28 November, 2004- Cockpit, Leeds, UK

review by Danny

Standing (by myself) outside the venue in the cold and rain i was filled with a tremendous sense of anticipation. What would mark play? Who'd Play with him? Would he be electric or acoustic? All these questions were running through my head as i gripped my cheap paper ticket.

I was also kind of nervous, i was by my self as many of my mates replied "Mark who?" when i asked if they wanted to go.

As i entered i decided not to visit the bar, and get right to the front to get the best possible view, and boy was it worth it. Mark first entered the stage during the last song in the nick oliveri set, causing an over excited person behind me to shout "Fucking Get In, this is my fucking dream man" On hearing this Mark looked a bit embarrassed and giggled, albeit raspingly, to himself.

When mark and his full live band (including nick) entered the stage the crowd, already excited, whooped and clapped exactly. Mark smiled and the band let rip fully into Sideways in Reverse causing me and many over people (not all the crowd though) to start head nodding, and in my case foot tapping.

By the time the band got round to Methanphetamine blues i was dancing and jumping up and down exitedly. Marks voice was as powerful and weirdly beautiful as it is on the records, the band played with a huge force and energy and the drummer was fantastic all night. After one loud cheer, mark even smiled at me! Honest!

And yes, he played the one song i had been waiting for, Skeletal History, in a much louder fashion than the record version! The pause between the key change was held out to almost braking point before the band kicked in to the main riff and marks voice soared above it.

The real highlight for me, as well as a lot of other people who reviewed his tour, was his version of gospel plow. It was a unexpected surprise and capped off an already perfect evening.

Setlist
Sideways in Reverse
Hit The City
Wedding Dress
One Way Street
When Your Number Isn't Up
No Easy Action/Miracle
Little Willie John
Can't Come Down
Resurrection Song
Come To Me
Death Valley Driving Blues
I'll Take Care of You
Skeletal History
Methamphetamine Blues

Blues for D
Strange Religion (No shelly tonight!)
Gospel Plow
(he played more in the encore, but i can't remeber what!)

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Review by melaniewhorehouse
Best of the bunch so far - tiny venue, absolutely packed. Downside to this of course is that it was really hot in there and my hair is now all tangly and unmanageable. The band seemed tighter than ever, and Mark's voice was on top form and he was as relaxed as I've ever seen him - even joining in with some surreal audience banter at one point...

Setlist:
Sideways in Reverse
Hit the City
Wedding Dress / Slide Machine
One Way Street
When Your Number Isn't Up
No Easy Action
Miracle
Like Little Willie John
Can't Come Down
Resurrection Song
Driving Death Valley Blues
I'll Take Care of You
Skeletal History
Methamphetamine Blues

Encore:
Blues for d
Autopilot
Ivy
Gospel Plow

As with Manchester last night, Autopilot is now performed by the whole band rather than just Nick & Mark, and Gospel Plow was the 10-minute version that seems to be a replacement for Fix. The band - without Mark - also did a noisy little number right at the end with Brett on vocals. No idea what it was though, so if anyone was there tonight and can shed a bit of light on it, then ta muchly.
No Shelley Brien again tonight.