Band stalwarts Dazz and Loz had warned me that there’s no such thing as a trouble-free mto gig and true to form the Toy Orchestra’s first proper Brum show in 2 years was not without its drama. At the sound check there was no whiff of Brian; his back had gone into spasm the previous day (the result of picking up a plastic shopping bag) and he’d retired to bed in the hope of sleeping off the pain and lumbago. Unfortunately, with the show barely a couple of hours away, there was no response from his phone…          Man Duffy had gone missing.

Courtesy of the Band’s own crowbar-on-a-fob (this has obviously happened before, I’m thinking…) I buzz and enter Brian’s flat, startling the trouserless occupant out of his painkiller trance.

Anyone who witnessed his remarkable Optophonic Lunaphone, (an IKON/Vivid/mac co-commission, summer 2004) will remember the dignified look that Brian sported by entering the Arena with a walking stick. The struggle of his realising that particular event has somehow become part of it’s legend. Unfortunately the ‘look’ belies extraordinary pain. This evening, adrenaline, our oft-times friend, cuts through this pain to make the show happen. We chaperone Brian’s fragile frame through the expectant crowd – (in a mixture of Moses meets James Brown) and, although there’s been no sound check – resulting in weird audio effects, compressions, crashed toys, etc.) the show seems to go down well. Somehow Brian’s difficulties took the edge off my own anxieties – like having to reset my toys mid-song when a keyboard failed, dealing with the fact that there were 2 esteemed ex-band members in the audience scrutinising me.

Through it all, Barbie beamed out to the crowd – wearing a brand new outfit fashioned especially for the occasion by Lisa Temple Cox.

For some images of Capsule’s 10th Birthday Closing Party see Katja Ogrin‘s excellent Flickr pics