November 3rd 2000 – De Montfort Uni, Leicester Arena
Supported by: King Adora, My Vitriol
The difficult third album!
The initial success of their first album, “Attack of the Grey Lantern” (No.1 in 1997), their top ten second album “Six” wasn’t to be matched by “Little Kix”. The single “I can only disappoint U” was promising, but it was a really hard album for me to listen to, there was stuff I liked, but it didn’t seem to flow, didn’t feel like they were sure if they wanted a pop album or a guitar proggy records…..anyway, we still came to see them, live they were usually good.
Mansun were still, Paul Draper (vocalist/rhythm guitarist), Stove King (Bass), Dominic Chad (lead guitarist/backing vocalist), and drummer Andie Rathbone.
King Adora
This was a rare old gig, we actually turned up to watch the support bands!! We weren’t disappointed.
King Adora, a Brummy band, had been getting great reviews as the next Manics….always a nasty way to start your career being compared to someone else, but these boys were cock sire of themselves it hardly mattered! Formed around Matt Browne and Martyn Nelson, these guys were really vibrant.
A really sharp, tuneful band with a definite likeness to, ahem, The Manics. That raw edge was there, making it exciting to see them growing, definitely felt like they could only get better. As they finished one song, it was straight on to the next. A real fine mix of punk, rock and pop melody with an image to match.
Really good start to the evening….
Something like….
Set List
- Smoulder
- Bionic
- White Noise Babies
- Friday Night Explode
- Aftertime
- Suffocate
My Vitriol
Som Wardner (vocals and guitar), Ravi Kesavaram (drums), guitarist Seth Taylor and bassist Carolyn Bannister .
I hadn’t heard of these guys before, but they were fantastic. Som on vocals had such a strong sweet voice, something a bit different from most, although you could see they were a good fit to support Mansun.
I could hear all sorts of music in the mix, swirling Cocteau Twins sounds, tuneful guitar, quite a bit of Bush sounding songs, strong guitar and harmonies and a Placebo look to finish…….but it was the vocals holding them apart from the others…really strong.
The short set went down well with the audience, I’d go out and buy the album “Finelines” when it was released in 2001. Was really hoping I would get to see them again.
Set List
- Losing Touch
- Grounded
- Alpha Waves
- Always: Your Way
- Kohlstream
- Cemented Shoes
- Tongue Tied
Mansun
Paul Draper has a fantastic voice, he was singing really well tonight. The newer songs were fine, but not to the same atmospheric nature of the early songs. I was sort of drifting away from Mansun around now. Having said that, Draper must have realised the first two bands had gone down well and wasn’t going to let them go away with the headlines.
The gig started really well with the classic “Take It Easy Chicken” followed by the best song from the new album, “I Can Only Disappoint U”.
I don’t really remember much else, it was good, but hasn’t stuck in my mind as the years have passed. There’s no reason to believe it was anything else than great, but I never found Mansun the easiest watch after the first gig. You couldn’t really dance, you just had to watch and the new album had seemed ok, but a bit dull………I thank the band for some great music and move on to other stuff around now.
Set List (something like)
- Take It Easy Chicken
- I Can Only Disappoint U
- Being a Girl
- The Chad Who Loved Me
- Stripper Vicar
- Comes As No Surprise
- Electric Man
- Wide Open Space
- She Makes My Nose Bleed
- Taxloss
- Encore: Fool, Love Is…, Legacy, Everyone Must Win
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