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[ELLIOT]

Bedford Esquires 30/08/23

Movie Night (New)
You’re Invited
Water Leaking, Water Moving (extended instrumental outro)
The Cuban Missile Crisis (Low Budget Video)
Seattle
Whose Soul Is This (And Why Is It Mine) (New)
Exactly What Nobody Wanted
Except for the Fact That It Isn't
History of Punk On The Lower East Side Of NYC 1950-1975
Natural Me (New)
Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror
LPs
Sad Screaming Old Man

Encore
As I Wandered ‘Cross The Land (Low Budget Video)
Life
Cult Boyfriend

I’ve been to this venue twice before to see The Wave Pictures and The Bug Club. It has three rooms and Jeff played the largest one upstairs. Really good midweek turnout and I saw people I knew who had travelled from London and Cambridge. As long as things wrap up by 22:45 you can make the last train back to London to connect with the tube so tonight everything worked out ok.

I’ve seen, Fire Stations, play support a few times and it turned out Bedford is their home town so they had a good reaction.

I’m also travelling to the Lewes and Reading shows so will look to share the set lists for those too. Last time I was in Lewes to see The Wave Pictures I had no time to see the town so this time I’m staying over.

[dazmann]

I really enjoyed the Bedford show. Great set, good sound setup, not too busy or too hot.

I think the band were on top-form - now expanded to a 4-piece. Isabel Martin is great on bass (replacing Mem). I vaguely recognised her, and only later realised she toured with Jeff & Peter Stampfel about 10 years ago. Mallory is also a good addition adding a new dynamic on violin. Brent is great on drums. I noticed that he played with kettle drum sticks on some songs and it sounded great. I'm not a drummer but its good to hear something subtle and different on the quieter songs.

Bedford Esquires is a really pleasant venue. Close to the station, fairly convenient from London and easy parking too. The setup is always good and layout is practical. Much better than say the Portland Arms in Cambridge where the audience enters from the side directly into the audience. I hope the band plays here again in future.

[paulofromthebloc]

Now I am sad that I didn't go to Bedford show! I wanted to go but I live at the East end of the Central line and had to be in work in Central London 8am the day after the Bedford show. Sadly I had to give it a miss.

[ELLIOT]

Con Club, Lewis 07/09/23

Whose Soul Is This (And Why Is It Mine) (New)
Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song (Solo)
Relaxation (New - similar sound to Jeff’s Crass covers)
I Saw A Hippie Girl On 8th Ave (Low Budget Video)
Natural Me (New)
[Suite of five Covid songs in chronological order. First four songs are on 2020 Tapes and fifth on 2021 Tapes on Bandcamp]
Keep It Chill (in the East Vill.) (Written 19/03/20)
Preserve Our Federal Reserve (30/03/20)
Washing My Hands Again (31/03/20)
Too Many Groceries (26/04/20)
I Wanna Be Vaccinated (25/01/21)
LPs
The Story Of Chile (Low Budget Video)
Time Trades
My Girlfriend Doesn’t Worry
I Want It Both Ways (New - Spoken Word)
Sad Screaming Old Man
The Creeping Brain (Low Budget Video)
[Solo Encore]
Black Thumb (New - about being unable to look after plants)
People Were Morons (New)

The Con Club is a great venue in a beautiful town near Brighton. The show was soldout and was a mixture of people who had travelled and locals. Support was from En Heat who had a selection of masks and hats for different songs. Jeff’s set list was very different to Bedford (only four overlaps). The covid song suite was the highlight (Keep it Chill and Federal Reserve especially) since it was so unexpected. Always good to hear some of the new, unreleased songs too. Next show for me is Reading on Saturday.

[ELLIOT]

Down the Abbey Festival (09/09/23)
Reading Abbey Ruins

Movie Night (New - Solo)
Oh No Fuck That Hurts (New)
Alphabet (With reference to “drawing of ruins”)
Just Fun (New - Solo)
Depression! Despair!
[Suite of five Covid songs in chronological order. First four songs are on 2020 Tapes and fifth on 2021 Tapes on Bandcamp]
Keep It Chill (in the East Vill.) (19/03/20)
Preserve Our Federal Reserve (30/03/20)
Washing My Hands Again (31/03/20)
Too Many Groceries (26/04/20)
I Wanna Be Vaccinated (25/01/21)
LPs
I Want It Both Ways (New - Spoken Word)
Roll Bus Roll
Exactly What Nobody Wanted
People Were Morons (New - Guitar & Violin)

[ELLIOT]

There were major delays to the trains from London at both ends of the day but managed to catch most of Sweet Baboo (thankfully the abbey ruins created shade to hide in throughout the day from the blazing sun). Until Jeff played it was then mostly local acts and there was a friendly atmosphere. Good to hear a few songs not featured at Bedford or Lewes - Alphabet (which my friend announced she wants played at her funeral), Just Fun, Oh No Fuck That Hurts, Depression! Despair! and Roll Bus Roll (which people had unsuccessfully requested at the last Reading show - don’t know if Jeff notes these things). I had to leave after Jeff since I had a ticket for Feist back in London but was a good day out.

[jefflewis]

Thanks for the reviews! And for coming to these shows!
We're performing with a slightly limited repertoire because there's a lot of songs that we haven't had time yet to practice with Isabel but she's got a got a good amount of stuff figured out at this point and learning more all the time!