Bluebird   Moles Club, Bath (Click to view on a separate page)

Mind at Large / Dictaphone / Radium 88                                                              Junction 7, Nottingham (Click to view on a separate page)

Flaming June + Kandida                                                                                     Cambridge Boat Race (Click to view on a separate page)

Rachel Stamp + Halo                                                                                          London Astoria (Click to view on a separate page)

Toxic Slut                                                                                                        Chelmsford Army & Navy (Click to view on a separate page)

Four Day Hombre + Parisman + Ryder                                                           Sheffield Barfly (Click to view on a separate page)

Seafood + Ikara Colt + Fat Truckers                                                               Camden Underworld (Click to view on a separate page)

Add N to X                                                                                                               The Social, Nottingham (Click to view on a separate page)

Post Dilluvium + Calico + OK Hotel + Hentai
London Bull and Gate (Click to view on a separate page)

Embrace Secret gig

Sweet and Tender Hooligans

Dawn Parade/ El Spoonio

Drumkan

Embrace

Leeds Town Hall

September 22nd 2001

Welcome to SG #9 and welcome Embrace, virtually the only 'Leeds' band to achieve success since god knows when. Seen as the pinnacle of what a local band can attain (hate), even yer mam likes them (hate), and perhaps that's the reason why many people love to denounce Embrace.

But look at it more closely. No one can disagree that Embrace have written some amazing energy-charged stadium rock tunes in, for example, "All You Good Good People" (love). For every radio-friendly tiring acoustic warbler (hate) they counter with a song oozing serious rock'n'roll attitude (love).

"Treat this as a real gig, not a secret gig", suggests Danny, "go crazy, jump up and down... Come On!" (love) before "New Adam New Eve" sees the thousand-strong crowd do exactly that. "Now then, no stage diving, that's shit. We don't like that", (hate) announces Danny straight afterwards.

The whole Embrace issue really is a love-hate affair.

Regardless of what you think of Embrace's music, the idea behind the secret gigs and the amount of band-fan interaction is applaudable. The band was reported to have been serving behind the bar before the gig and the venue was opened up to all-ages. A guy even walked out having been handed a guitar. More bands should take a leaf out of the Embrace book and take their music back to the grass roots.

"This will be the last secret gig of the year. We can't afford another one, we're skint". It's a touch ironic that Embrace, a band that are making their music more accessible to their fans, lose out by doing so. Remember, the good will out.

Dave Sugden

The Sweet and Tender Hooligans

Leicester, The Charlotte

September 9^th 2001

There was a certain buzz in the air.  Smiths fans both old and new crowded round the stage in expectation of the Sweet and Tender Hooligans.  The fact that a tribute band can come all the way over from Los Angeles to play a string of gigs just shows how influential and exciting the Smiths really were.

Half an hour before the gig was due to start I knew it was going to be good when a girl dressed in a Morrissey t-shirt held out a large gladioli stem at me and announced �You can have this� in an American accent, just because I myself was donning a Morrissey t-shirt!  The band finally came on stage and launched into �The Queen Is Dead�.  And how amazing it was!  The front man had an uncanny Morrissey-ness about him.  Not so much in the looks department (although the quiff, NHS glasses and hearing aid were there!), but the movements and gestures were all definitely there.  As the band opened each song the audience played a kind of �name that tune� game, ending with individual shrieks of joy as they realised what the band had started to deliver.  Among the many songs that the band played were �Panic�, �Bigmouth Strikes Again�, �How Soon Is Now�, �Girlfriend In A Coma� and a beautiful version of �Asleep�, during which �Morrissey� even shed a tear.  As their set progressed the audience warmed-up from being almost static to everybody frantically dancing and jumping around!

The band didn�t just confine themselves to Smiths songs � they played a few of Morrissey�s solo efforts too, including �Speedway�, �Suedehead�, �Everyday Is Like Sunday� and �Hairdresser On Fire�, which was particularly good at getting everyone moving!

Just to complete the full Smiths/Morrissey gig experience the band had bought three �groupies� along who jumped about at the front and would even jump up on stage and give �Morrissey� a hug before throwing themselves back into the audience!

When the band stormed backstage nearing the end of the night the crowd became wild, demanding �more, more!�  How could the Sweet and Tender Hooligans dare not?  After they came back on stage to perform an encore of three songs everyone still wanted more � the crowd had an insatiable appetite for this American band that had dared to pick-up the Smiths crown, and worn it so well.  The night had gone all too quickly. 

Austin Booth

Dawn Parade/ El Spoonio

25^th October 2001

SteamBoat, Ipswich

Got there just as EL SPOONIO were wrapping things up, which was a shame �cos they sounded quite interesting.  Kinda a tunefull mix between a light Foo Fighters and a medieval banqueting band?  I will make more effort next time!

In no time at all DAWN PARADE were flinging themselves round on stage and treating everyone to a dose of  �gutterglam�.  Not so sure �bout gutterglam, don�t know many gutter bands to compare them too, plus they all looked quite well washed!  Kudos to DAWN PARADE for having the COOLEST bassist I have ever seen grace a stage, plenty of lurching about and hitting his bass (we like that!)  Singer Greg was fighting imaginary cobwebs as usual and everyone appeared to be lapping it up.  There weren�t many people at the SteamBoat, but everyone that was there had crammed themselves into the little area in front of the stage, which was cool to see.  DAWN PARADE seem to be getting a rep as a band to be seen with, other Ipswich notable bands seen there tonight included OK HOTEL and VIOLENT PLAYGROUND, in fact KATE and LOUISE from VP looked like a force to be reckoned with in the dance!  Other Kudos point to be awarded to DAWN PARADE for playing a really cool JOAN JET AND THE BLACK HEARTS cover, getting away with dramatically leaving the stage through the patio doors and then triumphantly returning for an encore, in a venue that had about 30 people in it, I�m not being sarc here, they did get away with it!  Also sad muso Kudos to guitarist MOLEFUCKER for using a MusicMan guitar!  Above all I was left with a sense of general confusion, and I am yet to figure out if that is a good thing or not!  Also because I planted the seeds of a fantastic hangover whilst watching them that I am suffering now as I write this, I might even write something that could be construed as negative!  I think this band is about 70% style (and they do look cool) and about 20% content, the other 10% is the bit that I am still confused about. 

I keep going to see them because I can never really pinpoint their sound, or any particular song.  Saying that though, somebody that I went to the gig with has been humming one of their tunes all day!  I suppose you could describe their sound as being Suede and Marc Bolan having a punch up, with Johnny Thunders throwing bricks from behind a nearby hedge and laughing at them.  I will continue to go see them, if only to try and figure them out!

Andrew Culture

Web Links

Dawn Parade � www.thedawnparade.com

El Spoonio � www.elspoonio.8k.com/