Heart of a Punk Soul of a Rasta

FRENCH RESISTANCE
MUSE, THE HORRORS
STADE COUVERT REGIONAL, LIEVIN, FRANCE
31st October 2009

Who Do You Think You Are?
I don't need to ask myself such a dumb ass question, I know.

First & foremost - I'm a Midlander
Secondly I'm a little Englander.
And thirdly, I suppose, I'm British.
This is who I am.

I don't need to wave flags about though to prove who I am or where I'm from. I don't much care for flag waving or flag wavers 'cause when I was growing up in Wolverhampton we had people who waved flags and they were called the National Front, I didn't much care for them and they didn't much care for me or my mates. If you need a flag to tell folk who you are or where you're from, you're already lost. I don't like to travel either. I don't like to be away from this Sceptred Isle. I don't like aeroplanes (they're the work of the devil) and I don't much care for being all at sea either. So why oh why you may wonder am I going to see Muse & The Horrors in France when I could just travel forty miles to see them in Birmingham?

Well that's an easy question to answer…….....Once Upon a Time in the early eighties I saw this advert in the Melody Maker and the dye was cast (also it was half term and my kids had already bought the Muse tickets - where has my credit card gone?).

So let me tell you about FRANCE.

The Positives:
1/ Bob Marley is still alive in France.
2. Reggae is still played on the mainstream radio in France.
3/ The French don't talk endless inane bollocks on French radio they play music.
4/ Soiuxsie Soiux lives in France.
5/ Wreckless Eric lives in France.
6/ The clincher: the French have radios in hair dryers.

This Hair dryer was playing "Prince" by Madness when I took this picture
(I shit you not)
How good is that.
Obviously you can't hear the radio if you're using the hair dryer but
THAT'S NOT THE POINT!

The Negatives:
1/ There are no Charity Shops in France - selling second cheapo records.
2/ There are very few good record shops in France.
3/ Oh dear, negative wise that's it.

The Stade Couvert Regional in Lievin, just down the rue from ARRAS, is a superb newish build arena. It's not unreasonably gargantuan like the MEN Manchester or O2 London, just very large. Obviously as you can imagine a stadium of this size needs a super massive car park , right? Wrong! Well, being built in the middle of the Lievin suburbs the car park would have to be pretty extensive, yes? No! Just a small car park then? Wrong! No car park at all! - This is France people - massive stadium - wonderful facilities - great location - easy access - NO CAR PARK! But they did have two police officers on hand to tell the thousands of arriving punters to park illegally where ever they fancied - Anarchy in the REPUBLIC!