100 Club
Ist June 2001
Well, after a 3,5 month wait (the longest until now)
Crunch! played for the second time in the 100 club,
Oxford St, London.
Weeks in advance rumours were doing the rounds
already, but finally it was announced that Crunch
would play on the 1st of June; their fifth gig in a
year.
We all decided to meet up in the Bath-House pub again,
like we did in February. The only difference was the
weather; we could now actually consume our drinks
outside for a change! During the afternoon, several
Crunch!-spotters had been seen wandering round Oxford
St. with their (un-)official t'shirts on, and it
became clear quite quickly that this gig was going to
be attended by more people than in February this year,
when Crunch! also played at the 100 Club.
Swanny, Graham, Cheryl, Stuart, Sarah, Becky, Chris
CP, Chris and me and several other fans had been in
the pub for an hour or so when Spider and Pablo made
their way to the bar as well. It was great to see them
again and we all had a nice chat with them, before
they made their excuses to get back to the 100 Club.
It was nearly 10 Pm before we all decided to follow
Spider's footsteps, and when we came there, the
support band was 'already' on.
I have to admit, I liked the first two songs or so,
but we were all eagerly awaiting for Crunch! to come
on, so the sooner this band was out of the way, the
better!.
Becky and I decided to put some Crunch! fan club
leaflets around on all the tables and after that
1-by-1 all the band members started to arrive.
So that gave us the opportunity to hand over the 1st
issue of Saints and Sinners to all of them.
Louis was typical Louis; sitting on his own in a
corner of the club and reading the mag quietly and in
his own thoughts. He was even spotted by someone when
he started laughing about something!
Chrissy-Boy walked around with the fanzine in his back
pocket all night, while trying to sort the band and
their gear out (busy, busy man!).
Mr. Thompson read his copy at the bar, joining Louis
for a drink and talking to Daley (his son) in the mean
time. Dave was very surprised, but happy to get one.
So were Steve, Tad and Spider.
Lee introduced us all to Daley, by calling us "the
all-girl support band". I thought that was a nice
little name for us!
Then it was finally time for the band to go and get
changed for the show, so they all went to the dressing
room, while our usual group made our way to the front
of the stage (where else???).
And finally...there they were; after a 3,5 month wait
we'd see Crunch! again and they hadn't changed a
bit!...in every aspect!...even the set list was the
same as always; but that wasn't too bad, because the
songs were done with great enthusiasm by all band
members and also a lot of fun and laughter. Lee came
on stage in the same costume as last time he stood on
this very same stage. The only difference: the face
paint....he had obviously more time to do that this
time than he'd had last.
Somehow, it makes a real difference with his facial
expressions, I always find.
He was also wearing a smart black hat (and I couldn't
help but noticing that this might have been the same
hat as he wears on the front cover of the Crunch!/
nutty Boys album, 11 years ago; correct me if I'm
wrong!).
The crowd was brilliant! A lot of old Crunch! fans had
made their way to the club, and mixed very well with
the "new" generation, which gave the atmosphere a
little extra sparkle.
The band got through their set list like they'd never
done anything also in their lives! (and that to think
that they didn't even rehearse for this gig, or any
other one for that matter,(except the first one,
haha!)
It shows the band is daring and the band members know
each other very, very well; great ingredience for a
band of this caliber! That didn't mean things didn't go wrong though...
As always, Mr. T. forgot some of his words and tried
to improvise, Sexy Steve played a whole sax solo in
the wrong key and tempo, Louis got embarrassed by Lee,
who tried to flirt with him during one of the song,
Chrissy-Boy nearly got electrocuted by Steve, who
threw some water out of a bottle towards Lee, and it
landed on his guitar. etc,etc,etc.
But these are typical things that happen at a Crunch!
gig I'd say, and I think a lot of people will agree
with me.
The BIG surprise though, was that Tad asked the band
to do My Old Man (by the late Ian Dury), and as the
band is always up for a laugh, they decided to just go
for it and play it....and of course, all that could go
wrong, went wrong! But it was great to see this bit of
jamming and humming going on! Lee even grabbed Steve's
saxophone and played it for a bit!
That hadn't happened for a long time and it was a very
nice surprise indeed. We might be surprised where all
this jamming and humming might lead to, you never
know!
All together a great night with lots of fun!
1st of June 2001, 100 Club, we were there, where were
YOU?!
Thanks to the band and all the people who helped to
make it a unforgetable night!
PS:
Saints and Sinners is the official Crunch! fanclub. If
you're interested in membership please contact the
fanclub on:
saints-and-sinners@nutty.co.uk,
or
send an SAE to
6 Cavendish Ave
London
N3 3 QN
Jerney X