Nick at London Kalamazoo Club and Aldershot West End Centre
Friday 14 and Saturday 15 December 2001
by raving reporter Paula


Since no one has sent reviews about these gigs in 2001, I've dug through my old emails and found a few brief reviews I did. See where spring cleaning gets you!

Friday at the Kalamazoo Club in Crouch End was a surprise. To start, we were late getting there. Bloody London taxi drivers seemed convinced that Crouch End was on the moon! We ended up taking the Tube instead after wasting loads of time. I for one was sure we'd missed Nick. But when we walked in and saw another group of musicians playing (that weren't Burt Jansch, the headliner), my hopes were raised. Luckily, we ran into Nick soon after, who said that (for reasons I never caught) he was now on last. Hey, headlining - result!

Burt (who I'd never seen before) was fab, but by the time Nick went on it was damn near midnight. Not that I'm complaining, I just apologize if I yawned at him during the show - past my bedtime, y'know haha. Really good show, and longer than I'd expected - Nick was on fine form humour-wise. The really drunk woman falling off her chair did provide good banter material (as did Tora (Bora) Bora - don't ask, it's very far away in the mists of time now!), but maybe she should have gone home a bit earlier. We left at getting on for 2am, happy and looking forward to the next night. I also think this was the night I met "Big" Chris for the first time - even though I feel like I've known him far longer! - so it was a very good night all round.

When we got to the West End Centre in Aldershot on Saturday night, we were surprised to see the crowd, and how *young* they all were! Considering the average age of the people in the other two bands was about 23 (give or take), no surprises. I'm not used to being the oldest person at a Nick gig. ;) The venue itself was a bit like a high school gymnasium, with curtains and all. We were provided with mince pies, oranges and crackers for that festive spirit, which was lovely. I felt all warm inside. Or maybe that was the vodka and cherry Tango - hey, limited bar, we had to improvise...

The first band Ursa was very loud and raucous - kinda like Rage Against The Machine (right down to the fantastic hair on the drummer), but not so much my cup of tea. Not so much as RATM anyway! I will admit to concern as to how the hell Nick was supposed to follow them - well, I was worrying for nothing. He came on stage and had the crowd (and almost every person there for Bennet came in to see him) eating out of his hands - they loved every minute of it. There could have been a mosh pit at a few points, but it didn't quite happen! Nick was a bit more on the raucous side, which suited me just fine - it was nice for a change to be standing up, dancing around to his music with a really "up" crowd and a ridiculously loud PA. :) Excellent night (just under an hour-long set) and well worth the travel getting there - worth the whole trip actually! This was a totally different mood than the other sit-down gig I saw there in 2002 - both were good, but I loved the way this one "rawked". (oh yeah and Bennet brought one word to mind - "Weezer". 'nuff said)

Played both nights: She Rules My World / Karmageddon / The Magnificent G7 / Radio Silence / Guitar Man / Building Our Own Temple / Galaxy Song / "Music" / Headless (medley) // extras on Friday: Flying Dog / The Vampire Song (renamed by crowd demand, right Chris?)

If I forgot anything, I apologise but it was a few years ago and I didn't write down enough at the time. I would blame it on being pre-HHOH, but this is the weekend that indirectly inspired the whole website - see here for more details. And I haven't gotten much better now. :) Suffice it to say I may not remember much, but I love the memories I have!



Created 9 August 2003
© PLC 2001-3