It seemed odd not being in Manchester at FAC 251 with Peter Hook and The Light for the Ian Curtis anniversary shows like in 2010, 2011, 2012 but Hooky had said to me last year he thought that was it for the May 18th/19th shows there.. so instead I was at my unlikely number one live arena, this gloriously 70'sfied pub bar. Being so shakey beforehand was a bit alarming.. if you think, if you blink that's what happens right? I had a moment but then I got my hot honey and lemon and grabbed a guitar or two and I made it through. 'The Voice' still carried traces of it's recent ravaging - I couldn't give a stuff about being 'ill' as such but when it hits my vocal range then that's a problem. Malc Randall did a great mix and reveled in his role as 'official heckler'. Jonathan McGiven videoed a few songs so might see if anything from that is You Tube-able. I appreciated Haggis, Paul Howe and Diesel Park West legend John Butler being there, my country cousins from our strange disfunctional 'Simon Says' Leicester music family. Stories of police raids, lost wallets, Larry Cassidy, Jackie Leven, Slayer and the music biz and some odd Jersey Budd references - Jersey is a real nice guy, the most popular of us all I guess - I said if we were movies he'd be 'The Great Gatsby' and I'd be 'The Evil Dead'.. too many songs about death and graveyards as usual, debuted 'Charred Shadow Penitent' which is as much a laugh as it's title suggests. I just can't help it.. Did some old Factory stuff too, it's like doing something by another person now.. The young lady behind the bar wasn't familiar with the length of these Hewick dronefests and expressed concern I'd 'gone an hour over' to laughter in the bar. That was actually quite moving that they all knew I do long sets and were happy for me to go on..as was there was a comedy event due on in the evening (wonder if they were as funny as me lol) so I had to end after 3 hours 7 minutes and 24 songs. A sweet old fellow who I later found is 87 immediatley had to tell me about past lives and fogiveness of sins reading from notes he'd made during the set. I was glad I'd reached him and helped to inspire those thoughts but it was time to pack up and go home and watch the Eurovision Song Contest.. however I didn't "Believe In Bonnie" hard enough and she lost..

THE SET

1,000 ALBUMS YOU MUST HEAR AFTER YOU DIE

THE MYTH

REUNION BLUES

NO MIRACLE

MEMORY STONE

STONE TO STONE

RUN DOWN TOWN

LARRY

OUT OF ORDER

GARDEN OF BALLOONS

FRENCH JAZZ STATION

RAINBOW BODY

CHARRED SHADOW PENITENT

LOVE AND GUTS

ANOTHER JERUSALEM

ELEGY FOR JACKIE LEVEN

ANSWERS ON A POSTCARD

ROCK 'N' ROLL TANTRUM

NOW IS THEN

OPHELIA'S DRINKING SONG

HAYSTACK

US TO DUST

BILLION PEBBLE BEACH

At very short notice I've been asked to play at The Criterion Millstone Lane Leicester this Satuday (18.5.13) starting at 3.00pm until they beg me to stop but expect about a 3 to 4 hour set depending. Admission is free and The Crit serves the best selection of quality real ales in the city. I've said before about how despite it just looking like a typical old fashioned 70s pub bar it is somehow a place where I feel very at home and the management let me do whatever I like and the crowd are usually just great. Malc Randall is on sound, he is part of the magic too, he and I interact a lot and so does everyone, it's a dialogue not a monologue. I'm afraid I am a bit rusty from my involuntary lay off due to illness and, to be honest, lack of bookings but this will be as full a Hewick set as you could ever see with songs dating back to my Factory Records era to the present day with the majority of them being of the latter. It is most of all about where I am at now and some of it might reach where you are at too. Songs about love, revolution, death and other stuff. I still see that gap that only I fill, there are a zillion singer-songwriter -guitarists now but somehow the scope is narrower, the emotional contact shallower. I take so many risks thatI may well fall flat on my face in front of you but at least I'm still reaching higher than the sun rather than beneath it.