bl!
bright light ! gigs

stuart braithwaite @ nice 'n' sleazy, glasgow 24/01/2001


set list

  • insight (joy division cover)
  • 'new' (unreleased (and unrecorded?) new song)
  • girl (bob dylan cover - 'girl from the north country'?)
  • tuner
  • cody (faster than the album version)
  • secret
  • bird on a wire

    stuart's third solo show, this time supporting david pajo.


    review from nme.com

    usually members of a cult don't get to meet the object of their worship, but here a few people are about to see david pajo - mainstay of post-rock icons slint - in the flesh. Indeed, that other mainstay of this so-called glasgow 'scene' has organised the gig and is supporting his mentor.
    far from the noisy peaks scaled by mogwai, braithwaite is almost unplugged, opening with an acoustic version of joy division's 'insight' and following it with an untitled and unrecorded mogwai song. the only other original is 'tuner' - "doing other people's songs is easier" jokes braithwaite - and indeed with a dylan cover and a closing 'bird on a wire' it's just like a trawl though your depressed mate's record collection.
    similarly, when pajo takes the stage it becomes clear that he's in the mood to pay tribute to a few of his idols. following some introductory duelling guitars the set is mainly comprised of covers, although pajo carries these off, his folky guitar being the perfect backing to a voice a little reminiscent of nick cave. apart from a mekons reworking we also get 3 (!) misfits tunes, whose stories of murder and mayhem are almost comical in this less-than-punk setting.
    pajo is again joined by braithwaite, but any onlookers hoping for a soundclash of the titans are to be disappointed - a protracted version of blind willie johnson's 'you're gonna need somebody on your bond' generates some feedback, but in all it's a low-key, low-volume night, telling us more about these guys' heroes than anything else.

    stuart mchugh


    further comments

    "the set list reads: "insight" (the joy division song), "new" which was apparently a new(!) song which the "nasty other band members" rejected from the new album, "girl" - which was a bob dylan song whose exact title escapes me but something like "girl from the north country", "tuner", which is tuner. "secret" - can't remember. probably van morrison or someone (ahem), "bird" which was "bird on a wire".
    mr pajo came on and the 2 of them did a dueling guitars thing, then stuart went off and dp did a load of acoustic cover versions which included a song that i know as from the 'curse of the mekons' about murderers and judges (entitled "lyric" on the meeks website) then 3 misfits covers including "last caress" which was pretty odd as danzig's lyrics are all about "killed your baby", "raped your father" etc which sounds pretty odd played acoustically, and got a few laughs. then stuart came back and they did a blind willie johnson song and another old blues song by someone even more obscure. one solo encore which I didn't know.
    the pajo watchers were able to confirm to me that no slint was played, plus no aerial or papa m stuff. i spoke to stuart afterwards who said that he couldn't remember any of the song titles they'd done together and that pajo's set was all covers, but someone told me that he was just being cagey, implying that the first instrumental might have been an original and something they'd worked together on. (i'm waiting for a setlist being emailed to see if this is true).

    thanks, stuart.