11 Dec 2007 Wolverhampton Little Civic

Review by Jane Timmins

What a shit day. Shaun Stanley, fresh from being given the boot as Area Manager, pops up at out store and announces he’s our temporary manager for five weeks. Never mind the fact that no-one wants the bald-headed prick to even clean the toilets, never mind be the manager - we’re just the people who run the place, our opinion is as relevant as skiffle. So after all that I wasn’t exactly in the mood to rush home, dive in the shower, wolf down some food, and leg it back to the tram.

But hey- it is Carina Round’s triumphant homecoming; and it’s been nearly two years since I last saw her live; and I need a decent finale to the year of gigs. So I get my shit together on a freezing cold night, and am in Wolverhampton for 7:20 pm.

We get to the Little Civic, and I get a refund for my Amy McDonald ticket, which I promptly spend on beer. It’s me, J, Emma, Colt Cabana and his girlfriend Diane. We head upstairs, and I immediately get a Newcastle in. After stoutly defending Andrew WK through what turns into a heated debate, the shenanigans are broken up by Dan Whitehouse, who I’m pretty sure has supported Carina before. As with all acoustic sets, if you’re not familiar with the work beforehand, it’s all fairly forgettable. He seems like a nice enough guys though. Carina winds her way through the audience during the set, still as gorgeous as ever. Man, I sound like such a fanboy.

The second band are Lupen Crook, who don’t do a lot for me to be honest. Maybe this is because I was all drunk and cynical at this point, but the whole quiet/ loud/ quiet gimmick doesn’t really work for me. I daresay if I heard some of their stuff on record I might like it, but on the night it failed to move me. Well actually, it did - to the toilet. (Zing, etc)

A different Carina experience tonight - just her on solo guitar. Colt Cabana claims that she could have used a drummer, but I disagree. A quality set, the lack of set list means we get some choice stuff like Lacuna and Ribbons that normally don’t get a live airing. The thing I like about Carina Round is that she’s not afraid to let herself go onstage and just go where the music takes her. That sounds a touch pretentious, but if you’ve seen her live you’ll know what I mean. Its’ also quite cool that she gets nervous for gigs like this still - if someone as talented as Carina Round can get nervous before performing her art then there’s hope for all of us quite frankly. Well, maybe not Shaun Stanley. James has his digital camera with him, and I take a shitload of pictures. The only criticism I can really make is that Carina kinda shot herself in the foot with the support, as they took so long her set is kinda truncated. Still, a great gig, and one that I needed quite frankly. I was a bit burnt out after all the gigs I’ve seen this year, but this one reminded me what it’s all about.