Reni's tour..

Bar Cuba, Macclesfield 13.3.01

(Reni's First Solo Gig.)

Excellent night. Sarah and I got to the gig early..First good move..! Managed to catch the band soundchecking. We had a few words with the security, and they told us the guest list was mental..!! ( We saw Bonehead..Hmm. )

Then Reni appeared..Totally chilled, and leaving by the front door. We just stood and stared..!! He and the band got into the van, and we stood outside the venue, and ..well just hung around a few moments..Second good move..!!
Reni gets out of the van and comes over to us..!! I offer my hand and he shakes it..I told him we'd been waiting for this for years, and he said "Phew..Hope I don't let ya down.."
I asked him for an autograph, and he said, "yeah, only come to the van, it's fucking freezing..!"

He signed our tickets, one with Reni Was Ere, and the other just Reni..Then he paused, and turned it over, and wrote
" I Ain't No Fukn Junky"

Nuff said. That puts the troublecausers straight..

I wished them all good luck, and we went for a pint. Roses were playing in the bar down the road..TSR on repeat.
An hour later, we were back in. I found John Nuttall, Reni's manager, and gave him the questions you all sent in. He said he'd be in touch about the interview with the band..Nice one.

!0:30, and the band come on..Reni last, and respendent in 'that hat' ..!
They kicked in with some damn low bass funky tune, and Reni sang what seemed to me, though I couldn't get the lyrics, to be a sort of announcement. And he was playing BASS..!

This tune abruptly stopped, everyone swopped instruments, and Reni put his hat on the drummer, before picking up lead guitar.

Here's the setlist.

It started off sweet, but funky, and gradually got dirtier, eventually turning into the closest thing to hard rock, without the cheesyness. I'm talking heavy bass, pounding fast drums, and total distortion guitar/feedback. My ears are fucking ringing..
I'm finding it hard to put a comparison to the styles he played.
just very rhythmic, plenty of vocals..Early Zeppelinesque, and that's as far as I wanna go with that.

If I was forced to make a decision, then more Second Coming than TSR.
But jeezus..Can this boy play guitar..I mean he can REALLY play guitar..Fingers all over the frets, tweaking the amps, and stamping the pedals. The rest of the band were equally as good, sometimes seeming to be overshadowed by Reni..They're all far younger, but seriously talanted, nonetheless..And having a damn good time of it by the looks of things..

Reni though...

Ssweet vocals, drums, bass guitar and guitar..The guy's a walking genius..

They played for an hour and twenty minutes..Full on..He was having a great time..He spoke very little to the crowd ( 200 tops, very intimate gig..) but he was laughing and joking around. We were right at the very front, and he smiled and nodded to us..Excellent.

After the gig, everyone scarpered pretty quickly..We hung around a bit ( third good move..) I had a quick word with John Nuttall, and we left..Only to bump right into Reni outside..Again, leaving by the front door to get into a big black limo waiting for him..He saw us, and we went over. He was well up for it..Massive grins..

Sarah said "I wanna shake your hand", Reni said, " nah give us a cuddle"..!! Grabs Sarah, grabs me, kisses Sarah then kisses me..!!
We said " You didn't let us down " and he said thanks..

I think it was his wife who took a photo of Reni, Sarah and I in a group hug..( ! ), which was the last foto of the night..

We said we'd see him at Manchester, he said " Yeah? You coming? Nice One..!! " and off he went, laughing and waving his hands about..
I've not seen someone that happy in a long time.

Top night..Kissed by a god.

:o)

Leeds Rocket 18.3.01

Leeds was an odd gig. I dunno if everyone was thoroughly pissed off at Toploaders's Dancing In The Moonlight on permanent repeat or not, but there was an odd vibe. I got the impression this crowd was gonna be hard to please. Bonebox didn't go down too well, which was a shame. I though they were ok at Macclesfield, and pretty damn good at Sheffield. At the end of the Bonebox set, Reni comes walking through the crowd, deer stalker floppy ears and all. He stopped to sign a couple of autographs, and said I gotta get back to me boys..

Not much later and they were on. What had become known to me as Immigrant Song was first..Reni playing the bass, and at this point the bass sounded ok. To me at least. Not to Reni though. A song or two into the set, and Reni's asking the sound crew to turn up Ian's bass.
They did, and Reni seemed pleased with it..It must have sounded good onstage, but the sound in the crowd was awful. You could hear the melodies, and the riffs struggling to get through. Reni's, Casey's and Ian's vocals all lost in the mix..Bass was way too prominent, well over shadowing the rhythm and lead and virtually no drums. The sound was what I reckon pissed off the Leeds crowd. There was a lot of abuse from them.. Much of it really not called for ya know. A bad sound night..But All four members equally up for it..Maybe a little tired,
frayed at the edges possibly. I dunno about the rest of the band, but Reni was oblivious to it, he was having a ball.. Talking with the crowd, messing about on satge..He asks 'Does anyone have anything to smoke?' someone gives him a cigarette and lights it for him. Then someone offers a spliff..The fag gets thrown into the crowd in favour of the joint.. The calls for him to get behind the drums, get off coz yer wank, and Sally Cinnamon, IATR etc are duly ignored.

A nice sight to see was original Stone Roses bassist, Pete Garner on maracas and tambourine.!! I'm told, had Reni not found his bassist Ian, then Pete was gonna be in..! How weird would that have been ?? Personally, I found myself able to see through the sound faults, as have many I have spoken to who were at the gig.

A shortened set from Macc, down to about an hour this time..
Reni's manager said the previous set of nearly an hour and a half of brand new material was too much for the crowds. I disagreed, but I suppose I'm greedy..! I was and still am surprised at the reaction of the crowd, but problems aside, another top night.

Manchester University ( Hop And Grape ) 20.3.01

This was the homecoming...

Lets put it this way..The Hop And Grape ain't a big venue, but I've never seen it like that.. I'm not joking when I say we had to literally squeeze in the entrance. Three times we left and went back down to the bar. I had wanted to see how Bonebox got on, but no chance..We thought we'd wait until they went off, and hopefully people would leave and head to the downstairs bar, and we'd get in. Wrong.

When they finished, evryone from downsatirs came up..!! Oh well..Better muscle our way in then. One or two faces dotted about here tonight. Rowetta from The Happy Mondays, John Robb the author. Me and Sarah..!! (sorry)

Manchester La, La, La was the chant for the evening, and no more so than when Mani takes the stage to introduce The Rub.

Lookee here..Mani, Reni and Pete Garner all on the same stage. The place is going mad by now..Mani's a hero ain't he?

The band wander on and get into Immigrant Song again..No bad vibes here..And the band seem to have lost any dispondancy they may have had. Big, big grins from Casey and Ian, having the crack with the Manchester crew. And there's plenty of Casey chants going on. Actually I think we were stood behind his Mum and Dad..!

Sound was damn good from the off this time..Still Reni is concerned again that we can't hear Mickey, the drummer.. We can, but Reni has him turned up anyway, and it does sound better. Again a shortened set, but the fave's are in there..Savvy, Juris Prudence, Intalopa, Collider and finishing off with Shut Up and Play, a serious balls out, full on jam, with all members going for it..Not quite fretwanking, but not far off. They are tight tonight. It seems thay played better coz the crowd were loving it..the harmonies are spot on.. All three taking the mic, where as at Leeds Reni left it to Casey and Ian. The mix isn't too high, and all the instruments are at a decent level.
Sweet sound. Reni tells us that the ticket and t-shirt sales are keeping the band going at the moment..And maybe if we all keep coming to see them, and buying the t shirts maybe " we'll ba able to put some fucking records out..!!! "

I'm told The Rub will be doing another 30 gigs before they record anything solid. I was told 30 gigs..Not "about" 30 gigs, which I thought strange at the time...30 sounded very definate. This has since been cleared up. I was told 30, because that's exactly what is planned..Another thirty gigs, including Northern, and Republic of Ireland..(Dublin, and Belfast.) This has been the best gig of the lot..I had expected it to be though. I don't know why, maybe coz it's Reni's home.. He would get the respect he deserves here, and he does.

After the gig, everyone is big grins, including John Nuttall, and the relative of one of The Stone Roses who introduced himself to me..He tells me he lurks in the newsgroup and watches the sites, and reports back to the Rose in question..!! So watch what you say in future..!!

Manchester La, La, La.

Sheffield University ( Fusion ) 30.3.01

Sheffield is the last night of the tour. Sarah and I pick up Rowetta and Paul from town, and head over the Snake to Sheff. We had a drink or two, and went into the venue.( it was at this point I was told of the extra thirty gigs planned..)
This venue is EMPTY. I think, well, so was Manchester to start with, so there's no problems. We meet Casey and Ian at the bar, and there like 'hey, you're the guy from the website'.. Nice one. I give Casey my photograph of Reni Sarah and me, for him to give to Reni. he says he's asleep now, i'll give it him later. Bonebox pull off a smart set tonight..Really enjoyed them this time, Jay is a good frontman, and there's more than enough going on
onstage to keep everyone interested.

Rowetta likes bonebox..So she's off from the bar to watch 'em. Ok..Bone box finish..Still noone in the venue. THe Rub come onstage..Rowetta introduces them in fine form..!! Reni shouts hey, the band is on...Come away from the bar.. Looking around, there is about 75- 100 people here..Reni says he was told the place only has a handful in..He says you look like a CCCCCCCRRROOOOWWWWDDDDDDD TOOOOO MMMMMEEEEEEEEEE !!!!!!, and it kicks off..

No Immigrant Song tonight,and no Pete Garner.They start with Intalopa. Rowetta has a peep at the setlist, and it becomes apparent they aren't going to be on for long..Eight songs.. But Reni says 'we're gonna play some songs for you' then goes to Casey's mic 'and then...' and goes to Ians mic 'and then...yer all going to go home.' I don't know what I was expecting, but I was sure there was going to be something special tonight. Not to be.. Casey, Ian and Reni's voice were all on form, and on key tonight..!!Though Reni left most of the harmonies to Casey and Ian.

They have been having trouble with the monitors, and although Casey had NO monitor for half of one of the songs, and had to yell to the sound guy down his mic, they sounded well on form. Reni looked tired though.. He was respondant and all, but I can't help wondering if
he was a bit down at the pathetic attendance. Still, he has the banter with the crowd, nick's someone's Reni hat and wears it for a while..He's happy to see Rowetta.. " 'Ow are ya babs? "

It's a shame though, because ya all missed a blinder. These guys have seriously got it together now. It's the last night, and everything gets it. For the first time tonight, I take notice of Mickey the drummer. Now bearing in mind he's got a lot to live up to, he's doing a fine job
of it.
Fools Gold are here tonight.They're well up for it, we was all trying to get foto's took with Reni onstage in the background..! It was nice to see ya all again lads, and meet Paul at last too. Fools Gold had played to a capacity audience the night before. They had been moved out of this room to the bigger one next door. I'm not sure if that says anything. Fools Gold do an excellent job of promoting their gigs.
The Rub have done virtually nothing..It has been word of mouth as far as I can see, apart from a smattering in the NME, who were reportedly kicked out of the Manchester gig, and have therefore done fuck all reviews. tell ya what though..For a little crowd we made a fucking lot of noise, and it was a killer last gig. Everyone more than half expected them to come back on after Shut up And Play, but no. There was no encore, and I have to admit I was disappointed.

So that was The Rub, folks.

With no recorded material, virtually no promotion, led by a man who has not been seen for six years,
they bared their souls for the world to see.

Now, you've gotta respect that haven't you..?

Roll on the next thirty gigs.

Macclesfield Foto's..

Newcastle Foto's..

Sheffield Foto's..

Liverpool Foto's..