REVIEW: HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT AT CARDIFF SOLUS (25/08/11)
It’s rare that I go to a gig and feel like one of the most attractive people there, but I always manage it with Half Man Half Biscuit. With a room full of balding middle aged men in Dukla Prague away kits, this felt almost like any other HMHB outing, but for the slight disjointedness of holding it in Solus, a venue with no soul, no draught beers, and poor acoustics. Support came from the massively entertaining John Mouse, a staple of Cardiff support slots previously known as JT Mouse. His bizarre but brilliant set caused a few quizzical brows in the audience, but was worthy of the ticket price alone. Half Man Half Biscuit kicked off with “The Light at the End of the Tunnel Is the Light of an Oncoming Train”, followed by a two hour set filled with favourites such as “Everything’s AOR”, “National Shite Day”, a refreshingly improvised “24 Hour Garage People”, “Trumpton Riots” and “Joy Division Oven Gloves”, with the cover version of the night being the ever popular “Help Me Rhonda”. Nigel Blackwell’s between-song asides were comedic as ever: we got a few jokes (“I saw Michael J Fox in the garden centre, but he had his back to the fuschias”), and recommendations for a good moussaka in Usk. However, the one quibble I would have is the poor sound quality of the night. For a band loved primarily for their lyrics, it was a shame that this was drowned out by the music, and even much of the conversation between songs was lost in the cavernous room. A good gig from HMHB, but a poor show from Solus.
Words: Sarah Bridges
Photo: Mary Sweeney via Flickr
