Friday 2 November 2007

Hibs Fans Singing Sunshine On Leith

A couple of years ago I saw the Proclaimers at the Junction - a smallish, though most excellent, venue in Cambridge. (It was the first gig I saw in Cambridge). They were good that night- I'd guess that there were about 700-800 fans in the audience and it was good to know that the band still had a fan base- were still selling records and were still writing good songs. It seemed to me that they had found a level which was enough to sustain them in their career. It was the least they deserve.

(North of the border they have always been a massive band)

Two years later and they played again in Cambridge - this time at the much larger Corn Exchange- which they had almost sold out to an excited and at times euphoric audience.

The obvious reason why their stock had climbed over the last couple of years was because one of their songs, I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles), had been re- released as a charity single and had been to number one. But I don't think that was the only reason they were able to get such a large crowd at the Corn Exchange. All of their LPs are worth listening to- each one having songs that are articulate and personal reflections on love, sex or religion - and there are other songs that display a very articulate anger about hypocrisy, class or the fact that Scotland is part of the U.K. Many of these songs really get under the skin- and as such the twins have quite an intense relationship with a lot of their fans- a relationship that has quite rightly grown again over the last couple of years

Now if you mix that intensity with football and you get scenes like this:






Bloody marvellous say I.