The Borderline - December 2003
Report by Ray - photos by Dave
An altogether
different, and in my opinion far more relaxed performance than any I’ve seen
before. The Pirates are always excellent but this was extra special – I’ll
come to that in a moment. Dave bought
the tickets as a present to celebrate my half-century ( 50th birthday ) and knowing
that, due to rail works, there were no main line trains into London we decided
to drive to the Stanmore Underground - only to find, on arrival, that that
service was out too. The marshals advised going to Wembley – huh, what a joke.
We got stuck in the Wembley traffic making its way to the Justin
Timberlake ? concert. We ended up driving to |
Arriving at
the Borderline Dave headed for the bar and I made straight for the Gents, but I
didn’t get that far. There sitting
at a table en route was Mick and Frank. Mick spotted me at the same time as I
saw him and instantly I got the famous Mick Green “ear to ear” smile and a
hand shot out. I shook hands with Mick and Frank and launched into telling them
about this new Web site. I asked for their approval to solicit your photos and
stories and it was eagerly given. Mick even gave me his personal email address
which I voluntarily promise not to abuse. Later I spoke to Bernard, their
manager, and retold the facts of this new site and he too was very pleased and
supportive. We exchanged telephone numbers so I look forward, hopefully, to some
input straight from the horse’s mouth. I
left the guys to a little privacy and joined Dave at the bar. |
Enter the
Pirates !! During the next
hour and a half they did 17 numbers and all the favourites were there. Although
Bernard pinned up the set list beforehand it made little difference the guys
belted out the numbers in any order that took their fancy.
It went like this:“You don’t own me”
* “I can tell”
* “Please don’t touch”
* “Linda Lu”
* “Tear it up”
* "Drinkin’ wine" *
then a
combination of “walk the dog” and “do the dog” which got re
–christened “shag the dog” *
“I’ll never get over you” ( original style )
* “Honey Hush”
* “Peter Gunn”
* “Gibson, Martin,
Fender” *
“Don’t Munchen it” *
“Milk Cow Blues” *
“Lonesome Train” *
“Shakin’ all over” with
audience participation *
“All in it together” ( The Pirates anthem )
* “Baby please don’t
go” |
I said at the
top of this report that I felt it was a far more relaxed performance than I’d
seen before and so it was. The pace was deliberately slower with the guys taking
time between each number to interact with the audience
- I’m sure Frank appreciated the breather as it was hot and airless
down there. They told fascinating
little anecdotes and bantered with the crowd. I got my share of “stick” when
Johnny asked if anyone had been at the Ace café gig: Johnny : “I recognise you [me] – eight foot high and five feet across” Mick: “don’t argue with him – if he says it’s Thursday … it’s f........ Thursday” Johnny: “ do you know where he sleeps ? Mick: “ anywhere he .f........ well likes” Mick: “you didn’t know we’d turned into Morecambe and Wise ?” |
Yeah, the
language was a little rife at times and I overheard a couple of ladies comment so - but, hey - that's
rock'n'roll. One of the little
anecdotes concerned “I’ll never get over you” which Mick recounted was
written by Gordon Mills who just happened to be “ very brassic” ( short of
money) at the time. The hit was so successful that Gordon Mills used the money
to back Tom Jones’ career. Mick noted that we had The Pirates to blame for Tom
Jones !! Another concerned a disastrous journey they made to Munchen many years
ago which led to the writing of "Don't Munchen it" I always get the impression that they guys are genuinely surprised at their popularity. Mick said as much when he thanked the crowd for always turning up at their gigs. They shouldn't be surprised - its their genuine approach and professional performance which make them this country's finest. It's great to watch them together - there's almost a a telepathy between them in that each one always knows precisely what the others will do. |
It was an
excellent evening – I achieved all I set out to do: 1) stay sober
2) gain the bands approval for the website, 3) give out 150 handouts
advertising this site and 4) sing my head off all night long and suffer a sore
throat all the next day. ( mind you – I did get blisters from all that
air-guitar ) Fantastic. |