Saw
Magazine play last night in Oxford. It was remarkable....nearly 30 years since they last played, and they were everything you could hope for. It was strangely free of nostalgia - just great songs, well played.
The one mention of their past - a tribute to the memory of the remarkable musician
John McGeoch - was very affecting, but also part of this sense they had of 'we know this music's great, you know it's great, and it goes like this' - nothing smug, or especially triumphant - it was just obvious to everyone there. They opened with "The light pours out of me" and didn't falter once.
About time they got recognized for their song writing (which informs so much of what radiohead do - no guitarist inspired me more that John McGeoch), and live performances (which we were too young to have seen). Go and see them this time around if you can get a ticket (or can shamelessly blag one like I did....)