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Gig: The Life and Times of a Rock-star Fantasist
 
 
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Gig: The Life and Times of a Rock-star Fantasist [Illustrated] (Hardcover)

by Simon Armitage (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
RRP: £16.99
Price: £14.44 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

Gig: The Life and Times of a Rock-star Fantasist + Selected Poems + All Points North
Price For All Three: £27.28

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  • This item: Gig: The Life and Times of a Rock-star Fantasist by Simon Armitage

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    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
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  • Selected Poems by Simon Armitage

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Viking; illustrated edition edition (3 April 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0670915807
  • ISBN-13: 978-0670915804
  • Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.6 x 3.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 200,277 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

'I suspect that promoters of literary events ... nurse a secret desire to be organizing Glastonbury rather than the Ledbury Poetry Festival, or chopping out cocaine on a mirror rather than filling a Tupperware bowl with mini-cheddars, or introducing David Bowie at Wembley Arena rather than Simon Armitage in Marsden Church Hall. Because invariably ... they refer to the contemporay poetry reading as a 'gig'.'


Metro

"Dry, deadpan and pant-wettingly funny...Armitage is not capable of writing anything that is not wry, warm, witty and layered with meaning"
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Gig: The Life and Times of a Rock-star Fantasist
52% buy the item featured on this page:
Gig: The Life and Times of a Rock-star Fantasist 4.1 out of 5 stars (7)
£14.44
Gig: The Life and Times of a Rock-star Fantasist
23% buy
Gig: The Life and Times of a Rock-star Fantasist 5.0 out of 5 stars (3)
£5.97
All Points North
11% buy
All Points North 4.5 out of 5 stars (11)
£6.97
Selected Poems
8% buy
Selected Poems 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)
£5.87
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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Second volume of witty, superbly written memoirs, 18 Feb 2009
By A. McAuley (Sheffield, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Simon Armitage occupies a fairly unique cultural position. On one hand he is one of the nation's best-known poets; tipped for the Poet Laureate and known to students across the land from their GCSE anthologies (it speaks highly of his work that he is known and liked by said GCSE students, according to some very rough polling by your reviewer). Simultaneously he is something of a counter-cultural icon; many will have first come across his work in the halcyon days of Mark and Lard's Radio 1 show in the early 1990s and he has a passion for post-punk groups such as the Fall and Young Marble Giants.

Gig is Armitage's second collection of memoirs, alongside 1998's equally excellent All Points North, and as with the previous volume this is a varied collection of recollections, poems, anecdotes and gig reviews. These, in part at least, have a common theme in exploring Armitage's forty-something reflections on his career as a poet and frustrated rock-star, including the formation of the band The Scaremongers (I know, but it's better than Fantastic Gammon; Armitage's father wryly suggests Midlife Crisis), through which he lives out some of his adolescent dreams of rock stardom.

The book is infused with his usual self-deprecating humour, as well as Armitage's genuine passion for rock music, poetry and that corner of West Yorkshire that "begins where the goalpost of the M1 meets the crossbar of the M62". At times, it's also a moving account; Armitage reflects thoughtfully on the condition of the forty-something male, and on the events and individuals who have influenced him in a touching, sensitive way. As a (nearly) forty-something frustrated rock-star myself, I enjoyed every page of this; and if you are contemplating a mid-life crisis, buy this before you spend thousands of pounds on a powerful sports car you don't need!
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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A Lot of Laughs ..., 4 May 2008
I am not a rock-star fantasist myself, knowing very little about the bands that Simon Armitage writes about in Gig. I normally read PC magazines and technical books as a way of relaxing. I bought this book for my daughter and decided to read it before giving it to her. I was captivated by it from the first laugh to the last, throughout the book. I like the way Simon opens the door on his early life and his family life in the north of England. I cannot admit to being a dedicated reader of Simon Armitage's poetry but I have very much enjoyed and been moved by hearing him read his work live on the few occasions I have had the chance. Being treated to many laughs, sometimes at Simon's expense, throughout Gig is well worth the four stars in my opinion especially as I get the chance of passing that pleasure on to someone else. I feel I know Simon a little better and I am more able to appreciate his work.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Tyre Rolling Down A Hill, 17 Jan 2009
By K. Hannay "kh014u5746" (yorkshire, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is not a bad read at all and often funny although I get the feeling that I have read a lot of it before. This might just be beacause I tend to keep an eye out for stuff of his in the papers as I generally like his articles and, definitely, his poems. The tyre rolling down the hill is the one that keeps coming back to haunt me, wasn't it in All Points North as well as in the poem about the tyre rolling down the hill? Also, as an old cynic, I find the nicknames for his wife and daughter a bit, not soppy, not sentimental but just a little 'precious'. Otherwise, I enjoyed it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Highly Entertaining
The fact I read this in a day says volumes for how enjoyable it is. Simon Armitage is one of the country's top poets. Read more
Published 29 days ago by Mr. Peter Steward

5.0 out of 5 stars Less Is More
Strangely enough Simon Armitage and his band The Scaremongers, described within, have made one of the best 'records' of recent times 'Less Is More'. Read more
Published 12 months ago by jackiewilsonsaid

5.0 out of 5 stars Low-key genius...
I bought this book on the strength of a great fondness for Simon's work and the desire to hear the shared experience of someone, like me, who is a frustrated musician. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Neil

3.0 out of 5 stars Patchy but the odd flash of comedy
Gig - The Life and Times of a Rock-star Fantasist


Simon Armitage

My interest in poetry is fairly low level, but I had heard of Simon Armitage,... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Peter Wade

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