is so much joy". There really was, and there really is. That never gets old. And Ben looks good in pink.



Outside I caught up with people. There were hugs, there was good chat. I'd have loved to stay longer, but Katie had been on her feet for 2 hours and that's a lot when you've basically had a chunk cut out of your leg. But she's already said she wants to come back and be able to dance.

There's so much joy in what we see up there, people. And so much joy in the crowd. I'm proud to be part of that. I know people went on to have a massive night afterwards, and I'd love to hear some stories! For now this is me signing out. I'll leave you with one, highly amusing, photograph...



I think we can safely say that flatters neither of us! Though Mike is rocking those eyebrows like nobody's business.

C'est tout.

[toastie]

Dec 11, 2008 12:09:16 GMT -5 theblondette said:

It was AWESOME!!!

I will do a full write up later. Sadly I had to leave fairly soon after the gig ended, so apparently I missed karaoke with the BAND (WHAT?? The Hold Steady did karaoke and I missed this???).

No, Dustin did I think.

Me and Dot Info did go up a few times.

Craig has a vid of me doing Born in the U.S.A. (I think)

[dustdudes]

Hello, new board. Manchester lives up to the legends. Ben lost his socks. Karaoke happened. Hats were swapped, photos taken, shame cave reservations were made. New rules, No rules. Respect the hustle.
Guitars to fix, guitars to shop for tomorrow. I love England.

[toastie]

Dec 11, 2008 21:09:31 GMT -5 @dustdudes said:

Hello, new board. Manchester lives up to the legends. Ben lost his socks. Karaoke happened. Hats were swapped, photos taken, shame cave reservations were made. New rules, No rules. Respect the hustle.
Guitars to fix, guitars to shop for tomorrow. I love England.

I'm surpised you remember anything from the karaoke bar!!!

[jamesjesusangleton]

www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/dec/12/the-hold-steady-review

[disgruntledgoat]

My glasses got fixed! I can see again!

Also... "you guys, us guys... That Pink Gorilla... We're all The Hold Steady"

[ros]

I'm just gonna list them.

- Hand claps
- Galen and Franz's interaction on stage is always hilarious.
- Tonight we bowl
- Livin' on a Prayer. Twice.
- You gotta Dance.
- Ben/Gayzilla
- Given the dog above
- The Kids. Love you all. I know I wasn't the only person who almost cried.

[dot info]

Dec 11, 2008 13:50:44 GMT -5 nosferatu said:

I also digged koob throwing the lick from "waterfall" by the stone roses into the breakdown during ...Hoodrat.

I didn't notice that! Immense!

I heart you all, unified scene.

[fieldingmellish]

What a show!

Big love to all the people jumping around at the front, on the left-hand side. I thought I was too old for that kinda thing, but drunkenness proved me wrong.

Agree with all previous posts about warm welcoming crowd.

Am still in pain from pogoing, am still hungover.

It started recreational, it ended kinda medical...

[dot info]

Dec 12, 2008 2:48:16 GMT -5 jamesjesusangleton said:

www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/dec/12/the-hold-steady-review

American quartet? I didn't realise you could get a job at The Guardian if you couldn't count. News of the World, yeah, but the Guardian?