The Mob performance part two (track 11 – I Wish is performed after track 15 – No Doves Fly Here)
How did this gig come about so suddenly and with no notice to the public? Well…Mark and Leah were contacted by Allison of The Kills two weeks ago. Allison was organising fellow Kills member Jamie Hince’s stag night before he is wed to the Croydon supermodel Kate Moss. Allison inquired whether Jamie’s favourite ever band and main inspiration in his teenage years could perform at a (then unspecified) venue in London. Mark asked the other band members and it was agreed to perform in London at a free party organised by Allison.
Allison got busy organising a suitable venue whilst Leah, Tess, Steve Corr, Mick Lugworm and myself (Penguin) sought out suitable guests to invite. The band had been given permission to invite 150 guests and the logistics should have been a nightmare. Happily though almost all the people invited were old Mob followers who jumped at the opportunity to see this band perform for the first time in London since late on in 1983. The few old faces that unfortunately could not attend were quickly and easily replaced with other willing souls.
All the invited guests were asked to agree to the one demand placed on them for the eventual entrance to this gig. The guests were asked to remain silent about this gig on any blogs, facebook or any other online forum. After all it was meant to be a surprise for the happy groom to be, and no one wanted to spoil the surprise, least of all the organisers! To the joy of everyone involved in setting this event up, this one demand was met with total agreement and was respected throughout.
Below: The guest list for the night, not including Jamie Hince’s entourage of twenty or so.
1. Mark Wilson
2. Graham Fallows
3. Curtis Youe
4. Leah Wild
5. Jackie Fallows
6. Mary Youe
7. Tess Wilson
8. Chris Stanley
9. Mickey Penguin
10. Steve Corr
11. Claire Wilson
12. Rosie Wilson
13. Madeline Dring
14. Alex Dring
15. Nav Sabet
16. Shane Sealey
17. Ella Sheehan
18. Min
19. Rowan
20. Phil Ritchie
21. Jodie
22. Max
23. Justine Butler
24. Marc Adams
25. Ian Harris (Ebo)
26. Peter Russel (Lumpy)
27. Ben Corrigan
28. Mick Luggy
29. Bob Buttler
30. Andy Tuck
31. Ian Glasper
32. Andy T
33. Pid Sensa Yuma
34. Beki Teeth
35. Kim Holmes
36. Bristol Blue
37. Tony Tsuk
38. Fran Tsuks
39. Hugh Murray Marine
40. Paul Light
41. Conchita
42. Duna
43. Ian
44. Sid Rubella
45. Zillah Rubella
46. Ian Aitch
47. Shane Dabineti
48. Chris Low
49. Romina Loi
50. Gita Malhotra
51. Paul Shrapnel
52. Liz Rowland
53. Mark Palmer
54. Micheal Victor
55. Pauline Victor
56. Richard Percy
57. Elaine Seymour
58. Andy Barker
59. John Turner
60. Nick Hydra
61. Paul Venables
62. Del Blyben
63. Jim Wafford
64. Sean Forbes
65. Rob Challice
66. Kate Riddihough
67. Andrew Rawlings
68. Tinsal
69. Tony Woodrow
70. Pete Alberto
71. Tony D
72. Des Hoskins
73. Jaz Wiseman
74. Deb Googe
75. Kath Gifford
76. Keith Reynolds
77. Alex Reynolds
78. Simon Rix
79. Christine Moeller
80. Val Drayton
81. Tex Rockerfella
82. Rachel
83. Steve
84. Gary DIRT
85. Rona DIRT
86. Paris
87. Peter
88. Lee Dalby
89. Lee Gibson
90. Deep Sea Dave
91. New Zealand Darren
92. Neil Keenan
93. Rosy Hayward
94. Shaun McLoughlin
95. Neale Williams
96. Gordan Wilkins
97. Nick Wilkins
98. Aithche Smyth
99. Chris Hunyh
100. Vicky Ridley
101. Spencer Kelly
102. Charles Loft
103. Stephen Spencer-Fleet
104. Gayle Colyer
105. Martin Manners
106. Shay
107. Guillaume Ruffat
108. Marie Berjon
109. Mark Ripper
110. Alastair McCaughtrie
111. Yasuyo Hosoi
112. Hooch
113. Simon Hobbs
114. Satu Salonpaa
115. Andrea Jameson
116. Paul Forder
117. Annie D’arcy
118. Pete Webb
119. Grant Showbiz
120. Ian Moss
121. Carl Kirton
122. Mark Astronaut
123. Kate Riddihough
124. Ban
125. Terry Dwyer
126. Dion Bunting
127. Spencer Batiste
128. Janice Tripney
129. Peck Woodrow
130. Gail Thibert
131. Cheryl Barclay
141. Harry
142. Karen Lack Of Knowledge
143. Boo Dendy
144. Chris Mortimer
145. Tom Fallows
146. Sylviane Decroliere
148. Geoff Collis
148. Giff
149. Laverne
150. Shaun
Allison found a venue, The Macbeth in deepest Hoxton, East London, and with the date of the stag night coming up fast, The Kills on their short tour entered Bristol to perform a gig there. Mark, Steve Corr and Leah plus assorted family members all went along to the gig and managed to speak to Jamie afterwards. Steve Corr was Jamie’s band mate in the third line up of Blyth Power, a band with strong Mob connections, so he knew Jamie well. This was the excuse to introduce Mark from The Mob to Jamie. Jamie was overjoyed on meeting Mark for the first time and the night was finished off nicely with no one letting on to knowing anything about a party a couple of days later. It must have been a strange moment as Allison had obviously been in touch via the phone and via email several times a day for almost two weeks with both Mark and Leah and then had to sit there pretending not to know or care too much about the guests backstage that night.
On the Saturday morning, during one of the finest and hottest days of the year so far the various members of the bands performing on the night travelled down from South Wales, Yeovil and Bristol.
The Mob and Idiot Strength arrived at the Macbeth around four in the afternoon, the sound check was completed courtesy of Grant Showbiz and with Harvey, the engineer from the venue. Grant Showbiz had been asked to work the mixing desk for The Mob on this hot June night. Grant had engineered the first two singles by The Mob ‘Crying Again’ recorded in 1979 and ‘Witch Hunt’ recorded in 1980. Grant had also done most of the live sound engineering on many of the early gigs performed by the band. The very last time Grant Showbiz would have engineered a Mob gig would have been the last time the band had performed at the Meanwhile Gardens all day free festival in Westbourne Park back in August 1983.
I had lugged my superb Denon cassette deck all the way from North London to record the performances through the PA, this also was set up through the sound desk with the help of Harvey. The Mob stage banners were placed up and I sorted out the DVDR of KYPP images that were now safely inside the Macbeth’s DVD player ready to go…A small merchandise stall was also made ready for the guests of this private party. Now all that was needed was the guests.
Around seven thirty, guests had started to arrive, by eight thirty just about all the invited guests were in the pub either at the stage area or up on the outside terrace a floor above happily being reunited in some cases after an absence of thirty years.
Idiot Strength, originally Yeovil based and old Mob followers, started off the night with a brilliant set. I have witnessed this band many times over the years and have always enjoyed the occasions. This performance was no exception. The band started off with ‘Rather Nice Pheasant’, which is one of my favorite songs of the mid 1980’s period. The band only performed six tracks and had only one rehearsal for this gig. They sounded tight enough although the tape of this performance I recorded off the desk seems to be missing the loud guitar that the spectators of the gig heard front of stage, but never the less a blinding performance by the band and the tape recording is fine, just a little light on the guitar sound.
The Mob milled around the guests throughout the night (some of which had not crossed paths for twenty five or thirty years) until Allison phoned through to advise that the first part of Jamie’s stag night was finished, and that Jamie and his entourage were on route from the resturant and heading towards the venue. The resturant part of the evening had overrun by around thirty minutes but none of the crowd were restless as there were too many old faces to reconnect to in the audience. The Mob placed themselves onto the stage ready to start off at the thumbs up signal from Tess on the door.
The thumb went up just after ten and giving a few seconds to ensure Jamie and his entourage were in the pub, The Mob then blasted off with ‘Youth’, Grant Showbiz on the sound desk wrestling with some small feedback issues at the very first few bars of the track. Jamie sussed the track immediately and after recognising Mark from the Thursday night meeting in Bristol, he then realised that this was the real band not just some cover band performing Mob classics! I was next to Grant at the time, pressing the play / record button on my tape deck and saw Jamie’s overjoyed face around the door way. He let out a yelp and went straight down the front and remained there throughout the set. He left some of his party to enjoy the band from a distance. Some notables in Jamie’s party were Bobby Gillespie from Primal Scream and Mick Jones from The Clash.
The Mob performed one of the best gigs I had ever heard or witnessed. Listening to the tapes above will verify this. Perhaps it was the tiny venue, perhaps the free entry to the guests (donations were gratefully recieved near the front door), perhaps it was the amount of old Mob followers, All The Madmen records operatives, Puppies and other ex squatter types in the audience. It was more than likely a blistering combination of all these factors, The Mob relaxed after ‘Youth’ and went onto to ‘What’s Going On’ straight into ‘Shuffling Souls’ not missing a beat, and hitting the absolute minimum of bum notes for the whole set. The performance had energy and power, The Mob were at there absolute best throwing out classic song after classic song…
Jamie sweated every last beat of the drum and downward strum of the guitar, all throughout the set.
The Macbeth staff were all helpful and busy. The invited guests came from far and wide to witness The Mob, many tales of travelling were told throughout the night but by far the most cherished in my memory must be Hugh ex of the Brougham Road co op who spent twelve hours hitching from Penzance, I felt slightly ashamed at just coming from north London with my Denon cassette deck in a hessian bag for weight hassle!
After the performance the band milled around upstairs and were in the company of Jamie Hince and some of his entourage including the great Mick Jones from The Clash. The Clash were always a favorite to the members of The Mob, although it must be stated here on KYPP that Mark Mob did give The Clash a little bit of a slag off when he wrote a review of a gig he attended in Plymouth which was published in All The Madmen fanzine number one way back in 1978! This was not mentioned to Mike Jones on the night though…!
I got a big sweaty hug from Jamie before he left to attend the third section of his stag night and he told me that he was absolutely chuffed with the effort that everyone had made to make this second part of his stag night so special. I knew Jamie quite well from the mid to late 1980’s and it was a joy to see him so excited after a couple of decades of not seeing him. I was now in charge of taking a rather drunk Tony D home in a cab with my trusty cassette deck and the only audio archive of this magnificent gig on two tapes that I held onto very very tightly throughout the cab ride.
I hope all the guests enjoyed The Mob’s triumphant return to the capital after twenty eight years and the next one of course is with Zounds, The Astronauts and The Hamsters (from Manchester) at the Jamm in Brixton on 18 November 2011. The Mob and these three other bands all went around the country in 1979 and 1980 on the Jonathan Barnett inspired Weird Tales tours. This event in November 2011 is the first time all these bands have performed together since 1980. Hopefully Grant Showbiz will do the sound for that gig, like he did on the original Weird Tales tours.
The Mob’s support slot at the Steve Ignorant Shepherds Bush Empire on the 19 November 2011 that was going to happen the night after the band’s self promoted gig, has been cancelled due to the ‘well established’ music business rules and regulations written within the contract which The Mob were not comfortable with…
Mickey ‘Penguin’
Above: Mark Mob, Rosie, Jamie Hince, Mick Jones, Leah, Lee and KYPP’s Tony D after the Mob’s performance (all photographs from Mickey Penguin’s collection)
Thanks to Allison from The Kills for making this performance happen and to Leah and Tess for all the grafting that made it a success. Good luck to Jamie Hince for the wedding in a few weeks and also for the future from Mickey Penguin and all at KYPP.
Steve Lamacq’s Radio 6 piece on the stag night broadcast on 06/06/11
More photos of the event described above may be glanced at HERE
AL Puppy
June 5, 2011 at 7:00 pmBrilliant.
AL Puppy
June 5, 2011 at 7:08 pmAlmost made the Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1394534/Kate-Moss-wedding-Groom-Jamie-Hince-hits-town-stag-do.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Melvin
June 5, 2011 at 7:17 pmjust listened to this great quality thanks for sharing this 🙂
palmer
June 5, 2011 at 7:28 pmit was a truly splendid night thanx folks and well done penguin for documenting it..
Al Symers
June 5, 2011 at 7:42 pmHmm I was there not mentioned on the guest list tho, anyways thanks to Tess for the invite it was a brilliant night, made my spine tingle to hear Mark sing again
luggy
June 5, 2011 at 8:08 pmGlad that I didn’t imagine how good they sounded last night 🙂
Tony Puppy
June 5, 2011 at 8:20 pm@AL
I’ve just added a link to this page on the Mail page you linked to. Wonder if they will ‘publish’ it?
jock dougie
June 5, 2011 at 9:00 pmdidnt know they were playin london. good to know they got out of that crass ghetto even tho some folks i know are goin down for that gig
AL Puppy
June 5, 2011 at 9:21 pmHope there is no confusion with the Hoxton Mob…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoxton_Gang
AL Puppy
June 5, 2011 at 9:41 pmJust found a recent (31 May) review of a Kills gig in the Guardian and put in a comment with link to here.http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/may/31/the-kills-review
I wonder if the Daily Mail will let Tony’s link through? What larks!
jock dougie
June 5, 2011 at 9:46 pmor King Mob
Steve Corr
June 5, 2011 at 10:20 pmOr “Lavender Hill Mob” ?
Is the Idiot Strength recording worth uploading? I hear there’s no guitar,
(or should that be, “I don’t hear?)
Tony Puppy
June 5, 2011 at 10:20 pm@AL Your link is there, The Mail are still sitting on mine.
Penguin • Post Author •
June 6, 2011 at 12:05 amSteve my tape of Idiot Strength is uploaded and available to download at the top of this post.
Chris Low
June 6, 2011 at 12:12 amPhenomenal show and thanks to all who made it happen. I’m just uploading a few of the photos I took to my Facebook. My only regret of the night is that looking though the ‘guest list’ there were loads of folk I knew or wrote to ‘back in the day’ who’d I missed, though it was great to catch up with all those who I did.
Surfer
June 6, 2011 at 12:31 amBrilliant that.
I wonder what Mick Jones thought of The Mob?
Surfer
June 6, 2011 at 2:01 amHa ha!
http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2011/06/06/jamie-hince-has-shoreditch-punk-party-stag-115875-23182536/
mikeyG
June 6, 2011 at 3:28 amGutted I couldn’t make it on the night, stuck out in the sticks with a dawn chorus start on the Sunday….sounds have whetted my appetite for Brixton, though…..thanks for the download 🙂
Tania
June 6, 2011 at 7:43 amSounds like an amazing night,wish I’d been there!
dan i
June 6, 2011 at 10:31 amahhh, sweet!
Nick Hydra
June 6, 2011 at 11:01 amBrilliant night – Thanks to Penguin/ Mark for the invite (and this download), I’m listening to it right now. Didn’t stop dancing for the whole of the set. Great to hear a bit of Patrik Fitzgerald’s ‘No Fun Football’ at the start of ‘I Wish’. Got a bit misty eyed during that one…
Steve Corr
June 6, 2011 at 12:04 pmThanks Mick, just found it tucked away in between the photo’s
Steve Corr
June 6, 2011 at 12:06 pmListening now, EEK!! not for long though 🙂
Penguin • Post Author •
June 6, 2011 at 12:07 pm‘Andy Tucked away in between the photos’ maybe Steve? Bit bass heavy on the recording, if you want I can send you the WAV CDR for you to remix, or the original tape.
Steve Corr
June 6, 2011 at 12:29 pmI did consider making that joke Mick, but only for a second as there was no picture of Andy there anyway 🙂
As for sending the CD I guess I could have a go but I think I’d be trying to make a silk purse from a sows ear 🙂
I think I’ve learned a valuable lesson as to why you should have your amp turned down on stage and ask the sound man for more in your monitors, that way when you get a desk recording you get more of your instruments in the mix. Still way too much vocals for my liking.
You’ll need my address for the CD, I’ll message you on facebook.
Jaz Wiseman
June 6, 2011 at 1:17 pmGreat night! Thanks to Leah for the invite. The Mob were superb!
Graham Burnett
June 6, 2011 at 2:04 pmWell fed up that I couldn’t make it, especially seeing the roster of old friends and acquaintances (some not seen for some 30 years!) who were in attendance – was running a course in Southend during the day and wisdom teeth pain meant I wasn’t well enough to travel up for the evening, glad it went well!
Trunt
June 6, 2011 at 3:09 pmAnyone else having problems getting on the Mediafire site to listen to this gig. Getting wound up not being able to give it a whirl.
Justine
June 6, 2011 at 3:33 pmWhat a great night! Thanks for posting this Penguin – nice to see you and so many others again and happy to see such a heavy presence from the West Country. Had to drink bloody Magners though! Looking forward to more in November!
leah
June 6, 2011 at 3:56 pmThanks to all for your support and kind words…. we couldn’t have done it without fans and friends. Now to work on making Brixton another night to remember. Look out on here and the Mob fb page for ticket sales announcements.
Penguin • Post Author •
June 6, 2011 at 4:14 pmTrunt – links are all good. Check your security settings inc pop up blockers if you are still having trouble. It is well worth the effort to download this gem. Seriously the best I have heard the band. No question.
luggy
June 6, 2011 at 8:32 pmWitch Hunt was played on 6 Music tonight. You can listen to it here, starts at 2.41:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011r3p3
KYPP gets a mention as well.
Chris Low
June 6, 2011 at 9:41 pm@ Penguin: did you get the photos i emailed you? Might be nice to stick up some of the crowd photos I took?