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Murray's Bar, Scarborough (Warm-up gig)
8th March 2002

After what Toby described as ‘a seven year blink’ – the man is finally back on stage where he belongs.  New musicians support him and what better place to open a new tour than his hometown?  OK, so it’s  a warm-up gig, but try telling anyone in the audience that and see if they believe you.

New track ‘Breakdown’ opens the show – a great introduction rock song which generally sets the theme and pace for the night.  Angels’ track ‘All Roads Lead To You’ is next and is greeted by a huge cheer from the small but packed Scarborough bar.

Some People Are More Equal Than Others’, a track from Toby’s first solo album, Ignorance Is Bliss, is next, followed by another monster Angels’ track; 'Young Gods'.  This is a slightly different arrangement and has a full electric intro instead of the simple acoustic guitar as heard on the album version.  Another Toby and The Whole Truth track called Slipping Through Your fingers is up next – this is one of the strongest tracks on the Ignorance record.  

By now it’s clear the band have been working hard rehearsing – they play exceptionally.  The atmosphere in the bar is amazing and Toby talks freely to the crowd like an old friend.  Unlike some other frontmen, when Toby is onstage it’s obvious that he is still Toby – he doesn’t become some rock giant but remains down to Earth.

The only slow songs in the set are ‘Forgiveness’ from the new EP and ‘Don’t Prey For Me’.  The set was a nice mixture of Angels classics, some tracks from Toby’s first solo LP and the reason we are there – the new stuff including the currently unreleased 'Inside Out' (a definite thumbs-up).  The only way I could have improved the show would have been to make it longer.  I really could have listened to them play all night.

'Womankind' was a slightly different arrangement to the Angels version, it has a very nice heavy rock intro.  It’s kinda difficult to write about the new tracks other than to say they sound fantastic – it’s nice to hear some proper guitar rock for a change, especially when it’s performed by a singer who can actually sing (sorry Fred Durst but that ain’t you).  The trademark screams are all present and correct and the seven year gap hasn’t diminished Toby lungs or abilities at all.

'Too Much Too Young' caused a massive cheer from the crowd and seemed to be the highlight of the show, there was even some moshing at the front (too posh to mosh – not us!).  Ignorance track 'Harder All The Time' closed the main set.  I’m not a huge fan of the song on CD, but live is really is much better, especially the ‘don’t smoke your dope’ section.

After a very short break, Toby and the band came back out for one more.  And what a song to choose – 'The Way That I Live'.  A standout Angels track and a pretty accurate statement on behalf of Toby.

Murrays is a pretty small venue, and it was quite literally packed full.  Everyone sang along to the Angels tracks, most of us glad to be hearing them again finally.  Let just hope it’s not another 7 years until we hear them again!

Breakdown
All Roads Lead To You
Some People Are More Equal Than Others
Young Gods
Slipping Through Your Fingers
Inside Out
Forgiveness
Don't Prey For Me
Unwind
Radical Your Lover
I Won't Be With You
Womankind
Refresh Yourself
Too Much Too Young
Harder All The Time
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The Way That I Live


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