Finally got to my first gig of the year and boy was it a corker.

In a previous life in the early 90s a friend of mine pressed a tape copy of Skinny Puppy’s LP Rabies. It turned out to be one of those classics that nearly got played to death. I had a huge SP Rabies poster over my fireplace and spent hours listening to the sonic landscape. Fast-forward to the mid 90s and every alternative band on the planet seems to be touring and turning up in Leeds. So why not SP? Because one of their keyboard players has just croaked it and the band have split up. Bugger.

So imagine my surprise to hear that they reformed in 2000 and have a new lp out (The Greater Wrong of the Right) and are touring to promote it! Yippeee! So after much arsing about and procrastination I finally got tickets for me and keefybabe to see them in Manchester last night.

The trip to the venue was blissful and sun soaked, not really what you need to get in the mood when you are going to see one of the creepyist and darkest bands on the planet. However when we got to the packed dark room I started to get in the mood alright 🙂 keefybabe kept on bumping into people he knew, and I looked for a few characters from the old dark days of the 90s Phono. Much to my pleasant surprise I bumped into an old mate from those times Big Chris and spent the rest of the gig chatting to him catching up.

9:35pm the lights went on the projection was switched on and the band came on stage. Roughly an hour and a half of electronic soundscapes were presented to the joyous crowd. Lots of the new lp was played, alongside a healthy selection from Rabies (which made me happy). The band was remorsly intense and certainly met my expectations.

Lights go up, dropped back into normal reality and a quick taxi to catch the train back home.

An excellent night out 🙂