pop will eat itself

Who was there then?

My thoughts (fer what they're worth!)...

Thoroughly enjoyed the Poppies set & got very emotional during Wise Up! Sucker when we had Rich & Adam there. Lovely to see The Buzzard (or was it Buzz Osborne?). Couple of little slip ups, but wouldn't be a Poppies gig without them. Ballsy on the setlist to drop in some NNDBAS & ANL tunes & not just do a greatest hits - seemed to go down well where I was pogoing! Did see some ANL vinyl on the mersh stand so hopefully a few more converts. Only grump would be they were a bit quiet, but then that's been the Forum PA forever, either too quiet or too bassy.

Bentleys were great fun, Rich & Fuzz such a tight rhythm section, though did miss Mike & the decks with working windscreen wipers.

And then the Gaye Bykers... Could not believe how good they were after a 25 year break. Really really hope that wasn't the last ever gig (and from Mary's posts on the Friendface Group it looks like they might be up for some more dates next year)

Just for completeness - arrived just as Thousand Yard Stare had left the stage, went for a sarnie for most of Jim Bob's set, saw a couple of tunes but didn't really do it for me, and buggered off home after the Poppies so no Echobelly or EMF.

it was a great day. I've never seen GBOA and I was really impressed with the show. Bra were good fun..of course the highlight was PWEI...messy but ace as usual. A real treat to see The Buzzard - he really does have a secret sound...and of course Rich & Adam. Who are Echobelly? very dull. EMF were good to - they played There Here so I was happy.

Not the only one who really likes EMF's "They're Here" then - that was the one song I really wanted them to play.

Enjoyed the whole day actually. Thousand Yard Stare were better than I remembered them, lots of fun with BRA (especially with that flag making it to the back of the downstairs standing) and Gaye Bykers on Acid were pretty tight all round - in fact Mary was really spot on vocally. Grabbed some food but timed it to come back for Jim Bob of Carter, which had plenty of the crowd singing along (notably to The Only Living Boy In New Cross and Sheriff Fatman of course.)

PWEI were on form - even if the timing of some of the vocals (RSVP especially) was a little off, but it's kind of not a PWEI gig without it really. Must admit having Rich and Adam there for some of the songs, and Buzzard for the solos (notably of course Wise Up! Sucker and Watch The Bitch Blow) - and with Fuzz on drums, it was almost Mk1 sans Clint and some of Mk2, so that was pretty special (Tim was playing with Numan over in Shepherds Bush Hall the same night in case anyone wondered.) Funny thing was my one wish was Dance of the Mad B*******s, and it was first. Yaay indeedy.

The sound engineer at the Forum ruined it for Echobelly, shame as I do like them and Sonya actually looks even better than she did back in the day. EMF were much better than I thought actually, got the crowd going nicely and playing EMF at the end complete with crowd going "F! Motherf**ers Motherf**ers!" was a good moment. But then having Crabbi, Rich, Mary and Jim Bob do Unbelievable in the encore was just a really nice moment, with Crabbi adapting the Jilted John classic in the second verse. Sort of like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrFheWR0iRU

Kudos to the likes of Fuzz, Mary and James Atkin from EMF for doing two full stints on the day too.