![[Undertones]](/ub4.png)
Malc writes:-
Down the lights and cancel all other engagements. It's never too late to enjoy dumb entertainment!" After 17 Undertones-free years it's amazing how quick it all comes back to you. If we'd have known about the Mean Fiddler gig first we might never have shelled out for the Fleadh, which was never going to be quite as intimate (you could draw parallels with the Lyceum and Selhurst Park swansongs in '83). But it was worth it all the same and we stuck around for Billy Bragg, having earlier enjoyed his grandad Lonnie Donegan. And if not for the Fleadh we might not have met all those fellow 'tones fans (thanks for keeping an eye on the bags Colin!).
What a geographically-challenged group we were. On Fri night at Harlesden it was myself from Lancashire, Al from Guildford and Steve from Windsor. Then at Finsbury Park it was me and Al again plus brother Mark from Bude. For ease just call us the Woking Fc fans. Add to that those from Bristol, Belfast, Liverpool, Southend, Sunderland, the Leeds lass whose 15 Rocking Humdingers t-shirt I was admiring when the boys came on stage, and even the land of the concrete cows (milton Keynes). It was good to meet you all, most proving there is still life after 35. Our musical tastes are pretty diverse but we all share a love of Derry's finest, and that's good enough for me. It never pays to ixyse the things you love, but here were five ordinary working class lads from a very different hometown to my own but somehow a familiar background all the same.
The Undertones were the first band I really related to, and it's good to know I still feel the same way about them in the year 2000. After something of a nightmare journey from Euston after a quick trip down from Preston I was worried I might miss something of the Mean Fiddler gig. But as I walked in the front bar of the Harlesden High Street venue at 8.30 I was glad to see Steve and Al with pints in hands and Dee O'neill just a few tables away.
I was only born in '67 so never got to see the 'tones until the Positive Touch tour but soon made up for it and went onto follow the careers of past members in Eleven then Tpe. I'm now exiled in Leyland with my good lady and baby daughter but the Mean Fiddler took me back to those nights at the Marquee, Pindar of Wakefield, Enterprise, Kennington Cricketers . Great memories. Not as if we were great drinking buddies of the band. It was never more than a friendly nod until I interviewed Jj at Guildford Civic Hall for my Captains Log fanzine (copies still available of More Songs About Factories and Girls interview if anyone interested).
Steve was always worried the band might turn out to be complete fast Show Catch Phrase Iiiholes in real life so we kept our distance. But I know better now, especially having talked to a few fellow fans on Sat, such as ultimate Scouse groupie Derek. Boys next door is an over-used phrase, but there was never any art school pretence about the 'tones. In that respect perhaps Paul McLoone fits in better than Feargal. I've only seen him twice in action but the band is now a proper five-piece rather than a superstar and four Derry boys. He may not tackle the difficult bits on Julie Ocean. But it doesn't matter. The important things are good honest frontmanship and a fine voice. And he certainly has both attributes. I still thought: 'tonight Matthew, I'm going to be Feargal Sharkey' as the band walked on stage at Harlesden, but he was more than a star in our eyes. Fair play to you, Paul.
If anything Mickey Bradley is the front man now, and Steve was in hysterics for much of Fri night at his banter. To us poor white southern trash it's still hard to pick up everything he says, but from chuntering on about Prince Charles still being married when they last appeared on Top of the Pops to his mention of Charles Buchan's Football Monthly, introducing the wondrous You're Welcome as being from Sin of Pride or telling half of north London the next night how he always thought Let's Talk About Girls was a 'bit pervy', the boy's a star - even if his rock-'n'roll credentials were hampered by that jacket he wore throughout a hot Fiddler night (no fur-lined sheepskin number for our Michael). Brother Mark unkindly said the band looked the same as in '83 but Mickey had turned into his dad. Yet one thing's for sure - the 'tones proved they can play without the great warbler, but that they could never do without Mickey. Gould bless him, as we say 'round our way.
As for the others, we'd seen Dee and John more recently so weren't really too surprised they hadn't changed a lot. Having said that, I was shocked Jj still had that 'asleep in the barber's chair' Nigel Kennedy haircut, but top fan Cliff said it was all the rage in Derry judging by the Nerve Centre gig. As for Billy, is it really really possible that he looks even younger these days? Needless to say all five were spot on for both nights in fact. I won't go overboard on that part. Most of those who weren't there know by now what they played. But let's just say we were worried on Fri night we'd left it too late to go down the front, with all our first two album faves done.
We eventually made it up for the five encores at the Fiddler and got to pogo to our heart's content to Teenage Kicks and my personal fave You Got My Number. But I was pleasantly surprised by the set, with songs I never expected like Really Really, Mars Bar and Billy's Third. In fact, everytime a new song started I was close to tears. And to add to my delight I saw Tpe's Reamann going a bit scatty to True Confessions, proving beyond all doubt he was a fan too (sorry if I embarrassed you by shaking your hand, but it had to be done).
We were also in the thick of it all night at the Fleadh, and I've still got a dodgy knee now and am writing this while off sick from work with a bad cold - no doubt also contracted over the weekend. Put simply I was in awe on both occasions and even if Derry's finest never play together again this Jump Boy will rank Fri night up there with the Lyceum and my first sight of the Tones 19 years ago. Thanks to Paul, Mickey, Damian, John and Billy for coming back, and everyone who turned up to witness the second coming and prove that age is just a state of mind.
Malc W,Leyland, Lancs.
