Support

Tonight, the Minx and I were off to see Kate Tempest in Manchester and, by coincidence, Milly and one her friends, Molly, were also going down, although they were off to The Ritz to see, um... *makes note to pay closer attention in future*

As we drove down, I asked them about whether they were interested in seeing the support act and they replied with surprising enthusiasm, largely stemming, it transpired, from the fact that they first saw Five Seconds of Summer* supporting One Direction**.

There are a few support slots I wish I'd seen - OMD supporting Gary Numan in 1979 springs to mind - and up until the last couple of years I always made an effort to give the support act at least one song, which is how I came across the excellent Colin Reid (not my usual cup of tea).

Of late, though, and most recently when we went to see Midge Ure, we've become pretty cavalier about getting in to see the support. (Oh, just remembered seeing Balthazar supporting Local Natives. The former were ace, the latter less so.) Tonight, we stayed in the pub with two of my other daughters, who both live in Manchester, timing it so we'd arrive just as Kate Tempest came on stage.

As it happened, though, we caught the last two poems by Thick Richard and I really wish we'd seen the whole of his performance; it was so entertaining and well delivered. Actually, I think that while poetry on the page doesn't always grab me, I'm beginning to enjoy watching it performed, like 'Money Is As Innocent As The Gun', which we saw as the support for the Eccentronic Research Council in Hebden Bridge.

*Parental tip: It's "Five-soss" not Five Seconds of Summer.
** "One-dee"