Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Cluny 2, Newcastle 22nd February 2019

I had a great evening tonight as I had a ticket to go and see the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets at the Cluny 2. The problem with going to a gig at the Cluny is that it is just round the corner from where I work and that means that either I have to hang around Newcastle for a couple of hours or I have to drive home and virtually drive straight back again! So tonight I decided to stay here. I left the office at the usual time and drove round the corner and parked a bit nearer to the venue. I had a hankering to eat in the Brinkburn Bar & Kitchen because I’d liked the look of the place when I went there to buy some beer for Sarah’s brother at Christmas.

It was still quite early so I thought I’d have a wander down to the venue and just check on the timings for tonight. I walked along the side of the Ouseburn until I got to the Cluny and looked on the door to find out that the doors opened at 7 and the support band were on at 8! I then walked back to the car and grabbed my glasses and a book and headed inside to have something to eat. It wasn’t very busy but a lot of the tables had reserved signs on then so when I went to order  I didn’t know where to say when they asked where I was sitting. I indicated some tall stools and a tall table and took my pint of Byker Brown Ale and sat down. As I did I spotted that the table next to me, although it had a reserved sign on it the sign said that it was reserved from 8:30 for a Mr Tom Jones! So when the waiter brought my knife and fork I asked if it was ok to move!

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I’d ordered the Corned Beef Hash and a side order of Sweet Potato Fries which when they arrived were very nice indeed. I enjoyed sitting reading my book – Tales from the Black Meadow, eating my food and drinking the wonderful Brinkburn Brewery beer. In all honesty I think I could have sat there all evening until I was thrown off by Tom Jones! As it was though I couldn’t have another drink as I would have to drive later and I did after all have a gig to go to! Just as I was leaving Sarah sent me a text to ask me to book the takeaway for her, Ben and the student so I had to go and sit in my car to do it! I then wandered back down to the Cluny but it was still only quarter to seven by the time I got there! So I just hung about waiting for the venue to open!

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When the venue did open I went and sat on one of the benches at the back to wait until the first band came on. In the end I got quite bored waiting and did wonder if staying here was really worth it! If I’d known the first band wasn’t on till 8 I could have left work early and headed home, had some food and got back in enough time to see them! Just before 8 I got up and wandered over to the stage to wait for them to start!

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The support band were called the Mysterines, I’d checked out some of their videos on youtube and wasn’t sure if I’d like them or not. Live however it was a different story and they were superb! They are a three piece – bass, drum and guitar the latter of which is played by Lia Medcalf who was resplendent in a tiara tonight! I love small gigs like this as it allows me to get to the front and take photographs but I also enjoy watching the performers from close enough to see them playing their instruments! It was very very loud and I was intrigued by the snarl on Lia’s face as she sang especially on their last song which I think was called I just love to hate you which she more or less sang straight into my face! They were finished far too soon!

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The venue had started to fill up by now but I managed to get to the loo and back down again without losing my place at the front! It again seemed to be a long time between the two bands but slowly things got turned round. the two drummers were sharing the same kit so the Mysterines drummer took his cymbals off and the PPC drummer put his on. The Mysterines drummer had spent most of their set bare chested but the Australian drummer  from the Pron crumpets came on wearing a big coat! When the band did come on the guitarist couldn’t get any sound to come out of his amp. He quickly checked everything and was just starting to panic when he realised that whoever had plugged his effects board in had taken the output from the wrong place!

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I hadn’t heard of the band a few weeks back but I went through a stage of everytime I went onto Facebook or Instagram there was an advert for this gig! The name obviously intrigued me and when I suddenly got the urge to go to a gig I looked at the Cluny website and discovered that the tickets were only £10 which meant it was well worth taking a risk on! I also found their bandcamp page and listened to some of their stuff on there and liked what I heard so I wandered down to the Cluny and bought a ticket for tonight!

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Live they were a lot rockier than I had expected! The two guitar players were really manic but the bass player just seemed to be so laid back! About fifteen minutes into the set a mosh pit started behind us and although we were mostly unaffected by this every now and again the people standing at the front were knocked flying. I ended up being knocked onto the bands monitors a couple of times and had to put them back into place afterwards! One poor woman nearly ended up on stage with the band at one point! I had migrated almost the full width of the stage by the time they finished their set!

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When they went off one of the guitarists left his guitar on the floor feeding back. It wasn’t a loud screeching feedback just a continuous noise. I thought it was great it reminded me of when I saw ted Nugent (yeah I know) do this back in 1977 at my third ever gig and was intrigued by it! Tonight though one guy wasn’t impressed and while we waited for the band to come on he was standing with his hands over his ears and then he tried to work out what to unplug to make it stop! Thankfully before he could do anything someone crawled along the back and turned down the volume on the amp! the band then returned and played one more song!

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It was all finished by half ten so I waited for the majority of the crowd to disperse before attempting to leave. I grabbed a glass of water from the free water dispenser on the bar as I was red hot! I headed to the loo in the man venue and when I came out I went through a door and found myself in the main performance space but got chased away by the man on the door – still at least I know where it is now! When I did get outside a lot of people were sitting on the steps opposite the venue and as I walked back to the car I found people sitting outside a restaurant there too – it was hard to believe that it’s still only February!

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I got home about quarter past eleven and my ears were still ringing but even so I managed to hear an owl hooting as I got out of the car. This is unusual as I often hear them in other parts of the village but not usually in our street!

Don’t know the setlist but the one from the previous night was:

Gurzle
Ergophobia
Social Candy
Buzz
Surf’s Up
Terraqueous
Marmalade March
Keen for Kick Ons
New Song (?)
Dependant on Mary
Cubensis Lenses
Cornflake
Nek

 

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