The Big Gig Thread 2020

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Loved The Hanging Stars last night, excellent set, lovely dreamy guitar twang, not bad for Walthamstow.

They weren't the main act. Gospelbeach headlined. A bit country for my tastes, although my mate in California knows them (he's British, ex Mighty Lemon Drop) and says the singer was an old-school punk. Hence, perhaps, the lyric "in the desert I've a thousand things I wanna say to you". Still, I enjoyed them and my country DJ gal pal was dancing like crazy in her booth.

I saw him on the way out and was going to say "you know my mate Dave" but he looked grumpy so I thought better of it.

The Moth Club was packed and we didn't get there early enough to get a prime spot, but luckily not too many gig-yappers around me. I gave one bloke daggers for talking, only to be introduced to him a little later as the editor of some music mag or other.

My mate was at this gig, and thoroughly enjoyed both.

[KGR]

Ladytron at Manchester on Saturday night.

My first time seeing them, long been on my Wanted List.

Much better than expected. Always worry whether a gig will deliver the right sound, often vocals are too low in the mix and drums too high. But not this time. Helen's voice is a beautiful instrument, commented Mrs KGR, and she is right, of course.

Plenty of cuts from the latest album, You've Changed being the best of those.

[DCI Harry Batt]

Ooh, I might have seen Ladytron once, at Reading.

[Benjm]

I'm umming and ahhing about whether to go to see Ladytron tomorrow. They're playing at Heaven, a show rescheduled from last October for health reasons, and it isn't sold out. They have had some very bad luck over the years with record companies going bust and the like, losing career momentum as a result. The previous London date in this comeback was at the Roundhouse just over a year ago, so the curse may still be at work.

[DCI Harry Batt]

I preferred the record, I have to say. But it was a very long time ago. And I have awful taste.

[Benjm]

I've seen them a few times. They can be a bit static on stage but Helen Marnie has become a more assertive performer over the years and they have decent visuals and lights to hold the attention.

[Gangster Octopus]

I have awful taste.

Ha!

[White No Sugar]

The Howlers two weeks back. Very good. Power trio tinged with surf rock, film noir, Tarantino and a bit of Miles Sketches Of Spain type stuff hoyed in for good measure. Far better than their Spotify material suggests.

Saw Parliamo debut in London last week at Hope n Anchor. A Perth, Scotland five piece. Very 60s and very wordy. A lairy Housemartins, Smiths, Pontoons, Undertones, Monkees, Las etc etc. Great running on the spot during instrumental breaks by the frontman mixed in with Curtisesque dancing. Their song “Sweet” is a stone classic. Only 19 watching including 3 from support band. Shame that, but there’ll be a lot more soon.

Hotel Lux tomorrow at The Waiting Room.

[elguapo4]

Fontaines DC are curating a gig supporting local homeless charity Focus Point tomorrow night in the Olympia theatre. I've seen them, the Murder Capital and Melts, the other bands are all new to me. Should be a good night out.

[elguapo4]

I was in two minds about whether or not to go to the gig above, I was tired yesterday morning, but I was glad I went. 7 bands for 40.00 euro and for a good cause, though there was an amazing amount of spectacularly drunk people there for a Tuesday night.

Every band had three songs, except for the Fontaines, who rattled through six of their crowd pleasers in the last half an hour. Melts were really good as usual, Just Mustard were someone I hadn't seen before, enjoyable Goth noisemakers but stupid name. Kneecap were the crowd favourites but left me cold, Beastie Boys tribute was all I took away from them.
Murder Capital are still the next big thing IMHO.

[Benjm]

Strong work, elguapo. I took the easy route and stayed on the sofa on Monday night.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I was in two minds about whether or not to go to the gig above, I was tired yesterday morning, but I was glad I went. 7 bands for 40.00 euro and for a good cause, though there was an amazing amount of spectacularly drunk people there for a Tuesday night.

Every band had three songs, except for the Fontaines, who rattled through six of their crowd pleasers in the last half an hour. Melts were really good as usual, Just Mustard were someone I hadn't seen before, enjoyable Goth noisemakers but stupid name. Kneecap were the crowd favourites but left me cold, Beastie Boys tribute was all I took away from them.
Murder Capital are still the next big thing IMHO.

Saw Murder Capital last month - I was in Glasgow for consecutive gig nights and was due to do a run on the Sunday morning but it got cancelled due to storm whatever it was that weekend, which opened the door for a few pints for a change. It was in QMU, a venue with one of the least efficient crowd distribution dynamics of any venue I've been to, so we battled through the densely populated part near the back and unintentionally ended up right at the front. Anyway all the circumstances combined to produce a great gig, really like how they go about things and allow a lot of space and poise in songs that lesser bands would just rattle through.

[Foot of Astaire's]

I went to see Embrace last Friday in the Victoria warehouse in Salford Quays. They've always been a band that could churn out crowd pleasing anthems but I'm afraid they're just not a very good live band. It's the 5th time I've seen them and to be honest I really should have come to this conclusion much sooner.

Each time there's been some sound problems but the atmosphere has won out. Not this time sadly, for half the gig it sounded like Les Dawson had rose again and was doing his best work with distorted speakers. I couldn't excuse them by blaming the acoustics as the support band, Starsailor, were excellent.

[MsD]

I've seen half of Starsailor do an intimate acoustic set and they were indeed excellent.

[scratchmonkey]

Saw The Melvins last month and it was great, very short set as it goes; however, no real dragging points and there's something to be said for a band doing a 10-song set with no encores and just going full-bore the entire time. Have tickets to Napalm Death and Sleaford Mods next month (not together, two separate gigs), hopefully the show(s) will go on.

[WOM]

Any reason for such a short set? Was it a dedicated ticketed event, or were they part of a larger lineup?

[WOM]

As an aside, we say Tyler Childers / Sturgill Simpson last week as a co-headlining sort of thing, and they both played full 90 minute sets. Sturgill might have run to two hours, actually.

[Sits]

As an aside, we say Tyler Childers / Sturgill Simpson last week as a co-headlining sort of thing, and they both played full 90 minute sets. Sturgill might have run to two hours, actually.

Did I comment last time you mentioned these dudes how epically Country their names are?

[WOM]

Oh, it was a very country affair, that's for sure. 99.8% white dudes. More beards than I thought possible. My wife treated herself to the famous 'Who the fuck is Sturgill Simpson?' T-shirt. Beer was sold right up until the last song.

[elguapo4]

My brothers birthday is at the end of the month. Paul Heaton and Jackie Abbott are playing here in April, I'm still not sure about getting him tickets, if it's cancelled it's a damp squib of a present.

[scratchmonkey]

Any reason for such a short set? Was it a dedicated ticketed event, or were they part of a larger lineup?

Three groups on the bill, so pretty typical line-up, I think that they're just old (King Buzzo's 55), and they recognize that they've only got so many high-octane minutes in them, so might as well go 100% for a short set (and they've played pretty much the exact same set on every stop this tour). I certainly wasn't disappointed.

[WOM]

Oh, I see. Yeah, if there was a three-act bill then a 10 song set wouldn't bother me. Not like when you'd spend a week's pay for Morrissey, get 45 minutes (with no Smiths material) and he's walk off.

[Benjm]

I went to see Sink Ya Teeth at Peckham Audio on Friday night, which looks like being my last show for a while.

On a first visit, the venue was impressive. Capacity is 200-250 at a guess. You enter on an upper level, which wraps round the room on three sides offering lots of vantage points for those who don't want to go down into the main standing area/dancefloor. There are plenty of access points to go up and down, reducing bunching in the crowd. One pillar breaks up the standing area but otherwise no impediments to sightlines. The full sized bar upstairs has a good selection of draught beers and there are a decent number of well kept toilets. These are unisex but with a couple of the cubicles marked as female priority. The sound was crisp and detailed on this showing.

SYT were on good form, ruefully acknowledging the circumstances. Their new album builds upon the first, pinching good bits from different electronic musics of the last 40 years but given a strong identity of their own, helped by Maria's distinctive vocals and stage presence. They follow the Sleaford Mods approach of travelling light to be able to get to shows on the train but with live bass, keys and percussion it definitely feels like a live performance rather than a PA.

Next up was to have been The Fallen Women's Mark E Smith tribute a week today but that is a now cancelled/indefinitely postponed.

[MsD]

Glad it went well for SYT. Was invited but found the Peckham bit a step too far. I went once in my 30s <shudder>. Nothing personal to Peckham, but it's a long trek from fabulous Hackney.
Really hope to get to see them when everything returns to normal.

I was going to go to TFW as well, but yeh. We can wait, I guess.

[Benjm]

I was going to go to TFW as well, but yeh. We can wait, I guess.

I'm glad I went to SYT but with the way the external environment has developed, even over the weekend, postponing TFW feels like the right call.