Serious Drugs

Who need drugs when we have The Clientele? Sometimes listening to them has a narcotic effect on me. The gig last night was no exception. I've been longing to see them for the whole time I've been in Glasgow and they rewarded me by playing at Debaser in Malmö just three days after I came here. I finally bought the new album, which I haven't seen in Monorail any of the THREE times I've been there to look for it. It really is such an amazing record - probably their best even. The gig took me from being on the verge of fainting (to "We Could Walk Together), to getting close to tears ("Saturday"), to nearly feeling my knees fold under me ("I Want You More Than Ever" and "Reflections After Jane"), to bouncing to the pop perfection of "Joseph Cornell" and "Since K Got Over Me", to getting my mind blown by the fuzz heaven that the eight-minute version of "Lamplight" was. They also played seven songs off God Save the Clientele and ended with a Television cover from Adventure. It was the best show I've seen for almost a year. I've seen them twice before and it seems as if it's better each time. And of course Mel played with them this time. I hadn't met her before (I met the others during an interview last year), but she was very nice indeed. I stayed around for a while afterwards and had some backstage beer. I talked with James about Chris Hillman and with Alasdair about Carnival. Cycling home afterwards in the rain seemed fitting, seeing as they're not uncommon subjects in Alasdair's songwriting ("Bicycles", "Rain" etc). The dizziness was starting to wear off then. Right after the gig I just stared blankly into thin air while trying to walk in a straight line. "If only we had a time machine, eh?"