History

The Legion, complete with the Lidl Warhol silver balloons, February 24, 2005
Photograph by Clair Dolphin
Engineers’ singer/guitarist Simon Phipps and bassist Mark Peters, plus keyboard player Matt Jones onstage (or rather on the floor) of The Legion, February 24, 2005
Photograph by Clair Dolphin
Engineers’ guitarist Dan McBean and drummer Sweeney at The Legion, February 24, 2005
Photograph by Clair Dolphin
Sonic Boom on the decks at The Legion, February 24, 2005
Photograph by Clair Dolphin

Thursday, February 24, 2005. Engineers hit the floor. The second Sonic Cathedral night almost didn’t happen because of some atrocious winter weather, which made the ski lodge vibes of The Legion even more apt. I got stuck at work and, by the time I arrived, Engineers had set up on the floor rather than on the ad-hoc benches and plywood stage. I got talking to the bass player, Mark Peters and almost 15 years later released his debut solo album. Guesting on the decks was Sonic Boom who played some top tunes (I recall Kraftwerk’s ‘Neon Lights’ and The Syndicats’ ‘Crawdaddy Simone’).

Hilma Nikolaisen of Serena-Maneesh
The Legion, London, May 25, 2006
Photograph by Clair Dolphin
Emil Nikolaisen of Serena-Maneesh
The Legion, London, May 25, 2006
Photograph by Clair Dolphin

Thursday, May 25, 2006. Serena-Maneesh commandeer the Cathedral. This was a classic, the second of two nights in two weeks (there was even a story previewing it on NME.COM). The High Dials opened and Will Carruthers was the special guest DJ – I asked him to sign my copy of Playing With Fire and he scrawled something obscene, which still makes me chuckle every time I play it. S-M were incredible and ended up trashing the stage, which was a first. Fun fact: this gig appears in Eric Green’s shoegaze documentary film Beautiful Noise, but blink and you’ll miss it…