Psicle: Never mind the Birstalls

Monday, March 04, 2024

Never mind the Birstalls

It's a flying visit to Leicester to pick up a lovely bike for Debbie and to deliver a wheel to Bruce having packed my tools to sort out various rear gearing mechanisms. After a meal made by Christine with faux chikn we brave the elements to see what seems to be the only non league football match on in Leicestershire due to waterlogged pitches. So we are standing in the cold drizzle along with 71 other hardy souls watching step whatever team Kirby Muxloe versus West Bridgford. We miss the first goal as chatting but as it's a 6-2 home win we have plenty of entertainment. Not least the gobby home keeper and a visitor running argument with a linesman. Afterwards we visit the muddy local faux castle before getting home to eat and prepare for our big night out. The sweaty pub is thronged with ageing balding punks and we arrive to see The Docs on stage. Mostly older than the punters they are a thrashy unlikely looking band whose singer seems to think that shouting out the C word continuously is the epitome of being punk. He even has a sign with it written on. And the guitarist has a hat covered in it. I guess it's music and some of the crowed are getting over excited. What makes it odder is that the singer has a way of moving exactly like old Shaky himself (or Shakin' Stevens to our younger viewers). Maybe they should form a rock n roll cover act. The Pistols are not the Pistols cover band that Bruce had hoped but we make the most of our evening which was hardly cheap. Tuning up the guitarist has long curly gray hair and looks like Brian May which is apt as the Pistols infamous Grundy interview was as a replacement for Queen. Once he puts his hair in a pony tail and dons a knotted handkerchief Brian is transformed into a passable Steve Jones. Johnny looks fairly like Rotten (as opposed to Lydon) and Sid looks like he may well have done if he hadn't have died. Paul Cook has aged badly. The band play passable Pistols covers and whilst I couldn't have done better Bruce probably could have. We nod away but it's a bit pantomime especially as Rotten carries on the coarse language insulting the crowd. Sid is apparently drunk but in a classic comedy way. The highlight is when Rotten goes to the bar for drinks and Sid takes the mic to sing Something Else. Maybe it's a lot easier to play authentic sounding rock n roll than the Pistols brand of punk. They show their colours by singing the Ronnie Biggs era songs and it's the Rock and Roll Swindle songs that seem to engender the most dancing by the audience I guess emphasising that any self respecting punk would not go and see a dodgy faux Pistols cover band. The encore is the one that Bruce and I are dreading being Friggin in the Riggin. I depart for a piss but can still hear it. Ah well, an entertaining evening to be honest both in watching the bands and in many ways the audience. So much like the Windmill. Albeit 3 times more expensive and without the sartorial elegance of jumble sale attire. We exit quickly and walk the 100 yards to the car to put the heater on full blast. Next morning I fail to sort Bruce's cassettes (bike, not music) and the wheel I brought doesn't fit. After that disappointment we enjoy a lovely walk in the sun to see some seriously interesting steam railway maneuvering (video available) before brunch and a lift to the station to say our goodbyes. A pleasant cycle back home on the Sturmey-Archer 3-speed Raleigh Caprice with my 17" wheel strapped to my haversack. An interesting trip to Birstall, as ever.