May 26, 2000 The Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury, Glouchestershire

Report by Sali and Ismet

Set List
Set list: A House is Not a Motel / Lazy Me / Bummer in the Summer / Bluebird / If I Were a Carpenter / Darkness Darkness / Think / Early in the Morning / We’re Gonna Groove / Baby Please Don’t Go Encore: As Long as I Have You / Season of the Witch / Gloria

Well you know how the heart sinks when you walk into the venue and see the seats and carpet? Well it wasn’t that bad! A couple of people managed to get permission to stand up because they had travelled a long way to see this and a music stand was obscuring their view, but for everyone else the order of the evening was to stay put. Robert acknowledged the difficulty, confirmed that the general wasn’t with us this evening, and things started to lighten up.

The band really is tight now and Robert is singing so well there is magic in his voice as well as in his eyes. That’s one of the beauties of these small venues. We are talking real people. It really started to come to life at the beginning of If I Were a Carpenter when someone skipped up to the stage to throw a bunch of flowers on stage, receiving an encouraging round of applause from the audience and a little smile from Robert. The band looked more comfortably spaced than of late - I mean they had a bit more room on stage, and they appeared relaxed. Robert told us a story about the sampled, ”What we have in mind is breakfast in bed for four hundred thousand.” before introducing Darkness Darkness with a reference to it ”Going down a storm on the internet” - Yep! He wills the soloists on from the back of the stage but nobody really needs any encouragement. It seemed a little less sinister tonight but still magnificent. The newly renamed Geoffrey of Monmouth moved in and out of the lead on drums and chimes and Eric Bloodaxe was always there with him on bass, making it all look effortless. Think! had the audience rocking in its seats, powerfully led by Carlisle Egypt on guitar. Groovin towards the bridge was fun and at last we could feel the audience participation, encouraged by Carlisle’s windmill arm movements which he manages to incorporate into the manic fingerwork. Owen Glendwr’s keyboard solo built up gradually increasing in power, setting the auditorium alight until even the ushers were cheering. Geoffrey was really cracking on drums and suddenly everyone in the theatre seemed to be singing Baby Please Don’t Go.

The audience came to life for the encore, moving up to the front of the stage for the Season of the Witch which was a superb example of how tight Priory of Brion have become, taking magical old numbers and moving them on, into something new. Robert really can do it all with the voice and all the band members are totally there with him, it is good. As Long as I Have You was great but Gloria was lifted to a new plane by a reference to Houses of the Holy. ”Let me take you to a movie, Let me take you to a show” - it was such a smooth move and natural fit but it gave the song a whole new meaning - and the evening a wondeful ending.

article courtesy Sali, who allowed the contents of her Calling to You website to be added to ManicNirvana.com.