1. Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, 2nd July 1999.
   • Read a review by Oliver Hunter
   • Read a review by Claus Tappert
   • Read a review by Phil Dixon
   • Go to the photos section to see pictures of this gig.

Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, 2nd July 1999

Oliver Hunter writes (with help from Mike Lynd):

I left work early and drove down the heavily-crowded M1 to London in searing temperatures. It was one of those times when you're asking yourself "why didn't I buy car with air-conditioning?"... Anyway I got parked in the carpark over the top of Safeway at Shepherds Bush by 6.15pm and went looking for "The Empire" & the pubs...
 
The first pub I came to was "Harvey's" so I went in to see who I could find. The first person I saw was Tony Dennison shortly followed by Martin Hetherington and Ross Campbell. I got them 'stickered-up' and was introduced to Mazz & Tara and a few others from the BB, just before discovering Tony Greco & Cathy.
 
Tony D. & I wandered over to "The Bush" pub (picking up Ian Everett on the way) where we found Mattias Engvall and his sister Marie waiting. Eventually we rounded-up Dominic & Sonja, Mike Lynd, Sylvie, Steve & Carol, Phil & Julie and Claus & Linda. Steve kindly bought me a drink and ordered some food. Boy was it hot! Most of us were sweating...
 
Neel Gandhi (who I met at the Borderline gig last year) also turned up in the pub. He was again wearing a T-shirt that he had had embroidered while in India.
 
Simon Callow ("4 weddings..." (his funeral)) was in the pub (presumably appearing at the Bush Theatre (part of the pub) so I got an autograph from him (ssshhhhh Steve! ;-))
 
Ian Everett's wife is expecting a baby and every few minutes he was checking his mobile to make sure she hadn't rung... :) We all spent a while chatting to each other and 'putting faces to names' which was very pleasant.
 
As we made our way into "The Empire" 'Kolony' were playing (sounded OK) & we headed for the merchandising stand to check out the new stuff. The football shirts look pretty good and a few people bought them. Shortly 'Snowdogs' came on and played a pretty good set which I enjoyed with Claus.
 
We congregated in the front of centre-stage a little way back as people started filtering in from the pub. I spotted Steve & Carol up on the balcony and they pointed out Mike (never did spot him). I met up with another friend (Pete) who I used to know & live near in Reading years ago.
 
When BC came on we tried to get nearer the front during the initial surge, but couldn't get in, so a few of us, went round to Tony's side of the stage. BC played the following set:

 1 - Driving to Damascus
     (SA: "We're called Big Country and we're Driving to Damascus.")
 2 - The President Slipped And Fell
 3 - Perfect World
 4 - Just a Shadow
 5 - John Wayne's Dream
     (SA: "It's about managing to keep the dreams that you have as a
      little kid into adulthood and not losing sight of the things
      that are precious to you.")
 6 - Fragile Thing           (+ Eddie Reader)
     (SA: "A song of loss and redemption.")
 7 - I Get Hurt (inc. instrumental smidgeon of "Susie Q")
 8 - You Dreamer
 9 - Spirit To Me            (+ Eddie Reader at end)
     (SA: "When things happen to you when you least expect them to.")
     (SA: "That's a very dark place indeed.")
10 - Dive Into Me            (+ Eddie Reader)
     (SA: "This a song about welcoming people into your life.")
11 - See You                 (+ Eddie Reader)
12 - I'm Not Ashamed (inc. Harvest Home)
13 - Somebody Else (co-written by SA and Ray Davies)
14 - Wonderland (inc. Restless Natives instrumental)
15 - Grace                   (+ Eddie Reader)
     (SA: "A song that grew out of you people because each and everyone
      of you - you bring me grace. Thank you.")

16 - Look Away
17 - Chance                  (+ Eddie Reader)

18 - In A Big Country
19 - Fields of Fire (scratch)

Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, 2nd July 1999

Claus Tappert writes:

I just wanted to add some of my impressions of the gig to the - as always - excellent review of Mr. Hunter. First of all, let me say that it was really great meeting some of you guys and gals. I really enjoyed seeing the face behind the signature and having a good time talking acoustically to them ;-). Sorry that we had to vanish so early, but Linda was not feeling too well, and it still took us some time to go back to our hotel in Blackheath. Anyway, I truly hope that this has not been the last time meeting you.
 
Ok, to the concert. Just some flashes:

• the Snowdogs were really nice, nothing special, just some 'modern' punk-rocking, but well done . The CD-single sounds good, as well, it's just a bit short. Anyway, several of us agreed that the two front guys looked like they were doing a young-Stuart-impersonator contest ;-)
• the set list proved wrong Mike's prophecy about 1/3 new songs, as well as the note in that TimeOut mag ("expect no shortage of old songs ..."). I have to say, I'd rather liked it that way. It was great to hear all the new stuff, although I'm not too enthusisastic about some of it...
• Driving to Damascus was a very good opener, very BCish, I really liked the song
• Fragile Thing is a nice ballad, with the potential to grow on you, but I doubt it will be even a minor hit
• I was certainly not impressed by the Davies/Adamson cooperation Somebody Else, maybe the studio version is better (I hope)?
• Dive Into Me was a big surprise for me. Due to its poppish sound on the Website EP I thought it the weakest of those 5 songs. But, the development it made is absolutely great. Would be my choice for a single. But, oups, there're loud guitars in there, so it probably won't be one...
• the rest of the new ones (I mean the really new ones, not I Get Hurt or so), as far as I remember, were nice, but nothing special. One still has to wait for the studio versions to judge them.
• Eddie fitted in very nicely, especially at the later part of the set, when she was permanently on stage (you have to get used to her style of dancing, though ;-)). However, I thought her 'wasted' on most songs. I'm sure she's able to do more than she has shown, and it would have been nice to see her more involved.
• the inclusion of the Harvest Home part in I'm Not Ashamed was a nice touch, the instrumental one of the Restless Natives in Wonderland was brilliant
• [For the last encore] Stuart said "We have time for only one more song, because there's a curfew. What shall it be?", and then they played In A Big Country . However, they seemed quite impressed by the "We want more" chants and gave in, playing a short - but complete - version of Fields Of Fire, ending just milliseconds before 11 pm ;-)
• a great (positive) surprise (as well for the band, I assume) was the enthusiastic response of the crowd to the new songs. Within the first three chords of Driving To Damascus, the pogo started and was only interrupted by the ballads. A shame I could not be into it. I here promise to myself at least a two weeks absence of sport activities before the next BC concert.

Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, 2nd July 1999