258: The Pre New, Lexington, King's Cross, London

I saw Earl Brutus for the first and last time in June 1998, when they supported Kenickie at the Electric Ballroom. It was a fantastic gig and I'll probably get round to writing about it on this website one day (or if I have done already, look it up!)

I waited a long time for news that they might get back together (it worked for the Sultans of Ping, after all) but when lead singer Nick Sanderson died in June 2008 it looked like that ship had sailed for good. So I was pretty amazed and delighted in equal measures when I heard that Jim Fry, Gordon King, Stuart Boreman and Shinya Hayashida had got back together to play old stuff and write new stuff under the "Pre New" name.

I was also surprised and disappointed in equal measures to see that Shinya had learned to play bass (albeit in an odd fully-vertical way), and didn't just stand on the stage and headbang and shout random abuse at people. He actually seemed like he was having a great time!

I did too, and so did the rest of the crowd. It was just one of those "so happy to be there" moments.

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