Gig Review: Belle & Sebastian - If You’re Feeling Sinister at Margate Dreamland

It's 1998 and Doogie⁰, the guy across the hall in our student accommodation, will not stop playing The Boy With The Arab Strap. Eventually I crack and ask him who the band are. He infodumps on me with all the authority of an 18 year our music snob about this cool new Scottish band called Belle & Sebastian. I slip him a tenner, a couple of Smirnoff Ice, and the promise of my help on the next assignment we have - in return he pops into town and grabs me If You’re Feeling Sinister. Despite my obsession, the band never tour near our uni until literally the day after I leave for good.

It's 2023 and Dan, my mate at Twitter, invites me to fly to San Francisco to speak at a conferences he's running. Twitter will pay for my flights, hotel, and sundries. I look at the tickets for Belle & Sebastian at the Roundhouse that I'd booked for my birthday. Ah well, I get to celebrate in SF with a bunch of American friends I've not seen in years. I reluctantly cancel the tickets and spend the refund on flight upgrades. A few days later, some twunt¹ buys Twitter and cancels all conference spending - including my flight over. In the meantime, all remaining gig tickets are snapped up.

It's 2026 and Liz, my wife, declares a previously unmentioned desire to visit the coastal town of Margate. By coincidence, Belle & Sebastian are playing there this summer! We snap up tickets and book a cute apartment on the sea-front. By the time the apartment tells us they're double booked and are cancelling, the hotel prices for Margate have rocketed. The best we can do is a Travelodge in a shopping centre nearer Ramsgate than Margate! The train to get us there is severely delayed², I get a touch of food poisoning, and the bus to the venue is snarled in traffic.

At which point I reluctantly conclude that the universe doesn't want me to see Belle & Sebastian³.

Nevertheless! We saw them and they were fucking brilliant!

Much like the Kula Shaker gig I attended a few years ago, this was an anniversary concert. They played the album If You’re Feeling Sinister in its entirety. The second half of the concert was a bunch of old hits - including one of my personal favourite "Seymour Stein".

The support act were Saint Etienne. I knew "He's On The Phone" and was pleasantly surprised to discover I half-remembered a few more of their songs.

Both bands gave plenty of audience interaction. I'll never understand the artists who basically ignore the crowd except to say "Hello *checks notes* Wimberlyton!" It didn't feel too forced or scripted. There was a lovely game of adult peak-a-boo⁴ to round things off.

Dreamland is a pretty decent venue. Crowd control was handled well and security were perfectly pleasant. The astroturf grounds were reasonably comfortable to sit on before the gig. I didn't feel the need to pay a fiver to go on any ride, but kinda nice to see them there. Several big advertising screens let people know that free water was available - as well as showing details of upcoming gigs.

The crowd skewed old⁵ although there were a fair few starry-eyed dreamers not all of whom appeared to have been dragged there by their parents.

I am delighted to finally be in the demographic where all my old childhood favourites are being aggressively monetised.