“guess this world needs its dreamers — may they never wake up.”
sparkle_vixen‘s bud, ximnot, brought over last night an SVCD copy of Prefab Sprout playing live at the Fleadh Festival in summer 2000. there’s only three songs profiled in the set, but it’s the first time, beyond the direct recounting of a colleague who was there, that i’ve gotten to see anything beyond photographs from that day.
watching the set last night on telly was almost anticlimatic. since October 1990, when i stumbled onto them by happenstance, i’ve come full-circle with the evolution of Prefab Sprout. that, in itself, is kinda bizarre, if only for the fact that i’m probably known on a first name basis amongst those over in their camp.
i’m not sure if that’s a good thing, but i guess that’s kinda inevitable, after:
– creating the first comprehensive web site for the band during the internet’s early days,
– being the most outspoken critic of the 1997 album “Andromeda Heights” (i shoulda kept my mouth shut),
– securing the domain “prefabsprout.com” for about two years (followed by prefabsprout.org),
– making the only request that got played in the entire 2000 tour (“Wichita Lineman” in Leeds, if anyone’s curious),
– visiting Kitchenware Management in person in spring 2000, during the tour,
– getting to know Dave Brewis in 1999 and meeting with him in 2000 (though my big, ugly queerness might have scared him to pieces),
– receiving an unsolicited email from Martin McAloon in late 2000, wishing me the best for the holidays
curiously, though, i never purchased either the 1999 double-disc greatest hits collection, nor did i buy the 2001 album, The Gunman and Other Stories.
maybe after thirteen years, collecting 95% of everything the group issued (including every issued song between their inception and 1997), watching the lifespan wind its way to a close and so on, i grew in one direction, much as Paddy McAloon did in another, as reflected by his songwriting.
i know that i’ll never tire of the music. it’s infused into my genetic makeup now. but i also don’t feel the energetic passion i once did when hearing the music. maybe i’m just more cynical now. hard to say.