A Certain Ratio - Dingwalls, London 15/06/09

I first saw A Certain Ratio at an event called "Factory In The Park" in Finsbury Park in London in June 1987, at this point ACR had already been together for 10 years. They have been around a while. You do the maths. Not that much has changed, apart from a few different record labels and with the odd exception of a small number of chops and changes of band members. And a few more balder heads.

Tonight's moderately attended show kicks off with an unexpected Q&A session with Jeremy Kerr and Martin Moscrop. They spoke about their sizable back catalogue and how difficult it was putting set lists together I asked them whether there was any chance of hearing any songs in the set from the 1989 A&M crossover-attempt `Good Together', an album that I really like. Although I already knew the answer, Jeremy laughed and said he was embarrassed about the album and that it made him cringe. So I took that as a no then.

The band took to the stage and knocked out a great set, combining the old and the new (including tracks from the latest album `Mind Made Up' - still unavailable in the UK) and the inbetween. Highlights for me were `Mickey Way' and `Knife Slits Water' - two tunes that both have the bass line as the chorus. How cool is that? All in all, a good night was had by all.

Here are some pictures that I took on the night.







As there is not yet any footage from the gig at Dingwalls, here are two clips of ACR recently performing in Portugal.

`Shack Up' and `Knife Slits Water':



`Si Firmir O Grido':