Mach Schau!

There is a bus driver that regularly operates on the routes that I take whose curly mullet has earned him the nickname of ‘1980s Bus Driver’. It was that very bus driver that took me into the centre of Glasgow on Sunday May 27th, but it wasn’t to the 1980s that he was taking me to. Rather to, firstly, a Club in Germany a couple of decades earlier, and from there onto Matthew Street in Liverpool a few months later.

If there is a better Beatle tribute band (and I’m still not comfortable with that label – they are so much more than that) than Them Beatles then I want to see them. The latest show by Them Beatles, if my opening paragraph didn’t provide you with enough of a clue, took them back to the early years of The Beatles with two sets. The first focused on their time in Hamburg, and the second when they became a near permanent fixture at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.

Ever the anorak, the first thing I wanted to try and establish was exactly when I was getting transported back to. Stereo, in Glasgow’s Renfield Lane, was doubling up for the night as ‘The Star Club’ in Hamburg and if Ringo was in the line-up then that narrowed the time down to either November or December 1962.

That’s where the first surprise of the evening came.

Grahame Critcher took up his normal position behind the drums but not as Ringo Starr but as Pete Best, who would be sacked as The Beatles’ drummer just before the band hit the big time. Just as he does with Ringo, Grahame, with cigarette dangling from the side of his mouth, deftly assumed the persona of Best even throwing in a couple of carefully scripted mistakes just to underline that Best didn’t live up to his name when it came to drumming.

There was a further surprise to come. Although in truth I had seen this one coming. A request on the band’s Facebook page for the loan, for the night, of a right handed Hofner base provided a major clue that four would become five and sure enough Richard, borrowed for the night from The Meatmen, played the role of unfortunate Stuart Sutcliffe for the first six numbers, ending his stint on stage by taking the mic for a rendition of ‘Love Me Tender’ before leaving the stage arm in arm with Astrid Kirchherr.

It’s this remarkable attention to detail, right down to the smallest thing; that really sets Them Beatles apart from other Beatles tribute acts. As an example, there was no alcohol in The Cavern back in 1962 so for their Cavern set Them Beatles drank nothing stronger than coca-cola.

Short of 12 hour sessions, fuelled by Preludin , it would be impossible to truly replicate the Beatle experience of Hamburg but Them Beatles came as close as it is possible to doing just that. There was a real raw, at times almost anarchic, energy to their Hamburg set. The Beatles at their rock and roll best.

                                           (Them Beatles in Rehearsal - 'Ain't She Sweet')

In what was a memorable night in so many ways it is difficult to pick out just a handful of highlights.

Clark Gilmour’s performance as John is truly outstanding, at one point performing, during the Hamburg set, with a toilet seat round his head. There’s that attention to detail again. His vocal highlights, in my opinion, coming in ‘Twist and Shout’ and ‘This Boy’.

Craig McGown gave a fantastic performance as George. ‘Roll over Beethoven’ is a long time favourite of mine and Craig does it justice. Just as he does with ‘Red Hot’ which I was hearing for the first time.

Paul McCartney was as always skilfully played by Joe Kane and if I had to list just one of his highlights I would pick ‘I Saw her Standing There’.

Grahame meantime, back to the more familiar role of Ringo in The Cavern set took the vocals for ‘Boys’ and proved that his talents aren’t just limited to the drum kit.

In truth though this was a night of one high quickly followed by another.  

After the show there was some music supplied by Joe. It’s at this point that my recollection gets a little hazy. There was certainly some beer and some dancing. Or at least what passes for dancing from an overweight, introverted 43 year old. Hell, if I was throwing some shapes it must have been some night.

Them Beatles are off to Canada next month and their travels take them to New Zealand later in the year but if you are a Beatles fan and the opportunity comes to see them then you would be a fool not to take it.

For tour dates and more information please see www.thembeatles.com

A Look Back at the Season

So another football season is consigned to the pages of the history books.

Season 2011-2012 wasn’t a vintage season for Partick Thistle. A sixth place league finish was one spot below last season’s, although the points tally remained the same. The cup campaigns meantime brought plenty of angst but little joy. 

Despite being involved neither at the top end of the division or, thankfully, at the bottom it was, as always, a season of highs, lows and frustrations.

The final game of the season at Hamilton was in many ways a microcosm of the season as a whole. Thistle played at times some excellent football but ended up with just a single point, rather than the three that the performance undoubtedly merited. This is why there is a distinct sense of frustration when it comes to analysing the events of the last 9 months or so.

So what of the highs?

Firhill and a visit of then, but not for much longer, league leaders Morton was selected by the SFL as part of an experiment into Friday evening football. It was a night that could scarcely have gone any better for Thistle. No fewer than five different Thistle players got on the score sheet that night as Thistle ran out emphatic 5-0 winners.

Christie Elliott scores one of the five v Morton (pic by Tommy Taylor)

There was a real sense of excitement and anticipation after that result but there was no fixture the following week and when Thistle did return to action the momentum had been lost slightly and they lost 2-0 at Raith Rovers while producing a pretty insipid display. 

Dens Park hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Thistle in previous seasons. This season not one but two victories were recorded. Given the events of previous visits there, there was a distinct sense of Karma when Thistle won 1-0 in October thanks to hotly contested penalty converted by Paul Cairney. 

Dundee couldn’t claim any injustice at the end of April. Paul Cairney missed, and scored, a penalty that afternoon and bagged all three Thistle goals in the 3-0 win, becoming the first Thistle player in many a long year to score a hat-trick.

What's the score? (Pic by Tommy Taylor)

Other highlights?

David Rowson’s goal that gave Thistle a 1-0 lead at Morton in December;  and Kris Doolan’s late winner in the same game.

Goal of the season though would have to be Paul Cairney’s chip at Falkirk. A sublime finish from a player who looks destined to be playing his football at a ground other than Firhill next season.

A 5-0 win over Queen of the South at Palmerston was every bit as easy as the score suggested.

Mark McGuigan was a late arrival, signing in March but his goal celebrations at Ayr United, immortalised on youtube, quickly endeared him to the Thistle fans.

The lows?

Well, they could come under two categories, cup games and Raith Rovers matches.

It’s almost beyond belief that Thistle managed just 1 point from a possible 12 against Raith Rovers, and in that statistic probably lies the reason why Thistle didn’t finish above 6^th position. Every time Thistle played Rovers they seemed to find a new and imaginative way to lose, including a Rovers propelling the ball into the net with his hand.

When Thistle did, finally, get a point against Rovers they generously contributed the Rovers goal in a 1-1 draw themselves. 

As for the cup games, well the thought of the Berwick Rangers game still brings me out in a cold sweat. Culter on the other hand is something best discussed in therapy. Thankfully that all worked out in the end but when Archie, a real hero of mine, passed across his own 18 yard box straight to a Culter player with the score at 1-1 and with just minutes left, time stood still.

Culter - Sedatives please (pic by Tommy Taylor)

Enough of the past, on with the future which I think is bright for Thistle.

Instilling a mental toughness and a real belief in their own abilities is the number one priority for manager Jackie McNamara. If he can do that, bring in two, maybe three, new players then there is no reason why we can’t be there or thereabouts next season.

I’m excited just thinking about it. Roll on August.

C’mon The Jags.