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We were both thoroughly impressed by the venue - The Old Fire Station - easily accessible, situated just on the outskirts of the lovely Carlisle town centre, handy car park directly across the road, good lay out, well staffed bar (alcohol free for me) and a fantastic sound.
When Teenage Fanclub's Autumn tour dates came out, I was determined to get to one of them. Sadly, their Devils Arse (show in a cave) clashed with a work event. Carlisle was a little easier to get to.
With a standing capacity of 420, this was an excellent chance to see the Fanclub in an intimate venue before they venture to South America where they play 3 dates in Brazil and then head to Buenos Aires in Argentina - an incredible city that I was fortunate to spend 1-month in back in 2008 at the end of a year travelling around the world. I'd love to go back sometime!
Support act was Selma French who played as a duo with her cousin Anna. Their harmonies were absolutely exquisite, I'd highly recommend checking them out.
On to the Fannies! Lorna and I managed to get a great place near the front on Raymond's side. We were immediately blown away by the sound - the Old Fire Station sound system is superb. Just three rows from the front, Raymond's guitar was on fire - what a handy venue to be in!
Opening with Tired Of Being Alone, McGinley's guitar was soon flowing and fizzing. About You quickly got the crowd bouncing and singing-a-long. There was a great group of girls near the front who danced throughout and a crowd of people in the centre of the venue who bounced and sang their hearts out.
Norman joked about the stage having a clock that included the temperature which he informed us was currently 25 degrees and asked if we could turn it up a notch.
Alcoholiday threatened to do that and when Norman checked to see if it worked he told us it was now 31.8 degrees. Then apologised as he noted 31/08 was the date!
All songs received a warm response, but Fanclub favourites, like the aforementioned About You and What You Do To Me, Neil Jung, I Don't Want Control Of You and the pre-encore The Concept were greeted like long lost friends. It was pretty euphoric and there were lots of smiles on stage to acknowledge appreciation.
Rare outings for The Cabbage and Mellow Doubt were a welcome treat. While songs from across the bands extensive discography highlighted the strength of their back catalogue.
The opportunity to watch Raymond playing his guitars up close felt like a privilege. Playful sonic sounds - inventive chords and solos, excellent use of pedals. I'd love the band to extend the outro to Everything Is Falling Apart, with Euros keys coming to the fore to jam with McGinley and Francis.
The flowing The World'll Be OK was soothing, Norman's It's All In My Mind made me wonder if Raymond might bring out his beautiful Only With You from the same album - maybe next time.
As always, the band zipped through I'm In Love and a positive sign of the band enjoying themselves on stage is when Norman spins round to his left to smile at Dave, or further round to see Francis, Euros, or right round to see Raymond. There were several spins and countless smiles.
Ending with the band thanking everyone for coming out for their first ever show in Carlisle followed by an epic Everything Flows - based on the audience reaction and the smiles on stage - I think they will be back.
