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.