AH!!! the show was so fucking awesome! we were of the very first ppl to arrive...a little after 8 (doors were to be at 9)...we saw Cleve driving by trying to sell his ticket 'cuz his friend he was w/ didn't get his in advance and it was sold out...(if it were me, i'd have fucking gone...i'm not gonna let some bastard's unpreparedness keep me from fucking seeing Wire!) it was all raining and at one point this lightning happened and the power went off in the building...i almost freaked out and stuff...but i kept chanting "the power will come back on" and it did after maybe one minute...it was quite the scare, though...at various points members of the band stepped outside as well! (the band being Wire) they were looking for their ride that was going to take 'em to eat or something...Bruce Gilbert said a few things to us...it was pretty cool...then their ride arrived, it was a pickup truck that carted them (and a few other tour ppl that were w/ 'em) away in a pickup truck two at a time...when Colin Newman left, he said "i hope you don't get too wet" or something...too late for me ;)! i think it was Graham Lewis that said something about the car being in "the motorpark"...we finally made it inside (a little AFTER 9, of course) and i hit the merch table and got a shirt as well as Read & Burn 02...we were right up at the stage...it was so awesome! there was this old guy next to us who was really cool that we talked to about music and stuff...but i wasn't in the conversation too much as i was on the far end w/ everyone else between him and me so i couldn't hear what was being said half the time...the opening band was called Oxes...they were good...very math rock...after the show i got their cd (Oxxxes) and a shirt...the shirt was really cool, it was like the cover of Pink Flag but w/ less color (the flag was still pink though, w/ a skull/crossbone on it as well...) and instead of saying "WIRE" it said "WIRELESS" and then "OXES" on the bottom corner...this was in reference to the fact that one of the guitarists had a wireless remote thing so he could jump offstage and walk around the crowd durring each song...and the fact that they were opening for Wire too, i guess...they were pretty wacky, but it was amusing and their rock stomped by ballz...before Wire played, on the overhead they played one of the new Fall albums...dear god did it rule! i mean, it had to be new Fall...you can't fucking mistake Mark E. Smith's voice...and it was something i'd never heard before...and while i haven't heard all their mediocre 80s/90s material, it was far too good to be that...i wonder which one it was...i need to get their most recent three now...then Wire played!!! oh fucking god it was so good!!! they played all of Read & Burn 01 and most of Read & Burn 02, plus one new song that wasn't on either...they were all sporting the i'm-going-bald-so-i'll-just-shave-the-whole-damned-thing look except Colin, who still has a full head of hair...(go Colin!) it was surprising to see how much energy he had...he screamed a lot and on the first song, he didn't play guitar so he was moving around a bunch...(at one point i believe i was inches from his nads...) Bruce Gilbert was a nice contrast though...(after all, he's the oldest-looking...prob'ly the oldest as well...) he just stood perfectly still, half turned away from the audience...Graham Lewis was pretty energetic as well (just BEING onstage while wearing a fucking coat takes plenty of energy in itself!) he did a few kicks to boot...for the encore they did another new one and then "Reuters"...Bruce walked offstage, but then Colin went after him and made him come back to do "Lowdown"...it was fucking awesome...our applause brought them back for another encore and they did "Pink Flag"...early on durring the show, someone kept screaming for "12XU" and Graham said "now that's an original thought," Colin said "one thing you should know about Wire is that we NEVER do requests"...in spite of this, after a while the guy (accompanied w/ several others) KEPT ON screaming for "12XU"...i mean jesus! it's a good song and all, but the band just fucking said they weren't going to play it! keeping on screaming for it will only serve to piss them off...but i'll say it again, the show was fucking GREAT! just before Wire played, i saw Matt (a.k.a. Zoomba from the old bbs days) behind me...then i noticed Angel, punk princess from my first band (Bomb 21, oi oi oi...) she asked me if i drove from Memphis and i said something about Wire being the second best band ever and then she said something about now just needing to see Gang of Four and i said something about them prob'ly not being very good right now...after the show Matt said goodbye to me, but she didn't...fucking bitch...afterwards we hung around near the stage...eventually Wire went back out to take down their gear (there was like one roadie, but Wire was doing a lot of the setting up/taking down themselves...) this was when one of the coolest things ever happened...it started w/ Colin Newman...we let the geeky nerdiness just come out and got his autograph...he was really nice (they all were...)
Jacques had managed to get the setlist (bastard) and was getting that autographed (Jack and i got our new cds signed...) and Colin said "you nicked our setlist and now you want us to sign it!" that was pretty funny...next Bruce Gilbert came out...i was expecting him to be standoffish from the way he was on stage and how he walked off early...but he was SUPER nice...he even asked me what my name was...awww...i must now say that we were being SUPER nerdy...but i was so fucking giddy...i was giggling like a little schoolgirl through all of this...i decided it didn't fucking matter if i tried to act all cool or not...it's fucking WIRE! it's not like i'll ever see them again...i might as well just enjoy myself...and i did...next Robert Gotobed came out...i mumbled something to him about it being a "very very great show"...(i could barely come up w/ anything to say to them...i was a speechless, stuttering fool...) Jack said something to him about being glad he was playing drums again and he said something about how it wasn't so easy to get back to it...after a while Graham Lewis made his was out...he was smoking a cigar, drinking a martini or something similar...he was all busy talking to ppl so we waited...we were finally able to be dorks to him as well...he was really nice, but it a very drunk "HEY GUYS!" sort of way...he asked Jacques for his name and wrote it on the setlist (though spelt "JACQUE"...which was pretty funny...) and he wrote this fucking paragraph on the back of Jack's cd...then it came my turn and he didn't even ask my name...bastard! Jack said something like "you're my favorite, but don't tell Colin" and he replied along the lines of "m, Colin has a
bit of an ego..." i think that's it...it was one of the coolest fucking things ever...now i think i'll continue the rest of what's happened since in another post...rock the fuck on, yo...
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