Streetlight Manifesto 04/12/2008

This was another long looked forward to gig, after their blinding support slot for Reel Big Fish I couldn't wait to see them headline. They were playing at The Croft in Bristol, which I had never been to before. The Croft is a tiny venue, 170 capacity, and felt smaller (that number may be for the bar area as opposed to, or as well as the band room). I missed both support acts, as I was helping my friend find a spare ticket, as he had messed up the booking and had nothing else to do in Bristol.

The back room was completely packed by the time Streetlight came on, and everyone was really excited and raring to go. The band played a storming mix of old and new material, all of it going down a treat. The band blazed through a large percentage of their songs, with all the favourites mixed in. 'Better Place, Better Time' was a definite highlight, and I surprised myself with how much of 'One Foot On The Gas, One Foot In The Grave' I knew. The first section of the set was pretty full on - about an hour of nearly non-stop moshing and skanking to the ska-punk legends. Luckily for me, and I imagine a number of others, they did a few acoustic numbers (covers I think, as I didn't really recognise them) which gave us a chance to catch our breath, which even when not dancing was hard work as there is NO air flow in that room! I managed to spot an air conditioning unit to one side, and made my way to within the blissful stream of cold air - that's about the only reason I stayed upright to the end of the gig!

After the little interlude they kicked the energy levels back up to full for a few more songs before the 'encore'. As with a lot of bands they didn't really take it seriously, especially as there wasn't any real backstage to hide in! They did another two or three songs for the encore, ending with the anthemic 'Somewhere In The Between' - which is an excellent song, brilliant sing along chorus, that has a great message, and all this is topped off with a really great extended conversation between the saxaphone and trombone. I came out on such a high I didn't come down for a couple of days - I was virtually dancing in the aisles on my next shift! I'm just dissappointed they aren't British, as they are never gonna tour enough for me, living in America!

Sadly, no pics as I was far too busy having fun.

Upcoming glog (when I find inspiration again):

Dodgy

Upcoming Gigs:

02/03/09: Bluetones 13th anniversary of 'Expecting to Fly' tour (with Misty's Big Adventure support)

01/04/09: The Rumble Strips in Cardiff - if I miss the Thekla tickets...

06/04/09: The Rumble Strips at the Thekla

03/07/09: Blur at Hyde Park. Oh yeah. That's right. I cannot wait.