SHORT WAVE – Birmingham, Midlands Arts Centre – 27 November 1993
Once again we have Martin Mycock to thank for this recording of Short Wave on their inaugural and, as it turned out, only UK tour of sorts. In his final announcement, Hugh mentions six gigs although my list only has five, of which this was the first – Short Wave’s UK debut, no less. This is a decent amateur recording, listenable if nowhere near professional standards, and only has the second set, but this is the only recorded document we have of the band in 1993. There had only been a couple of one-off French gigs since the tour that had immediately followed the studio sessions for the quartet’s album, and the setlist is unchanged, although the set does begin with a particularly lengthy, semi-improvised introduction to Hugh’s “Frankly Speaking”, which along with Pip’s “Balladin” was one of few pieces written specifically for the group. The set concludes with the usual medley of old Phil and Hugh stuff prefaced by Didier’s VZG poem, and is followed by a typically loose and extended “Calyx” as encore.
The concert photo above was taken at that gig by Herm, who also took photos at the other dates of the tour. The backstage photo on the site’s front page link to this gig has Hugh proudly displaying issue 11 of Phil Howitt’s “Facelift” magazine (Phil was in attendance that night), which had an interview with Pip as its cover feature.
Hugh Hopper – bass
Didier Malherbe – tenor & soprano sax, flute
Phil Miller – guitar
Pip Pyle – drums