Butthole Surfers - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
The last time I arranged to see a gig in Nottingham Rock City, it got cancelled because the venue deemed that not enough tickets had been sold and would therefore move the gig to the neighbouring Rescue Rooms. That gig was Einstuerzende Neubauten and I can understand exactly why they cancelled because after visiting the Rescue Rooms last night, while a decent venue it does not have a stage big enough for Neubauten’s equipment needs. The Butthole Surfers gig last night was also scheduled to be in Rock City but similarly ended up in the Rescue Rooms too. What effect this might have had on the band’s performance I’m not certain but I do wonder if being told that you’re going to a smaller venue because the ticket sales weren’t enough would elicit a “fuck you” response from the group.
I wonder this because I felt the gig last night was okay as in “Yeah, it was okay.” Not great, not brilliant, merely okay. I’m well aware that Gibby Haynes and compatriots are all the other side of 50 years old now but it really felt like they were phoning in the performance. Yes, the notes were all in the right place and yes, there was considerable noise and yes, it was great to hear some of their classic songs like “22 Going On 23”, “Graveyard”, “Sweatloaf”, “Jimi”, “Suicide”, “Fast”, “X-Ray” and “The Shah Sleeps on Lee Harvey’s Grave” but there was no life, no vigour and no enthusiasm in the delivery. Not having seen them play live before, I have nothing to compare it to so I don’t know if this is a typical Surfers performance or if they really couldn’t give a fuck on account of the aforementioned venue swap. Or perhaps they’re just old now.
It also didn’t help that the microphone set up for Hayne’s lead vocals seemed somewhat lacking. Okay, he does play with the distortion a lot, occasionally uses a loadspeaker and messes with it but, regardless, a lot of it didn’t get through. It’s not too much of a loss but at times it seemed to be acoustic only versions of songs because his vocals were inaudible.
Having said all that, it was a good night out and I did enjoy the gig. I’m glad I went. Once may be enough though – I don’t know if I’d make the effort to see them again.