Having experienced hundreds of live shows over the years, in all that time, I could probably count on one hand the number of occasions a band or performer failed to return stage front for an encore. That was until, the spiteful armoured bollock Covid wreaked its havoc, with every post pandemic gig I’ve attended since, suddenly bereft of an encore.
It’s a quarter century since I first tripped over Quasi, a formerly husband and wife duo peddling a slightly cartoonish yet strangely alluring Rock-Si-Chord powered indie-pop, the instrument in question producing a phat-as-phuq sound, somewhere in between Wurlitzer, Rhodes and Harpsichord. Their superb break-up track ‘I Never Want to See You Again’ graced many a late 1990s music magazine compilation although I have absolutely no recollection of their support set before Elliott Smith’s unforgettable 1999 Manchester University show which I was supremely fortunate to witness, funny that.