Finally, after last week's teaser, the day came. The day when The Big Nose Attack took over Gagarin. On their own. Well, not completely on their own, but with a little help from their friends, 7-Odds and Mr. Highway Band. But they were headlining. And all this after last summer's appearance at Rockwave Festival supporting The Black Keys and their triumphant return from a European and Greek tour, including a broken-down VW van. For me, it was also a chance to see Mr. Highway Band again who I discovered last year and a time to discover 7-Odds.
I checked in at Gagarin a few minutes after the doors opened. I did not want to miss any of the bands but I also wanted to get my hands on some Big Nose merchandise. My first BNA t-shirt, but most importantly, a copy of the new album, 69, on orange vinyl.
Mission accomplished, I was inside and on the first row waiting for 7-Odds. Now, the band name looked familiar to me. I thought I might have seen them live before, but it probably seems that they were one of the early support acts in one of the gigs I had attended and I missed them. Nevertheless they were very good, their sound did fit more with The Big Nose Attack (than Mr. Highway Band who came next) and they can probably be classified as my "new discovery" from this gig, the same way I discovered Mr. Highway Band last year. Oh, and they also played the Theremin onstage. (This blog has a history of Theremin mentions).
My last year's "discovery", Mr. Highway Band were next. I discovered them at their own festival last year, bought both their albums and I also saw them accidentally once on my way home from another gig. True, their sound is a lot different from The Big Nose Attack but it was great to see two of my favourite bands on the same night. So, it was a familiar set for me, including both of my favourite songs of theirs, "Revolution" from the first album and "Story Of My Life" from the second.
Under the sounds of the Wu-Tang Clan the stars of the night came on stage. Boogieman and Little Tonnie aka The Big Nose Attack were on, starting with "A Bite To Eat"
This was followed with songs from all three albums including the "hit" from the second one "Yeah! (That Girl)" and my favourite from the new one "Not The One" which I think could match That Girl's success as, in my opinion, it's catchy enough to do that!
Other highlights included a tribute to their childhood hero David Hasselhoff (Not!) where they played a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Foxy Lady" and an I-Don't-Know-How-Many-Minutes-Version of "Wild Cherry" with Little Tonnie giving it his all!
There was not one, but two encores. One the first one, a theremin appeared! This was on "Don't Look Back" played by their producer Panos Tsekouras.
And on the second one Boogie Man got his little red electric mandolin (or is it a ukelele?) for the final song "Drunk Whore Blues".
SETLISTS:
7-Odds
01. Bad Thoughts
02. People Wanna See
03. Sex Wax
04. Parking Lots
05. Fine Disaster
06. 21 Minutes
07. Dusty Roads.
08. Alley Walk
09. Right Ahead
10. Run To Your Mama
Mr. Highway Band
01. In The Fire Of Time
02. At The End Of The Day
03. No One Can Bring Me Down
04. I' m Gonna Give You Love
05. Story Of My Life
06. Overdose
07. Cities Walk On Fire
08. The River And The Town
09. Revolution
The Big Nose Attack
01. A Bite To Eat
02. All By Myself
03. Under Your Spell
04. Yeah! (That Girl)
05. Grunting And Panting
06. Monday Morning Spaghetti
07. 50 Shades Of Shame
08. Let The Love Shine
09. Not The One
10. Adam And Eve
11. Left Alone
12. Foxy Lady
13. Special Sauce Called Love
14. Drunk And Gibberish
15. Wild Cherry
Encore:
16. Don't Look Back
17. Down With Me
Encore 2:
18. Drunk Whore Blues
FULL SHOW by MERLIN'S MUSIC BOX:
7-Odds
Mr. Highway Band
The Big Nose Attack
