!! please note: This gig was planned for 25th July, but has been re-arranged!!
The Doctor's Tonic, Welwyn Garden City - Acoustic Night
Matt and Craig will play an acoustic set at the pub, as Spilt Milk. 8:30pm ish...
Tickets �2
Matt will play Bass/ Guitars and vocals.
"The Doctor's Tonic Acoustic Night 01/08/02 Review
Wow, what a night. What can I say? I was looking at the line-up a while ago and got pretty excited, that's what I can say...
Matt and Craig-
I'd only heard Matt sing in a school concert before and was really really intrigued! 'Spilt Milk' (there really was no need to cry) impressed an attentive and captivated audience with an extremely strong set list.
"Changes" was an obvious choice from an avid Bowie fan (matt) and delivered well, introducing Craig's geeeetar playing (wonderful as it is...) and Matt's beautiful voice. The great thing is that even though Craig slipped up on his backing, it didn't matter; it all added to the intimacy of the gig.
Anyway, I always used to think that the song would have been better with an extra couple of 'CHs'.
Next up was the brilliant choice of "No Excuses" by 'Alice in Chains' - a personal favourite, so I'm probably biased, but I'm sure everyone else liked it just as much as me. Matt's voice matched up really well, I thought, with the Seattle-based band, and complimented the song, without trying to *cover* it... One of the strongest points of Spilt Milk's set was that it was comprised of covers, which kept the audience fascinated, purely because they put their own original, interesting slant on the songs. The songs weren't copied, they were interpreted, and this, for one, was something that I appreciated as an audience.
The audience was then treated to an inspiring five minutes of a *thing* tentatively titled "Craig's tappy solo bit". Not being a guitar-y person, I'm not sure how hard "Craig's tappy solo bit" was, but it looked almost impossible. Many mouths were held fast open in fascination and there were shouts to the sound people to turn it up...what was it exactly? Erm, I'm not too sure. Craig did a thing where he hit the neck of his guitar (lovingly cradled in his lap) with his fingertips and created the most original guitar solo that we've ever heard. You'll have to see it to believe it - remember to ask for "Craig's tappy solo bit"...
Ahem. Next was a cover of "Acid Head" by local yokels The $ell-Outs.
Having written the song myself, to analyse it would be weird. So, I'll just say that Spilt Milk delivered it with actual passion, which I can never really do. Puts us to shame really. However, I was told that it was "a tribute, not a pisstake". And what a tribute - I was dead chuffed and despite not recognising the song at first, and despite it only being a chorus-long, I thought it was great. Short but very, very sweet.
Spilt Milk made a dynamic impression on the audience on that Thursday, I must say. everyone I spoke to was enchanted, and don't think I'm exaggerating...that included me!