The following is a sampler from Issue #7 of INFIDELS & POPSTARS. If you haven't already, why not subscribe? You'll make yourself happy, and remember... the Dels read I&P, so be sure to send us your stories, photographs, and reviews!!!

...issue #7...issue#7...issue #7...issue#7...issue #7...issue#7...issue #7...issue#7...

Inside Issue #7...

• The I&P Diary
• No Better Location - Review
• Newsflash
• Reader's Poll Results
• I&P Readers' Letters
• Reviews!!
  Berlin, Germany - 2 October 1997

  Royal Albert Hall - 28 October 1997

  Torquay - Devon - 30 October 1997

  Gloucester Leisure Hall - 31 October 1997

  Glasgow, Barrowlands - 2/3 November 1997

  Newcastle Mayfair - 11 November 1997

  Warwick Arts Centre - 13 November 1997

  Cardiff - 16 November 1997

  On The Road - VOX Magazine article

  The Jack Docherty Show - 1 December 1997

  Classified Ads

... and here's a sample....

Having found out from a source of our own that Del Amitri would be appearing on the Jack Docherty Show on 1st December, we were the first to reserve our seats. We later heard that a whole lot of fans from the Del Amitri Fan Arena would be going, with strong hints of meeting the band afterwards…….So, we duly registered our names with them just in (Justin?) case.

So, up to London we go, on a freezing cold evening. At this stage we did know that they would only be performing the SOSP single- but it is always good to see them live - so we thought okay it’s worth it (and if we get to have a chat and/or take some pictures, it will certainly be worth it).

On arriving at the theatre, we collect our tickets, and mill around in the reception area alongside assorted characters who had just turned up on spec without booking - including a tramp-like character with a plastic carrier bag, no teeth and a less-than-Dior-like aroma……Quite a few fans around at this stage, but no-one really organising anything. It’s at this stage that we find out that the Jack Docherty Show has in fact become the Graham Norton Show (officially the Not the Jack Docherty Show).

Eventually, the doors open and we - along with the tramp (plus the regular Jack Docherty fan who turns up every night and always sits in the same place…???!!) head downstairs. Still trying to avoid the tramp - who by this stage had produced a sandwich from his carrier bag and was trying to engage people in unintelligible conversation- we make a break for the front row. Like school we are told to go right to the end of the row - so ending up with a lovely view of a cameraman’s bottom. Nice bottom though it was, it was not what we had come to see !! And ……OH NO…the tramp was still behind us, and sat down next to us !! Several blasts of ‘Diorissimo’ later we decided that there was very little we could do about the situation, our only course of action being to lean to the left………

No sign of any of the band’s equipment at this stage - no sign of any warm-up, soundcheck, practice etc…….for a while we actually thought they were not going to be on at all…… Maybe at this stage we should have smelt a rat (as opposed to our toothless friend)!

The thing duly started - we sat right through all sorts of cr#p, then the band were announced. All of a sudden they were there, going straight into SOSP…….the sound was very good, vocals excellent , in fact it sounded……just like……the actual recorded single…….funnily enough the band were not playing their usual instruments……..the penny dropped….they were miming !!! Iain and Kris obviously thought it was all very funny, as they were creasing up throughout the song. Never seen Iain laugh so much ! Justin actually mimed very well, managing to keep a straight face through most of the performance – he even had us fooled – briefly.

Suddenly it was all over -the host thanked them then came over to ask if we were all Del Amitri fans - due to the volume of cheering and shouting going on. Some people were shouting for more, which would have been very difficult - presumably Channel 5 did not have any more recorded tracks to hand…… Whilst Graham Norton was trying to find out if we were fans, Justin and the boys walked off and it was all over. Our host turned around in surprise and exclaimed ‘Oh, they’ve gone!’. To them it was obviously a bit of a joke, and they wanted straight out of there! Surely they (and we) deserve better ? Would it have been so impossible to let them actually play for real ? If they had been happier about the whole thing, maybe a brief chat with the fans in the audience would have been a possibility. Maybe they did not actually know that the main body of the audience was made up of their own fans rather than a coachload of pensioners brought in from Basildon for the occasion. We would like to think so.

Anyway, the tramp thought it was all great……so did the Anorak who goes every night.

And to cap it all it started to snow and we were pulled over by the police on the way home, and breathalysed . A perfect end to another perfect day - I don’t think so!

Del Amitri played a concert at Aberdeen's Capitol Theatre on 22 October 1997, which was recorded for television by the Scottish ITV, and later broadcast nationwide around the third week of November to coincide with the release of the title track from "Some Other Suckers Parade" in the UK.

The televised version of the concert began with an opening shot of the band walking towards the camera in what was described by a friend as Dallas-like style, at Aberdeen airport on a freezing day - hence the coats - with "High Times" playing in the background. It then proceeded through various band shots to finally arrive at the start of the concert.

As the TV programme was only 50 minutes or so long, it only featured some of the tracks that were played on the night, and the sequence of those tracks do not follow the original set. The "casualties" include "Last To Know," "Paper Thin," "Here And Now," "Jimmy Blue," "Ones You Love," "Hatful Of Rain," "Mother Nature's Writing" and "Stone Cold Sober." But left in the set were "Some Other Sucker's Parade," "Just Like A Man," "Cruel Light Of Day," "Not Where It's At," "What I Think She Sees," "Roll To Me" (surprise, surprise!!), "Start With Me," "Medicine," "Be My Downfall/Drowned On Dry Land," "Driving..." and "Kiss This Thing Goodbye."

Although the cutting prevented much of the chat between songs to be left in, but there was enough to give you a feel of the atmosphere on the night.

Coming as it did at the end of the UK tour, it was a refreshing reminder of the gigs we had just been to and, in my opinion, about as close as you can get to a Del Amitri concert in your living room.

Articles ©1997-8 by the individual authors
Photographers retain copyright of all photographs
All original works are used by permission