hate are non-eels fans at eels gigs. One of the few things I love is
that eels are so superb live that none of the things I hate bother me
during the gig. And this one was indescribable! I don't remember the
'important' stuff, like the set list, but I do remember things like
the look the Mad Professor gave E near the end of 'Cancer for the
Cure'. I'm not sure whether it was a look of approval or just awe,
but I know that it incorporated a huge grin.
Everyone in the band looked delighted to be in Mancchester and I know
I was delighted, but a few things were missing, like Butch's hair and
E's beard, but neither were missed. Nor were the ten minutes it took
to play 'Not Ready Yet' missed, on the contrary, ten minutes I will
never forget.
I was in the very fortunate position of being stood in what could
probably be called the third row, directly in front of E. There were
only two problems with being stood there. One was that, although I
looked at E almost all the way through the gig and he looked at me a
couple of times, not once did we hold eachother's gaze. The second
was that when E sat down, he was directly between me and Butch and
Butch was being more of a showman than ever with his new shiny head.
Well, one gig and five onchores later and I was still standing there,
aching for more. Then as suddenly as the warm up act had attacked her
own groin with a power tool (no, REALLY!!) I was thrown out by
security because they insisted they had to close before 11 o'clock.
There was only one thing left to do. Go out and tell everyone who'd
listen that I'd just been to see Eels live and they were AMAZING.