Aidan Smith - the cellar bar - Edinburgh - 31/3/5

Busted into town to see Mr. Smith tonight and was predictably delighted. I've never been to the cellar bar - not really, really being from edinburgh, but it's a nice wee dark place with a very expensive bar. Guinness costs £3.20 which is a lot where I come from anyway. The first support (ordinaryboy) were very downbeat, with hip-hoppy drum smaples and dirge like vocals, I suppose that's quiet cool really, but I wasn't really in the mood for it tonight. I took my folks along, and they really prefer "something that the kids can dance to" if you know where I'm at - so it might have sat better on another night.

So... Aidan Smith. That man can play the keys by the way. and also, the lyrics are always nice and considered and all. Maybe (and probably) my memory glands are lacking somewhat, but I'm sure last time I saw him he had a lot more banter. Tonight he was a bit shy seeming and didn't talk at all between numbers. Nevertheless, the tunes were delivered with style, and that's what matters to me. The new stuff is as witty and singalongable as the older stuff - a delight - and the sound was nice, you could hear every word and the harmonious elements ran throughout. Ironically, tonight, in mirror to the last time I saw him (Manchester 2003ish) the crowd were not in his favour. Too many cats who just didn't have their ears working right. But hey what can you do, everybody likes a pint and a chitter chatter from time to time. All in all - good delivery - did he speed up those breaks??? who knows.

Then the final band (Bitmap). My folks were getting sleepy for their beds, so we only stopped for a couple of numbers, but it was "just like the sixties" only for some reason they had no drummer. Instead they had a drumming device which was button operated. For me - there's always a place for technological stuff - only sometimes I wonder why they couldn't meet a 60's drummer fallen on hard times or something. Well, it's probably one for the experts.

That's it I guess, except that some real nice guy gave me a Cd and some nice chat. Peace and cheers.