Ballboy

If Catholics love Jesus and Muslims praise Allah, where does that leave those who worship at the shrine of Belle and Sebastian?

In here tonight, for a guess… Because this is what the first Bowlie Weekender felt like.

Obscure classics by the likes of Denim and the BMX Bandits drift out of the speakers, as boys in Sarah Records t-shirts and girls in pinafore dresses and hair slides brush past in an oh-so-polite and dainty fashion.

Opening band THE CUT OUTS seem to be trapped in a timezone that predates ‘Tigermilk’ – 1986 to be exact. They come from a world where Stephen Pastel and Amelia Fletcher are treated like royalty and sing songs about sunshine and flowers and lollipops and…’Hard Day’s Night’.

We like The Cut Outs because they remind us of summer and tell fey ‘Carry On’ style jokes between songs, and are possibly the least boorish band I’ve seen all year.

BALLBOY, on the other hand, are something else entirely.

They may be without regular drummer Gary Morgan, thanks to some form of cold that only seems to affect people from north of Hadrian’s Wall at this time of year, but that doesn’t affect the almost life-affirming burst of fervour they inject into opening number ‘I’ve Got Pictures Of You In Your Underwear’.

John Gordon Sinclair look-alike frontman Gordon McIntyre is clearly on top form tonight, introducing ‘Sex Is Boring’ as a song about “women who ban their men from watching the football” and ‘I Lost You But I Found Country Music’ as “an unfortunate statement if your ex-girlfriend looks like Britney Spears and your new one bought you a Garth Brooks CD!”

Ballboy are like that bloke you always meet on the train who tells you a new chapter of his life story whenever you see him, or the housewife you bump into everyday down the corner shop giving you the latest gossip on the girl next door.

You know you shouldn’t really give a toss but when they tell ‘em like that you’d be a fool not to listen.

Whether Ballboy have been hampered by the inevitable Belle and Sebastian comparisons in the past is debatable, but current long player ‘A Guide For The Daylight Hours’ stands up alongside the best of 2003, and as precursors to the new kingdom of foppishness go, live events don’t get any better than this.