2024 On The Floor: The Gig Thread

[RobW]

Was supposed to see The Homesick last night at the Lexington but a combination of feeling knackered, the relentless rain and cold, plus the fact that they probably wouldn't be on until 9.30 at earliest and I had to then get back to SE19 put me off. Neither of the support acts seemed great tbh on first listen. Anyway, to make up for that, i've bought tickets for both the matinee and evening performances by Caitlin Rose at Moth Club in May. Woooo!

[scratchmonkey]

Went and saw Hauschka at the Chapel in SF last night. For those not familiar, it's one German fella who does prepared piano pieces. Really good show, it was seated, we were in the second row right next to the side of the stage where he was playing. He basically did one continuous set with no breaks between pieces. Favorite bit was at the end where he dumped all the stuff from inside the piano onto the stage, left, then came back to do an encore where he prepared the strings with a half-dozen or so giant strips of gaffer tape. Went to the merch table to pick up an LP and he just sidled into my peripheral vision with a giant sharpie and asked if I wanted it signed. Lovely evening.

[Foot of Astaire's]

OMD at the Manchester Apollo last Friday. Still a great live band. My mate was a bit stunned at the bar bill. 3 of those double pints and a single pint. £55!

[RobW]

Thee Alcoholics, The Breedling and Louse at Moor Beer Company, Bermondsey. So, having seen the review in the The Quietus and listened to their last 2 albums, I bought a ticket for Thee Alcoholics and roped my colleague Phil into joining me. Turned out to be good evening with a load of beer drank at three different venues. Started off by having a couple of pints the Southwark Brewing Company taproom, whilst they prepared for their quiz night. On arrival at the venue, we noticed that there was still 30 minutes before the first act was on, so we went next door to a Dutch taproom. Weird interior, with a majority of 'famous' British characters, both real and fictional, depicted as birds (Ali G, Churchill, The Beatles, Mr. Bean, Lou and Andy from "Little Britain"). Had a very strong and expensive half pint of something there before going back to Moor Beer Company. Good range of draught beers and we didn't quite try them all.
Louse were on first and they were good, aside from the constant feedback - fortunately I wore my earplugs for them. Don't recall much about The Breedling, which I think was just a guy behind his laptop.
In fact, given the amount of beer that was now being swilled, I don't remember much about the music at all, only that it was largely enjoyable and I had a very nice evening. Phil bought me a couple of cans of red ale for the weekend, which were very nice indeed. It was a rare visit to that part of South London, but certainly grounds to do a massive bar crawl sometime in the future.

[Benjm]

I went to see CMAT at the Bush Hall on Friday. It was a good opportunity to see her in a small venue; her next London show is at the Forum and sold out six months in advance and her summer engagements are mostly on the festival circuit. This was a charity show for War Child. CMAT is brilliant; memorable country tinged pop songs, great voice, onstage charisma and rapport with the crowd, who in turn love her and were well up for it. Hugely enjoyable all round.

[Disco Child Ballads]

Just booked to see Nadine Shah at the Kentish Town Forum in November. She was great when I saw her support Suede a few years ago so it should be a good night.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I first saw Poppy on the final day of a pre Covid Leeds festival, when I was fairly strung out after three days on the drink jarring into remaining sober on the last day so that I could drive our group home at the end of the evening, daughter's tent having flooded overnight on the Saturday and not up to a further night on the campsite.

Against this backdrop, if something had later explained that I'd hallucinated Britney Spears singing bubblegum pop, fronting a black metal band who all looked like Marilyn Manson, it would have been a rational explanation, but it was pretty much what happened, except it wasn't really Britney Spears, but someone who clearly knew who she was.

Fast forward a year or so and I bought a ticket to see her on her own tour. This was one of the first few of my gigs that got cancelled, a few days beforehand. And four years, several venue changes and an on-the-day cancellation later, I finally got to see the gig that I'd basically paid for nearly five years ago (although I had seen her again at Leeds festival in between)

She has evolved her sound a bit, so that she occasionally fits four genres into a song rather than just three, and has lost a bit of the shock value that she first had, but it was still the right amount of trashy fun.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

A week or so later we were back at the Barrowlands for an incredibly busy Slowdive gig. We had tickets for their sold out show at QMU last autumn but something got in the way, and then even before that date they announced another tour of bigger venues, so I sold the originals in Twitter and bought for the Barrowlands.

I've no idea how Slowdive have come back so strongly, and how they are on such an upwards curve now (they are headlining End of the Road this year). The crowd skewed surprisingly young for a band of that vintage, and daughter just shrugged it off as being due to yoofs like her just stumbling across them, although in a later conversation son reckoned they are popular on the Tickety Tok.

They were fine, the set lacked peaks and troughs and instead simmered away, without blowing anyone away.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

In contrast, Fever Ray didn't bother with the simmer and instead shoved you headfirst into the pan. I'd seen this show twice at festivals last summer, both times right down the front. Daughter joined me the first time but was too traumatised from being stared at up close by Karin Dreijer to want to join me the second time, and so I didn't buy her a ticket for this one either.

A Friday night in Manchester, 12 quid to park the car and its at Albert Hall, a venue with a bar-to-toilet distance that wouldn't be out of place in a more extreme branch of Wetherspoons.

I watched the first hour from down the front, then retreated, missing an entire song nipping to the toilet before taking a position at the back next to a stag do where the stag was dressed as a Roman gladiator.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Finally for now, I don't often go to gigs purely for the support, but having missed Deafheaven on their hsadline tour last year, i made the effort to go to Glasgow to see then supporting Knocked Loose.

Son and his girlfriend travelled separately as they were staying over, but they managed to find me in the dark corners of the atmospheric but very awkwardly configured SWG3.

Deafheaven were epic as usual, the crowd surfers got a decent warm up ahead of their main event and I was happy enough with my evening's entertainment but stayed for the headliners until their songs got a bit too samey and I beat the rush out and got home at a sensible hour.

And that's me done for a few weeks due to a shockingly music free holiday.

[Sits]

Daughter's bf has come through again. Air playing Moon Safari at the Opera Hpuse! In May.

[MsD]

Copying what I’ve just posted on FB:

I enjoyed the Tricky gig last night. We only caught glimpses of him (hence the hasty photo here) as he played mostly with the stage in total darkness with a few strobes (on the mighty Black Steel, for one).

Personally - I was happy, Maxinquaye was one of the albums that made the 90s for me. If he wants to play without a spotlight on him, fair enough. Maybe he could do a Dave Berry* and hide behind a curtain next time.
*Ant fans may know what I’m referring to.

The vocals were mostly beautifully delivered by a Martina soundalike female singer, didn’t note her name, sorry.

A lot of the audience left during what turned out to be an interval.

He’s gone AWOL during gigs before so I was just happy he turned up and played those familiar, beautiful songs as well as loads from most recent albums.

[Toby Gymshorts]

We now can't make the Pharcyde gig this evening, so if anyone wants to take the tickets off my hands speak quickly before I attempt to resell through Ticketmaster. Paid £40 each plus fees (IIRC) but will accept £30 each. Obviously this is a time-limited offer.

EDIT: actually it was £32.50 each but fees brought it to over £80 for the two, in the spirit of full disclosure.

[Jobi1]

I think we all have one or two acts that we absolutely adore and can't really understand how they're not selling out big arenas, don't we? One of mine is Marika Hackman, and last night she was not quite even selling out the incredibly modest sized Wardrobe in Leeds.

Support came from an exceptionally talented solo singer/songwriter called Nadia Kadek, incredible voice and really beautiful tunes. She was endearingly thrilled to be playing having studied at the Conservatoire over the road and always dreamed of getting a gig at the Wardrobe, and she went down a storm with the crowd. Next was Gia Ford, with her band, borderline glam but pretty entertaining.

And then dear Marika. She started with the opening couple of numbers from her new album, but then toddled off on a grand tour of her back catalogue, including the deliciously sludgy cover of 'I Follow Rivers' that was on one of her earliest EPs, this being only the second time she's actually played it live. There was a mesmerising solo section in the middle, taking me back to previous gigs – she's not actually toured with a full band all that often, and indeed this was only my second time in 10 years seeing her with backing. After the solo interlude they really cranked it up too, the guitarist particularly deploying a full arsenal of effects to twist a few old favourites into interesting new forms. Wonderful set, wonderful performance.

Wonderful crowd too – one of the most LGBTQ+ (heavy emphasis on the L) that I've been in, and I think the first time I can recall seeing some standing in the middle of a packed gig crowd reading a book between the acts. The collective were so supportive and enthusiastic too – there was one point where Marika was so taken aback by the volume of cheering that she looked round and asked "What happened?!" Best of all there were barely any talkers – even a group who came in and stood near me who I reckon had probably been in the pub since work, which had me a little concerned, were mostly just reduced to mumbling "Wow!" to each other. I was in that classic solo gig goer's predicament of having secured a really good spot so not wanting to vacate it to go to the bar or bog, so I stayed put all night, but to be honest everyone was so polite I'm sure they would have let me claim it back.

[MsD]

I went to see Sam Morton play her first actual gig last night. She sang at Below Stone Nest, a cellar club on Shaftesbury Avenue.

She’s sung on dance tracks back in the day so not entirely new. Having heard tracks from the album, I thought it might be a bit/emo-drippy, but her voice is gorgeous amplified and backed by some beats. Really loved it. She was warmed up and dancing after the first few songs.

Had she started this earlier maybe she wouldn’t have bothered with the old acting lark (joke).

[Exiled off Main Street]

Went to see Arlo Parks in Boston last night. She had cancelled her last gig here a few nights beforehand, so the crowd was eager...

If you are familiar with her output you can understand that the show is pretty much one paced with a couple of up tempo numbers, but aside from that it moves along at the same melodic pace. I happen to like her voice a lot, your mileage may vary. The crowd was young, overwhelmingly female and knew all the words. Support act was a nervous young woman called Chloe George who's songs were pretty, but unmemorable. Although I gather (from the young girl stood next to me) that she came to prominence via Tik-Tok. All in all a very enjoyable evening.

............

[HeavyDracula]

IMG_3882.jpg IMG_3878.jpg IMG_3881.jpg Fifth gig of the year last night and a first visit to the Firebug in Leicester to see an old teenage favourite in Acid Reign. I saw them twice in 1989/90 but they faded from my consciousness over the intervening years; getting back in touch with my teenage best friend means going over plenty of old ground.

The Firebug is a simple “room above a pub” set-up, and I really liked the vibe of the pub itself, as well as the compact gig space upstairs. Support came from local grindcore outfit Nagasaki Birth Defect - who were loud and fast and aces - and London thrash band Imperium, who got better the less they sounded like a Metallica cover band.

There’s only one original member left from Acid Reign’s heyday, singer H. He’s still funny and energetic and the rest of the band - two old fellas and two youngsters - fit right in. For a minute I felt like I was 17 again, at least before the sheer volume started to make me feel a bit dizzy. I don’t listen to much metal any more but I remembered exactly why I loved this band 34 years ago and I’ll go and see them - and visit the Firebug - again.

[Patrick Thistle]

Tony Wright + support
The Metropole Theatre, Abertillery

Abertillery is almost the length of a valley away from the M4. Lovely reconditioned theatre venue. The standing section turned out to be cafe style seating with tables - possibly due to a lack of ticket sales. We were up in the balcony.

The two support acts were local musicians. They were alright. Tony, accompanied by Milly, seemed a bit tired. He broke two guitar strings during the set and they rattled through it then joked how they were finishing quicker than expected. Highlights for me were Buried Her Deeper (which would be one of my desert island discs) and a version of the Terrovision hit Tequila, played for laughs.

Afterwards we hung around and when he came out to sign stuff Mrs Thistle gave him some Easter Eggs. He seemed genuinely delighted.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Late decision to go to Pendulum at the Hydro in Easrer Sunday. They fall squarely into the category of "acts too big for the Academy but not really big enough for the Hydro", so I was able.to pick up a ticket below face value, and joined son and his girlfriend in the crowd on the floor. We weren't intending to be in the mosh, but the mosh came to us on several occasions as the stadium drum n bass whipped the crowd up into a bank holiday weekend frenzy, with several thousand pounds'"worth" of lager (at least that's what I hoped it was) launched into the air and hundreds of £1 cup deposits lost.

They do it all very well with a spectacular visual display, and it was worth the reduced ticket price. I did however nearly wreck my suspension on a deep pothole while giving son and his girlfriend a lift back to their hotel. I would have booked a room too, but chose to drive home as I had laminate flooring to finish off in the morning.

[Jobi1]

[oops, duplicate]

[Jobi1]

Probably about the most mainstream show I'll see this year tonight – Johnny Marr supported by Gaz Coombes. Coombes had brought his full band with him, which was brilliant after having seen him solo last year. Leaned heavily on the latest album, which is fine, because it's ace.

And then dear Johnny. You know what you're going to get with him – a selection of his best solo bits (although he didn't play my favourite song, 'Spiral Cities'), others that make you go "oh yeah, I forgot that was him!", and of course a few Smiths songs. I could take or leave the latter to be honest, although the incredible sing alongs for 'How Soon Is Now' and the closing 'There Is A Light...' were quite something, as always. He's just really bloody good, quite simply.

Surprisingly for Leeds on a Friday night, the crowd weren't complete bells either. Fantastic evening.

[caja-dglh]

I went to a gig last night! It was an impromptu “what is on Dice?” night of hardcore / screamcore at Sleeping Village.

Model Living opened. They have some good songs but they are really rather boring as a stage entity. They are pretty new so hopefully they will grow into that as they go along. The fun of hardcore bands is that they love to run songs into each other with a small shout (tonight “LAST SONG”).

exerucis were next. They certainly fulfilled the scream part. They are actually a really tight band - the guitarist is pretty excellent. I guess my lack of interest in scream metal when I was a kid (Pantera et al) carries on. I am not sure what end game they are all aiming for. They were good, though I am not sure what that means.

Ira Glass headlined. No, not *that* Ira Glass. A band that named themselves exactly after an NPR radio presenter. Because - the hilarity. I couldn’t have prepared myself for how much Ira Glass annoyed me in precisely the way a band named Ira Glass might. There was maybe 50-75 people in the venue. Maybe show some chops of a headline show? Nope - how about a whole added person doing a performance art thing involving building a washing line across the venue! All of which circus distracted me from working out if Ira Glass could be good. They weren’t awful. There was way too much uncontrolled feedback, especially after exerucis who had that whole game nailed down so tight.

Oh, they also had their mate with a saxophone doing some drones with their stuff. Sax + performance art + band name = VERY art school.

The best part was how the whole thing was super inclusionary. Many trans audience members, I think promoted by I.G. who’s guitarist I think is trans. That was a really fun, friendly vibe. I just wish the bands were a bit better but they are all very early days.

if you care, you can go to @sl33pingvillag3 on Instagram and see some small snippets, not filmed by me. The venue is an excellent midcentury modern bar with good beer and a venue on the back. I saw Yard Act there, but they definitely support the local scene.

[Toby Gymshorts]

I'm going to be that guy, but... Pantera were not scream metal. I'm not even sure what scream metal is, but if it's what I imagine it is, they weren't that.

Fronting on nowt, as usual.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Anyway, I have a ticket for Moving Pictures (a premier Rush tribute band, apparently) for November.

I expect to be surrounded by people like me, judging the act in exactly the same fashion.

[caja-dglh]

I'm going to be that guy, but... Pantera were not scream metal. I'm not even sure what scream metal is, but if it's what I imagine it is, they weren't that.

Fronting on nowt, as usual.

I kind of made scream metal up. But it is the spin off from that (I draw my line at Pantera, Sepultura might have been fairer)