Stadium Pete Green. The songs re-arranged for the whole band rather than just solo stuff with a band accompanying. Everything I Do Is Going To Be Sparkly, Dr Beeching, Monday Morning, they all sound so cohesive now, so big it fills the room. There's only a few of us who can hear the lonely ghost of solo troubadour Pete behind the songs.
This site has been following Pete Green's progress from floppy hair popster, to frontman with the mighty 'Juggernaut beside him, right there on the cusp of world domination now. If only the NME don't take offence at Best British Band Supported By Shockwaves.
Actually I keep meaning to say, whilst its a fine sentiment behind his song Hey Dr Beeching, the sort of paradoxes that would arise from what he proposes are seriously bad. If Stephen Moffat ever hears of it there'll be an interesting bank holiday special next year.
He does a wonderful speech before the final song, The Day of the Popshow, about how Indietracks doesn't have to end, you don't have to be at a train museum in the Midland, you just have to go to shows, start a fanzine, start a band and do it. There was barely a dry eye in the place.
Next up in this post-Indietracks popfest are The Deirdres, as utterly shambolic as always, bristling with their youthful energy and occasionally songs they haven't rehearsed for months.
Sophie's magic sentient feedback guitar and the chap who was forever runnig round the stage finding neglected instruments to play before running back to a microphone, any microphone to sing his next line.
The drums were a bit too loud this evening, and there were other bits of the mix that needed tweaking. Luckily the folks in the crowd still had the sound from Indietracks in there ears, The Deirdres can do no wrong. The was crowd surfing, there was reaching to touch Russell, and it was quite spectacular when Sophie actually took a run up and launched herself into the mosh pit.
Its the final night of The Smittens' UK tour, there's a little sadness in the air. As they point out, many folk in the crowd have followed them around for the past two weeks.
Crikey, I think I've seen Colin and Dana play seven times since they got here. Am I going to miss them or just back to business as usual? The Smittens were my summer holiday.
These songs I'd never heard before, now so familiar, 100 Roses, Gumdrops, the one where they try to get the audience to pretend to be bumblebees, Stop the Bombs, with the Pocketbooks, those dudes are crooks lyric, made me squeee a little.
There were hip hop bass noises coming from the club upstairs that only Dana could here at first then the rest of us, but it didn't distract from the stream of magic on stage, the instrument swapping and the joy.
I think Sapphire ought to sound a little more like Belle and Sebastian's Sleeping the Clock Around.
They finished with Gentlefication Now! (The La La La Song), a fabulous one for singing along to. But even afterwards, when the rest of the band were packing up, Colin was still playing some song about Justin Timberlake that he didn't know the words to, just for some guys in the audience.
It was a long drive home from Nottingham back to London, my ipod on shuffle, Sapphire comes on, and smiled a little.
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