This is really terrific stuff, beautiful sounding too. They stepped up the production on the last couple of albums, but the songs maybe dipped a little. This is the best of both worlds.
Have seen them dozens of times over the years and never yet disappointed. Highlights were,
The first time around the Asleep In The Back release maybe. Guy used to operate a sampler in the live shows - I think mainly for percussive stuff like shakers which would play continously throughout a song. The roadies used to set up a music stand next to the sampler and fill all of the holes in the mesh of it with white plastic spoons that they drew smiley faces on - then at the start of each song Guy would take one of the spoons and use it to jam the sampler button so that it would keep triggering throughout the song.
At Glastonbury just before Cast of Thousands in the set where they recorded the crowd singing “we still believe in love, so fuck you”. It was a warm afternoon, I’d had a few drinks and I lay somewhere towards the back listening and occasionally drifting off for a song or two. Fantastic.
And the Delamere forest gig others mentioned too was pretty special. The area where they set up the stage with the hill and trees forming a natural ampitheatre is a perfect setting.
