22nd January 2023.
Last night (24th) I saw cycling based indie noise merchants The Delgados at Sheffield Leadmill. It was one of the great gigs, I guess, and I say that as someone who detests the idea of bands reuniting to play stuff written 25 years ago. If Oasis or The Smiths reformed in my back garden tonight I’d get the first tram to Rotherham Spoons.
But I never saw the Delgados before they (well, Emma) went solo 18 years ago, and this reformation sounds like a bit of fun rather than a pension plan.
And when they started this one,
I slapped James (the youngest there by 20 years) on the back, weirdly, as if to say “This, son, THIS is a classic“.
A rather different band in Ancoats on Sunday afternoon before the City v Wolves match;
It’s all going a bit “American” at the Etihad these days, but I guess you need to sanitise the mile walk from Piccadilly through Eastlands for the Asian tourists who spend a fortune at the club shop and pay Erling’s salary.
I love those walks east, the relentless building,
the weekly opening of a new brewery tap…
Chris Dyson, a man who writes better about modern music and the Manc beer scene than anyone, had been raving about Sureshot, a classic “under the arches” brewery of the sort beloved by the Mudg(i)es.
And, as you’ll all know, the first Delgados entry in John Peel Festive 50 (No.3, 1996) contains these lyrics;
but like Chris I didn’t miss Sureshot pre-match, even though its strategic lack of a handpump means it won’t get in the GBG until CAMRA does another of those interminable modernisations and lets craft keg in the Guide. Oh, it already has.
I’ll bet you assume I asked for a pint of Number 10, but actually I settled for their signature Milson Pale, which was superbly brewed but a bit carbonated for Old Codger tastes.
Nice place, well-behaved Wolves fans, plenty of loos, a rumble from the trains ruining my attempts to Shazam the soundtrack. All good.
I’m the Mudg(i)es would appreciate the artwork, mind.
I’m betting 90% of this post will mean nothing to 90% of my readers. And that’s how I like it.
*One of the great pop videos, too.
retiredmartin 
That beer is to expensive and I am surprised that anyone there can afford to drink it but I suppose that is Manchester and London for yer it’s not as if it’s a decent beer like Bass or Doom Bar or Tim Taylors or Wainwright which are very good beers that me and my mates all like those beers are not even a pint for some of them what is all this third a pint thing but thats’ Manchester I guess I went there once and it rained most of the weekend and all they did was talk about football and stuff and craft beer it may only be a few hours from Ripley but it is a bit of a different world and they have different beer and talk like its coronation street i love the blog by the way we drove there and did not go on the trains because the trains are crap
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Thanks Steve we need plenty of real life comment like that.
I know both Manchester and Ripley well – used to stand on the market in the 1970s – and they are indeed different worlds.
Surprised that you don’t like football chat though, I had you down as maybe an Arsenal fan?
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An Arsenal fan ? Well, there’s your answer.
Hope they win the league this year.
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An Arsenal fan no way am I an Arsenal fan I am a Forest fan through and through people think because I live in Derbyshire I am a sheep snagger fan but I am not cut me in half and I bleed red quite literally but don’t literally cut me in half ha ha ha anyway why are they called manx when it is people that come from the Isle of Man that are manx they got that one wrong didn’t they anyway writing that list yesterday of real real ales another one occurred to me whatever has happened to Deuchars I don’t see that sold anymore and I liked it maybe they should be selling it for £7 ha ha ha keep up the good work I read this blog everyday
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Yes, Deuchars seems to have been replaced by, er, something else, doesn’t it, more’s the pity?
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You sound like Alan Winfield, bless him !
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Thanks for reading, Steve.
I think the brewer of Deuchars lost interest in cask. More likely see Tim Taylor Landlord up there, if there’s any real ale at all.
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“the brewer of Deuchars lost interest in cask”
Yes, Heineken.
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