Sorry everyone, this is long.

["John Parsons" <jp2@ne...net>]

Below is my report on portsmouth for all, then other people's that i
haven't
deleted from my computer, for Stacey...

I am in a very happy place at the moment.  I've just driven back from the
gig, it is 20 past 1 and I am playing Cavaliers.  The poor children will
have to forgo my more adventurous attempts at teaching maths tommorrow, in
favour of me sitting on my arse waiting for the end of the day.

Two poor support bands ('crayon' like stone roses/emf with levellers
vocals,
'dumbshow' better, vocals a bit like skunk anansie/placebo....a bit of a
patience tester really).

I had been a little apprehensive of the gig, usual worries, would anyone
be
there?  would they be together?....need i have worried?  no.

came on with broken and mended and they purred.  There was room enough for
them on stage so they looked comfortable and just went for it.  It is a
good
song to start with i suppose, not to fiddly.

They played through all the songs previously mentioned to a crowd of
100-150ish (i tried counting but felt like a geek).  You lot are right
about
'cowardice..', it sounded great, and today the banjo '..and stones'
clicked
very well.  Some of you are not so keen on the unfamiliar stuff, but i am
completely sold on it.  'art star' i think we all agree, stands out (great
lyrics...'tattoo it on my face, you can review the tattoo'), but the rest
was engaging and very well carried off.  'Colour me' really stands out
amoungst the other songs because the complexity of the melody survives the
onslaught of guitars, i can't imagine what some of it must sound like to
an
unfamiliar ear...i think that it is much easier to trace melody when you
are
looking for it, so during 'colour me' i think they do themselves a lot of
favours because you can't avoid it.

The blend of recruits seems to work well too.  Everyone played their part
in
creating the noise that is resonating around my head, and i had an urge to
go up and thank all the new folks for not mucking it up.  Luckily i had
enough presence of mind not to make such an arse of myself, phew.

Any way, the gig was great, and i am annoyed that i can no longer go to
the
LA2 tommorrow.  Hope you enjoyed it Ben, best of luck recovering your
hearing.

all the best JP......

Huw wrote...

So, what was it really like?  Ahem, yes, I was at the Lomax club in
Liverpool last night.

The Lomax club is a rock venue of the most wonderful sort.  Down a dodgy
looking side alley with a bar in basement, venue upstairs and a locked
gallery.  It's small (capacity about 150 I would guess), dingy (dark, loud
music, bricked, very rock and roll), hot and sweaty.  "Ill have a pint of
bitter please."  "Oh we only have Carling or Guinness, is that ok?".....

Anyway, first on were Disney Porn.  Lilting tunes from a musically
impressive band who just could not get their act together.  The lead
singer
apologised ("I'm sorry about this next song, I know it's pretty crap") to
the audience about 7 times.  Not very impressive.  They bungled their way
through a short sharp shit set.  Penultimate song bounced, but that was
it.

Second band : World is my Oyster.  Fucking brilliant.  Best new band I
have
ever seen, me reckons.  Loads of theatre and some of the tightest best
rocky
ballads that you have ever heard.  No mistakes on this one, every song
flew
and I was terrified.  How on earth could the Blue Aeroplanes follow this.
World is my Oyster kept everyone's attention for the whole set.  Every
song
was given with a hefty dose of arty semi-spoken drama.  When singing about
Christmas the singer (heavily dressed in frilly shirt, leather jacket,
cool
hat and shades along with spandex!) opened a wrapped gift on stage; then
he
sang about Marjorie and turned his guitar into an ironing board.  This was
a
group attempt.  Synchronised movements in the best sense chugging along
with
incredibly powerful music.  Get to see these.......

Suddenly there were more people on stage than in the audience (about
75-100
in attendance).  The Blue Aeroplanes at last were setting up.  Les Avion
Bleu are my best band of all time.  They are a synopsis of my college
memories, arty music with very wordy frontman.  God, I shiver when Gerard
says "The sound of violins" and "holding a book and a skull" etc.  You
know,
I've got all their records and love every one to the last second.  They
really mean a lot to me.  This was a great way to see them, I mean, I was
stood about 2 yards away from Gerard with a stage about one foot high!

So, how did they fare?  Well not very well at the start.  They stumbled on
stage with no background noises, no dimmed lights.  They just walked on.
The visual backdrops were exactly the same ones as they had some 9 years
ago
and very tacky cut out aeroplanes were everywhere.   The crowd (mainly
consisting of schoolteachers of about 27-27 age group - probably in
college
when Swagger arrived) didn't cheer.  An embarrassed silence dominated.
Gerard stood there looking at us.  He looks old.  A serious receding
hairline, a beer gut, and an awkward tallness which I hadn't noticed
before.
Even Rodney Allen looks about 30!  How can this be?  They aren't meant to
go
old.  However the shades are there along with seriously arty rainbow
coloured cobble of trousers (very boring black top).  No Wotjec.  No room
for him, but a real empty space pervades the band.

They begin.  "Hi, how are you?  How's it going?  You look....."  The
guitars
ROCK.  A compliment of 4 guitars, 1 bass and drums.  Layers of guitars are
a
BA speciality and this is good.  Gerard sways his head in that controlled
fashion and tingles go down my spine and then it all goes wrong somehow.
We
can't really hear, the crowd don't react as they should (probably still
thinking about World is My Oyster!), and a guitar amp starts to go
haywire.
They fly through about 4 songs (3 trance atmospheric blues numbers of
which
I had never heard).  Gerard says nothing between songs and their is a
distinct lack of showmanship here.  When he does move it looks
uncomfortable
for him.  Rodney sings "I've been there and I came back" in tuneful mode
as
usual.  Jacket Hangs with Rodney taking centre with that guitar show.
Things go seriously wrong.  One of the guitarists is having real problems
now and he insists on trying his stuff out in the middle of THE song.
Gerard and Rodney look unhappy (as does the very tall strange business
suited bass player).  They decide to play an acoustic number.  Mandolins
and
acoustic guitars come out and they surprise us with a wonderful rendition
of
Jack Leaves, Back Spring, really very good and moving.  The guitarist goes
berserk and throws one of the cardboard planes away with real anger and
suddenly his guitar is ok.  They roll on to an astonishingly good version
of
Cowardice and Caprice.  Tuneful, melodic and wordy.  This is the way I
like
them.  Guitar goes wrong again.  Guitarist goes crazy.  Walks off and
comes
back on with a new amp.  All is well.

Suddenly they play Weightlessness and it all comes together.  Gerard is
confident.  The guitars layer thick and everything looks up.  They even
start a sing along.  A banjo rushes in and you all know the wonderful
guitar
run from this one to "and Stones", it is done in such a fashion on the
banjo
that the crowd now go crazy and cheer.  A young man gets up to dance (he
looks remarkably like Wojtec and dances like him - offspring?).  I feel
dizzy with it all.  The rainbow colours light up and the Blue Aeroplanes
are
their former selves.

They are flying now and glorious.  It all comes to a slow magnificent
ending
and I'm in love with them again.  I guess that this setting suits them.
You
can actually focus on the music rather than the dancing etc.  Gerard sings
ART STAR which he says is about a visit to an art exhibition in Bristol
where Damien Hirst etc were there and how "fucking shite" they all were.
Gerard actually sing on a few numbers (must be getting old!) and then
tells
us that this is an important year for them with 5 albums on the way!  5
Albums!?!  Crazy.

They finish.  Encore.  They play Colour Me which is spiritual and the
highlight of the gig easily.  They finish as ever with the multi guitar
attack of Breaking in my Heart.  No surrender eh lads?

We make our excuses and leave.  Two hours drive back to West Wales.

Impressed?  Very.

Damien wrote...

Just got back from the Leeds gig.  They seemed to be much more together
than
they were in Bristol last year (Rodney didn't fuck up quite so much) and a
marvellous time was had by all... the Duchess is only a little venue and
it
was full of (I imagine) old BA fans... highlights for me were Weightless
and
Art Star (which I think is the one new song of theirs that fills me with
confidence for the future - top tune).  Wojtek apparently isn't on some of
the dates because he's got three kids and his wife won't let him out.
They
were selling Cavaliers and Bop Art for £10 each.. so if anyone can mail me
before about 6:30 GMT today I'll get them a copy of either from Sheffield
tonite (I've got a spare Bop Art for the first person to mail me, too).
As
for the five albums, according to Back:Beat magazine they are: Cavaliers,
Gerard's solo album (X-Celebrity?), Rodney's solo album ('Little
Paradise'),
the re-release of 'Swagger' AND 'a full-on Aeroplanes album for the
summer'.
I'm listening to Cavaliers at the moment... I have to admit to being a
little uncomfortable with the thought of  a twelve-part
'folk-pop-punk-prog
epic'... but it certainly sounds interesting and very varied.  It starts
off
all folky, and at the moment I'm on track nine which is weird guitar
noises,
whispered vocals and violins.

See you in Sheffield!

Jason wrote...

Hi all,

I went to the Leeds gig on Friday and thought after a bit
of warming up, the band were really good. The crowd (and
there was probably 150 or so in) also got going and the
last few songs (And Stones, Yr own world) had a few (inc.
me) bopping down near the front.

Highlights for me have to be Cowardice & Caprice. Very
cheeky little inclusion to a new live set. I also thought
that the banjo playing (by Joff) on And Stones was totally
brilliant (amazing to see someones fingers move that quick
- banjo players don't cheat and use delay you see!). I
sopke to him afterwards and he said it took him ages to
work out and learn. It was worth it and I hope they record
it.

The new songs were a mixture of songs from Gerard and
Rodneys solo album and I think just one from Cavaliers. For
me, Art Star was by far the best and I am still humming the
words and tune to the chorus (well, it's only "Big art
star, you're a big art star"!). Tried to persude Gerard to
release it as a single. Says loads of people have said
similar. Good tune.

I have to say though that the Blue Aeroplanes are
different. The old songs don't sound the same with the new
line up (Jacket Hangs was poor) but they play the newer
songs well. By the end however, I was aglow and in love
with them again. Sank beers with Rodney and spoke to the
others into the early hours. One thing has not altered and
that is the propesnsity for boozing and joking. A very nice
bunch of folk, and still a very good band. I just don't
think any of the kids and students of today are gonna like
'em. Shame really.

Gray wrote...

The Leadmill is a bloody great venue and the band really seemed to think
so
too. The support bands Silvertuner (very good though a bit too much like
Travis) and Plastic (a sort of poor man's Pulp doing English-style German
new
wave stuff???!) really didn't get the kids all that excited.

I was pretty nervous about the whole thing, having come over from Germany
specially for it; having read the fairly depressing reviews of the
Liverpool
gig and having 5 other people with me who either knew nothing about the
Aeroplanes or were none too impressed with what they'd heard.

And then they came on stage and as ever you're always amazed that there's
so many of them and they kicked in and they were great. They were rocking
round the stage and really liking it. There were a few unfamiliar faces
and
certainly some unfamiliar trousers!!!

They mixed the set pretty well with a fair wadge of new stuff including
ArtStar (which I must agree is great) and a lot of stuff which reminds me
of
the early days. They really want to just do their own thing and don't give
a
shite whether it's popular or successful - fucking hats off to 'em I say.

The banjo thing on 'And Stones' really didn't come over very well cos the
mix was too low (which was a great shame as that lad can play!) It was all
a
bit quiet to be honest.

I would wish them more success but in a pretty selfish way, I love things
how they are too, because there aren't many bands you can just chat and
drink with after the show.

Had a good chat with Max who was decent enough to get a copy of Cavaliers
for us (they really could use someone to flog some merchandise
properly....)

Also chuntered to Rodney who'll be doing some Irish pubs in Germany during
the next few months (hee hee) so I know where I'll be.

Anyway, all in all, an absolutely momentous experience as ever. The band
are tight and give off a good vibe and are clearly enjoying themselves.
Get
them seen. It was worth every penny to fly over and see them!!!

philip wrote...

So there I was at Manchester (Crap sound, boys played on through
adversity),
Liverpool (Slightly better sound, horrible audience -I was the only dancer
apart from some drunk scouse git who was so out of it he fell over) and
Leeds - fab venue, fab gig, my girlfriend (the tall dark gorgeous one)
liked them and her sister fancied Max and spent the night taking photos of
them with a local newspaper toggie's camera!. I've been kissing Gerard
again
and had a very long chat with him about the state of the music industry -
after the somewhat disillusioning manchester gig. he's happy playing to
crowds of 75 and shifting a handful of CDs (so he says!). I worked out
Gerard is now 40 -we talked about him seeing the Kinks aged 14 in 1974! .
If
you were at any of the gigs and these words help identify me speak up and
lets talk to each other at gigs ! Might make it down to Bristol or London
depending on cash. I have new CD to our US friends I suggest you order
one -
it's only ten pounds and worth every penny. Roundheads is a song the BAs
have beenthreatening for years - a 16 minute work out that puts the likes
of
death in Vegas to shame. To Kate I have photos of me and Gerard and the
band
- I'll send you copies whern I've finished off the film - perhaps in
bristol. Until then  let your arms rotate, send money send food send
anything to gerard and the boys - music needs them, we need them, we love
them.




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