Happy Mondays @ UEA

Hallelujah!

by lizzoutline 28 November 2015

Somehow I haven't ever seen Happy Mondays, despite years and years of dancing to their tunes in clubs and listening to them at home. I've followed their turbulent career, and was over the bloody moon to hear they were coming back to Norwich to play their classic album Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches on the actual 25th anniversary of its release. To the day. Very special.

The LCR is pretty busy, full of middle aged mega fans enjoying a chilled night out amongst their brethren and excitedly anticipating seeing their heroes. There are lots of men in their Going Out Shirts, and a few decidedly a little worse for wear, but I was pleased to see more women than I expected. Represent, ladies.The prospect of seeing Actual Bez and Actual Shaun Ryder in the actual flesh is thrilling, and there's a great vibe in the crowd.

The Mondays appear on stage in dribs and drabs, each member welcomed with whoops and cheers...they really are absolute figureheads of an important time in the UK's musical history. It's perhaps a very different live experience for both us and them to seeing them back in the early 90's, pilled up to the nines and at the height of baggy, but this feels like a genuine and heartfelt appreciation for a band that have meant so much to so many of us.

As promised, they run through the whole of Pills n Thrills, starting with Kinky Afro.. "Son, I'm 30. I only went with your mother cos she's dirty"...and we're all singing along happily. Lovely Bez, in trousers (although they might well be pj's) filled out with his little pot belly gets his maracas all up our faces in the most joyful of ways. Shaun, shorter than I expected, loiters halfway back on the stage like a wicked cool uncle who you might fancy a bit, cos he's just so COOL in his shades, puffing on his fake fag. Rowetta looks fucking marvellous up the front, youthful and colourful, and her voice is a thing of soaring power. I kind of wish she'd sung more tonight, I loved it so. Drummer, bass player, keys and guitarist-wise, there's not much to report...they play brilliantly and professionally, but they don't add anything to the performance visually. However, tonight does remind me of just how groovy (in the right sense) the Mondays are musically, how sensual and syncopated and saucy and challenging their tunes really are. I'm swept away by their sound tonight, grinning like a loon all the way through the set, and with the addition of being mere feet away from some of my generation's musical heroes, tonight is fucking magical. The crowd go particularly nuts for God's Cop, Loose Fit and Step On, but tracks like Dennis and Lois, rarely, if ever, played live before, are real belters too.

The band come back for an encore of Hallelujah and Wrote For Luck, both of which are majestic and confident. What a treat tonight was; both a chance to rediscover and appreciate an album that I've loved for over half my life, but also to give that love back to this bunch of beautiful misfits who made it, and letting them know how grateful I am for their work.

Nice one, Mondays. You made me really happy tonight. Love you.