Vocals and Bass - Ste
Guitar - Paul McCullagh
Drums - Paul Morton
Keyboard - Chrissy B
The F's first away date so to speak, an underground venue with a restaraunt upstairs and frequently complaining about the noise left them unsettled... but their travelling army of F'ers helped them through a tough gig... and then pusshed them up to great heights... a performance that was truly... Original.
The boys started their performance with "Heat Wave" and for the first time The F struggle to get it together, blundering through "Original" and "On Standby" they avoided playing "Headshot" because of the complaints from upstairs and the fact that this was indeed a heavy song. "The Plan" was as eventless as ever, it's a nice song to fill a set with but they'll never get anywhere with it... B-side material. Then the song with the classic chorus "Indeed" finally The F seem to be finding themselves. Throughout the openign songs Ste Allen constantly missed bass notes and vocal notes. In a moment of banter with the audience he jokes that it is Bob's fault... Bob Middleton is the new bass player and Bob was obviously embarressed by his mention
This brings us to the anthem that is Parmo & Chips... or in Scarborough "Fish & Chips" with Ste Allen changing vocals to suit the town... "Down On The Beach it's nice and sandy and we've even got... GREEN ANDY"... if you don't know.. don't ask. Next was the acoustic segment. "Nowhere Man" is the only original tune in this segment followed by "Married With Children", REM's "One I Love", "In My Place" on which surprisingly Ste did not duck the commitment of the high notes. The Charlatans "Impossible" and "Gold"... the crowd pleasing Spandau Ballet classic. This was so far the highlight of the night.
Then once again the band takes over, with "Dancing On My Soul" ... a re-write of the old school Horzion tune "Go Get It" moving on swiftly after another sticky patch The F move on with "The Time" driven by Paul's unmistakeable beat and a heavy bass riff that gets the audience grooving. Finally Paul McCullagh strikes the unmistakable riff that is "Now" and The F are away. The crowd chant for more before the song even ends and The F oblige with "Sexy Boy" and "Original" it is later confirmed that during "Original", drummer Paul got up to 428 beats per minute and then died afterwards to a standng ovation. 15 minutes afterwards Ste was on stage again playing "Gold" for the second time and "Wonderwall" before the band rejoined him and played 3 Oasis classics "Supersonic", "Cigarettes & Alchohol" and "Live Forever" unrehearsed.
They then finished on a fast version of "Now" and another go of "Original" which later on Paul Morton said "We can have a shit gig and that song will get us out of anything!!!" The highlight of the night came at the end when after reaching light speed once again... Paul got to his feet to a standing ovation of his own before being hero worshipped by singer, Ste. All in all not a bad nights work.
Jonny Green
Some guy from Scarborough
