The gigs are becoming a bit more frequent as we move into Autumn. Perhaps it’s touring season. On Wednesday, Jen and I went along to the Waiting Room at Eaglescliffe to see Jeffrey Lewis. We saw him in York last year and this one, in front of a one hundred capacity standing crowd is likely to have been one of his smallest venues for a while. He was very good, as were the support band, The Grasping Straws.
I was chatting to the drummer who was helping out the support band and he turned out to also be the drummer for David Cronenberg’s Wife, a band that we have seen a couple of times, most recently at Sheffield this year. He was able to answer my question about the grand piano at that gig, which was whether DCW were lugging it around with them, something that seemed unlikely for a band travelling in something the size of a transit. Not only was he able to confirm that they had just found it on the stage and decided to put it to good use, but also that he had abandoned his drums to be the one to play it.
Next up was The Molotovs at Gemini in Newcastle on the Friday night. I’d seen them with Paul earlier this year in a much smaller venue and came away from that occasion very impressed. In fact, I recall saying to him that I could watch them every night of the week. A few months on, I’ve backtracked a bit. When their debut album came out, I listened with a smile on my face as I was able to identify which bits they had taken from which Jam songs. I can live with a bit of stealing, as long as it’s discreet, lots of bands have done it.
What isn’t discreet though is the on stage stealing. All three of them blatantly mimic the style and movements of their Jam counterparts as if they were a tribute. They played a few new tracks which sounded just like their older songs and as Weller moved The Jam onwards with every album, is probably the least Jam-like thing about them.
The bottom line though, is the quality of the songs. If you are going to write a formulaic Jam by numbers song, then it needs to stand on its merits and none of their songs to date are as good as, say, the top fifty Jam songs. So, why bother? They should either develop a sound of their own or go full tribute. I’d watch them in the latter guise.
We were back in Teesside the next morning in time for me to get along to the game against Norwich. We’ve been doing well so far with a two point average and just the one defeat in the league. Everyone thought that Kim had made a decent selection with maybe only Philips missing out from most people’s first choice eleven. We’ve still got that Puskas or something American fella too, who might be ideal for the ten role if we play it.
There was a wild start to the game, we could have scored in the first twenty seconds but then went a goal behind in under a minute. We hit back and went in at the break three-one up. The guy on loan from Brighton looked good, very good in fact, I think he might be an upgrade on Morgan Whittaker. Tommy Conway started wide and earned two assists in a busy performance.
We looked good for sixty-five minutes, but when Conway and McGree went off, the momentum seemed to switch. We pushed forward for a fourth and were then twice hit on the counter to bring it back to three each. An added time winner from half-time sub Ashley Phillips nicked the win for us. That’s always a great feeling.
It was an entertaining game for a neutral, as they say, but could easily have been two or more points dropped for us. We need to be tighter at the back. I’d suggest avoiding committing too many players forward in games where we are a couple of goals ahead. I’d also play all three of our main central defenders with wing backs. That would mean one less attacking player but would allow us to have one of Conway or McGree on the field at all times rather than seeing them both replaced by someone less effective like today.
Roll on Tuesday night, as a win at home to Millwall would take us two points clear at the top.
