Bucket list gig: Thousand Yard Stare

I discovered Thousand Yard Stare in about 1992 when I bought a copy of Vox magazine that came with a free cassette that included one of their songs, Wideshire. When I moved to Cardiff in 1994 I found their album Mappamundi in a sale in HMV. I played that cassette to death in my room in uni digs. 

Mappamundi was their 'difficult second album'. The band split up almost immediately after releasing it and the 'shoegaze' scene they were part of declined rapidly. Over the next couple of years I collected most of their back catalogue. But I resigned myself to never seeing them live. 

Then about 10 years ago the band reunited and cut a new record. I had lost track of what they were up to and didn't realise until a couple of years ago, so I had another back catalogue to collect!

This tour was meant to happen last May but got postponed due to one of the band having health issues. It got rescheduled for the last day in February, which means it was my first gig in 2026.

I'd not been to the Louisiana before. It's a (lovely) pub with a gig room upstairs. A couple of years ago I met an online friend called Dave at a football match. Dave is also a gig-goer. He lives in Bristol and advised me to get close to the front at the venue. He wasn't wrong - it's a long room with no slope to the floor and a low stage. I ended up about 3 rows back and got a great view.

It's a standing only venue and Cathy found that hard so she headed back downstairs where there was a comfy sofa she could curl up on. She says the staff were all very kind when she said she wasn't feeling well. 

It might have been for the best that she went downstairs because the gig got a bit "moshy", no mean feat considering most of the people there were in my age bracket. Me, I felt 19 again, listening to songs I thought I'd never hear live.

And wow, they were good. They played a couple of post-reformation songs, but they knew what we wanted to hear and belted out the classics like Comeuppance ("our only hit"), Buttermouth, Wideshire, 0-0 (aet) and Version of Me. 

Stephen, the singer, introduced my absolute favourite track, What's Your Level? as "a song I wrote in response to people calling me a 'wordy twat'". They played it quite early in the set, and that's when it first got a bit moshy and sweaty. 

He is also the only singer I know who snacks on apples during a gig.

Stephen is heavily involved at Bristol Manor Farm FC (scene of my first football match after lockdown!) and had hung up some flags behind the stage. Some of the Farmy Army had come along to enjoy the show. Cue lots of banter as he kept scolding them to behave.

He also said that he didn't listen to the bands' second album until a few years back, because the band were splitting up as it was released and the reviews were negative. I was able to shake his hand at the end and tell him that I played that album until the cassette died and how much I loved finally seeing them live.

So that was my bucket list gig. Massive thanks to Dave for the advice, the great chats about gigs and football, and also sending me some of his photos to use in this blogpost!

Back to football after 16 months away

On Saturday I went to my first football match since March 2020. The pandemic nixed a lot of my plans for going to football matches, and last season was the first season since before 1992-93 (when my personal records begin) where I attended zero games. (I blogged about that a couple of months ago.)

But, at last, attending football is an option again. Barry Town had arranged a friendly with Bristol Manor Farm who play in the Southern League. My friend Tom acted as my guide and we drove across the bridge to Bristol to watch the game.

I don't think I have ever been this excited about a pre-season friendly. 

The Creek, where Bristol Manor Farm play, is an adorable little non-league ground that has all the magical charm that typifies lower level football in the UK. We had a very warm welcome from the local supporters, many of whom were impressed with the noise generated from the bit of the ground colonised by the Barry fans.

Sadly, we didn't see their number one fan, who dresses as a scarecrow and shouts "Farmy Army". He was apparently staying away for health reasons. 

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed seeing people who I hadn't seen for well over a year and finding out how they were doing. 

The clouds looked a bit forbidding for most of the game, but we didn't have any rain.

There is a railway embankment behind those dug outs in the picture, and we saw a couple of trains zip along. Sadly I wasn't quick enough to get a picture. 

I did however take a picture of this mark on the pitch, which could be a faerie ring. I was waiting to see if the fey folk would carry off any of the players who stood in it, but none of them did.

You do get close to the action at grounds like these. 

The pitch also had a definite slope aspect to it, but not just in one direction. At the lower end the pitch seemed to slope in different directions towards the corners. Barry were unable to make any use of kicking downhill in the first half and it was 0-0 at half time.

However, even though they were kicking up the slope in the second half, Barry scored a late goal to win the game 1-0. At the end, the team went over to the "Barry end" to thank the fans for their support. 

So, I was a very happy football fan as we drove home back over the bridge. It was a brilliant way to start a new season of matchgoing, and I hope this season I will be able to see a lot of games!