Only one show on this date, and it’s in 1997 at the Garage in London. As exciting as it was to play in Europe on our first visits, that’s how bad a time we had in England. It got to the point where we tried to avoid it altogether (our 1991 tour with Eleventh Dream Day ended in Amsterdam–they went on to London, jealous that we got to go home). At some point, the combined efforts of City Slang, Matador, and as of 1993 a new European booking agent convinced us that this was not long-range career planning at its finest. Over time, our fortunes in the UK improved, and the venue I associate with that improvement is the Garage. We started playing there in 1994. Was it our second appearance of that year, on July 4, that was murderously hot and packed? Maybe that was the July 25, 1997 date with Movietone . . . or maybe both. I can say without a doubt that after one of our shows there, I tried to walk a guest backstage, and was rebuffed by security, which had probably never happened before or since. A fun show regardless–we played “Rocket #9” with Kate and Rachel from our Planet labelmates Movietone, and ended the encore with “Borstal Breakout.”
