Support:
80s Matchbox B-line Disaster
A leisure centre? WTF? Well according to Rich, who accompanied me on this trip, he’s seen a few bands here back in the day so it has been used. We couldn’t quite see why QOTSA were playing there but it might have been convenient for Heathrow the next day? Whatever the reasoning it gave Rich and I a chance to go see them again somewhere different and not the very next day.
We met up in Paddington at about 7pm and jumped on one of the jam packed commuter trains to Reading, twas fecking ridiculous how rammed it was. I’m used to that type of crap from living in Lusk but I’m sure the post 7pm trains I used to get were not this packed but it was fine as it was only half an hour. So we arrived in Reading with half an idea where we were going which meant we went the LONG way round to the venue.
Thankfully we’d missed the support and got in at about half 8, grabbed a coke (the bar was about twenty people deep so we went to the chip van and got drinks there), had a gander at the merch (they’d dropped the price of the tour shirt to £10 bastards and seemed to have more shirts than Brixton) I grabbed a Rated R t-shirt and limited edition poster of the gig they do this all the time in the U.S. but never thought I’d be at a gig with one and get the poster.
Right in time they sauntered on stage at 9pm and were 100 times better than Brixton. Sound was brilliant this time (how does a leisure centre get better sound than Brixton Academy?) and Josh was a lot more with it, chatting and being more lively. The set was definitely different dropping No One Knows and playing Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret and changing up the order too. They just kept playing and ran through most of their back catalogue with lots of improv and slightly different arrangements of songs. The eventually left the stage at 10:15 (we were left in no doubt when the venue lights went on as soon as they’d all disappeared). It was a great gig and I was worried that after Brixton I wouldn’t be able to justify this trip but in the end wish I’d skipped Brixton and just did this.
Journey home was uneventful but well worth it having seen a great band play a great set. Been trawling the old interwebs apparently the destination was not a hotel in Reading and the Heathrow, it was the hospital and then London. Josh has been really sick on this tour with a chest infection and the flu. That explains Brixton anyway but he overcame it well for this show.
Photos here.
Setlist:
- Sick, Sick, Sick
- Feel Good Hit Of The Summer
- Do It Again
- You Would Know
- 3’s & 7’s
- River In The Road
- Burn The Witch
- Leg Of Lamb
- Little Sister
- Make It Wit Chu
- In The Fade
- Turning On The Screw
- Hanging Tree
- Misfit Love
- A Song For The Dead
- ENCORE
- Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret
- Go With The Flow
Later days,
Halo.