Review of the Bilston gig by Carolyn

My oh my – if that wasn’t one of the best Blockheads gigs I’ve ever been to, then I’m off for a milk of magnesia and curry powder sandwich (and half a pound of uncut pork, natch). We Midlands fans don’t get to come out of the woodwork very often on our home turf, but when we do, its usually a great night. The Robin 2 at Bilston always seems to have been a good venue for our heroes, and Thursday night was no exception. I am advised that the carefully constructed (and nice and long) set was one which had gone down well at the Mean Fiddler, and boy did it work here. The show opened with Sex and Drugs – as it happens, without much (enough?) fanfare and taking us all by surprise. And then we were off and running, as follows: Feel the Funk, I Believe, Wish it Was the Days, My Own Rules, Where’s the Party (and have you all ordered your copies?!), Mona, One Love, Dance Little Rude Boy, Spread It, Funny Farm, Moving On, Shut Up and Dance, Billericay Dickie, What a Waste, You’re More Than Fair, Sweet Gene Vincent, Hit Me, and Reasons to Be Cheerful. A flawless performance, with everyone seeming to relax (argh!) and really enjoy themselves – especially Norman, who kept cracking up while singing Billericay Dickie (wish I’d asked him about that afterwards). Great to hear even more tracks from the new CD, all of which I really enjoyed. As before, Dylan’s solo (oh sod it, I cant remember which track it was) had us all open-mouthed, and even more fun to see Lee up there chunking away on rhythm guitar with some fab little licks on Reasons. It was doubly excellent to meet fellow IDL-ers. Bill (who came and said hi at the bar before I spotted him – damn that awful photo of me at Watlington!), Mick, Sam, Laura and Jeremy. We all had an excellent time, grooving and singing away to each other and everyone else like a right load of anoraks, taking loads of photos etc. As ever, huge thanks to Lee for all his hard work too – I don’t think things would run half so smoothly without him dashing everywhere all the time. Excellent venue, great sound, great audience, and of course, unbelievably great band, whose performances of the new stuff seem to be gathering pace. Roll on the next gig……..

All Photo's by Carolyn

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