Tour set list

[Bastian]

ISS is finally after getting an airing I see.

Hope Skua stays in there until Brighton. Yeah I've heard it so much live over the years, but I miss it when it's not there.

[Blackout]

ISS is finally after getting an airing I see.

Hope Skua stays in there until Brighton. Yeah I've heard it so much live over the years, but I miss it when it's not there.

I think it's fair to expect that it will. Going to expect confetti cannons every time after Koko though now. (note to band - not really. but it was lovely)

Also, ace that you're coming over for Brighton, I thought with me not going to Ireland we wouldn't see you on this one :)

[Bastian]

ISS is finally after getting an airing I see.

Hope Skua stays in there until Brighton. Yeah I've heard it so much live over the years, but I miss it when it's not there.

I think it's fair to expect that it will. Going to expect confetti cannons every time after Koko though now. (note to band - not really. but it was lovely)

Also, ace that you're coming over for Brighton, I thought with me not going to Ireland we wouldn't see you on this one :)

Those Irish dates must have been the first bsp gigs in years that I didn't see you. Normal service will resume in Brighton.

Koko looked like great fun if the pictures were anything to go by. I got a good laugh from the bear vs chandelier pic. Manager Dave probably didn't.

[flatland juz]

Cheers to BSP for winning over a typically reserved Cambridge audience. Pelican. Blackout... lovely. No Thin Black Sail, though. Oh, and I think that's the first time I have heard not a single clap in the middle of LOFDS. All proper fans, obviously. Or were they all asleep?

[Kid Dynamo]

Glasgow was good fun, although felt slightly hard done by the shorter set due to venue restrictions. I don't know what it is with Scottish venues but we always seem to have an early start / shorter set. Would have loved to hear St Jerome again - however was treated to The Pelican (finally!) so can't complain too much.
Can't help but notice that the first four songs was made up of predominantly album openers. Nice touch. Oily Stage was awesome and I got all nostalgic.
The bears were out in force for aaaages, I felt sorry for their inhabitants, however served their purpose and really got the crowd moving for the latter part of the set.

On another note - the Pictish Trail were fantastic. Probably the best support I've seen for BSP. Their performance would have easily out shone most normal bands. Excellent choice!

Also the venue is a lot better than I remember from my uni days. Not many good bands play there which is a shame as it is a decent enough size.

I'm creeped out by the weird twig man though.

[Digger2]

I know its a bit late, been on hols, but thought I'd share my thoughts on the CARDIFF gig.

First, what a great little venue the Globe was, lovely old stone pillars and a small balcony. Thought BSP were ace, as always, but this time things really got going quite early into the set. When they pile in with a mid-set comprising, in no particular order, of Jerome, Leaving Here, Pelican, No Lucifer, Remember Me, LOFDS and Skua it cannot fail. Took a few pix, not good enough for this hallowed turf, but couldn't help noticing the smiles on everyone's faces in most shots. And that was before the bears came down the stairs. Just the sheer joy and exuberance of enjoying such a great set and having such fun. Clearly BSP were getting off on it too, with lots of audience interaction from Yan.

Particularly loved the wide smiles and huge manhug between Phil and Yan at the end of the main set. Don't know what that was about, maybe something to do with getting through the set with his sore foot?

[TheAlex]

Liverpool gig here and another shout for The Pelican. It's not a track I'd really remember otherwise but it was great live. Praise for Whatever was another highlight and it was great to hear Blackout again, plus two tracks from Open Season. Something was slightly lacking about the gig, maybe the atmosphere and the similarly-paced middle section. But even "slightly lacking" BSP gigs are excellent.

I can't remember a non-soundtrack gig without an encore? I was disappointed we didn't get St. Louis.

Oddly, my camera was confiscated on the way in. In hundreds of gigs that's only the second time it's happened, and the first time I was given an apology and told the member of security was mistaken - which I wasn't sure whether to believe as she told me the band had "banned cameras", which the band then told me otherwise (hence the apology from the venue)!

[burghblue]

I don't know what it is with Scottish venues but we always seem to have an early start / shorter set.

I think it's because the Scottish venues tend to have a club on from 11, so there's a 10pm curfew (certainly the case with the Liquid Room). TBH, I'm all for a prompt finish (I'm getting old), but it would be nice if the bands got on stage an hour earlier to perform the same length of set.

That said, I didn't feel short-changed at the Garage. Did we miss anything from the set? There was no "encore", but I'm all for that bit of gig fakery being abolished so bands can just smash through their set (did I say I'm getting old?)

Delighted that LOFDS, Ivy Lee, Blackout were all in the set. What You're Doing was great (I finally noticed what a fine job Martin does on that one). Hammy's bass was nice and high in the mix. And Carrion and Skua were terrific.

[Kid Dynamo]

I don't know what it is with Scottish venues but we always seem to have an early start / shorter set.

I think it's because the Scottish venues tend to have a club on from 11, so there's a 10pm curfew (certainly the case with the Liquid Room). TBH, I'm all for a prompt finish (I'm getting old), but it would be nice if the bands got on stage an hour earlier to perform the same length of set.

That said, I didn't feel short-changed at the Garage. Did we miss anything from the set? There was no "encore", but I'm all for that bit of gig fakery being abolished so bands can just smash through their set (did I say I'm getting old?)

Delighted that LOFDS, Ivy Lee, Blackout were all in the set. What You're Doing was great (I finally noticed what a fine job Martin does on that one). Hammy's bass was nice and high in the mix. And Carrion and Skua were terrific.

Nah it was definitely a shorter set. Not by much though I don't think. Quality over quantity right?

Maybe it's just the liquid rooms and the garage, don't recall such a heavy handed curfew at Dunfermline last year. Don't remember a huge amount about the end of that night tbh...

Yes Hammy's bass was on point, the end of Praise for Whatever was noticeably ace!! As was seeing The Pelican. More of that in the future please.

[Blackout]

Made 8 dates this time round and thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them. Not going to the Irish ones I deliberately didn't check set list posts and even temporarily muted on facebook a couple of people I knew were going, to avoid spoilers... as such, when they did Blackout and followed it with Pelican on my first night in Sheffield it was the best moment of 2018 so far. Wonderful stuff. And even the gigs where those didn't get played it's been great to have an expanded "Ham sandwich" or even a double decker one. Leaving Here as well. Brilliant. (Though a non forum posting person who lives with me and sometimes dresses up as a brown bear reiterates his request for A Trip Out, still to no avail... one fine day before the apocalypse please lads/lass?)

Great performances. A fantastic variety of venues for those of us who do a few. Had forgotten how lovely Cardiff Globe is, and that was one of the best. Everyone waving goodbye to the bears as they went back up the stairs was outstanding. I also fully approve of any band I like playing Koko because I (and other northerners/Midlanders) can do a London gig without having to stop over - I know some people say it's a crap venue but me I've always quite liked it anyway (I guess when you spent many hours of your teens watching the Chameleons VHS of Camden Palace as it was then it still feels like going somewhere legendary.... incidentally if there are any Chameleons fans here familiar with said video, years later I actually met the "Ribena girls", one of them went out with a mate of mine!)... but yeah back to BSP, the sparkly stuff during Skua was a nice touch. And the second weekend was such fun. I also found Liverpool a little slow to get going but it's not the world's most atmospheric venue, and we got there in the end. Glasgow was excellent if rather warm (I was worried for the safety of those in the fur suits that night!); Holmfirth is always a good gig whoever the band just because it is, and they were no exception. It was also an absolute delight to take one of my oldest friends to the gig, who cannot get out a lot due to personal circumstances. she loved it. And Brighton was glorious, start to finish.

I don't know why I bought a turquoise hoodie. The more I look at it the more horrible the colour looks. This amuses me greatly...

all in all, cheers everyone.

That said, I didn't feel short-changed at the Garage. Did we miss anything from the set? There was no "encore", but I'm all for that bit of gig fakery being abolished so bands can just smash through their set (did I say I'm getting old?)

Totally agree. Scripted encores are a nonsense, but sadly some audiences seem to expect them. I remember watching the Manics in Derby when BSP were supporting them, a band who famously Do Not Do Encores - something even I as a barely casual Manics fan with about 10 gigs to my name was quite aware of, they'd done two solid hours, all the hits, a few treats for their hardcore, new stuff, old stuff, the lot, and on the way out some blokes were moaning specifically because they didn't pretend to go off and come back again. Bellends. British Sea Power rarely if ever did encores prior to about 2006, and never a scripted one.

What You're Doing was great (I finally noticed what a fine job Martin does on that one). .

....any other ageing indie kids always feel the urge to sing The Railway Children's Every Beat Of The Heart along to the chorus? Separated at birth.... :)

[flatland juz]

Agreed, A Trip Out is one of the best BSP tunes and should not be left languishing in the vault.

[pomfob]

Round of applause folks, we've all done very well. And so did the group...


Highlight for me will be the ridiculous choice of Can We Do It? as an occasional addition to the Ham sandwich. Oh, and pretty much everything else.

[pomfob]

I think that's the first time I have heard not a single clap in the middle of LOFDS. All proper fans, obviously. Or were they all asleep?

Yeah, I thought that too. Just very, very reserved, I guess. It may be an instant urban myth, but sales of tea towels in Cambridge were the poorest of the tour, due to everyone having dishwashers.

[pomfob]

Oh, and another thing...I hope Yan either has more than one Fuji Rocks t-shirt, or they have a very efficient laundry service.

[Bastian]

The 4 nights I did were fantastic. So much jumping, but unlike the Euro tour in May where I had a limp for two weeks after, there was no injuries this time. I hadn't seen them for a few years before last May so I was a little over excited!
So much boozing too as I has other gigs before and during this tour! I need a detox.

Not sure if they played it at any of the UK gigs but it was lovely to hear Open The Door after many years. Probably my set highlight. And Skua in Brighton. It never fails to make the hair stand on the back of my neck. Blackout sounded a little bit odd the other night. Phil on his keyboard appeared to be turned up higher than the guitars. All and all brilliant though. And like the October tour a really nice mix of their back catalogue

Nice to see you all too. Some for the first time.