It was still half term and I decided to take
the boys to another Soft Play Centre, in Bramhall. We caught the 378 bus
to Bramhall roundabout, then walked along a busy road before taking a turn up a
smart residential road. It seemed to tail off before unfurling as a
steep road leading up to Stockport’s Rugby Club with its accompanying
pitches. The Soft Play Centre looked a tall but
not expansive building from the outside but inside they make great use of its height
for several tiers of soft padded climbing apparatus that leads to its tunnel
slides. All the tables looked on to
these and it was easy to sit down and keep an eye on what was going on. Both boys seemed to
enjoy the facilities and Sam had no problems in navigating the
stuff for older kids.
Tonight I was going to
see the band I am Kloot at the Manchester Ritz.
My ticket listed a 6:30 start and a 10pm curfew yet half hour into this
time, I found myself doing the ‘my body –outside’ jigsaw with the boys. After their baths, and pyjamas, I got
away. I joined the queues at the
Manchester Ritz at 8:35 finding myself not to be the only non-early bird. Support act, Jesca Hoop, was playing her last
song.
Before me in the queue
to get in were some attractive ladies. A
guy at the entrance offered them tickets for the gig’s after show party. Then I went through without any such offer
before the couple behind me were given tickets.
The place was packed, as Manchester gigs always are with this band. I recall first seeing them in 2001 in a
similarly packed venue on the back of their 117 chart placing album Natural
History. Tonight has been an added night
after the previous night’s date here sold out quickly. I appreciated this addition – I’m never
especially quick out of the blocks to buy tickets.
That early line up
played scuffly songs with first hand lyrics about fallen characters. Those characters
are still there but, in recent years, the music has been enhanced – brass,
keyboards and another rather good and aptly hirsute guitarist. Main man Johny Bramwell has an instantly
recognisable cut throat vocal style which doesn’t need to flex itself out to
full capacity. His former life as a
Johny Dangerously appears to have stood him in good stead for the between song banter
but, as often is the case with comedians, this can bring shouty hecklers (which possibly
weren’t so much in evidence on the first night with its audience of
conscientious swift purchasers). A
rumination on the £18:50 ticket price is cut short by someone shouting
something indecipherable and we never know what such a grounded band have to
say on this ticket price.
They released their new
LP Let them all in in the week that HMV went into administration. The store stopped receiving new releases such
as I am Kloot’s new LP, but even so the album hit the Top 10. They start the set with some old classics
From Your Favourite Sky and Autumn Rain. There’s newer songs with these musical
enhancements. Things get intimate, when
the other members leave the stage, and Bramwell plays some solo numbers. With a full band the songs can
take a crashing rocky turn with some flashing lights embellishments. A favourite of mine is Hey Little Bird from
the Moolah Rouge LP named after a Stockport recording studio.
I watched their
contained set and then left. I’d guess
that there was more but I was feeling the loudness of it all and my head was
aching. I think this morning’s visit to
a soft play centre contributed towards this (I read one review of the centre
that said ‘My biggest problem was the noise level…I had a splitting headache
after half an hour and it wasn’t even half full). A full soft play centre and full concert
venue was especially grating on the ears.
