Tuesday 29 January 2008

Mac's Back

Tuesday 29th January: So, after a flurry of activity over the last couple of days, Leeds United have seen the departure of a manager and the arrival of yet another.

It was just over a week ago that I first heard rumours that Dennis Wise was being linked with a job at Newcastle United. At first, I laughed them off. After all, despite what he has done for Leeds this season - and, yes, I am one of those that thinks he has done a good job, remembering that we started with -15 points - I didn't think a club the size of Newcastle would be interested in him.

Then, in a few hours yesterday, the speculation turned to fact and Wise, while being allowed to prepare the team for tonight's game away at Southend, would be gone before that game kicked off to take up an executive directorship with the Toon. Today Dave Bassett, his assistant of just two months, also left the club. Some would be breathing a sigh of relief.

So, the hunt was on for a new manager. Apparently, the bookies had a list of favourites including Steve Mclaren, Garry McAllister and Paul Ince. Then, at lunchtime, I was told that McAllister was suddenly the overriding favourite, with at least one bookmaker no longer taking bets on him. Sometime after I left work, it was confirmed that the ex-Leeds midfielder was to return to football as the new manager. One of the quickest managerial turn-arounds I can remember.

As I type this, McAllister could be listening to the team take on Southend. We are approaching half-time and there has been no score yet. It sounds a slightly better game than Saturday's draw at Luton. Whoops! Scratch that - Southend have just taken the lead!!

Me? I wish Dennis good luck - although I think he's in a win-win situation. A job with a Premiership club, with a Premiership salary but pretty much behind the scenes. He's not going to be in the front-line when/if things start going wrong and the fans turn on Keegan.

I also wish McAllister luck (obviously). He's coming in as a relatively new manager - he previously managed Coventry before leaving football for personal reasons - at a time when he has little or no opportunity to bring in his own players, with the transfer window about to close. Still, he is a Leeds hero and will no doubt be welcomed with open arms by the vast majority of fans.

Sunday 27 January 2008

A Change to the Schedule



Saturday 26th January: This week, a not-so-tough choice for the only two available members of the Friday Night Music Club. With not much on at Fibbers and an unknown band at the Roman Bath on Friday night, the obvious answer was to change the night out to Saturday to see one of the best of the current York-based bands.


It's hard to write about Freeway without resorting to superlatives. As I've mentioned before, they are a rock-covers band, who manage to play some of my favourite classic heavy metal tracks along with a handful that I don't know.


This evening's set was slightly different to the last time I saw them - showing that, along with excellent, they can also be versatile - but still included Whitesnake, Cream, Deep Purple, Guns 'n' Roses and Thin Lizzy (among others). It has to be said, the boys were on top form. The pub was packed, possibly due to the fact that it was Australia Day, possibly just because it was Saturday and everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves. For a while, we struggled to find a suitable viewing position, ending up side-on to the stage area, near the entrance (which provided welcome blasts of cool air whenever anybody came or went). The only problem with the location was the guitar-on-a-stand, which spoils the photos a bit.


As the last time I saw them, the band was joined by Livvy Sparnenn, who sang two songs during the set and duetted on the final song (Sweet Child of Mine - Guns 'n' Roses). At least, I assume that was the final song. If there was an encore, I missed it - I'd stayed later than usual and literally had to run to catch the last bus (very rock 'n' roll...)
The whole evening was good fun - excellent music, played brilliantly, good conversation and very drinkable John Smiths beer - putting a fine end on a day previously spoiled by Leeds conceding a last-minute equaliser at near-the-bottom Luton and failing to take second place in the table.








Saturday 19 January 2008

Generating Confidence

Friday 18th January: A bout of the 'flu laid me low last weekend, so tonight was just the second musical Friday of the year so far. With nothing much appealing at Fibbers, it was off to the Roman Bath again to see the mysterious Generator.

I say mysterious because, despite two of us scouring the internet, we could find no details of who they are. The only thing I can tell you is that I had seen the drummer before - performing with The Travelling Band last year. Other than him, Generator consisted of guitarist, bass, keyboard and female vocalist. There was a rumour doing the round that this was their first gig.

A little more mainframe than our usual fare, they performed an eclectic mix of covers, including (but not limited to) Madonna (Ray of Light), U2 (Vertigo), Maroon 5, The New Radicals (You Get What You Give), Tears for Fears (Everybody Wants to Rule the World), Joss Stone (Super Duper Love), Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Tasmin Archer (Sleeping Satellite).

The set started out workmanlike but gradually, through the evening, it became apparent that the lead singer was relaxing and beginning to enjoy herself and, as time went on the overall performance got better and better, with just one or two blips (they should never have attempted to cover Joss Stone...)

In the end, a quite pleasant evening out.

Bizarre happening of the evening/following morning was the fact that none of us could remember the name of the singer, or his band, currently being immortalised on film after his suicide years ago. We knew his first name - Ian - but couldn't remember any more details. This morning, while reading a British Science Fiction Association magazine, specifically an article about the soundtrack to the movie The Crow, I found a reference to Ian Curtis of Joy Division - the very person we were trying to remember.

Saturday 5 January 2008

Time To Pogo-oh-oh-oh

Friday 4th January: A cold, wet, windy Friday evening in York. Time for the first visit of the year to Fibbers.

Being honest, the first band on did nothing for me. Girls Can't Dance are from Leeds and billed as "Indie/New Wave/Post Punk". The vocals reminded me, for some reason I've yet to fathom, of the 80s. Perhaps more cruelly, they could also be described as a cross between somebody shouting and a stuck typewriter, as fully half the lyrics seemed to consist of repeated vowel sounds. Oh, oh, ooooh.

Next up were The Layfields. A four-piece from York with two vocalists taking alternate songs. Better than the first band but a bit samey throughout their set, until the last song which was almost completely different in style and excellent. One song, however, does not a set make. The Layfields also had a habit of using repeated vowel sounds, but with less shouting.

Finally, the band we had turned up and paid our £3 to see - The Sneakypeeks. Now, this band sound a lot like Cohesion, the first headline act I saw at Fibbers over a year ago. This would be because they are, in effect, Cohesion reborn as a three-piece, with a name-change to reflect the more fun-filled style of their music. (Apparently, Cohesion does not give the right impression.) Name-change or not, they were brilliant. The set was thrown into a little bit of chaos when drummer Rich was forced into an impromptu solo after lead-guitarist Paul broke two strings during the first song, but the band carried the whole set, which included at least one Cohesion song, off superbly.

One noticeable difference between the Sneakypeaks and the other bands was that the former actually look very professional on stage. Apparently an album is due this year. I'll be keeping my eyes out for it.

As Fibbers turned itself into a dance club, we wandered round to the Roman Bath to see what we happening there. The Spunksters - a punk covers band from Yorkshire - was what was going on. Punk isn't my thing. I never got it. The other guys seemed to be enjoying it, though, with one of them treating us to a bit of a pogo dancing. I drank my pint and headed off for the last bus home.

Oh My God I Can't Believe It

Tuesday 1st January: So, a funny thing happened to me on New Year's Day...

At about 1 o'clock in the morning, Debbie and I were watching Jools Holland's Hootenanny show on BBC2. The Kaiser Chiefs were performing and I mentioned to Debbie that I didn't think they would be at that day's Leeds United game. Some of them sit just four rows in front of me and I doubted that they would be able to get back from London in time, assuming that, when the show finished, there would be some sort of party for the many celebrity guests.

However, that afternoon, at the match, one of the band - bass player Simon Rix - was in his usual seat. After a dire performance, at the end of which a much under par Leeds side had been beaten 3:1 by Oldham, I found myself standing close to Mr Rix and decided to try a little light banter. Something along the lines of:

Me - "You got back quick."
Rix (slightly quizzically) - "Yeah."
Me - "Was there not a big p*ss-up after the show?"
Rix - "Yeah, but we decided to come back because we thought the football would be good."
Me - "Oh well. Never mind..."

Recounting the tale the next day at work, one of my colleagues advised me that he had been told that the Hootenanny show is actually recorded in early December. So, either Mr Rix was humouring me (Wikipedia states that the pretence of the show being live is strictly maintained) or he was assuming that we had both been at some New Year's do. I'll probably never know.