THiNGS
National Tour 2003 Reports Page
Tour is now over.
Tour diary
Galway,
28 Mar, 2003
Pacino's was good fun. Arriving there of a Friday at around 7pm was a
little odd, what with the schoolkids out in their thousands, milling through
Eyre Square and displaying their wares behind football shirts and angular,
PVC skirt finery. But anyway. About the gig: Playground Psychotic started
off the night with a real pop-rocker of a set. Then Settler played a more
energetic set than usual. Rollers/Sparkers displayed their magnificent
weirdness, blowing their brand new bass amp in the process, and Stoat
were at their theatrcal best. Host for the night, Gugai, then brought
(nearly) everyone out nightclubbing Galway style - that is, to the Warwick
hotel - and people got well sozzled. Thomas Dunning manned the THiNGS
stall in his inimitable way and sold buckets of CDs.
The Forum, Waterford, April 10th:
Great sets all round tonight. The Holy Ghost Fathers theremined it up
as only they can, and Eamonn from the Evangelists stole the show by ripping
off his underpants while keeping his trousers on, presenting them to a
delighted audience member. Settler kept their underpants on, and got a
chance to play a couple of very new tunes, but alas there were only a
couple of people there. So not the best attended, but a good night nonethelessStay
up to date with the most exciting tour of Ireland in years.
- Mike (settler)
Dundalk - The Spirit Store
"The Spirit Store turned out to be everything I'd heard and more. Really nice venue run by ultra sound people. Where else would you get the staff apologise about the size of the dressing room (!!) while they supply you with complimentary tea/coffee/snack bar when you arrive. And the tradition of a free drink for the artists is still alive in Dundalk too. Fantastic, I really hope to play there again, er, to more people.... The thin crowd didn't stop Neosupervital playing as if it was a jam packed stadium! The Corpo played a set consisting of a lot of new songs and so did we." - Anthony (Large Mound)
Cork - Aoife Landers
Ian's report is being checked for legal reasons.
Kilkenny - Cleere's
"Ok blatent backslapping time... the two gigs we've done on the tour have confirmed what brilliant bands are playing here at the moment. The Dudley Corporation astounded me in Dundalk and again in Kilkenny. I hadn't seen Estel in a while and they were truley great last night. Sadly, consistant with the Things You're Missing title, lots of people missed the gigs as the gig in Cleere's was also fairly pooly attended. Still, this tour was a first for TYM and mistakes were bound to be made, it's just another step to try and inform the public that excellent bands do exist in this country...
So anyway, Kilkenny started with what can only be described as a fucking disaster in Irish geography... luckily we left Dublin early and still got to Cleere's on time. Arrived at a small narrow pub and found out they have an amazing room out the back for the gigs. The walls of the pub are covered with framed posters of the touring bands that have played there. With a corrigated iron roof and stone walls you'd think the sound would be a nightmare but it's actually very good. Pip from the Dudley Corporation arrived about 1 minute before they were due to play (I think they were going to start without him!) and they played an incredably tight set. Much more on form than a few nights before in Dundalk (and that was good!). Dudley broke a string, as usual. It was only after the Corpo finished that someone decided to turn off the house lights; instant atmosphere creation. I kind of felt for Estel having to follow The Corpo. They had to fiddle with keyboard sounds and dodgy leads for a while too which didnt help. BUT, when they started playing it was a totally different Estel from the lat time I'd seen them (ok that was well over a year ago). They were fantastic and actually made a lot of sense when placed with the other bands on this bill. Heads bobbed all over the room and doubt there was anyone there that wasn't impressed. I am "procluded from commenting on " the Large Mound set but the fact that there was more than one person calling for "more!" at the end cannot go unmentioned. :-). Then we packed up and drove home in less than half the time it took to get there (slaps head)." - Anthony (Large Mound)
Sligo - The Garravogue
"Mickey joe harte v things! sligo gig: garravogue. HGF, Aurel and playground psychotic arrived to the venue at various times... and due to the restaurant in the pub discovered the gig was a late one. after a slap-up meal supplied by the lovely manager anthony, the bands soundchecked and Aurel took to the stage blinded by the masses of 'mickey joe harte - sold out!' posters launched into a energetic gig of rock and christopher walken impressions. at about 12, introduced by compére phil (of HGF drums fame!), the Playground Psychotic boys and gals took to the stage, with singer mary so transfixed on MJH that she nearly swooned with lust halfway through the set. pete sadly, refused AGAIN to wear glitter. the crowd was a little uninterested at times but then bounding onto the stage at a spritly 1am the 50 or so people paying attention witnessed a rock spectacle like no other from the sleezegods of themin and tennis racquet rock, the Holy Ghost Fathers . they bounded through their set and waved enthusiastically to the jolly barstaff between fending off the hourds of fans past their bedtime. a good night - sirs and madams - was had by all". - From Kieran (Tour Organiser)
Galway - Pacinco's
"The Galway leg of the tour ROCKED. Full house. Great sets. Too tired to write about it now, but everyone kicked ass. Playground Psychotic Settler Rollers/Sparkers Stoat Damn." - From T. Dunning
Limerick - The Boat Club
"Limerick was geat. The boatclub is a great wee venue, the sound was deadly and there was a decent crowd. Respect to the AMC, those guys and girls REALLY look after the bands. Thanks a million folks." - Allen (Holy Ghost fathers)
The THINGS YOU'RE MISSING TOUR
First leg, as remembered by Neosupervital.
LETTERKENNY AND DERRY, Thursday March 20th, Friday March 21st 2003.
So, Letterkenny happened. After a pleasant drive up from Dublin, we eventually arrived. It's longer than you think, you know. Put a face to the name on the other end of the phone, in the shape of Eoghan Aurel/Evangelist. The sizeable Orchard venue echoed nicely, the gig being attended by a select audience of students and local youths who'd wandered in the back way. Yakuza were up first, with the drummer doing his funny left-handed drummer on a right-handed kit thing. Guitarist Ronan threw enough shapes to make a large jigsaw. There were wobbly leg bits (remember the guitarist from the Fine Young Cannibals?), there was a fretboard sawing moment, lots of wiggling about and to top it off, a pointing at the drummer with his guitar bit at the end. More of this, please.
Neosupervital is procluded from reviewing himself, but the fact that Neosupervital played to the largest audience, by dint of the fact that there were no other solo performers on the bill, cannot go unmentioned.
Then Aurel took to the carpeted stage for a marathon set, complete with encores and extra bonus tracks. Fears that they'd be fined, or that the stage would revolve mid-song, weren't realised. Highpoint of the set was Andrew "he looks a bit like Jesus"' rendition of the Tom and Jerry kids theme tune, followed by a song "about a cartoon kitty", revealing Aurel's fascination with all things animated. Best bit of the evening was when the father of a local youth came to take him away, much to his embarrassment. Oh how we laughed as the black-clad teenager hung his head in shame and walked the long, lonely walk across the dancefloor of one who has to accept the lift of a parent while wearing a SOAD teeshirt, all because he can't afford the taxi fare home. Yes, beneath every black teeshirt, there lies a sensitive, fragile human being... ...NOT that you'd have noticed on the next date in the Things tour. No sirreeee. Kids didn't look or act like this when I were a kid. Did they?
It was Derry, it was friday night, so it had to be The Nucleus. The Nucleus is an all ages venue/club type place. The local businesses love it so much that they've successfully campaigned to have it closed down for two weeks. The kids aren't good for custom, it appears. All we needed was PJ and Duncan to walk in, and the youth club vibe would have been complete. There were sk8tr bois and grls there in their droves, wondering why everything had to be so complicated. Indeed, Ms. Lavigne made a personal appearance later on, resplendant in stripey tie and keychain. Maybe she got the stripey tie free with the album. ALT. FACT! If you tied together all the overlong keychains in evidence in The Nucleus that night, You'd have a very long chain. Maybe they just have taller doors there.
Neosupervital opened the proceedings, slightly flustered after disappearing to Witherspoons for cheap beer during the soundcheck, for some reason. He is once again procluded from commenting on his own gig, but the fact that a young boy, no more that thirteen, dropped his trousers during the set - twice - cannot go unmentioned.
Aurel then leapt into action, before leaping quickly out as a speaker toppled over during the first song. Speaker topplage hadn't been a problem the night before, but this was The Nucleus, your honour. It appears the kids want to rock in Derry. Christ, but where do they get their energy from? Young boys were would rock on their heels, Daly Thomson-like, at the back of the room, waiting for the right moment to launch themselves into the heaving mass of bodies at the foot of the stage. Copious amounts of pop and crisps were consumed, so they must be partly to blame. The loud rock music may have had something to do with it as well. Aurel were at their crunchy best, with Eoghan wresting fine, unnatural sounds from his fx'd bass. All the while, Kurt Cobain did his left handed drum thing brilliantly.
And so to The Evangelists. It was testosterone to the max as the drummer (insert name here) displayed his wares with quite an elaborate drum setup, and then stripped to the waist and donned leather gloves, before even hitting anything. This was serious. Oh yes. Kurt gazed on from backstage by the wheelie bins for the whole set. And what an incident-packed set it was. Trouser-crotches were ripped. Lead singers were picked up and spun around by over-developed teenagers. Two cds were sold. A tentative mating ritual was played out in front of the Things stall. Faces sere snogged off. One particular teenager kept trying to impress by unsuccessfully swallowing a penny. Then the fire alarm went off, and everybody went home, tired but happy. All tuckered out, they were. Ready for school the next morning. And then I fell out of bed. It had all been a dream. "...time for school!", shouted my mother.
the END.
Donegal- The Orchard, Letterkenny.
"Things Donegal went swimmingly. The turnout was somewhat 'economical but the atmosphere was nice and the folks who did come seemed to enjoy themselves. Yakuza played a good set, debuting a spanking new song as well as some of their mucho-daycent standard tunes. Went down well with all the stick-dwellers. Despite a few moments of two-headed staring Neosupervital rocked - Best thing ever to come out of Dublin wearing red trousers. Last up was Aurel, but unfortunatley I came over with a strange amnesia during thier set so I can't really remember much about it - regained conciousness around two hours later, apparently uttering some gibberish about "keiran is my absent father". Anyways, expect full reviews of Things Donegal and Derry in the next few days." - From Eoghan (Evangalists)
"holy devine fuck. that was a sureal experience. letterkenny: good gig, not many punters. derry: loads of punters, loads of cds sold, a fire alarm goes off during evangelists set so the venue is evacuated and the decide not to let people back in! people love the neosuper-v, and aurel 'rocked the gaff' apperently. poor eamonn was kicked off before he could take off any of his clothes, which must have been very upsetting. belfast date -> fucking sureal. a spectacular turn of events and timing which meant the accross the line gig of the week was cancelled..." - From Kieran (Tour Organiser)
Derry - The Nucleas.
"Electro-pop meets The Black Army. PA gets knocked over during Aurel 1st song. My trousers ripping during our set, leaving my bollox exposed. The fire-alarm being set off (thus, shortening our set) Confusion as rumours of an air-raid on Derry spreads. Fúcking great night!! - From Eamonn (evangelists)
Belfast - The Menagerie.
The Belfast gig was cancelled.
"The carpark right beside the Menagerie was the scene of "a major crime" a cop told us at the police tape that would let us nowhere near the place and apparently the news said it was an IRA weapons find What a sensationalist start to the tour We're just gonna reschedule the date for the gig, I'll sort it out ASAP" - Ronan (Yakuza)
"I was scarded by all the nordy guardai shoutin at me in fodrin..." - Ian (Omelette)
"in case anyone hadn't heard, the belfast leg of the things tour was cancelled as there was an arms find at the venue just before we got there. i think the PSNI's guys exact words were "a big bag of shiny guns". notoriety indeed!" - Mark (Omelette)
"while stuck in traffic driving to the meangerie in south belfast on saturday (at around 6pm) three 'daleks' (amoured police cars) raced passed us. 'someone's in trouble' we laughed, not realising that it was reportedly the IRA, and then due to the investigation, us.
from the BBC website: quote: "The police have said a large arms cache discovered in south Belfast at the weekend was under the control of the Provisional IRA. On Monday, Mr Trimble said, according to reports, it looked as if the items found were ready for use in acts of terrorism. He said the chief constable must say what type of weapons they were, the country of origin and the date of manufacture. Three men were arrested on Saturday night following the discovery. The arms, found at Essex Street off the lower Ormeau Road, included six handguns, an assault rifle, timer power units and a "very large" quantity of ammunition. Superintendent Ken Deane said the find was significant. "What we have is a mixture of firearms, ammunition and bomb-making equipment and components. He added: "At this stage, we have reason to believe that this is mainstream Provisional IRA equipment, and the find is being attributed to that organisation," he said.
- the arms were found in the car park of the menagerie, and consequentially, there was no gig. the gig of the week on accross the line and the only decent thing on in belfast that night had to be cancelled! omelette, yakuza and myself went to laverys rockin' back bar and then drunkenly to an indie disco, and later staggered home with curry dribbling down our faces to yakuza's house. there we tried to call dial a booze - who nevere arrived. i slept with someones feet in my face and with an omelette and a dubh snoring like billy-o. pity about the gig, but a good night all the same... " - Kieran (tour organiser)
LiNKS
THiNGS main site
Aurel
Neosupervital
Yakuza
The Evangelists
Omelette
Deputy Fuzz
Holy Ghost Fathers
Playground Psycotic
Stoat
Rollers/Sparkers
The Dudley Corporation
Large Mound
Estel
Settler
| The
Tour! Letterkenny, the orchard, Thursday 20th march Aurel, NeoSuperVital, Yakuza Derry, the Nucleas, Friday 21st March Evangelists, Aurel, NeoSuperVital Belfast, the Menagerie, Saturday 22nd March Yakuza, Deputy Fuzz, Ommelette Sligo, the Garravogue, Thursday 27th March Holy Ghost Fathers, Settler, Playground Psychotic, Aurel Galway, Pachinos, Friday 28th March Stoat, Rollers/sparkers, Playground Psychotic, Settler Limerick, boat club, Saturday 29th March Rollers/Sparkers, Holy Ghost Fathers, Playground Psychotic Dundalk, the Spirit Store, Thursday 3th April Dudley Corporation, Large Mound, NeoSuperVital Cork, Aoife Landers, Friday 4th April Omelette, 66 Electric Kilkenny, Cleers, Sunday 6th April Large Mound, Estel, Dudley Corporation Waterford, the Forum, Thursday 10th April Settler, The Evangelists, Holy Ghost Fathers Dublin, the Village, Saturday 19th April Settler, Deputy Fuzz, Yakuza, Evangelists* |
The Ticket (The Irish Times)
The Irish News
Letterkenny Paper
Letterkenny Flyer
Letterkenny Running Order
Derry Audience Pic 1
Derry Audience Pic 2
The Evangelists In Dublin
Yakuza in Dublin
Deputy Fuzz in Dublin
Settler in Dublin
