Phil, Reviewer
To answer some of the questions - I didn't give it 9/10, I assume the editor added that. I have always been a big Devoto fan, I just think the evening, including his set, didn't work. Artist's should not always play to the audience, in my view, but the whole event nowhere near represented value for money or offered much at all that stimulated any part of the brain. I didn't go looking for nostalgia, though a lot of the audience probably did, I went open minded hoping to be entertained. For various reasons, I think the majority of the audience felt cheated, and I tried to reflect that in the review.

dave,preston
Howard Devoto you are a genius, Beast Box is one of my favorite albums; dont let the majority of the moronic audience at the bridgewater put you off performing/recording for another 16 years,please. How about a Shelley/Devoto tour??

David Hegarty
Apart from M E Smith and the poor organisation i thought the evening was highly entertaining. What did everyone expect?? Howard, the world is a far less interesting place without your talent, please dont be too downhearted by the majority of the morons in the audience and dont leave it too long before you record/perform again. P.S. BeastBox is one of my favorite albums. Dave.

hound dog
i am ashamed of that cocky spaniel devoto taking my name in vain. elvis sang me with love, devoto sang me down the river.

Bewildered.
It seems to me after reading thes comments already posted that the appologists arguing that we did indeed get "words and music" are at best being po-faced and at worst complicit in a subtle confidence trick. Yes there were words and yes there was music, but to claim it was anything other than an extreme disappointment for a lot of people who had come from far and wide to see a unique and exciting line-up of Manchester legends perform is to accept something woefully sub-standard placed in front of you in the name of "art". Punk isn't dead, but last Saturday night certainly helped put nails in the coffins of these performers' careers.

Trevor, London
To quote you Howard: My irratability certainly kept me alive and kicking last saturday night, but I suppose you win some, you lose some, and the beer was ok.

You, there
Phil, why did you give it a 9/10 rating after all?

Maus, London
At a basic level, I think we hoped for value for money and entertainment. If we feel cheated it's because we don't think anyone cared enough to provide anything of value, apart from JCC, the only artist present whose act is best described as "words and music". Mark E Smith failed partly because he didn't have any intelligible words *or* music, Pete Shelley didn't have any words that weren't responding to audience heckles, and Howard Devoto took the music out of his words and might have left us bereft of anything but the rhythm of his cruelty had it not been for a lovely parable recital and some rare Buzzkunst turns. Devoto's set was at least well planned although he looked as awkward onstage as his voice is next to harmonies, hiding behind his affectation, hiding in his words. I winced, even during this performance, when he started reading out the lyrics to some of the songs on a failed album, after ticking us off first for failing to buy it. (some of us protested - after all, if anyone bought it, they were there that night) We don't expect new material, but what are we supposed to learn from repeated lyrics? I think that many Luxuria lyrics *are* poetry in their own right, but when presented as part of some mysterious point that needs to be proved, or even scored, it looks a little insecure.

steve , oxford
Howard was fabulous, as a matter of course. would love to send him some of my words. wrote a few over the last year or so, my life with howard and magazine as a strong influence strongly guided the pros.

Not you, on the Public Highway
Let me quote another review: "[Devoto] performs aloofly, distanced, with a passion that describes the joy he takes out of singing and neglects to include the audience at all. I fell most violently in love with that very egoism the second he started." - 'nuff said. No artist should perform solely for the sake of the audience, IMO.

Ex Mancunian
Well I've never seen MES live without some disaster but you have to give him credit for appearing when wheelchair bound. Devoto's set seemed carefully planned to me. How great to see Shelley/Devoto together again.

Me, here.
Sorry Mr Devoto, but if you think you and your fellow performers did a good job of entertaining an audience... think again. Perhaps you've lost the plot, but it was an irritating mess, and no amount of justification will cover it this time. I take it you *were* there to entertain us and not just be pretentious? But questions arise: Did any of you rehearse, for instance? Did anyone attend the sound check? Do you really think it was worth nearly 20 quid?

sue, manchester
we couldn't hear what mark e smith was saying because his 3 mics had been set (presumably at his request)to 3 different distortions. i think he chickened off the stage early, explaining the lengthy wait for mr shelley. i did go to the buzzcocks' gig at the uni and it was fab. this wasn't meant to be a full buzzcocks gig and i very much enjoyed pete's set. jcc: fab. beazley street... aaah! i blame the lack of stage management from the promoter (who, i think, was the "fat guy".) this was never going to be a full-on gig; for what it was (words and music) i thought it was very entertaining: a bit different. variety - spice of life!

Howard Devoto, London
As a performer, the Bridgewater Hall event offered a welcome chance to do something different – and that’s how I came to perform in Manchester for the first time in sixteen years. I did exactly what it says on the can – Words & Music. Why is that a ‘literal extreme’? Phil, you don’t like what I do – that’s fine. But it’s all over your review - you wanted nostalgia. Sadly, along with much of the audience, you are indeed stuck at a funeral. Not one that happened last weekend, but one that happened in 1978 when the Sex Pistols split up. That’s an awful long time to be at a funeral. Enjoy!

Not a Happy Punter, Macclesfield.
Yeah, I was there. Mark E. Smith was incomprehensible and just shouted things at random. Pete Shelley took 10 minutes to come on. By this time people were feeling cheated, especially when he said he didn't care if we thought he was there to entertain us. John Cooper Clarke was great at what he did but only on for 15 minutes - just long enough to pay off his mortgage? Then there was yet another chance to watch an empty stage so we, like so many others, went to the pub. It was a shambles. The performers and crew should be ashamed. Ignore the fools who say it was cutting edge stuff. It was £16.50's worth of crap. How the hell can you give it 9 out of 10, Mr Reviewer? Were you actually there?

S.Guild, Brighton
The unamusing compere and distorted fuzzy sounds from Mark E Smith paved the way for hecklers and booing. Loved Shelley's solo set altho' acoustics were poor. His banter with a very unforgiving crowd was amusing. JCC gained much applause. As for Howard...I stayed til the end, loved every minute of the 'words and music' (that's was it was all about wasn't it?

Paul, Manchester
Poor sound wasn't the only problem, the whole event was poor. As a live band The Fall are fantastic but Mark E Smith just didn't work as spoken word. If it wasn't for the wheelchair I'm not sure he could have stood up for the short time required. Pete Shelley was also lost without a band and Howard Devoto seemed just simply lost. JCC was the only saving grace it what was a total shambles of an evening.

John C Lytham
I feel sorry for Bill Oddie.