UK, Stoke Trentham Gardens - September 8, 1997

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Stoke is one of those places, that if the world were flat, it would
be on the edge...having spent the day on the city buses (hilariously
called PMT...)  I made it tothe venue (in the middle of nowhere) in
time to hear some of the soundcheck from a vantage point round the
back of the hall.  apparently i'd missed True Love Waits (!), but i
did hear i Promise (OK boys 3 times is enough) and Permanent
daylight.  I had to hang around for a while, and I met some nice
young people! (hello to Parks and his friend if you read this, sorry
i didn't catch up with you later)...Inside I give in to the
temptation to stand at the front.  I'll admit that after the event, I
regret doing this, because it was frantic for the whole show and i
think i would've had a better time if i could have moved, but the
crush was so great that the only way out was forwards and no way was
i getting thrown out...still i did it for selfish reasons and its my
own fault.. The crowd here is totally mad and they love every minute
of it, the set resembles last night's, plus they do Banana Co and my
favourite, Let Down, which is so different live, but made the waiting
and the fear and the squashing worthwhile.  my memory of the rest of
the show is foggy.  Except that i was drained afterwards, and unable
to move.  Must've been a good gig!  After the show Mark Owen ex of
take that appeared and everybody ignored him aww.. poor pathetic
little faker... i think he'd come to see how it was done, maybe now
he's seen the best he'll give up trying himself...

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