No 18: Liverpool Kings Dock, 7th July 2004

This was quite a weird one, and at the present time is the last Love gig that Lizzy and I went to.

The gig was one of the "Liverpool Summer Pops" - funny name, funny set up in that a huge big top is erected on the Kings Dock car park for the month of July and various acts ply their trade there - I seem to remember it was going to be Busted the following evening. I was driving to Liverpool from Nottingham and got stuck on the notorious Thelwall Viaduct on the M6. so when I got to the Campanile Hotel, Lizzy was already there. You couldn't miss the venue, a huge stripy structure a few hundred yards from the hotel, but to walk there you had to negotiate various barriers, although we made it in the end.

The plan was that we were definitely filming this one, the strings and horns were there again, so it should be a good one to catch. We went to the box office to get our photo passes, no filming possible without them, but they weren't there - somebody seemed to think that Ross, the tour manager had them but noone was sure. Oh well, we'd sort that out later, the support band was the Zutons who Jim had said were a good band, so we wanted to see them. we'd sort the passes out at the interval.

Into the cavernous tent and more or less the first person we see is John E, who's come up from London. Shortly after that we run into a gaggle of Swedish horn players, and John gets Lizzy to take his picture with them - John is a big Brian Wilson fan and has spent time with the Swedes at Brian's gigs. Shortly after that, I run into my ex-brother in law (i.e. my sister's ex-husband) Neil, who I haven't seen since their separation about 19 years ago - this tour has been big on this sort of incident, its brought all the people of a certain age out of hiding and back to gigs.

We watch the Zutons, who I like - they're young and energetic and have a manic dancing female sax player. We've run into Gill and her sister Maureen by this time as well, so there's a good turn out of the die hard fans.

Then its back to the box office to try to sort out the passes again - the security is tenacious at this venue, no way would be able to film without the correct passes. After a lot of radioing around, it's determined that Ross does indeed have the passes, and he is backstage, so we're escorted there by a burly security man and pick up passes and camera just as Love are coming on stage. We get ourselves to a likely spot in the banked seating - I fumble around a bit, the floor is a bit unsteady but we get set up again and start filming somewhere during the first number.

Now IMHO this was not the best performance Arthur has ever given - however my opinion was bound to be coloured by a) this being my 18th time of seeing the band b) having seen a brilliant Magic Band gig the previous evening. It certainly seemed to impress the assembled throng, perhaps I'm being over fussy - but I don't think he was completely with it. He also darted about the setlist in an erratic fashion, leaving the poor orchestra very bemused. John E and the prodigious Loveshack were both down the front bopping about like maniacs, so they seemed to enjoy it. Hey Ho.

A first however - Arthur took off his trademark hat and bandanna at one stage, showing off his bald pate. Not a bad look at all, wonder why he feels he has to keep his head covered on stage. Along with the omnipresent shades, part of the image I guess.

Quick chat with Mike at the end but they were packing up furiously, as most folks were rushing off to catch a plane. We headed across to Gill and Maureen's hotel with John E and we spent a pleasant couple of hours discussing how we would manage and market Arthur if it was up to us. Which it isn't.