Teletext, Planet Sound – Colchester Arts Centre, 3rd August 1997
05th August 1997
Live Review

You’ll either love them or hate them – if indeed you’ve heard of them. A cliche, but never truer than in the case of B&S. Though the oft-fey, folkish charms send many scurrying for the sick bucket, this eight strong bunch of romantic dreamers and Nick Drake-a-likes have fast become cultishly hip in Indie Bedsitland. This may explain why half the audience crammed into a church venue this Sunday eve seem to have arrived from London’s trendier environs just for this gig.
Considering the (ahem) ‘selectivity’ of the crowd, and the rarity of gigs, B&S make few attempts to make new friends, mind. Unfamiliar material dominates the set, with few songs from the latest album If You’re Feeling Sinister given an airing. Of these the previously spritely Seeing Other People is slowed to mogadon pace, killing a much anticipated moment. One also questions the wisdom of Stuart sharing vocals with a female singer. Shades of Deacon Blue/Beautiful South!

Sunday’s set was wilfully obscurist, but there were gems among the mire, She’s Losing It, from the ultra-rare Tigermilk, pushed the acts songwriting skills to the fore, while The State That I Am In was, as ever, poetic. The general air, though. was of promise unfulfilled. B&S are infamously camera-shy and maybe celebrity isn’t an issue. Yet as rumours of collaborations with Donovan and Paul Simon surface, it may well arrive whether they like it or not.

Set List
Modern Rock Song
Sleep The Clock Around
Seeing Other People (Slow Version)
She’s Losing It
Century Of Fakers
Star’s Of Track And Field
Seymour Stein
Photo Jenny
Tigermilk
Slow Graffiti
Simple Things
Judy And The Dream Of Horses

Stephen Eastwood

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