MAGNIFICENT SEVEN AT STRAWBERRY MOONS

13/04/2000

Stawberry Moons off Oxford street, famous because it has the telephone box outside it that is featured on the cover of "Ziggy Stardust".
A strange place for a live band as it is generally associated with the London club scene.
Anyway I went along as I had nothing better to do that Thursday evening and took along my note pad just in case there was anything worthy to report for the paper.

A good atmosphere was created by the resident DJ. The support act, of whose name escapes me, did a quick half hour set of self penned material, they were o.k but nothing that I hadn't seen before a thousand times.

I'd heard about the Mag7 because Lil Bighorn had cut his teeth in one of our bands and I find it pays to keep up with your contacts. I was told that these boys really knew how to put on a show and waited patiently for the experience to begin. Imagine my horror when they took the stage and the lead singer looked definitely the worst side of at least four pints of industrial strength lager.

He muttered something about having a serious reason for not being as keenly focussed as usual and launched into the first song. It was a great tune played extremely well by the other members of the band, but I'm afraid the incoherent slurring of the man made the lyric incomprehensible. The musicians went from song to song with great professionalism to the extent that the vocals became almost secondary.

The crowd danced and cheered but personally I felt that they weren't firing on all cylinders and was intrigued to know why the front man had let himself get into such a state. He staggered about throughout the entire performance, missing cues and at times not singing just staring at the floor whilst the band marched on.

A close source to the band was telling me after the show that the singer had surpassed himself with a mental strength that my movement would have been proud of and that most entertainers would have cancelled the show if they had had to endure the last couple of days that "iffy" had been through.

It changed my perspective on the whole show and I realised that I had been privileged to be a member of the audience that evening.

Being of a compassionate nature I was determined to find out what type of circumstances had driven this great man to throw himself open to public criticism while not wanting to let his fans down.
I managed to get back stage after the show and was lucky enough to be recognised by Lil and he made the time to chat.

"What's happened to iffy?" I cautiously enquired.
"Oh you want to know why he's worst for wear and hasn't slept for the last two days do you Billy?" Lil replied
"Well you know what he's like he doesn't want a big fuss made" he continued.
"but I'll tell you this in confidence, He's been drinking solidly since Tuesday morning!"


Billy Booth
the War Cry

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