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The Kirsty MacColl web site
1993
The Fleadh, plus more British and American touring.
February 25, 1993 with the Saw Doctors.
BBC Research Central has a note of a recording on this date, but the tape no longer exists.
LONDON
Fleadh (Finsbury Park)June 12, 1993. Other artists at the '93 Fleadh included Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, The Pogues, Runrig and Stiff Little Fingers.
A gig planned for the Mean Fiddler in London on June 18, 1993 was cancelled.
June 25 or 26, 1993. Guesting with The Kinks
July 24, 1993. Source: MH
July 23, 1993 (support: Summerhill).
August, 1993. According to JC she "blew Tom Robinson off the stage".
October 30, 1993.
October 31, 1993 (no support). Set List: Innocence; Titanic Days; Free World; Mothers Ruin; Bad; Angel; My Affair; You Know Its You; Tread Lightly; Still Life; Fifteen Minutes; Don’t Come The Cowboy…; Soho Square; Walking Down Madison; Cant Stop Killing You; You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet Baby; Big Boy On A Saturday Night; Miss Otis Regrets; I Wanna Be Sedated; A New England; They Don’t Know; There’s A Guy…
November 4 , 1993. "We live in an age when most artists resort to one of two tried, tested, and boring, formulas for concert presentation: either start with 3 or 4 fast numbers, then do 2 slow ones, then back to the fast stuff for most of the set, *or* do 3 or 4 everybody knows, apologetically insert 2 or 3 new ones, then go back to safer territory. Such predictability was not for Kirsty and friends. Best known to many for her occasional interactions with The Pogues, and Billy Bragg, not to mention Tracey Ullman's recordings of her songs, Kirsty's own albums have been characterized by lavish arrangements and multi-tracked vocals. Kirsty the live performer, however, was as much an unknown quantity as Salman Rushdie the public speaker. Both have been absent from the stage for some time now, though admittedly for different reasons. At the cosy 700 seater Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, Kirsty put on a show of impeccably chosen originals with a charm and conviction which overcame both her and her audience's early reservations. By the time it was all over, she had firmly established herself as an abundantly talented songwriter and singer with a lot of substance to say, and a disarmingly natural way of saying it.
There were songs of bored housewives plotting revenge, women making a strike for independence from parents and lovers, and keenly observed portraits of the lonely and displaced. Also witty tales of convoluted relationships, and cries of hope in a seemingly hopeless world. All were conveyed with a gentle passion and wry humour. Some of the songs from the current release, Titanic Days, such as Big Boy On A Saturday Night, gained noticeable power with the live treatment.
The versatile, though hardly virtuoso, band included frequent writing collaborator Pete Glenister on lead guitar. There were great songs one assumed they wouldn't attempt, such as Fifteen Minutes, which on record relied heavily on elaborate brass arrangements. No problem, they did them acoustically, and surprisingly it worked! Much of the audience sang along on the joyous salsa chorus of My Affair.
For the encore Kirsty reached back almost a decade and a half to some of her earliest songs, such as the girl-group style classics There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis and They Don't Know About Us. And in case we didn't get the message, she left us with a heartfelt version of The Ramones' I Wanna Be Sedated. Yes, she did New England, and You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby, and several of the songs she's penned with Johnny Marr of late, like I Can't Stop Killing You from the current album, which is getting moderate radio exposure here in the USA.
The only Pogues link was Miss Otis, which I never did like anyway, and as the start of the encore it seemed a strange choice. Over 20 songs, good value for $10. They used tapes for Madison Avenue (sic) and Angel backing effects, though with four guitars playing over the tapes, it hardly seemed necessary once they got going. Kirsty played a Gibson electric for about 5 or 6 songs. The show was brilliantly paced, I couldn't have done a better job myself :-)
I was struck by the great variety of musical styles, she rarely repeats herself. I was reminded of Richard Thompson - and also she has a similar shy, self-effacing demeanor. For the most part she let her music do the talking, and very eloquent it was too. Apart from the three encore oldies mentioned, everything was from her 1988 to the present phase." Source - JCF
November 6, 1993. "I think it was her first time in the city of Brotherly Love. Got to meet her after the show and give a copy of my show the Listening Room. Since it was a dinkyass 10 watt station nobody listened to us, but I could play whatever I wanted so I did a whole show on Kirsty. She even did a station ID for me. Also showed her my acetate of the unreleased Stiff single a buddy of mine had picked up in England. Kirsty was surprised at its existance and mentioned it later in some interviews." Source: SH
November 7, 1993 (Support: David Gray). Titanic Days, Free World, Innocence, Mother's Ruin, Bad, Angel, You Know It's You, Tread Lightly, Still Life, My Affair, Fifteen Minutes, Don't Come The Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim!, Walking Down Madison, Soho Square, Can't Stop Killing You, You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby, Big Boy On A Saturday Night + Miss Otis Regrets, They Don't Know, There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis.
"A very intimate venue - 150+ or so (I'm guessing). The place was sold out, totally packed. A great gig, one of the best if not the best I've seen. She didn't perform I Wanna Be Sedated that night (although she did when she returned to the Birchmere on St. Patrick's day 1995 for the Galore tour - I almost went to NY the next day to see her at Tramps!)." Source: TJH
Note: support act David Gray (eight years or so before hitting the big time!) had a common link to Kirsty in that her half brother Neill played in his band and on some early Gray recordings. Source: TH
November 12, 1993 (re-broadcast on December 27, 1993). "TV appearance on the just started "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" talk show that airs on NBC. I believe that I caught a rebroadcast of this show in which she performed Can't Stop Killing You with a full band. I don't remember the visual, but I did tape it onto audio casette. Unfortunately, that tape has been lost among many others, although I do hope to find it again some day. Here's a link to a Conan O'Brien fanpage from which I was able to glean the original airdate." Source: PK
See the performance on YouTube
Also on this tour, Kirsty made her first appearance on the networked World Cafe radio program, performing acoustic versions of Can't stop killing you, Bad, Children of the revolution and My Affair live in the studio.
November 13, 1993.
November 15, 1993. Titanic Days; Free World; Innocence; Mother’s Ruin; Bad; Angel; You know it’s you; Tread Lightly; Still Life; My Affair; Fifteen Minutes; Don’t come the Cowboy with me, Sonny Jim!; Soho Square; Walking Down Madison; Can’t Stop Killing You; You Just Haven’t Earned it Yet, Baby; Miss Otis Regrets; New England. Pete Glenister (guitar), Dave Ruffy (drums), Gary Sanford (guitar), Segs (bass).
November, 1993 (support: David Gray). "I was lucky enough to see her back in November 1993 (late in the month, can't recall the exact date) at Chicago's Park West -- David Gray opened for her." Source - JMS
November, 1993 (date unconfirmed)
"I saw Kirsty in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I think it was during 1995. I'm a friend of Gary Sanford (Aztec Camera) and he was in the band for that show. It might have been at the Blind Pig, which doesn't exist anymore." Source: TT
November 23, 1993. Source: DT.
November 24, 1993 (Support: David Gray). "Wednesday night before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend on a snowy and deserted University of Colorado campus. David Gray was the amazing and then completely unknown opening act. A great show!" Source: JM
November 30, 1993 (Support: David Gray).
December 1, 1993 (Support: David Gray). This gig was recorded by IRS, and two songs - Free world and Miss Otis regrets - were later released as B sides. The rest of the tape is long lost we believe. Source - ZTT. "I was lucky to see the show. I had seen her at The Troubador the night before in Los Angeles and the next day I drove down to Solana Beach. The Belly Up Tavern is a good sized establishment with several rooms but it also has a very good closed circuit TV system and her show was broadcast all over the Tavern on TV. I always assumed that both a good audio & good video copy existed but never heard of any." JK
December 1993 or January 1994. Guesting with Shane MacGowan and the Popes.
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