Libidinous

It was the final gig of 2025 (my 14th*) and a what a gig to end the year with: New Year's Eve with Stuart Pearce, the band, at JT Soar in town. It also doubled up as a fundraiser for striking workers. Did you know the Birmingham bin men are still out on strike? Nat Mason their head honcho (Stuart Pearce, not the striking bin men) and good friend of the Medds (he was at college with James) asked if I'd like to do a number with them - he'd got a couple of 'guest' slots he was dropping into the band's set.

So we did I Need You by The Kinks (the song was once described as libidinous by a music journalist). I think it went down well. The original clocks in at not much more than two minutes and we tracked it all the way. I think Ray would have approved.

★

* The first 13

1. Chuck Prophet - Metronome, Nottingham

2. DeWolff - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham

3. Joel Sarakula - Peggy's Skylight, Nottingham

4. Haggis Horns - Peggt's Skylight, Nottingham

5. PIL/Stuart Pearce - Rock City, Nottingham

6. Richard Hawley - Tower Ballroom, Blackpool

7. Gysai - The Lexington, Islington

8. John Reis & Swami - The Boat Club, Nottingham

9. Dodgy - The Drill, Lincoln

10. XGenerationX - Trades Club, Hebden Bridge

11. XGenerationX -  Òran Mór, Glasgow

12. XGenerationX - The Cluny, Newcastle

13. House of All - Brudenell, Leeds

(I've written contemporaneously about all these shows so I haven't bothered dateing or hyperlinking them; though I only need to look at the list and I know how far along the road to recovery I was at the time of each.)

★ 

 Postscript

I also pulled in a couple of comedy shows along the way - BBC Radio 4's Dead Ringers at Nottingham Royal Concert Hall and the peerless Tom Wrigglesworth at The Canal House - part of Nottingham's Comedy Festival.