Streetlight Manifesto (and Reel Big Fish) 28/02/08

So, after waiting for about 2 years for the Ska-Punk legends to return to Blighty for a tour I could go to I finally find them in the (insert disgusted tone) SUPPORT slot for Reel Big Fish... RBF are great, don't get me wrong, I saw them in Exeter a couple of years ago and had an awesome time, but Streetlight Manifesto are a whole other level, they actually have something to say (other than 'I want you girlfriend to be my girlfriend etc). Anyway, 'this band is better than that band' discourse aside, I booked my ticket, told all my friends (forgetting to mention the RBF part to a lot of 'em ) and waited.

Big night finally arrives, and I decide to turn up early cause gigs in bristol seem to be a little odd with their start/finish times (Ocean Colour Scene finished at 9:45pm?!?! wtf?) and was glad I did, as I turned up exactly at the doors open time of 6:30, and there was a surprise extra support band already in full swing! I've forgotten their name now, but they were a kinda Ska-Punk-Hip-Hop group from Manchester and were kinda cool, but too much of the hip-hop for my taste... I mean, if your a band with a brass section and guitar and bass, why throw them off stage for half you set?! keeping only the drummer, who isn't adding much to the backing 'noise' that you're rapping along too?!? I dunno, a fair number of people seemed to like it, so I guess I'm just too 'old' for it all really

Anyway... Finally Streetlight took the stage, to huge crowd reaction, in fact I reckon the majority of the crowd were there as much for Streetlight as RBF, or at least it felt that way right down the front... I have no idea what songs they played as I'm rubbish at naming them (that comes from getting to know them by listening to a friends collection and not having any myself...) but I know they played most of my favourites (the only one I can name is 'Better Place, Better Time' which I quote in my forum sig) and I'm sure they played for more than the 30-40 minutes that it was... It felt like they played enough songs to last at least an hour - and the crowd was wild for them all... Overall I think they need to come back again soon and do a damn headline tour! For ultimate craziness they could get Spunge to do the support slot as they're the only band who's crowd has drowned them out for the sing-along bits!

After they finished I went a grabbed a beer in the vain hope I might get it before the Fish started, but wasn't too worried (like I said, seen 'em before, not desperate to see 'em again). I have to say that RBF weren't as good as they were in Exeter, not sure if it was the crowd, the band or both, but to put it simply we managed at least two big Skanking circle pit type things at Exeter, and there wasn't even an attempt in Bristol Having said which it was still good fun, especially their 'Master Of All Musical Genres' bit, where they played the same (short) song in about 10 different styles, from metal to country etc... Great idea, and done really well! They obviously played all the classics - 'She has a Girlfriend Now', 'Beer', etc. Oh, and of course their 'Brown Eyed Girl' cover.

And you know what? All that fun and they were still bloomin well finished by 10pm, meaning I had to buy a new ticket home to save me hanging around for three hours! Lesson here is: Don't buy the ticket home for gigs in Bristol! You never know when they might end... So far two have ended before 10 and one ended just past 11...

Right, That's another one down... There's just Spinlords of Spintania and Hayseed Dixie to do now and I'm all caught up! At least until next Friday... I'll see if I can manage to get those two done by the end of this weekend, if I do I'll be impressed!