I've forgotten to post here for a while. It's a combination of things. 1. plain forgetfulness 2. uni work 3. getting depressed in october.
But with all that out the way hello again! I have my albums of the year coming up soon. but I should get my gigs I've forgot to mention in my abense a quick run down:
September-
Editors w/ Northwestern + Bombay Bicycle Club @ Birmingham O2 academy
Amazingly good.
Coldplay w/ Jay Z and White Lies @ LCCC, Traford
Missed White Lies, didn't like Jay Z and Coldplay were epic and fantastically good.
I Am Kloot @ The Deaf Institute Machester
Anniversary gig and fucking hell it was ace.
Postcards from Manchester @ Saki Bar
Lot's of local/small bands played. All were pretty good. He's who I caught: Christopher Eatough
PLANK!
Molly Macleod Band
Monsters Build Mean Robots
Mechanical Owl
Young British Artists
Run Toto Run
North Atlantic Oscillation
Meursault
6 Day Riot
Napoleon IIIrd
The Kabeedies
October:
Bloc Party w/ Grammatics @ Blackpool Empress Ballroom
Bloc Party were great as always. Grammatics won me over after previously disliking them.
Idlewild w/ The Xcerts @ Manchester Club Academy
They were stuck on the M6 most of the day and arrived late. But Idlewild fucking blew the crowd away with a stellar set.
The Longcut @ Manchester Academy 3
Started weak but by the end they were soaring.
Johnny Foreigner w/ Tellsion and Japanese Voyeurs @ The Deaf Institute
A painful gig cos of the memories it bought. Enjoyable, but not one I want to remember.
Editors w/ The Joy Formidable and Wintersleep @ Leeds O2 Academy
The perfect gig? All bands were superb and Editors played on of the best setlists ever for anyband (based on singles/fan favourites/new stuff).
In the City @ Manchester
Most bands I saw were good (bar Rogues who were AWFUL). Here's the list:
No Good Tourist, Nomad Jones, Air Cav, Driver Drive Faster, Dutch Uncles, Kongm The Northwestern, Rogues, Citadels
Nine Black Alps w/ Sucioperro and The Kiss Off @ Manchester Academy 3
Missed the Kiss Off, Sucioperro were quite good and NBA were superb as always.
Los Campesinos! w/ Copy Haho and Sparky Deathcap @ The Deaf Institute
Again another difficult gig cos of the memories it brought and cos I was deeply depressed at the time.
Isis w/ Mothlite @ Manchester Club Academy
Ace gig, even though I didn't know most the stuff. Fun times though.
Idlewild w/ Olympic Swimmers @ Leeds Cockpit
Missed the support, Idlewild were even better than in Manchester. Nuff said.
NOVEMBER!
MUSE w/ The Big Pink @ Sheffield Arena
Big Pink were great, and Muse were epic and entertaining as usual. Not 100% convinced though. Don't seem to have the energy they used to anymore.
Mew w/ The Choir of Young Believers @ Manchester Academy 2
So amazingly good. I was blown away completely.
The Flaming Lips w/ Star Death and the White Dwarves @ Manchester Academy
Best gig of the entire year. YOU MUST SEE THE FLAMING LIPS LIVE BEFORE YOU DIE!!!!!
65daysofstatic w/ Three Trapped Tigers @ Manchester Academy 2
Amazing fun with 65dos as usual.
LAURA MARLING w/ Pete Roe @ Salford Sacred Trinity church
She was wonderful and lovely and sung like an angel. I'm in love!
Lisa Hannigan w/ The Boy Who Trapped The Sun @ Manchester Club Academy
Nice quiet fun. Lisa was lovely and happy throughout. Hence I was.
We Were Promised Jetpacks w/ Lost Knives @ Manchester Roadhouse
I went in with no expectations. WWPJ were superb and left me wow-ed. Their singer has an amazing live voice.
And that's it! Stayed tuned for my album of the year!
Saturday, 28 November 2009
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
The Mercury Music Prize
So yeah, an outsider won last night at the Mercury's (Speech Debelle with her Speech Therapy album if you don't already know). I've been following the prize since 2003 and whilst I was initially suprised Speech Debelle won, it makes sense in a way now.
You kinda know where you stand with the Mercury prize which is quite sad in a way. You just know that the jazz album is never going to win, same for the folk album usually too. And the really big commercially successful bands (e.g. Coldplay, Radiohead and Kasabian) will never usually win it cos the prize doesn't seem to want to follow trends. So it tends to come down to either an experimental album, the indie flavour of the month or the hip-hop/rap album. Or maybe even the dance/electronica album if one gets nominated. And even then, more often than not the judges will choose the most unexpected album to win. So when you boil it all down, it's not that surprising Speech Debelle won.
So yeah, although it's a big shock that someone the general public has barely heard of has won they should remember that the history of the mercury prize has always been odd and shocking at times. It's a major award in the UK that values the musical value of an album rather than live acts, the people or any political factors (no matter how many people want to claim it's all political) and you can at least say it's always interesting.
A problem with it though is that, when all this is over and all the plauits have been made, the winner then has the challenge of carrying on their career in the shadow of their win. This could go two ways. Firstly, they could forever be cursed and never reach the same level of success again or have a dramatic change within the band. It does happen every so often, so let's go through a few:
1993- Suede with 'Suede'- During sessions for their second album the band reached meltdown and Bernard Butler quit. 'Dogman Star' was then given a cool reception and wasn't as big as it could've been. They did achieve more success with 3rd album 'Coming Up' though (which was again nominated for the mercury).
1996- Pulp with 'Different Class': The sudden fame of Pulp with the success of 'Different Class' put a massive strain on frontman Jarvis Cocker, and guitarist Russell Senior left leaving a gaping hole in their line up. They still maintained success but chose to move out of the spotlight a bit.
1997- Roni Size/Reprazent with 'New Forms': Reprazent virtually vanished without a trace and Roni Size, whilst making plenty of albums and a few appearances on Jools Holland has never really been seen in the public consciousness again.
1999- Talvin Singh with 'OK': Got dropped by his record label after a weakly received second album and didn't seem to release music fr quite some time (he's apparently had a new release this year though).
2002- Ms Dynamite with 'A Little Deeper': When she released her second album her label did fuck all to promote it, meaning she was completely ignored and then got dropped.
And whilst a bit too early to tell yet, 2007 winners Klaxons (with 'Myths Of The Near Future') seem to be struggling to finish their second album and alledgedly haven't been playing much in the way of new material at the few gigs they've played recently.
Saying that, the secong route is they could conversely enjoy major success after the mercury, or if they don't, remain a popular cult band. Primal Scream (1992 with 'Screamadelica') are possibly bigger than they ever were now, 1994 winner's M People (with 'Elegant Slumming') became one of the biggest acts of the 90's, Portishead (95 with 'Dummy') released an equally successful second album before takign a 13 year break and returning with another very successful 3rd album and remaing cult favourites and highly respected musically. Gomez (99 with 'Bring It On') are very much a cult band nowadays and still a fairly big draw whilst Dizzee Rascal (2003 with 'Boy In Da Corner') is one of the biggest acts in the world today.
Which probably brings me to my final point, a lot is made of the winners and their merits after each award. The media and public seem to then forget that there are about 10-12 albums nominated each year and they tend to be forgotten about once the winners are announced. If you look back through all the shortlists down the years and actually go through all the albums, you will actually find a lot of quality albums.
2001 is my major case for this, here is is:
Basement Jaxx- Rooty
Elbow- Asleep In The Back
Goldfrapp- Felt Mountain
Gorillaz- Gorillaz (though the band requested the nomination be withdrawn)
Ed Harcourt- Here Be Monsters
PJ Harvey- Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea (Winner)
Tom McRae- Tom McRae
Radiohead- Amnesiac
Susheela Raman- Salt Rain
Super Furry Animals- Rings Around The World
Turin Brakes- The Optimist LP
Zero 7- Simple Things
Now then out of those 12 albums I own 7 of them, and have heard either all or the majority of another 3. I can tell you now that in my honest and earnest opinion. Everything I've heard from those 10 albums I've listened to either in part or in full has been utterly amazing. PJ Harvey was a well deserving winner (having been nominated twice before) with an extremely strong and emotional album. Elbow and Radiohead both had dark and mesmerizing albums which remain favourites of their fans, whilst Super Furry Animals and Gorillaz had an experimental pop masterpieces under their belts. Then you have Ed Harcourt, Tom McRae and Turin Brakes releasing extremely honest and compelling records. Finally, Goldfrapp and Zero 7 had 2 beautiful chilled electronic records to captivate.
To be more to the point, every album deserved to be recognised in the 2001 shortlist. If you were to listen to them all, you'd recognise that, even if they weren't to your tastes there's something special about each album. So you can say what you like about the shortlists, but you should bear in mind that the albums have all done something to get nominated, and more often than not, it probably is cos they're very very good.
I'm aware I'm rambling a lot at the moment. Lets try and wrap this up to a conclusion. The Mercury Music Prize is a prestigious award and it splits opinion. But if you look through the lists and investigate the albums that have been nominated, you will see that it is usually right about its nominations, whilst probably not always right about the overall winners.
You kinda know where you stand with the Mercury prize which is quite sad in a way. You just know that the jazz album is never going to win, same for the folk album usually too. And the really big commercially successful bands (e.g. Coldplay, Radiohead and Kasabian) will never usually win it cos the prize doesn't seem to want to follow trends. So it tends to come down to either an experimental album, the indie flavour of the month or the hip-hop/rap album. Or maybe even the dance/electronica album if one gets nominated. And even then, more often than not the judges will choose the most unexpected album to win. So when you boil it all down, it's not that surprising Speech Debelle won.
So yeah, although it's a big shock that someone the general public has barely heard of has won they should remember that the history of the mercury prize has always been odd and shocking at times. It's a major award in the UK that values the musical value of an album rather than live acts, the people or any political factors (no matter how many people want to claim it's all political) and you can at least say it's always interesting.
A problem with it though is that, when all this is over and all the plauits have been made, the winner then has the challenge of carrying on their career in the shadow of their win. This could go two ways. Firstly, they could forever be cursed and never reach the same level of success again or have a dramatic change within the band. It does happen every so often, so let's go through a few:
1993- Suede with 'Suede'- During sessions for their second album the band reached meltdown and Bernard Butler quit. 'Dogman Star' was then given a cool reception and wasn't as big as it could've been. They did achieve more success with 3rd album 'Coming Up' though (which was again nominated for the mercury).
1996- Pulp with 'Different Class': The sudden fame of Pulp with the success of 'Different Class' put a massive strain on frontman Jarvis Cocker, and guitarist Russell Senior left leaving a gaping hole in their line up. They still maintained success but chose to move out of the spotlight a bit.
1997- Roni Size/Reprazent with 'New Forms': Reprazent virtually vanished without a trace and Roni Size, whilst making plenty of albums and a few appearances on Jools Holland has never really been seen in the public consciousness again.
1999- Talvin Singh with 'OK': Got dropped by his record label after a weakly received second album and didn't seem to release music fr quite some time (he's apparently had a new release this year though).
2002- Ms Dynamite with 'A Little Deeper': When she released her second album her label did fuck all to promote it, meaning she was completely ignored and then got dropped.
And whilst a bit too early to tell yet, 2007 winners Klaxons (with 'Myths Of The Near Future') seem to be struggling to finish their second album and alledgedly haven't been playing much in the way of new material at the few gigs they've played recently.
Saying that, the secong route is they could conversely enjoy major success after the mercury, or if they don't, remain a popular cult band. Primal Scream (1992 with 'Screamadelica') are possibly bigger than they ever were now, 1994 winner's M People (with 'Elegant Slumming') became one of the biggest acts of the 90's, Portishead (95 with 'Dummy') released an equally successful second album before takign a 13 year break and returning with another very successful 3rd album and remaing cult favourites and highly respected musically. Gomez (99 with 'Bring It On') are very much a cult band nowadays and still a fairly big draw whilst Dizzee Rascal (2003 with 'Boy In Da Corner') is one of the biggest acts in the world today.
Which probably brings me to my final point, a lot is made of the winners and their merits after each award. The media and public seem to then forget that there are about 10-12 albums nominated each year and they tend to be forgotten about once the winners are announced. If you look back through all the shortlists down the years and actually go through all the albums, you will actually find a lot of quality albums.
2001 is my major case for this, here is is:
Basement Jaxx- Rooty
Elbow- Asleep In The Back
Goldfrapp- Felt Mountain
Gorillaz- Gorillaz (though the band requested the nomination be withdrawn)
Ed Harcourt- Here Be Monsters
PJ Harvey- Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea (Winner)
Tom McRae- Tom McRae
Radiohead- Amnesiac
Susheela Raman- Salt Rain
Super Furry Animals- Rings Around The World
Turin Brakes- The Optimist LP
Zero 7- Simple Things
Now then out of those 12 albums I own 7 of them, and have heard either all or the majority of another 3. I can tell you now that in my honest and earnest opinion. Everything I've heard from those 10 albums I've listened to either in part or in full has been utterly amazing. PJ Harvey was a well deserving winner (having been nominated twice before) with an extremely strong and emotional album. Elbow and Radiohead both had dark and mesmerizing albums which remain favourites of their fans, whilst Super Furry Animals and Gorillaz had an experimental pop masterpieces under their belts. Then you have Ed Harcourt, Tom McRae and Turin Brakes releasing extremely honest and compelling records. Finally, Goldfrapp and Zero 7 had 2 beautiful chilled electronic records to captivate.
To be more to the point, every album deserved to be recognised in the 2001 shortlist. If you were to listen to them all, you'd recognise that, even if they weren't to your tastes there's something special about each album. So you can say what you like about the shortlists, but you should bear in mind that the albums have all done something to get nominated, and more often than not, it probably is cos they're very very good.
I'm aware I'm rambling a lot at the moment. Lets try and wrap this up to a conclusion. The Mercury Music Prize is a prestigious award and it splits opinion. But if you look through the lists and investigate the albums that have been nominated, you will see that it is usually right about its nominations, whilst probably not always right about the overall winners.
Friday, 4 September 2009
Pointless August Gig Round Up
How many gigs did I go to in August?
One.
Yes, One measely gig cos there was absolutely NOTHING on I wanted to see, and I never got the chance to see U2 nomatter how much I wanted to.
So the singular gig?
Gwenno (of The Pippettes fame) @ Pure Groove, London 14/08/09
I went to london for my mate James' birthday. Gwenno happened to be doing an instore at Pure Groove so the birthday boy requested his mates go see her. So we did. And quite enjoyable she was too. Nice and gentle, electro-indie stuffs. Somewhat like The Postal Service. I'll probably listen to her again at some point.
Yeah, thats about all I have to say about the gig seeing as I got immensely drunk afterwards.
September is also looking quite sparse gigwise. Hopefully this will change at some point soon.
October onwards will be jam packed though.
One.
Yes, One measely gig cos there was absolutely NOTHING on I wanted to see, and I never got the chance to see U2 nomatter how much I wanted to.
So the singular gig?
Gwenno (of The Pippettes fame) @ Pure Groove, London 14/08/09
I went to london for my mate James' birthday. Gwenno happened to be doing an instore at Pure Groove so the birthday boy requested his mates go see her. So we did. And quite enjoyable she was too. Nice and gentle, electro-indie stuffs. Somewhat like The Postal Service. I'll probably listen to her again at some point.
Yeah, thats about all I have to say about the gig seeing as I got immensely drunk afterwards.
September is also looking quite sparse gigwise. Hopefully this will change at some point soon.
October onwards will be jam packed though.
Sunday, 26 July 2009
June and July Gig Round Up
Ok this is going up early due to the following reasons:
1. Apart from Glastonbury, which I've already blogged about, I've been to a grand total of 4 gigs the last 2 months.
2. I can't go to anymore gigs this month due to the fact my debit card I'd have used to pay for said gigs was swallowed by a cash point. Hence I can't get to the money I'd use to pay for said gigs and won't get a new card until later in the week.
Anyhoo, here's the 4 gigs I've been to in the last 2 months:
The Northwestern w/ Gold Panda @ Roadhouse, Manchester 02/06/09
Gold Panda was one man doing some quite nice electronica from what I remember. Anyways, The Northwestern were amazing. Sam Herily writing poppy songs for the first time since Hope Of The States split up (as opposed to the post rock of Troubles and warp-esque electronica of Blocks) and doing it WELL! It was one of the bands first ever gigs, and they were slightly shakey yet didn't let it get to them. They obviously enjoyed playing together and their new stuff sounded like the happier moments of HOTS mixed with Wilko. All in all, excellent!
Blackbud @ Ruby Lounge, Manchester, 03/06/09
I went to this for my friends birthday. Can't remember any of the suports but Blackbud were very very good. Their bluesy rock and epic solo's were hypnotising and the band were very entertaining and funny. I was slightly drunk though so I don't remember the whole night.
The Joy Formidable w/ Pocketknife, It's A Buffalo @ Ruby Lounge Manchester, 05/06/09
Pocketknife were very very good doom stuffs. They usually have a member of Oceansize on bass but due to the size being in australia at the time, a member of Amplifier filled in tonight. Very good stuffs though. It's A buffalo were a bit shit. Boring genric indie *YAWN*.
Now The Joy Formidable were amazing. Opening with a whirl of noise before bursting into Whirring they never let up. Ritzy was a very engaging frontwoman and the band were very active, delivering powerful renditions of tracks from their Balloon Called Moaning album. Some new songs also went down very well. Very nice people too when I met them. All in all fantastic.
Kong w/ Chickenhawk, Soni-Quella @ The Flapper, Birmingham 22/07/09
The sole gig I went to in July. Soni-Quella seemed to be a mix of emo with math-rock, and not a good mix either. The guitar tones were very off putting. Chickenhawk were insane. They set up in the middle of the room and played from wherever they felt like playing (on top of speakers , tables, the bar). Very energetic rock stuffs. Kong finally were as good as always. Their album Snake Magnet has finally been officially released (I have an original copy, as was reviewed in my albums of last year) and they were performing just as ferociously as usual. Magpie even threw up midset and the band carried on as if nothing happened. Amazing.
That's all for June and July. I may go to some more gigs in august, though it's not very likely atm. I live in hope though.
1. Apart from Glastonbury, which I've already blogged about, I've been to a grand total of 4 gigs the last 2 months.
2. I can't go to anymore gigs this month due to the fact my debit card I'd have used to pay for said gigs was swallowed by a cash point. Hence I can't get to the money I'd use to pay for said gigs and won't get a new card until later in the week.
Anyhoo, here's the 4 gigs I've been to in the last 2 months:
The Northwestern w/ Gold Panda @ Roadhouse, Manchester 02/06/09
Gold Panda was one man doing some quite nice electronica from what I remember. Anyways, The Northwestern were amazing. Sam Herily writing poppy songs for the first time since Hope Of The States split up (as opposed to the post rock of Troubles and warp-esque electronica of Blocks) and doing it WELL! It was one of the bands first ever gigs, and they were slightly shakey yet didn't let it get to them. They obviously enjoyed playing together and their new stuff sounded like the happier moments of HOTS mixed with Wilko. All in all, excellent!
Blackbud @ Ruby Lounge, Manchester, 03/06/09
I went to this for my friends birthday. Can't remember any of the suports but Blackbud were very very good. Their bluesy rock and epic solo's were hypnotising and the band were very entertaining and funny. I was slightly drunk though so I don't remember the whole night.
The Joy Formidable w/ Pocketknife, It's A Buffalo @ Ruby Lounge Manchester, 05/06/09
Pocketknife were very very good doom stuffs. They usually have a member of Oceansize on bass but due to the size being in australia at the time, a member of Amplifier filled in tonight. Very good stuffs though. It's A buffalo were a bit shit. Boring genric indie *YAWN*.
Now The Joy Formidable were amazing. Opening with a whirl of noise before bursting into Whirring they never let up. Ritzy was a very engaging frontwoman and the band were very active, delivering powerful renditions of tracks from their Balloon Called Moaning album. Some new songs also went down very well. Very nice people too when I met them. All in all fantastic.
Kong w/ Chickenhawk, Soni-Quella @ The Flapper, Birmingham 22/07/09
The sole gig I went to in July. Soni-Quella seemed to be a mix of emo with math-rock, and not a good mix either. The guitar tones were very off putting. Chickenhawk were insane. They set up in the middle of the room and played from wherever they felt like playing (on top of speakers , tables, the bar). Very energetic rock stuffs. Kong finally were as good as always. Their album Snake Magnet has finally been officially released (I have an original copy, as was reviewed in my albums of last year) and they were performing just as ferociously as usual. Magpie even threw up midset and the band carried on as if nothing happened. Amazing.
That's all for June and July. I may go to some more gigs in august, though it's not very likely atm. I live in hope though.
Monday, 29 June 2009
Glastonbury Special! Part 2
Now then, where was I? Oh yes:
Saturday (or, the greatest day of gigging ever):
Bleary eyed from falling asleep in my contact lenses i slowly rose then steadily headed to the John Peel Tent to watch The Nightingales (11.00am). They suffered some horrendous sound problems during and after their first song, but frontman Robert Lloyd kept the crowd entertained by singing some poetry. When all was fixed, the band blasted out some post punk brilliance, with Lloyd manic throughout the set.
I wandered across the site to see Blue Roses (Queens Head, 12.00pm) perform a fantastic set of beautiful acoustic music. Laura Groves has a fantastic voice and can certainly write some good songs. Me and Alex were off to Metric next but decided to take a detour through Jazzworld to try and catch some of Rolf Harris. Couldn't get anywhere near the place it was so packed and we were forced to find another route. whilst this went on I tried some Kangaroo. It tastes very good I have to say. Anyways, Metric (Other Stage, 1.05pm) were a bit ace. It was weird watching them in broad daylight rather than and atmospheric venue but they were very entertaining. Monster Hospital and Gimme Sympathy got the crowd going and Stadium Love was a stunning set closer.
By this point in the day the sun was high and everyone thought they were being cooked. I still made my way to see Spinal Tap (Pyramid Stage, 2.50pm) though and I was not disappointed. Sex Farm was rocking and Stonehenge was epic. They even had dancing druids! It was hilarious and fantastic. It was back to Queens Head for Broken Records next (4.10pm) who filled the tent with their fantastic brand of epic scottish indie. They gave an extremely heartfelt performance and won over many new fans in the crowd from what I could tell.
It was a return to John Peel now for The Gaslight Anthem (5.25pm). They rocked, they got the crowd to sing along and were extremely good. And then it got better. BRUCE FUCKING SPRINGSTEEN JOINED THEM ONSTAGE!!! he joined them for The '59 Sound which was not only one of the performances of the day, but one of the best of the festival. The Boss only stayed for the one song but christ the tent went mental for it. Gaslight anthem still carried on the momentum even after Bruce left, not even phased by his presence.
I left Gaslight slightly early cos I wanted to see some more legends. If I could spend every sunny afternoon listening to Crosby Stills and Nash (Pyramid Stage, 6.00pm) and playing catch with a group of strangers I would. It was perfect. The harmonies, the postive vibes, Crosby joking about songwriting in the band ("Stills writes the great Rock n Roll, Nash writes anthems and I write the weird shit) everything was fantastic. For What It' Worth is a song you MUST hear live.
I began my trek towards the front of the pyramid after CSN and got halfway to watch Kasabian (8.00pm) who were suitably anthemic and revelled every minute they had onstage. I've never actually seen Kasabian before but I thought they were great. They really went for it live (even thoguh Ian said it was the weakest he'd seen them out of the 5 or 6 times he's seen them. I want to see them on a good day if that was them weak) and songs like Club Foot and Empire have a great crowd pleasing quality to them.
Though they're nothing compared to Bruce Springsteen (Pyramid Stage, 10.00pm). Now that man knows how to please a field of a couple of thousand people. He opened with a tribute to Joe Strummer (playing Coma Girl) before launching into Badlands and leaving the rest of the bands playing that day in his stride. The crowd didn't know all the words which amused Bruce and just urged him to perform harder. And when he played fantastic versions of Because The Night, Outlaw Pete and No Surrender (featuring Brian of Gaslight Anthem guesting for Bruce this time) you don't think it could get better. Oh it can. The final 45 minutes of his set are simply mind blowing. The River, Radio Nowhere, Lonesome Day, The Rising and Born To Run finish his main set, then he's barely offstage to come back to an encore of Hard Times (an old fold song) Thunder Road, Land Of Hope And Dreams, American Land, Glory Days and Dancing In The Dark. You could actually see the steam coming off Bruce's body he was putting so much effort into his set. The best moment of the set was a skit between Bruce and guitarist Steve Van Zandt during the encore:
Bruce: STEVE! I think it's curfew time!
Steve: What?!
Bruce: I said I think it's curfew time!
Steve: No! It's not curfew time!
Bruce: Well... what time is it?
(music pauses whilst Steve thinks)
Steve: ... IT'S BOSS TIME!!!!!!!
(music kicks back in)
An unbelieveably good set. Everyone I've spoke to since has said they thought it was amazing too. The Boss seemed to win over a lot of new fans that night.
Saturday shenanigans had barely started though. A group of us decided to go to Trash City finally but we were coerced into a detour to meet someone. We lost half our party and eventually got to trash city at a silly time when all the clubs were either too full to let anyone in or closing. We found an electronic grafiti wall though which had some comical results ('draw a big cock!' Ciaran writes the work cock in huge letters). We then wandered to Arcadia at about 4am for no really reason, where we had the most unexpected suprise of the festival. Keith allen appeared on a tiny stage with a band, who then proceeded to knock out ska infused versions of classic songs such as Rock The Casbah, Ace of Spades, Smells Like Teen Spirit and Anarchy in the UK. It was unexpected, bizarre, crude, offensive, but downright hilarious. One of my highlights of the festival for sure.
Sunday:
Somehow sleeping for 5 hours I awoke even more bleary eyed than previous days, but still intending to trudge on. It took a while to get going though as The Boxer Rebellion (Other Stage, 11.30am) didn't exactly excite the crowd. In fact they were just plain dull, which was disappointing as i'd liked their song Code Red when I heard it.
Fortunately Art Brut were next (Other Stage, 12.40pm) and they never fail to make me smile. It was a typical set from them yes but they were funny and entertaining. I didn't watch the end as I ran across the site, primarily to see my brother but also to catch the end of 6 Day Riot (Avalon Stage, 12.40pm) which was lovely. Very nice acoustic fold stuffs. A long wander around shang-rila later and I headed to Croissant Neuf. Firstly, I caught Ian Ritchie and John Aston Thomas perform some lovely intrumental covers (which was nice), but mainly to see Biggles Wartime Band (4.00pm) who are still one of the funniest bands I've ever seen. Sketches about the recession and sammy the fish will be remembered for a long time.
A sprint was required to return to the Queens Head for the final time and catch Fight Like Apes (5.00pm). Yes I missed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to see them but I don't care, I love Fight Like Apes and their noisy synth rock... stuff. They were energetic and cheerful throughout and when a synth broke they got someone in the crowd to sing the synth line for Battlestations. Fantastic stuff. I jumped around a bit too much during the gig and was exhausted. I watched some of Bat For Lashes (Other Stage, 6.00pm) but couldn't pay attention to her performance so I crashed at the tent for a while.
I made sure I got to the pyramid stage for the legendary Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds though (22.00pm). I'm not entirely sure how well they went down with the crowd but I loved every moment of their set. Tupelo, Dig Lazarus Dig, Red Right Hand, Deanna, Midnight Man, The Ship Song, Henry Lee, We Call Upon The Author, The Mercy Seat, There She Goes My Beautiful World, The Weeping Song, Papa Won't Leave You Henry and Stagger Lee gave one hell of a setlist, and an hour and a bit of brilliance. One of the best performances of the weekend.
Then finally, it came time for the last band to watch. So, I did what came natural to me and watched Blur (pyramid Stage, 9.50pm). I remember jumping around my brothers bedroom listening to Blur when we were kids. They mean a lot to me that band. Did they live up to expectations? Answer: Yes, and then some. They were my favourite headliner of the weekend, and belted out the hits whilst Damon Albarn jumped around like a man on pills and gave an incredibly emotional performance during the likes of Tender, Coffee And TV and he even started to cry before This Is A Low. The crowd sung along to every single word, even the lesser known songs like Oily Water, Jubilee, Trimm Trabb and Advert (one of my all time favourite Blur songs). Tender was easily the song of the festival as the crowd sung it during the breaks between the main set and the encore set. The Universal closed the gig and the weekend perfectly. The refrain of 'It really really really can happen' has never felt more poignant to me.
So bands were over and me and my friends went to buy fudge and make a return to Flagtopia to survey the land we'd spent the past 5 nights in and reflecting on it. Well, until the wind picked up and we thought heading back to our tents would be a good idea. It was an amazing idea as it turned out as it pissed it down when we got halfway. Back at the tents we all collapsed and slept.
Monday:
We got up by 7 and had packed out tents and set off by quarter to 8. We spent about half an hour walking across the site and an hour waiting for a bus. Then a half an hour wait at Castle Cary and approximatelt 3 hours on the train made for a much easier journey home.
Overall, Glastonbury lived up to expectations and completely exceeded them. It was far better than the previous time I went to Glastonbury in 2007 (when it rained all weekend) and I think the overall atmosphere was so much better. Comparing the line ups of who I saw at each weekend both were equally brilliant and I saw a great many bands at each that I love. This year still wins hands down though. It was nearly perfect. I will hopefully return next year for the 40th anniversary.
Time to get some well deserved sleep I feel.
Saturday (or, the greatest day of gigging ever):
Bleary eyed from falling asleep in my contact lenses i slowly rose then steadily headed to the John Peel Tent to watch The Nightingales (11.00am). They suffered some horrendous sound problems during and after their first song, but frontman Robert Lloyd kept the crowd entertained by singing some poetry. When all was fixed, the band blasted out some post punk brilliance, with Lloyd manic throughout the set.
I wandered across the site to see Blue Roses (Queens Head, 12.00pm) perform a fantastic set of beautiful acoustic music. Laura Groves has a fantastic voice and can certainly write some good songs. Me and Alex were off to Metric next but decided to take a detour through Jazzworld to try and catch some of Rolf Harris. Couldn't get anywhere near the place it was so packed and we were forced to find another route. whilst this went on I tried some Kangaroo. It tastes very good I have to say. Anyways, Metric (Other Stage, 1.05pm) were a bit ace. It was weird watching them in broad daylight rather than and atmospheric venue but they were very entertaining. Monster Hospital and Gimme Sympathy got the crowd going and Stadium Love was a stunning set closer.
By this point in the day the sun was high and everyone thought they were being cooked. I still made my way to see Spinal Tap (Pyramid Stage, 2.50pm) though and I was not disappointed. Sex Farm was rocking and Stonehenge was epic. They even had dancing druids! It was hilarious and fantastic. It was back to Queens Head for Broken Records next (4.10pm) who filled the tent with their fantastic brand of epic scottish indie. They gave an extremely heartfelt performance and won over many new fans in the crowd from what I could tell.
It was a return to John Peel now for The Gaslight Anthem (5.25pm). They rocked, they got the crowd to sing along and were extremely good. And then it got better. BRUCE FUCKING SPRINGSTEEN JOINED THEM ONSTAGE!!! he joined them for The '59 Sound which was not only one of the performances of the day, but one of the best of the festival. The Boss only stayed for the one song but christ the tent went mental for it. Gaslight anthem still carried on the momentum even after Bruce left, not even phased by his presence.
I left Gaslight slightly early cos I wanted to see some more legends. If I could spend every sunny afternoon listening to Crosby Stills and Nash (Pyramid Stage, 6.00pm) and playing catch with a group of strangers I would. It was perfect. The harmonies, the postive vibes, Crosby joking about songwriting in the band ("Stills writes the great Rock n Roll, Nash writes anthems and I write the weird shit) everything was fantastic. For What It' Worth is a song you MUST hear live.
I began my trek towards the front of the pyramid after CSN and got halfway to watch Kasabian (8.00pm) who were suitably anthemic and revelled every minute they had onstage. I've never actually seen Kasabian before but I thought they were great. They really went for it live (even thoguh Ian said it was the weakest he'd seen them out of the 5 or 6 times he's seen them. I want to see them on a good day if that was them weak) and songs like Club Foot and Empire have a great crowd pleasing quality to them.
Though they're nothing compared to Bruce Springsteen (Pyramid Stage, 10.00pm). Now that man knows how to please a field of a couple of thousand people. He opened with a tribute to Joe Strummer (playing Coma Girl) before launching into Badlands and leaving the rest of the bands playing that day in his stride. The crowd didn't know all the words which amused Bruce and just urged him to perform harder. And when he played fantastic versions of Because The Night, Outlaw Pete and No Surrender (featuring Brian of Gaslight Anthem guesting for Bruce this time) you don't think it could get better. Oh it can. The final 45 minutes of his set are simply mind blowing. The River, Radio Nowhere, Lonesome Day, The Rising and Born To Run finish his main set, then he's barely offstage to come back to an encore of Hard Times (an old fold song) Thunder Road, Land Of Hope And Dreams, American Land, Glory Days and Dancing In The Dark. You could actually see the steam coming off Bruce's body he was putting so much effort into his set. The best moment of the set was a skit between Bruce and guitarist Steve Van Zandt during the encore:
Bruce: STEVE! I think it's curfew time!
Steve: What?!
Bruce: I said I think it's curfew time!
Steve: No! It's not curfew time!
Bruce: Well... what time is it?
(music pauses whilst Steve thinks)
Steve: ... IT'S BOSS TIME!!!!!!!
(music kicks back in)
An unbelieveably good set. Everyone I've spoke to since has said they thought it was amazing too. The Boss seemed to win over a lot of new fans that night.
Saturday shenanigans had barely started though. A group of us decided to go to Trash City finally but we were coerced into a detour to meet someone. We lost half our party and eventually got to trash city at a silly time when all the clubs were either too full to let anyone in or closing. We found an electronic grafiti wall though which had some comical results ('draw a big cock!' Ciaran writes the work cock in huge letters). We then wandered to Arcadia at about 4am for no really reason, where we had the most unexpected suprise of the festival. Keith allen appeared on a tiny stage with a band, who then proceeded to knock out ska infused versions of classic songs such as Rock The Casbah, Ace of Spades, Smells Like Teen Spirit and Anarchy in the UK. It was unexpected, bizarre, crude, offensive, but downright hilarious. One of my highlights of the festival for sure.
Sunday:
Somehow sleeping for 5 hours I awoke even more bleary eyed than previous days, but still intending to trudge on. It took a while to get going though as The Boxer Rebellion (Other Stage, 11.30am) didn't exactly excite the crowd. In fact they were just plain dull, which was disappointing as i'd liked their song Code Red when I heard it.
Fortunately Art Brut were next (Other Stage, 12.40pm) and they never fail to make me smile. It was a typical set from them yes but they were funny and entertaining. I didn't watch the end as I ran across the site, primarily to see my brother but also to catch the end of 6 Day Riot (Avalon Stage, 12.40pm) which was lovely. Very nice acoustic fold stuffs. A long wander around shang-rila later and I headed to Croissant Neuf. Firstly, I caught Ian Ritchie and John Aston Thomas perform some lovely intrumental covers (which was nice), but mainly to see Biggles Wartime Band (4.00pm) who are still one of the funniest bands I've ever seen. Sketches about the recession and sammy the fish will be remembered for a long time.
A sprint was required to return to the Queens Head for the final time and catch Fight Like Apes (5.00pm). Yes I missed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to see them but I don't care, I love Fight Like Apes and their noisy synth rock... stuff. They were energetic and cheerful throughout and when a synth broke they got someone in the crowd to sing the synth line for Battlestations. Fantastic stuff. I jumped around a bit too much during the gig and was exhausted. I watched some of Bat For Lashes (Other Stage, 6.00pm) but couldn't pay attention to her performance so I crashed at the tent for a while.
I made sure I got to the pyramid stage for the legendary Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds though (22.00pm). I'm not entirely sure how well they went down with the crowd but I loved every moment of their set. Tupelo, Dig Lazarus Dig, Red Right Hand, Deanna, Midnight Man, The Ship Song, Henry Lee, We Call Upon The Author, The Mercy Seat, There She Goes My Beautiful World, The Weeping Song, Papa Won't Leave You Henry and Stagger Lee gave one hell of a setlist, and an hour and a bit of brilliance. One of the best performances of the weekend.
Then finally, it came time for the last band to watch. So, I did what came natural to me and watched Blur (pyramid Stage, 9.50pm). I remember jumping around my brothers bedroom listening to Blur when we were kids. They mean a lot to me that band. Did they live up to expectations? Answer: Yes, and then some. They were my favourite headliner of the weekend, and belted out the hits whilst Damon Albarn jumped around like a man on pills and gave an incredibly emotional performance during the likes of Tender, Coffee And TV and he even started to cry before This Is A Low. The crowd sung along to every single word, even the lesser known songs like Oily Water, Jubilee, Trimm Trabb and Advert (one of my all time favourite Blur songs). Tender was easily the song of the festival as the crowd sung it during the breaks between the main set and the encore set. The Universal closed the gig and the weekend perfectly. The refrain of 'It really really really can happen' has never felt more poignant to me.
So bands were over and me and my friends went to buy fudge and make a return to Flagtopia to survey the land we'd spent the past 5 nights in and reflecting on it. Well, until the wind picked up and we thought heading back to our tents would be a good idea. It was an amazing idea as it turned out as it pissed it down when we got halfway. Back at the tents we all collapsed and slept.
Monday:
We got up by 7 and had packed out tents and set off by quarter to 8. We spent about half an hour walking across the site and an hour waiting for a bus. Then a half an hour wait at Castle Cary and approximatelt 3 hours on the train made for a much easier journey home.
Overall, Glastonbury lived up to expectations and completely exceeded them. It was far better than the previous time I went to Glastonbury in 2007 (when it rained all weekend) and I think the overall atmosphere was so much better. Comparing the line ups of who I saw at each weekend both were equally brilliant and I saw a great many bands at each that I love. This year still wins hands down though. It was nearly perfect. I will hopefully return next year for the 40th anniversary.
Time to get some well deserved sleep I feel.
Glastonbury Special! Part 1.
So Glastonbury 2009. There's so much that could be be said about the weekend but it can be summed up in a few words: Fucking awesome! I'll do this in two parts so it's slightly easier to digest.
Wednesday:
Bright and early at 7am I got up. At 9am I set off for Birmingham New Street. At 10.05 I met with friends Dan, Alex and Elliot and we got the 10.12 to Taunton in somerset. After excitement on the train we switch to a Castle Cary bound train and arrived there just after 1pm and got in the line to board a shuttle bus to the site.
4 hours later we actually boarded a bus to the site. Which then dropped us off 2 miles away instead of at the gate. We had to walk the last 2 miles. Finally arrived at the site by about 6-ish and had met up with friends Ian and Morena and pitched tents by 7.30. I wasn't very happy with the lack of organisation for the shuttle buses but in hindsight we were let off easily. Apparently there were accidents on both the M4 and M5 so any coaches or cars coming to the festival were fucked. I'm aware that the 7am coach from Manchester still hadn't arrived by 10.30pm. Bad times indeed.
So we got off lightly, but whe were pitched and saved a spot for other friend Ciaran, Chris and Mark who got there about 9-ish, followed by Dave and Abi after midnight. At some point we went for a wander to Flagtopia and the stone circle then some of us went to Williams Green to a bar playing reggae classics. It was all good.
Weather- mostly sunny and hot. Shame most people spent most the day on a coach, car or in a line.
Thursday:
The Festival kicked off properly here. A wander around the markets and greenfields was called for. It rained slightly but the sun was soon out again and the heat was blistering. Then about 3 me and some others headed to the Queens Head tent for-
Maximo Park (Queens Head, 4pm)
The williams green field was packed for this. You could get near the tent at all. So a lot of people settled for watching the gig on the village screen nearby. Unfortunately, when Maximo Park came on the screens sound wasn't working, so the first 3 songs seemed to pass by in silence. The sound gradually arrived though and got louder. From the looks of it, the band gave a blistering set including their classic singles and the rarely played (and personal favourite) Limassol. Paul Smith was at his hip swinging best and the band were all very energetic. Great way to start the festival.
After this, I went to meet Alex so he could put his tent up next to ours, then a group of us decided to see East 17 in the dance field. Unfortunately, they were moved to a later slot and we weren't bothered by returning later to see them. I met my mate louis for a drink and ended up sheltering in the John Peel Tent for about half an hour as a flash storm appeared.
Following on, I returned to the tent where there was merriment to be had. it was at this point we tried to think of rumours and decided to spread one Michael Jackson had died. This sort of backfired as the first group who passed our tents replied with 'yeah he'sin a coma now' not joking at all. Rapidly we got out phones out to get on the internet where we were greeted with the news that the King Of Pop was dead. We couldn't really comprehend such a legend being dead. We always assumed he'd find immortality somehow. Completely overwhelmed by this we did the only thing we could do in this situation...
We took the piss with no holding back. Yes the paedo jokes came out and we were mostly offensive and insultive but sometimes making fun of a bad situation is the only way to confront it. I can't remember them now (i was slightly drunk) but I do recall some corkers being there. We went for a wander to Arcadia and Shangri-la and ended up in the same reggae bar as the night before. We felt like we already had our moneys worth from glasto. Oh, if only we knew what the next few days would bring...
Friday:
First proper day of music. So what better ways to kick things off than to see an average rap, pop stuff from Mr Hudson (Other Stage, 10.50am)? Well, i can think of many better ways to start a music fest than Mr Hudson really. He wasn't bad but he wasn't good either. He was just, there.
A few of us went to check out Bishi (Park Stage, 12.00pm) who was quite entertaining with her electric sitar and dancers. Nice pop music. Kinda distracted by spotting a Q & A session with Michael Eavis though. We watched it and enjoyed some lovely facts about the festival and an amusing exchange:
Eavis: Bruce wanted 3 hours but we compromised on 2 and a half. If we can though we'll try and let him play the 3 hours.
Accountant: There's £300 a minute fine for every minute we go over curfew!
Eavis: Oh yes, how much is that for half and hour then?
Accountant: £9000.
Eavis: Ok, maybe we won't let him do that then!
After all of this went down I went to see a song of The Rakes (Other Stage, 1.15pm) which was quite entertaining as expected (Open Book by the way. Ace song). I then ran to see Regina Spektor do a wonderful performance at the Pyramid Stage though. (13.40pm). An hour of gorgeous piano ballads and whimsy, I'd forgotten how amazing that girl was. Just superb. Unlike N.E.R.D. afterwards (Pyramid Stage, 15.10pm). Energetic yes, but not really as entertaining as I'd hoped they'd be really. I got a bit bored I guess.
Now then, a big (non) suprise was the fact Jack Whites new band Dead Weather were the Special guests on the Park Stage at 6.45pm. All I can say is WOW! Heavy blues riffage from hell and Alison Mosshart slinking about the stage like a sexy minxread to fuck the stage it was a superb performance. Dean Fertita is a stunning guitarist, but when Jack White took over for their last song it was like heaven had opened. Jack played was of the best solo's I've ever heard and left the audience stunned. Brilliant through and through.
A suprise for me was The Specials not long after (Pyramid Stage, 8pm). I've never been a massive specials fan, but they were ace live. Two Tone goodness that kept the crowd entertained. And following this? Well the mighty Neil Young (Pyramid Stage, 10.00pm) rocking the living shit out of glastonbury. 2 hours and no let up at all, he played a load of classic's including Hey Hey My My, Cinnamon Girl, Heart Of Gold, Spirit Road, Needle And The Damage Done and an epic 15 minute version of Down By The River. He ended with a brilliant rendition of The Beatles' A Day In The Life. Highlight of friday easily. We returned to our tents intending to go to trash city but collapsed and fell asleep instead.
Part 2 to follow in the near future.
Wednesday:
Bright and early at 7am I got up. At 9am I set off for Birmingham New Street. At 10.05 I met with friends Dan, Alex and Elliot and we got the 10.12 to Taunton in somerset. After excitement on the train we switch to a Castle Cary bound train and arrived there just after 1pm and got in the line to board a shuttle bus to the site.
4 hours later we actually boarded a bus to the site. Which then dropped us off 2 miles away instead of at the gate. We had to walk the last 2 miles. Finally arrived at the site by about 6-ish and had met up with friends Ian and Morena and pitched tents by 7.30. I wasn't very happy with the lack of organisation for the shuttle buses but in hindsight we were let off easily. Apparently there were accidents on both the M4 and M5 so any coaches or cars coming to the festival were fucked. I'm aware that the 7am coach from Manchester still hadn't arrived by 10.30pm. Bad times indeed.
So we got off lightly, but whe were pitched and saved a spot for other friend Ciaran, Chris and Mark who got there about 9-ish, followed by Dave and Abi after midnight. At some point we went for a wander to Flagtopia and the stone circle then some of us went to Williams Green to a bar playing reggae classics. It was all good.
Weather- mostly sunny and hot. Shame most people spent most the day on a coach, car or in a line.
Thursday:
The Festival kicked off properly here. A wander around the markets and greenfields was called for. It rained slightly but the sun was soon out again and the heat was blistering. Then about 3 me and some others headed to the Queens Head tent for-
Maximo Park (Queens Head, 4pm)
The williams green field was packed for this. You could get near the tent at all. So a lot of people settled for watching the gig on the village screen nearby. Unfortunately, when Maximo Park came on the screens sound wasn't working, so the first 3 songs seemed to pass by in silence. The sound gradually arrived though and got louder. From the looks of it, the band gave a blistering set including their classic singles and the rarely played (and personal favourite) Limassol. Paul Smith was at his hip swinging best and the band were all very energetic. Great way to start the festival.
After this, I went to meet Alex so he could put his tent up next to ours, then a group of us decided to see East 17 in the dance field. Unfortunately, they were moved to a later slot and we weren't bothered by returning later to see them. I met my mate louis for a drink and ended up sheltering in the John Peel Tent for about half an hour as a flash storm appeared.
Following on, I returned to the tent where there was merriment to be had. it was at this point we tried to think of rumours and decided to spread one Michael Jackson had died. This sort of backfired as the first group who passed our tents replied with 'yeah he'sin a coma now' not joking at all. Rapidly we got out phones out to get on the internet where we were greeted with the news that the King Of Pop was dead. We couldn't really comprehend such a legend being dead. We always assumed he'd find immortality somehow. Completely overwhelmed by this we did the only thing we could do in this situation...
We took the piss with no holding back. Yes the paedo jokes came out and we were mostly offensive and insultive but sometimes making fun of a bad situation is the only way to confront it. I can't remember them now (i was slightly drunk) but I do recall some corkers being there. We went for a wander to Arcadia and Shangri-la and ended up in the same reggae bar as the night before. We felt like we already had our moneys worth from glasto. Oh, if only we knew what the next few days would bring...
Friday:
First proper day of music. So what better ways to kick things off than to see an average rap, pop stuff from Mr Hudson (Other Stage, 10.50am)? Well, i can think of many better ways to start a music fest than Mr Hudson really. He wasn't bad but he wasn't good either. He was just, there.
A few of us went to check out Bishi (Park Stage, 12.00pm) who was quite entertaining with her electric sitar and dancers. Nice pop music. Kinda distracted by spotting a Q & A session with Michael Eavis though. We watched it and enjoyed some lovely facts about the festival and an amusing exchange:
Eavis: Bruce wanted 3 hours but we compromised on 2 and a half. If we can though we'll try and let him play the 3 hours.
Accountant: There's £300 a minute fine for every minute we go over curfew!
Eavis: Oh yes, how much is that for half and hour then?
Accountant: £9000.
Eavis: Ok, maybe we won't let him do that then!
After all of this went down I went to see a song of The Rakes (Other Stage, 1.15pm) which was quite entertaining as expected (Open Book by the way. Ace song). I then ran to see Regina Spektor do a wonderful performance at the Pyramid Stage though. (13.40pm). An hour of gorgeous piano ballads and whimsy, I'd forgotten how amazing that girl was. Just superb. Unlike N.E.R.D. afterwards (Pyramid Stage, 15.10pm). Energetic yes, but not really as entertaining as I'd hoped they'd be really. I got a bit bored I guess.
Now then, a big (non) suprise was the fact Jack Whites new band Dead Weather were the Special guests on the Park Stage at 6.45pm. All I can say is WOW! Heavy blues riffage from hell and Alison Mosshart slinking about the stage like a sexy minxread to fuck the stage it was a superb performance. Dean Fertita is a stunning guitarist, but when Jack White took over for their last song it was like heaven had opened. Jack played was of the best solo's I've ever heard and left the audience stunned. Brilliant through and through.
A suprise for me was The Specials not long after (Pyramid Stage, 8pm). I've never been a massive specials fan, but they were ace live. Two Tone goodness that kept the crowd entertained. And following this? Well the mighty Neil Young (Pyramid Stage, 10.00pm) rocking the living shit out of glastonbury. 2 hours and no let up at all, he played a load of classic's including Hey Hey My My, Cinnamon Girl, Heart Of Gold, Spirit Road, Needle And The Damage Done and an epic 15 minute version of Down By The River. He ended with a brilliant rendition of The Beatles' A Day In The Life. Highlight of friday easily. We returned to our tents intending to go to trash city but collapsed and fell asleep instead.
Part 2 to follow in the near future.
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
May gig round up
I'm a bit late doing this but who cares:
Live At Leeds 2009- 02/05/09 @ various venues across Leeds
I say various venues, I was extremely hungover and ill for most of the day so apart from watching Tigers That Talked (who were average, but then again, I wasn't feeling 100%) at Josephs Well I spent vitually all day at The Cockpit. Wise decision I think seeing as I was happy to watch nearly all the bands there.
When I arrived White Light Parade were playing, and though they're just straight forward nme indie stuffs, they actually put on quite a good show and were very entertaining.
Fight Like Apes were up next and were the band I was most desperate to see. I was not disappointed, they were unbelieveably energetic and active onstay, with singer Maykay even joining in with the jumping crowd whilst singing Jake Summers. I'm just sad they had to stop.
Sky Larkin followed and whilst they were at their usual high standard of performance, the crowd was strangely muted, and no one seemed to be enjoying them as much as me. Still, Katie stood on the edge of the stage during the closing Beeline, spotted me and leant down to say hello. That was nice.
Slow Club followed and were extremely lovely. It was strange seeing them on such a big stage, as their music has a warm and cosey feel to it that would probably work better in a tiny venue. Still they were full of smiles and entertaining.
I Like Trains were the following band and were absolutely fucking amazing. Now reduced to a 4-piece but they haven't lost any of the passion that drives their epic music. Terra Nova, A Rook House For Bobby, and Spencer Percieval were all played (SP was especially good) and two new songs I didn't catch the name off were featured. Damn they were good though.
Next was Wintermute. Who were awful. Like, really really awful. Imagine Foals. Now, I don't mind a bit of Foals every now and then though I wouldn't say I was a fan. Now imagine, if Foals were unbelieveably shit beyond comprehension. You'd get Wintermute, who basically try and do the same thing as Foals, but whilst Foals actually succeed in making average-good songs, Wintermute are just shit every single time. I managed 20 minutes before I went for some fresh air.
I returned quickly though to get to the front for a band I love. Future Of The Left. Falco, Kelson and Egglestone set up their gear, then ripped into 40 minutes of mayhem . The new material sounded absolutely fantastic (Kelson: 'If you knew the words to that song then you're a dirty pirating fuck!') whilst the old material was brilliant too. The set descended into a jam, Falco started to violate his guitar with a drum stick, Kelson jumped into the crowd then climbed the light rigging, Flaco destroyed his guitar strings so dismantled Egglestones drumkit (whilst he was still playing) and some bright spark started a stage invasion. Overall, fucking amazing and the highlight of the day.
Live at Leeds was pretty fun overall. I hung out with friends Olli and Rosie most of the day and we all had fun. I think I shall be returning next year.
Metric w/ DJ Fish @ Manchester Academy 3, 11/05/09
DJ Fish was exactly what it says on the tin. A DJ. An alright one but nothing special. Metric were fantastic. It was the first time I'd seen them since they last toured in 2006 and they put on a great show. The new material off Fantasies sounded fuller in a live environment and stood well against the songs from Live It Out and Old World Underground. Emily was extremely talkative and entertaining and the rest of the band were all entertaining to watch (especially guitarist Jimmy Shaw).
Johnny Foreigner, w/ [We Are] The End, Calories, Copy Haho @ The Deaf Institute, Manchester 17/05/09
[We Are] The End sounded EXACTLY like Linkin Park and not even half as good. Calories and Copy Haho were nice if slightly similar indie stuffs but entertaining. Johnny Foreigner were great as expected. New material sounded very good and they were as energetic and talkative as ever. Banter about the new Star Trek film and blowing up pedals was included, the band being as funny as ever. Have high expectations of the new album having heard the new material.
Future Of the Left, w/Pulled Apart By Horses @ Manchester Academy 3, 21/05/09
Wow. PABH were unbelievable. They couldn't stay on the stay. they were in the crowd, on the speak stacks, in the drums. If the music wasn't any good then they would've just been irritating but the passion they played with and the quality of their songs really hit home.
FOTL were just as good, if not better than they were in Leeds earlier in the month. Energetic, funny, and crazy (they finished with another destructive jam, this time, kelson hanging from the lighting rig by his legs, exposing a hole in his trousers and showing off his arse) this is a band I could never get tired of seeing live.
Nine Black Alps @ Hungry Pigeon Festival, Urbis, Manchester, 23/05/09
After enduring a succession of awful bands (mostly oasis soundalikes and NMe indie aping shit), Nine Black Alps finally got onstage and blew the venue away. Their new material is their heaviest yet, with Buy Nothing, Salt Water and Cold Star being the highlights of the set. Sam Forrest despaired at the state of current indie music ('it's all fucking shit' or something like that was what he said) and the band were active throughout. If the venue either didnt have a barrier or at least one which wasn't the same as the type you get in banks, it would've been easier to cope with the moshing crowd. But no, the flimsy barrier had to stay cos there were photographers between it and the stage virtually all set. Eventually though, when NBA's roadie finished his duties he got the photographers to move away, tore down the stupid barrier and stopped the cunt of a bouncher (he really was being a heavy handed dick) from pushing everyone back and putting it back up. My hat is tipped to that man. Anyways, the usual closing duo of Ironside and Shot Down closed the set, the crowd went mental and I was pushed onto the stage with half the crowd on top of me. So much fun it was untrue.
Patrick Wolf w/ We Fell To Earth and Serafina @ Manchester Academy 2, 31/05/09
We Fell To Earth were very minimal rock stuffs and very enjoyable at that, even if they were a bit static. Serafina were a harp and keyboard playing duo who were superb and did and excellent cover of Morrissey's... Suedehead I think it was? I can't quite remember now, but they covered Morrissey and it was ace.
Now Patrick Wolf was so utterly good I (metaphorically) orgasmed several times throughout the gig and had a stupendously huge smile throughout. New material from The Bachelor was stunning (Oblivion and Who Will? in particular. Damaris was pretty ace too) and sat well with songs from The Magic Position and Wind In The Wires. Nothing from Lycanthropy sadly tonight but the gig was amazing, and he had Tom White from The Electric Soft Parade/Brakes fame on guitar duties which was nice. I met Mr White afterwards and had a lovely conversation with him about ESP, playing with patrick and how he smashed me over the head with a guitar accidently during a Brakes gig. Legend. Overall, this was probably the gig of the month and a fine way to bow out May.
Next months edition will probably be slightly shorter than usual. One: cos there's not many gigs I've been to in June yet. Two: There's not many gigs I want to go to in June. Three: It's making way for a Glastonbury special for when I return from the fest. I'm so excited about that.
Right, time to play more of Half Life 2.
Live At Leeds 2009- 02/05/09 @ various venues across Leeds
I say various venues, I was extremely hungover and ill for most of the day so apart from watching Tigers That Talked (who were average, but then again, I wasn't feeling 100%) at Josephs Well I spent vitually all day at The Cockpit. Wise decision I think seeing as I was happy to watch nearly all the bands there.
When I arrived White Light Parade were playing, and though they're just straight forward nme indie stuffs, they actually put on quite a good show and were very entertaining.
Fight Like Apes were up next and were the band I was most desperate to see. I was not disappointed, they were unbelieveably energetic and active onstay, with singer Maykay even joining in with the jumping crowd whilst singing Jake Summers. I'm just sad they had to stop.
Sky Larkin followed and whilst they were at their usual high standard of performance, the crowd was strangely muted, and no one seemed to be enjoying them as much as me. Still, Katie stood on the edge of the stage during the closing Beeline, spotted me and leant down to say hello. That was nice.
Slow Club followed and were extremely lovely. It was strange seeing them on such a big stage, as their music has a warm and cosey feel to it that would probably work better in a tiny venue. Still they were full of smiles and entertaining.
I Like Trains were the following band and were absolutely fucking amazing. Now reduced to a 4-piece but they haven't lost any of the passion that drives their epic music. Terra Nova, A Rook House For Bobby, and Spencer Percieval were all played (SP was especially good) and two new songs I didn't catch the name off were featured. Damn they were good though.
Next was Wintermute. Who were awful. Like, really really awful. Imagine Foals. Now, I don't mind a bit of Foals every now and then though I wouldn't say I was a fan. Now imagine, if Foals were unbelieveably shit beyond comprehension. You'd get Wintermute, who basically try and do the same thing as Foals, but whilst Foals actually succeed in making average-good songs, Wintermute are just shit every single time. I managed 20 minutes before I went for some fresh air.
I returned quickly though to get to the front for a band I love. Future Of The Left. Falco, Kelson and Egglestone set up their gear, then ripped into 40 minutes of mayhem . The new material sounded absolutely fantastic (Kelson: 'If you knew the words to that song then you're a dirty pirating fuck!') whilst the old material was brilliant too. The set descended into a jam, Falco started to violate his guitar with a drum stick, Kelson jumped into the crowd then climbed the light rigging, Flaco destroyed his guitar strings so dismantled Egglestones drumkit (whilst he was still playing) and some bright spark started a stage invasion. Overall, fucking amazing and the highlight of the day.
Live at Leeds was pretty fun overall. I hung out with friends Olli and Rosie most of the day and we all had fun. I think I shall be returning next year.
Metric w/ DJ Fish @ Manchester Academy 3, 11/05/09
DJ Fish was exactly what it says on the tin. A DJ. An alright one but nothing special. Metric were fantastic. It was the first time I'd seen them since they last toured in 2006 and they put on a great show. The new material off Fantasies sounded fuller in a live environment and stood well against the songs from Live It Out and Old World Underground. Emily was extremely talkative and entertaining and the rest of the band were all entertaining to watch (especially guitarist Jimmy Shaw).
Johnny Foreigner, w/ [We Are] The End, Calories, Copy Haho @ The Deaf Institute, Manchester 17/05/09
[We Are] The End sounded EXACTLY like Linkin Park and not even half as good. Calories and Copy Haho were nice if slightly similar indie stuffs but entertaining. Johnny Foreigner were great as expected. New material sounded very good and they were as energetic and talkative as ever. Banter about the new Star Trek film and blowing up pedals was included, the band being as funny as ever. Have high expectations of the new album having heard the new material.
Future Of the Left, w/Pulled Apart By Horses @ Manchester Academy 3, 21/05/09
Wow. PABH were unbelievable. They couldn't stay on the stay. they were in the crowd, on the speak stacks, in the drums. If the music wasn't any good then they would've just been irritating but the passion they played with and the quality of their songs really hit home.
FOTL were just as good, if not better than they were in Leeds earlier in the month. Energetic, funny, and crazy (they finished with another destructive jam, this time, kelson hanging from the lighting rig by his legs, exposing a hole in his trousers and showing off his arse) this is a band I could never get tired of seeing live.
Nine Black Alps @ Hungry Pigeon Festival, Urbis, Manchester, 23/05/09
After enduring a succession of awful bands (mostly oasis soundalikes and NMe indie aping shit), Nine Black Alps finally got onstage and blew the venue away. Their new material is their heaviest yet, with Buy Nothing, Salt Water and Cold Star being the highlights of the set. Sam Forrest despaired at the state of current indie music ('it's all fucking shit' or something like that was what he said) and the band were active throughout. If the venue either didnt have a barrier or at least one which wasn't the same as the type you get in banks, it would've been easier to cope with the moshing crowd. But no, the flimsy barrier had to stay cos there were photographers between it and the stage virtually all set. Eventually though, when NBA's roadie finished his duties he got the photographers to move away, tore down the stupid barrier and stopped the cunt of a bouncher (he really was being a heavy handed dick) from pushing everyone back and putting it back up. My hat is tipped to that man. Anyways, the usual closing duo of Ironside and Shot Down closed the set, the crowd went mental and I was pushed onto the stage with half the crowd on top of me. So much fun it was untrue.
Patrick Wolf w/ We Fell To Earth and Serafina @ Manchester Academy 2, 31/05/09
We Fell To Earth were very minimal rock stuffs and very enjoyable at that, even if they were a bit static. Serafina were a harp and keyboard playing duo who were superb and did and excellent cover of Morrissey's... Suedehead I think it was? I can't quite remember now, but they covered Morrissey and it was ace.
Now Patrick Wolf was so utterly good I (metaphorically) orgasmed several times throughout the gig and had a stupendously huge smile throughout. New material from The Bachelor was stunning (Oblivion and Who Will? in particular. Damaris was pretty ace too) and sat well with songs from The Magic Position and Wind In The Wires. Nothing from Lycanthropy sadly tonight but the gig was amazing, and he had Tom White from The Electric Soft Parade/Brakes fame on guitar duties which was nice. I met Mr White afterwards and had a lovely conversation with him about ESP, playing with patrick and how he smashed me over the head with a guitar accidently during a Brakes gig. Legend. Overall, this was probably the gig of the month and a fine way to bow out May.
Next months edition will probably be slightly shorter than usual. One: cos there's not many gigs I've been to in June yet. Two: There's not many gigs I want to go to in June. Three: It's making way for a Glastonbury special for when I return from the fest. I'm so excited about that.
Right, time to play more of Half Life 2.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
