Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx And The Maths Interplay tour Bristol Thekla & Foxxgate

It's looking like there could be 4 or 5 of us at least at Bristol that I know of.

After doing a bit of research & consulting a local contact (Cerise Reed from EV)

I think this could be a good place to meetup for a pre-gig drink

http://www.severnshedrestaurant.co.uk/

Other places are some way away or just do basic food.

I will try & be there for sometime between 4 & 5pm.

It is next to the venue.

All are welcome,come & say hello,dont be shy!

Brian

Looks good Brian, am not in Bristol until half 5 but I should be there before 6. See you (and any others) then.

cheers!
Mark

Metalboat(c)(thanks to MemberD for the title)

After various arguments with my Sat Nav I finally arrived on the Thekla car park at around 4pm.

Just after I paid my fees a car pulls up driven by Cerise Reed with Rob Harris in the passenger seat. Instant Foxxgate!



Cerise went off to pay the car park & Rob & I went in search of the fabled Banksy graffiti on the other side of the Thekla ship. Turns out we had to ask to be let into the residential area with moored houseboats to bag a decent picture.



Rob very kindly was able to get me into the sound check to take a few pictures. Initially John Foxx was not taking part in the sound check.


Eventually John Turned up.






Come 6pm we were all quite hungry so we made our way to the Foxxgate venue for a bite to eat & a drink. Mark (Church Puddle was already there)



The then made our way to the venue which was a big old ship



Continued.....

The gig began with Tara Busch. She had technical problems with her OmniChord.Whenever it was plugged into Tara's Mini Moog Voyager there was a loud buzzing. Despite her partner Maf changing the patch lead it continued to buzz loudly. They had to shelve the first song because of this which was a real shame. Tara’s Voyager.



She ended up doing a shortened set. Excellent as per usual.








Around 8.30 John Foxx & The Maths came on. They played the same songs as Leamington but in a slightly different order. Dislocation got moved around again.



It soon became apparent that the sound system was nowhere as good as Leamington Assembly. Also I was being hit with some weird acoustic high frequency effects as the violin reflected off the sides of the metal hull. It was not too bad though. I’ve heard a lot worse at some Foxx gigs.






The venue was quite packed (I do a pan around in my Underpass video).

Hannah's Violin on the songs she played on really added to the songs and worked remarkably well again.







Serafina seemed to be having sound problems with her bass guitar initially but they were soon resolved.

The crowd was lively & and the atmosphere was in complete contrast to the Leamington gig.

Due to a 10pm Curfew myself, Rob, Cerise & Mark went across the road to a pub for some refreshment.

John did come out in the end & hung around by the boat chatting to fans with Benge & Serafina Steer but I had 2 hour drive back to Tamworth & work in the morning so I didn't get the chance to say hello.

Nice to meet up with Cerise, Rob, Brigid & Mark and also Chris Curran before & after the gig.

Full set of pictures in a slideshow:-

http://s293.photobucket.com/albums/mm79/mateybloke/Foxx%20Thekla%202011/?albumview=slideshow


That's me done for this tour.

Brian

Great stuff - I'm really struggling with my patience waiting for Tuesday after reading all these excellent reports from everyone!!!

Brilliant review Brian, I like the new photographic approach!

Some superb snaps of John there too!

Agreed -- cheers Brian!

Anyone make a note of the set list / running order?

I have to wait until 27th!!!

Double u oh double u (you may put that in capitals, followed by an array of exclamation marks).

Bristol was the first place I saw John live, back in 2003, so it was nice to come full circle for last night. Where did those eight years go? Anyway...

Maybe I was nearer the front than usual but this was probably the best Foxx gig I have been to. The line-up of the Maths for this tour works incredibly well. I was a bit surprised to see Benge on the (electronic) drums but he is some player, and Hannah and Serafina gave great support with their synths and violin/bass respectively - I particularly loved the violin on He's A Liquid. John looked more intense than I've seen him (again, maybe just because I was nearer the front) but he flashed the occasional smile left and right and the (now standard) pointing to random members of the audience for the line "I remember your face" never fails to put a smile on your own face. As I said to Brigid at the end, it's not so important that he remembers us but that we remember him (I have no idea what I meant by that) and plenty in the audience remembered and maybe the buzz of the audience (not completely "of a certain age" by any means) helped the overall impression. Would the stamping of feet for the encore sink the boat? Did we even care?

Hard to pick just one song but Just For a Moment was spine-tingling enough to let the heart dissolve, let alone break. And the Interplay tracks, now familiar, fitted perfectly in with the Metamatic/Ultravox songs (especially The Running Man and the gorgeous Summerland). When I first played Interplay I thought to myself "this might be the most complete album John has ever been involved with, even more so than Systems of Romance". That feeling subsided for a few months but has been returning with a unstoppable vengeance in the last few weeks as the anticipation from the forum and the media has grown for this tour. I will be interested to open The Shape of Things and hear what came next.

I had briefly listened to Tara Busch the night before and was not disappointed with her set - it is hard to believe some of the sounds she comes out with at either end of the frequency range. Intense and incredible stuff.

Away from the music, it was of course lovely to catch up with Brigid, Brian and Rob again, and to meet Cerise for the second time. This was the second time in a fortnight that I have returned on the last train from Bristol, to a soundtrack beginning with Suzanne Vega followed by Tangerine Dream's "Zeit" (as disorienting on the last train as Chris & Cosey in a supermarket) and rounded off by a 2 mile walk with Harold Budd and Clive Wright.

By the way, Martin, I think the set list in Brian's photo was indeed the way it went on the night.

And, also, fabulous photos Brian, thanks for sharing them!

Underpass from last night

http://youtu.be/yQjSxAy59NY

Cheers for feedback everyone.

Wonder how Manchester was?

Brian