16 Horsepower at The University Of London

by chris cunningham

Last day in London and I don’t even want to move. Thought I’d just lay low and try and get a little better. I did have to go out to the University Of London to find out where the show is. That was going to drain me so I tried and be mellow about it. I got lost way too many times on the way there and became totally frustrated. That didn’t help my mood one bit. 16 Horsepower [LINK] [LINK] is pretty much the reason I added the London portion to my trip. They rarely do tours in the States, but seem to tour the Netherlands and England quite frequently. So I was just going to stiff lip it and try and enjoy myself. After I found the place I went back to the hotel and tried to sleep. No help to what sounded like English Footballer fans as I laid there tossing and turning. About 6:00pm I went into slow motion and made my way across town to the University. It was freezing ass cold and I waited in line for a bit and then made my way upstairs to the club. I could die right now. I got some food at the grill and ate in the corner of the cafeteria away from the club section. This was the single worst chicken sandwich I’ve ever eaten. Can’t this country put a decent meal together? Everything I’ve ever eaten in London completely blows. Even today at lunch when I went to Nando’s, it sucked. We use to frequent one of those in New Zealand and it was tasty good. I wish I could turn off my stomach while here. Anyway, I didn’t watch the opening band as they made the Cowboy Junkies seem like a speed metal band. 16 Horsepower came on was just awesome. [Quicktime 6.0/iTunes alert ahead] There’s nothing better than when David Eugene Edwards starts playing the opening bars of “Harm’s Way” [LINK] and “American Wheeze” [LINK] on that Patek Concertina. They’re just too good. I’ve lost track of how many times of seen them. At least 10 off the top of my head. After the show I ran down stairs to get to the bathroom first and passed the band running the other way to get out of the club before the fans. Elvis has left the building. I just nodded and said great show. Sick as a dog I made way home. I was willing to call my joke of a hotel home at this point. Tomorrow I’m off the Barcelona. Maybe I can recover there with a little help from a nice sleep at Alex and Maria’s.