It Bites: Thursday 24th September 2009, The Flowerpot, Derby

2009 IT BITES Derby ticket

IT BITES Once The ‘Once Around the World’ tour

John Mitchell (guitars, vocals) / John Beck (keyboards, vocals) / Bob Dalton (drums, vocals) / Lee Pomeroy (bass)

This was the second time that I had seen the band in the space of just over six months and this time it was a bit of a retrospective tour as they sang all the tracks from one of their classic albums interspersed with three from the more recent ‘The Tall Ships’ and a couple of other classics.

On this occasion I went with my pal Rob Mellor who is a long-time IB fan, and this also marked my first – and so far my only – visit to Derby’s Flowerpot, a small, intimate venue. I recall standing very close indeed to to the stage, so close that I could have reached out and touched John Mitchell (not that I wanted to, you understand!)

I It Bites Tall Ships had thoroughly enjoyed the previous gig in Sheffield back in March and loved their ‘The Tall Ships’ album which I had gone out and bought on CD when it was released, so it was great to hear another album performed in its entirety for a change. And ‘Once Around the World’ really is one of their classic albums with many stage favourites in its ranks. We also got a couple of older tracks in there for good measure, as I remember them playing ‘All in Red’ and ‘Still Too Young To Remember’.

The only disappointment for me is that I’ve now seen It Bites twice and I’ve yet to see them perform ‘Calling All The Heroes‘; they clearly see that as an albatross around their collective neck! 😥

Anyway, I came home really happy after this gig and would recommend any prog fan who hasn’t yet heard ‘Once…’ – are there any?!! – to go out and buy it tomorrow (or, in modern parlance, stream it); you certainly won’t be disappointed!

Probable setlist: Ghosts; All in Red; Still Too Young to Remember; The Tall Ships; The Wind That Shakes the Barley; Midnight; Kiss Like Judas; Yellow Christian; Rose Marie; Black December; Old Man and the Angel; Hunting the Whale; Plastic Dreamer; Once Around the World (Wolverhampton Robin, 18th September)