Venue:
Roundhouse
Date: 17/07/2023
The long cancelled B&S gig from 2 years ago finally went ahead at the Roundhouse.
I saw B&S at a much smaller venue last year and they were way better to my ears. A bit more ragged but played more of their album from last year and a bit more soul.
Last night they played what filled me with dread, a lot of “deep cuts”, lingo for “not playing your best songs”
It’s not an old vs new thing either, I would have liked to have heard a lot more songs from last years A bit of Previous as that was their best album in years I thought. But alas only 1 song
Stuart Murdoch does seem to have a gap between what he thinks his best songs are and what they actually are. They could churn out a flawless set if they got rid of the landfill. Definitely underwhelming and won’t be seeing them again.. venue is great though I wish they’d bring back the real ales…
The audience:
Surprisingly young audience I thought, for what is basically a nearly 30 year old band
It made me think..
I tend to think a lot of artists have a gap between what they think their best songs are and what they actually are. I stopped being surprised about this long ago. And really who’s to say what they ACTUALLY are? Subjective, innit…and I’d give them another go, especially if this was advertised as being a “deep cuts” show…chances are, a normal show might contain the better known stuff. (No idea if this could be true or not btw, I’ve never seen them, probably never will and only really like a couple of their songs.)
Musicians can have a very warped view on what their best songs are based on a number of factors including personal relationships with them.
I know one muso who can’t stand hearing the recording of his biggest hit if it comes on the radio. Sounds great, a chart hit, made some decent money, so why not? Because on the day of recording, the drummer was being an absolute pillock.
Elvis Costello clearly loves his song Deep Dark Truthful mirror. Personally I think it is awful – a real clunker.
Hmm, I like it, especially in the acoustic soundcheck version from a dodgy boot I have.
Come on man, spill the beans!
Never seen them live yet but love them on record.
With you on the real ales – this IPA stuff really pisses me off. We don’t all like our beer to taste like lemons or grapefruit – give us a choice for fucks sake.
That’s a great setlist, genuinely not sure what would be a deepcut there. It’s not like they’re playing the 7 inch b-sides. The golden era is realistically from the early EPS to Dear Catastrophe Waitress, so I’d be very happy with that!
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/belle-and-sebastian/2023/roundhouse-london-england-6ba766a6.html
Well each to their own of course, but like I said it’s not a new vs old issue. They did play a lot of older songs but not their best IMO
Also DCW I never liked much at all at the time
I agree with Kid. A lovely set list for me. Seymour Stein – never seen them play that, so am a bit jealous.
That was one of the best songs played
Saw them a couple of weeks ago in Belfast. Sadly with 9 of them on the small Limelight stage we didn’t get the usual dance-a-long to Boy with the Arab Strap, but was still a great night out.
Thought the set-list was fine, pretty similar to the Roundhouse. I suppose with such a relatively long career they aren’t going to please everybody.