rushbo

You've made my day. I've never seen that before. There are a few bits of footage of HL playing live in London, but I never thought for a minute they would have actually made a video. Thank you...

A brilliant band from New York called Hugo Largo. A bit arty...not everyone’s cup of tea, but they made two stunning albums in the eighties.

Fortunately, I've never had an amp go bang at a gig, but my elderly and up to then. bombproof Peavey TNT combo, inexplicably packed up at a rehearsal a few years ago. I've always got some kind of DI with me, in the form of Behringer BDI 21 pedal, my Zoom B3 or the DI on the combo, so I'm confident I'd be able to finish a gig if disaster struck. I'd be a little nervous without a backup.

I saw the Stones earlier this year. It was a great combination of the kind of enormous venue that I hate with a band who I thought should have retired thirty years ago. They were incredible. A superb setlist with just enough hits for the casual fans and just enough deep cuts for the purists. Jagger can still sing (and move like he still owns the stage) and the band played brilliantly. I was blown away. Having seen a few "heritage acts" in the last few years (including Mott The Hoople and Neil Young) 'phone in lacklustre shows, I was expecting the worst. But the Stones delivered. I guess it depends on the artist - I've not seen Sir Cliff recently, but as long as he can still do it and people enjoy what he does, then more power to his (tennis) elbow. 10cc are still on the road and are still worth seeing, in spite of a rather "triggers broom" approach to band members. Bill Nelson's rare live shows are still stunning. Not quite in that bracket, but I saw The Posies and Colin Moulding of XTC play two of the best shows I have seen for ages recently and they have been playing since the 70's and 80's.

Yes. This.

TC +I featuring the incredible Colin Moulding in Swindon on Sunday night for me. Absolutely superb - Moulding still plays like an Alt-Rock McCartney and Terry Chambers still whacks the kit with gusto and aplomb. The rest of the band ain't too shabby, neither.

Those cardboard covers are ace. I saw some on T*lkb*ss a year or two and they looked like they do the job. The only drawback is that you cant fold them down and at a pub gig with limited space, it could be a bit of an issue.

We all know what he REALLY means...

Ace.

This makes me feel really happy.

Worst gig, you say..? Well, I've got a few to choose from... An old Manic Street Preachers type band I played with many years ago, was tricked into playing a bikers wake. Various chapters spent the night glaring angrily at each other and completely ignoring the band. The only reason they weren't knocking lumps out of each other was because they'd agreed on a truce up until midnight. We crammed an hour-long set into 50 minutes, got off stage at 11.50 and literally threw all our gear into the van and sped off. We'd been travelling about 6-7 minutes when we saw about half a dozen cop cars speeding towards the venue... Or there was the gig in Bolton where we travelled from Brum in the snow to play to about six people. Uncharacteristically, I got blind drunk and played a chunk of the set lying on a bannister rail at the top of some stairs with a 30 ft drop to my right. After the gig, we were interviewed by the music guy from the local paper. Unfortunately, I picked up his tape recorder, started singing Judas Priest songs into it, then slammed it onto the beer-soaked table, thus breaking it. I'm not sure if he ever printed the piece... Or the wedding gig where the two families absolutely hated each other. No one danced apart from the bride and groom (who were lovely). Instead, every few minutes, a group from one side of the room would march across the dance floor and have a little scuffle with some "opposing" guests before skulking back to their side of the room. As we were packing up, the police were called to stop a fight between an incredibly drunk and belligerent lady and an equally over-refreshed guy in a wheelchair. Pretty evenly matched, I'd say. We do it because we love it, right? Right?

Potential thought process behind modification: "I'm a little drunk. It's the middle of the day. I've got all this sandpaper and a bass I no longer play. The next door neighbour needs four knobs for his bakelite radio. I know what I'll do..." https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bass-Collection-Sgc-Pick-Up-Bass-Guitar-Nanyo-Made-In-Japan/132778689044?hash=item1eea3a0214:g:6VkAAOSwXUdbmSxE

I've got a slightly earlier version of this - I think mine was called the "Icon"... They're fantastic basses for the money. It'll need a bit of a tweak out of the box if my experience (and that of James Nada) is anything to go by. Intonation can be tricky and mine had a little bit of fret buzz which was cured by a tiny tweak of the truss rod. If you're looking to play a whole bunch of clever slap licks, then this isn't the bass for you. Roll off a bit of treble, grab a pick (and maybe even a cheeky bit of sponge at the bridge for a mute...) and you've got a great sounding, lightweight, fun instrument to play. I keep meaning to change the stock strings which are an OK set of roundwounds, but now they've gone a bit dead, they're starting to sound better. Anyway, short scale flatwounds are a bit pricey... They're nice and easy to mod, if you want that "authentic" Macca look - teacup knobs and a quick repaint of the selector switches and you're getting close to Fab-ness, if that's the direction you want to go in. They're ace basses for not much money. I'd be inclined to get a hard case for it tho', as they're a wee bit fragile.

I quite like the shape, but it looks superhumanly fiddly to navigate.

Another vote for Chris Squire and that gorgeous, righteous clank. Martin Gordon was pretty nifty on the Ricky when he was in Sparks, too...