Thursday 21 October 2010

317 MEGA CITY FOUR, Pillbox, Reading Alleycat "Live", Thursday 9 March 1996


Tim's enthusiasm for the 1996 version of Mega City Four persuaded me to go to this one with him and his crew. However, we had problems locating the venue, then somewhere to park; suffered from "Can't Get There From Here" syndrome! We also got stopped by police for being in a bus lane! D'oh!

Anyway, we finally arrived well in time for Pillbox, on at 10. A confident American female vocalist led a couple of blokes through a harsh guitarry set, which for me got better after a samey, Veruca Salt-ish start. A cover of Blondie's "Rip Her To Shreds" was the splendid sleazy highlight of an overall cool and sassy set. Worth checking out again!

The Big Man also turned up at the gig, which was at a new venue for me, and, despite location problems, one I'll happily come back to again. Despite a "shop-front" type of look from the outside, it was a super dingy rock venue, and it quickly filled up.

MC4 joined us at 11.15, and dashed through an hour or so of chiming guitar pop. I've never been a big fan of them (actually, I've actively disliked them in the past!), and a lot of this set was once again dull and samey, but "Iron Sky", the encore, was brilliant, and overall they were okay. Credit to them for putting on an energetic show, which went down well with an enthusiastic crowd, and also for still playing on, when so many of their contemporaries (Stuffies, Neds, Senseless Things, even - sad to say - Midway Still) have given up the ghost.

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