The Second Generation Fan
Beautiful South at The Brighton Centre
9 February 1999

"As the fans assembled for last night of the Beautiful South's latest European tour, it was easy to see that this audience was going to be as diverse a cross-section of people as the drinks they were drinking in the pub before.  By the start of the concert the selections of bitter, lager, whiskey or rum had given way to jeans and t-shirts, business suits and even a dress with a plunging neckline - quite brave of the wearer considering the remnants of snow still laying outside. Cinerama, the support act for the evening, whipped the audience's enthusiasm although, rather disappointingly, the sound engineers were still not ready to balance the variety of sounds they were playing.  When the keyboard player emerged from corner where she had been placed to take centre stage for a solo number, she was drowned by the music.  A real shame.  When the lead singer returned he thanked the audience with "Danke", before apologising that they had been speaking German for the past fortnight and he had forgotten where he was!  Once again, as with Steve Finn on last year's tour, I think we will be hearing more of Cinerama.
So into the interval and a final chance to stock up on alcohol before returning to a now full auditorium to witness the spectacle that is The Beautiful South. Onto a rather bland stage, just a few lengths of rope hung from the gantry and the Perfect 10 cover in the background, came Jacqui, Dave and the rest of the band, followed by a limping Paul with a walking stick.  Launching into the first song of the evening, Look What I Found In My Beer, it was apparent that the throat infection that had been taking it's toll on Paul recently was still there. Later in the show he dedicated a couple of songs to people, one was to his nephew whose birthday it was, and the next was to the doctor at the local private hospital who had given him some help with his throat that afternoon. The audience was slow to warm up.  Don't Marry Her, the third or fourth number, lifted things a little, but Perfect 10 was the start of the type of show we were expecting.  Even so, there was not a lot of clap-along,sing-along, dance-along going on.  It was not until Liar's Bar that Paul came clean about his throat, hinting that he didn't really have to try and sound husky for the number, he was anyway. The basic playlist was not unlike last year's tour, and included (in no particular order) Pretenders To The Throne, Dumb, 36D (in place of Domino Man), Blackbird on the Wire, Everybody's Talking, Lure of the sea, The Table, Perfect 10, and of course, Rotterdam. The end of the set proved to be the timeless, but never the less exciting set.  One Last Love Song was closely pursued by Old Red Eyes, with Paul joking that the song should be re-named Old Dead Leg Is Back, although he still managed to dance a few steps from time to time.  Humour struck the auditorium when the opening trumpet blast for You Keep It All In, literally went flat, and was tried again.  Second time round and note three went off. "OK", said Paul, "let's see if you can get it right the third time", and it was.  As a now euphoric audience watched the band leave the stage, some people actually left!  Not us, we knew there was going to be more, and we got it. Good As Gold heralded the return of Paul, Dave, Jacqui and co. to the stage. By now the fans knew that they could, and should, join in.  Even if the rest of the audience was going to complain, we were just going to 'carry on regardless'!  The evening ended with Your Father and I, Cinerama returning to the stage for the final lap of honour.  Time to go folks, that Cappuccino at Buddies beckoned. But what's all this about 'second generation fans' you may be asking.  Well, one thing struck me last night.  As my mates and I have been regulars at various TBS concerts since the early days, we knew each and every song that was played.  The people around us certainly knew songs from Quench and a few of them knew some Blue Is The Colour material, but when it came to Good As Gold and Old Red Eyes there was no sing-along atmosphere, apart from the dedicated fans.  Don't get me wrong - I am not decrying the arrival of these "new" fans.  It's just that it would be a shame if we let the older material die away because it doesn't get the same reception."

Nigel J. Pullen
Nigel@ids.ac.uk