The UK tour was a roaring success, with extra-long sets
featuring tracks from as old as 'Take It Easy Chicken' to as new as 'Six'.
The band looked better than they have all year on stage, with Paul especially
engaging the crowd much more than in the past. Chads guitar skills have
amasingly reached 
higher
peaks - Paul can now put his guitar down and the sound is almost unaffected.
In fact as well as becoming a better live band it is evident that the whole
band have improved their technical ability - with Andie singing on some
of the new songs, Paul keeping up with the changing pace of the new material,
and Stove never hitting an a wrong note. The highly energetic performances
have often descended into adrenalin fuelled madness - with Stove soaking
the crowd, Andie trying to play the guitar, band members jumping on one
another and Paul prancing around as if on fire, and often throwing his
guitar into the crowd.
The supports bands were also surprisingly good - so the
risk of givin local unsigned bands a slot paid off well. The main support,
'Gay Dad' seemed a little directionless though - a cross between Bon Jovi
& Mansun with Kula Shaker's dress sense, the contrastin images took
several shows for most fans before they began to enjoy the set. I personally
have seen support bands get colder receptions from a crowd, but not often.
We as fans are not blinded by our obsession, and their
were possibly ways in which the tour fell short of what the band
& fans surely would have wanted. Firstly (and not really that importantly)
Paul still has 
trouble
remembering the words to some of his own songs, especially Drastic Sturgeon
and Legacy, so had to remain close to his lyric book at some times in the
performances. Secondly, the vast amount of new material left some of the
crowd cold, for a few reasons. Firstly, due to the incredible changes in
tempo within a track they are difficult to 'groove' to. Secondly, as each
track changes so much many have parts in them which counteract the mood
of the concert - songs which are masterpieces but too slow or majestic
to fit into what was otherwise still a punk-rock bands set. It is a shame
that the band did not manage to reach the crowd as well with it's new material
- and hence both 'Six' and 'Negative' did not chart as well as expected.
However these problems were minor, and generally the crowd
were really up for the brilliant entertainment that Mansun provided. The
best gigs on the tour (based on the opinion of the band, their crew, and
fans on I've spoke to) were definitely Manchester, Derby & Brixton
Academy, which contrasting with other tours in the year shows that the
band can equally impress on any size venue - from a Virgin Megastore to
Reading Festival. Fortunately the Brixton gig is one of 3 which have been
recorded for a video to be released by the band, so those who missed them
on this tour, will be able to sample the atmosphere of this magnificent
tour.