On Thursday afternoon I was quietly sat reading a book when I get a phone call from “The Afghan” asking me if I would like to come and watch Portishead tonight. Well, for starters, I thought “thats a bloody silly question”. Of course I said yes.

Anyway, myself and Agent M went along with the plan, and with a short stop for some travel beers we set off. We get to Hammersmith and get in the queue for the guest list. Once more, “The Afghan” does it again, not only are we on the guest list but also the aftershow party. Nice.

Portishead came on about 21.45. All I can say is WOW! What a band… the sound!!

They started with a couple of tunes from the new album “Third” then went into some of the classics; Mysterons, Glory Box, Numb…At this point Agent M was nearly in tears. (big girl that he is). The sound was fantastic & Portishead gave a great performance and the visuals were really effective. The whole thing had to stop a couple of times due to equipment failure, which saw Afghan clones running around pulling cables for a while. As it goes, this was spot on timing, as me and Agent M just rushed to the bar for more supplies.

Now, with stopping the gig for 5 mins then coming back on, you would think that this may break the vibe, but no. Not Portishead. They just carried that vibe along, and when they played their new single Machine Gun the crowd were loving it.

Ive wanted to see Portishead for some time now, I got right into Dummy while traveling India & Nepal back in 98. It’s only taken me 10 years to see them and they were fantastic! So top marks all round. The album “Third” is released on 28th April. Do yourself a favor and go buy it.

Erbalist

Well, I suppose I’d better add my 10-pence-worth….

Sitting at Blunt HQ, moping around and generally feeling sorry for myself (I’ve not been well), I was approached with the idea of heading into London to catch Portishead at the Apollo. It’s not a bad idea, is it?

So, myself and the Erbalist set off to London, taking a travel-sized portion of Red Stripe (for the easy vibe) with us. Arriving at the gig, we were able to circumnavigate the pesants and the paying unwashed by darting in the side entrance for free guest tickets. Fair play to The Afghan, not only did he get us in the gig, but he got us tickets for the aftershow party. More about that later.

We get into the thick of things just as Portishead come on stage. Now, I’ve been lucky enough to see them over the years, so I sort of knew what to expect. They still took my breath away. As a live band that night, they sounded as tight as the proverbial nun. (to use a rather graphic phrase).

The material taken from the new album was refreshing to hear, but, like a large part of the crowd, rightly or wrongly, I was there for the classics. And I was rewarded. As the Erbalist mentions above, Numb nearly reduced me to tears. It sounded just right. Fantastic. But to say this was simply a greatest hits night would be an injustice. Seeing this band live really reminded me why I like them in the first place. Their sounds is unique. “Dummy” was a really big album for me, and still is, and seeing the band live once again was a pleasure.

Once the noise had stopped, the Erbalist and I made a dash for the aftershow party. Hmmmnnn….either everyone was worried because it was a school night ,or all the party people had gone somewhere else. I’ve been to livelier greengrocers. Or, perhaps, everyone was waiting for the two freeloaders at the bar to piss off before the fun started! (that’s far more likely!) I dunno, but when we realised we were the most party people at the aftershow party, we made our excuses and left. But, not before crashing back into the auditorium in order to hurl abuse at (and thank) the Afghan, who was actually sighted doing a rare moment of work!

The mission from the capital to Blunt HQ is usually a mission, especially late at night when you just want to snooze. But this time it was bearable, I floated all the way home on a cloud of deep bass and breathless vocals, enjoying the memory of a top gig.

Safely home, it was time for the hot chocolate (drink, not band) and shipping forecast. A good time was had by all.

M