Nerve Magazine Party

Aigburth Cricket & Bowling Club
7th July 2006

Reviewed by Adam Ford
Photographs by Bob Iddon

"I know it seems unlikely, but this is the place", Dutch Porn Thursday's singer advised me as I uncertainly crunched my way up the stony car park of the Aigburth Cricket & Bowling Club. And he was right; on Friday 7th July 2006 the club was the place to be if you wanted great and varied music in the company of great and varied people.

Norwegian songstress Ragz was first on stage, and set a formidable standard with her haunting, spellbinding vocals. As the set progressed, people began to come in from the other room to see just where that enchanting sirensong was coming from. Lucky for them the room wasn't a giant rock, otherwise their ships would have crashed. If they had been in some.

Next up was Alun Parry, whose Second Tuesday nights at The Pilgrim are quickly becoming the stuff of internet legend. He managed the rare trick of combining radical politics with a down-to-earth style that won over everybody in the room. He is performing at a benefit for the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns on Thursday 20th July at The Magnet, along with Ian Prowse (of Amsterdam) and The Mojave Collective. Drop everything and go!

The last act on the bill were google-baiting dirty rockers and aforementioned Nerve favourites Dutch Porn Thursday, who produced another storming suite of music designed to make you feel all funny. On the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks in London, they introduced their final song - the metal-tinged 'Holy War' - with a plea for a world without eye for an eye politics. Three cheers for that and three more for yet another cracking performance.

The night continued for another hour or so, as performers from the club's regular jam night got up to belt out some tunes. By half midnight everyone seemed exhausted but happy, and so they should be, for they'd taken part in an evening of great-natured revelry whilst helping Liverpool's greatest magazine.

A cast of well…tens…made the night run smoother than the proverbial. Big shouts to DJ Si Mack (who has performed so well for us in the past and deserves a much longer set next time), to Alicia (for compering), to Ritchie, Sue and Bob (for the curry), to all the regulars (for letting us use their venue), to Dusty (for the flyers/door duties), and to Amanda (for her extraordinarily prolific raffle ticket selling). If we have Aigburth gigs in the future they will definitely be worth checking out, even though obviously I would say that.