The Long Winters @ Bar Academy Birmingham (UK)

13th of February 2007-Decided it was time to at least write a little something about this gig.First time to this venue, its small. Very Small. Stage was pretty much none existent...and pushed into the corner. The four members of the Long Winters were crammed on to the stage. Plus the cider pump wasn't working so I couldn't get my cider 'N' black. A nice venue for a smaller bands but so unfitting for The Long Winters.The Support-The support were two local sixth form/school bands. To be brutal they were nothing special. Generic Band A and B supporting the Long Winters. Unfortunately the crowd of 50 or so 16-18 year olds (some with bewildered parents) were only there to watch the support bands who were all probably friends anyway. Once the Long Winters came on, the crowd diminished to about 10 (if that) Long Winters fans plus a few of the support band members. The rest of the crowd vanished to the far side of the room to play table football and get drunk. Which was painful and a little rude.I felt bad for the Long Winters but they played on none the less. The Long Winters-Awesome. No set-list. They just took requests from the tiny crowd. They sounded perfect. Nice interaction with crowd. Would have stuck around at the end to chat to the band but I had to catch my train!Spoilt by the fact John Roderick's guitar lost a string towards the end of the set and he had no back up guitar. This unfortunately confined him to playing the keyboard. To be honest who is gonna pack two guitars (as well as a keyboard) for a tiny UK tour? ( I think it was 3 or 4 dates)Its a shame that The Long Winters have such a small fan base in the UK judging from this show.