David Emery Online

Left

31 May 2009

As I write this I’m watching ‘Night at the Museum’ for the second time in a week – for some mystifying reason Channel 4 showed it last Sunday and this Sunday. The only thing more mystifying is that I’ve accidentally ended up watching it each time. I suppose that it’s the natural conclusion of the concept of the TV replacing the fireplace in modern homes; it certainly has in my household – always on, providing background noise and I guess – somewhere deep down the national grid – burning fossil fuel.

CSI certainly buoys up this argument, by having the intellectual ingenuity of a damp log. (CSI:Miami is kindling in this particular strained metaphor.)

What the burning fire that is Ben Stiller playing fetch with a dinosaur skeleton has enabled me to do is to finally get caught up processing photos from the last week, specifically the ones from the Future of the Left gig at ULU on Tuesday. Now as regular readers will know I saw ‘the Left at the Great Escape only a couple of weeks ago but they’re a band that’s worth going to see every time you get a chance. Also, their set in Brighton was plagued with technical difficulties and hence cut short so I wanted to check them out again in better circumstances.

They were – as ever – brilliant, playing plenty from both their two albums – ‘Travels With Myself and Another’, the new album which is in shops in a couple of weeks, is one of my albums of the year incidentally. Also, how can you not love a band with this level of inter-song banter (paraphrased from memory):

Kelson: So, I was in the toilets before the gig and heard two blokes talking about buying one of our t-shirts. One says to the other “I’m not sure about the purple one that says ‘Satan’ on it, that’s a bit immature” to which the other replies “But it’s got a giant octopus on it!”. “Oh yeah, that’s awesome!” says the other.
So, let me get this straight – a t-shirt that says ‘Satan’ on is immature, but a motherfucking octopus isn’t?

Falco: I like the way you’ve wrapped up selling merch into a seemingly off-the-cuff witty anecdote.

Pulled Apart By Horses were very good as well (very LOUD which ain’t a bad thing in these twee folk times), and Fight Like Apes were ok – a bit odd (and a bit rubbish on record) but quite enjoyable. So, as mini Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan drive a radio controlled Hummer round the streets of New York I’ll leave you with a selection of the aforementioned photos – more on Flickr as ever: