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The Big Gig Thread 2017

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    #51
    The Big Gig Thread 2017

    Cor. To all the Rammstein stuff.

    I went to Barcelona to see Kraftwerk a few years ago, so that worked out at about £500? I went first class, which was stupid, but I did get Seat 1A while Todj Terrji or however you spell it was in 1B or something.

    I currently have a dilemma, as I neglected to buy a ticket for Adam Ant at the Royal Albert Hall in May. Now, I love Adam, and I love the Albert Hall, and it's sort of a milestone, for him to play it.

    The only tickets left are VIP at about £220. You get drinks and canapes and seats near the stage.

    The last couple of Adam gigs, I've got in free, in fact in Brixton I ended up with a two spares, but I can't rely on guest list.

    I think what I'll do is
    a) if I get a well paid gig between then and now, I'll buy the VIP pass.
    b) failing that, I'll hope for a guest pass but not rely on one, and keep my eyes out for people selling ordinary tickets if they can't go.

    If I can't get in - oh well. I'll meet my friends afterwards and be glad that he got to play the RAH.

    After reading the Metallica prices, the VIP price seems a bit of a bargain but it's not a meet and greet. (I'd feel stupid having a meet and greet with someone who knows who I am and once crept up behind me at a cashpoint, anyway.)

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      #52
      The Big Gig Thread 2017

      It's worth keeping an eye out for returns/later release tickets on the RAH site as well: that's where my Kraftwerk (and last year's Iggy Pop and New Order) tickets came from. Stalls/arena stuff comes up too, not just boxes released by debenture holders.

      I was going to see The Band Of Holy Joy that night, supporting the Doctors Of Mystery, but it has been moved forward by 24 hours. Something to do with the as yet undisclosed venue. At my time of life, I'd prefer an address to Secret Squirrel shenanigans, tbh.

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        #53
        The Big Gig Thread 2017

        Yeh, secret venues are never that exciting IME.

        After chatting to people I'm quite confidentI can picke up a normal ticket for the RAH. Ta, Benjm.

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          #54
          The Big Gig Thread 2017

          Just picked up two tickets to Alison Moyet in September, strictly on principle.

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            #55
            The Big Gig Thread 2017

            Don't go.

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              #56
              The Big Gig Thread 2017

              The amount of times we've been sworn to secrecy* about some old shitty gig-or-other is astounding, and anytime you see 'PLUS SURPRISE GUESTS!' It'll be BiffyFuckingClyro.
              Guaranteed.

              I once had to attend a 'production meeting' for a comeback show featuring a washed-up former Irish boy-band member. They were there to give me the frequencies for his radio mic receivers. I'm not sure if they wanted me to clear it with MI5, air traffic control, or the local cab company.
              So, on the day, our star complains he can't hear the monitors. The monitor guy walks out from behind his desk, gives me that Jesus -help me look, and removes our hero's hoodie hood.
              'Ah, that's better'

              *staring at the stupid clipboarded lackey with barely disguised hatred without answering while trying with every fibre of your being not to attack them with the nearest blunt instrument.

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                #57
                The Big Gig Thread 2017

                A slight postscript to my rant about the Blancmange ticket prices, above: Blancmange are actually joining Heaven 17 on many of the dates of their tour, this Autumn. And the ticket prices? Almost the same as Blancmange on their own. Go - as they say - figure.

                (It seems they're becoming a regular pairing, on tour. I saw them together, a few years back, at The Garage, in Islington. I think they were about £15, that night - and well worth it, for the pair of them, I have to say.)

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                  #58
                  The Big Gig Thread 2017

                  Went to see Sun Ra Arkestra at the Bimhuis last Friday, probably my first serious jazz experience in life. Dead good. Marshall Allen is bloody 92 years old and has more air in his lungs than I have now. Also, I'd never seen an Electronic Valve Instrument in use before, or even known of their existence. Madness. In keeping with OTF gig review format: I'd drank a couple of beers and smoked some very nice hash with the chic Italians from university who convinced me to attend.

                  In the future:

                  Tonight I'm going to see Swans at the Paradiso. Never been a huge fan of the records, but they seem the kind of thing that would make a lot more sense at incredibly loud volumes. Also, a lady I am shamefully and embarrassingly taken with saw them lately and give a good review.

                  9th of April The Theatre of Eternal Music Brass Ensemble are going to be playing some of The Second Dream Of The High Tension Line Stepdown Transformer as part of the World Minimal Music Festival at the Muziekgebouw. I am going to be there and I am going to be off my nut.

                  Then a big long pause of apparent nothingness until September, when I shall be taking myself off to Utrecht to see Bohren and the Club of Gore.

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                    #59
                    The Big Gig Thread 2017

                    dogbeak wrote: Tonight I'm going to see Swans at the Paradiso
                    That was really good, really intense, and made absolute mincemeat of my ears and brain. A+ would stand inside a gigantic pulsing mass of noise again.

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                      #60
                      The Big Gig Thread 2017

                      I got a tech spec from a promoter looking to put that lot on at our place.
                      The levels they wish to assault your eardrums at are laughable. They advise ear plugs for the audience and crucially, the staff. It's one thing to want to buy a ticket knowing you're about to have your health risked, but workers don't need that shit.
                      We passed.
                      Well, how about this - turn it down a few notches and we'll all do without the ear protection?*
                      In their defence, though, they made their intentions very clear.

                      * yeah, yeah, I'm too old and will be missing a sonic experience.
                      Guess I'll just have to live with it.

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                        #61
                        The Big Gig Thread 2017

                        What's remarkable is that none of the band appeareed to be wearing any sort of protection. I justified not bothering on account of how rarely I expose myself to such volumes these days, these lads must be fucked.

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                          #62
                          The Big Gig Thread 2017

                          They state that they ain't obeying no bitch-ass house or local noise limit legislation and the notes to house monitor engineers are just hilarious.
                          The noise from their backline alone exceeds any sensible or legal levels before it goes through the mangler.
                          It's about clarity, man.
                          Loud can be good and makes sense for certain genres, but pain and irreparable damage ain't. Ever.

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                            #63
                            The Big Gig Thread 2017

                            I shan't argue with any of that.

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                              #64
                              The Big Gig Thread 2017

                              You can't hear yourself think. It's the tinnitus.

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                                #65
                                The Big Gig Thread 2017

                                Yeah, I have hissy tinnitus. A good reminder to pack earplugs tonight although the venue does have some.

                                I'm going to see The Cavemen and The Jackets at the Finsbury Tavern tonight. Have seen the Cavemen before and they're great, very energetic.

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                                  #66
                                  The Big Gig Thread 2017

                                  Swans have been doing that for decades now. It is their MO, like how Sunn O))))) try and make you crap your pants through bass frequencies.

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                                    #67
                                    The Big Gig Thread 2017

                                    The only two times I saw Swans, it was at the Astoria 2 in Charing Cross Road, and the volume there wasn't actually too high. I took earplugs, having heard all the tales*, but I ended up taking them out halfway through each gig.

                                    (One 'urban myth' rumour went like this: In a quiet moment between songs during the soundcheck at the Windsor Old Trout(?), a member of security was walking across the main floor space when someone on stage switched some piece of equipment on (or similar) and the resultant 'pop' through the PA was so loud that it made him fall over, semi-concussed.)

                                    FWIW, I liked their 'mid-period stuff' from 'The Burning World' through to 'Swans Are Dead'. This was their loudest phase, I think, but sadly I never saw them during it.)

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                                      #68
                                      The Big Gig Thread 2017

                                      I saw the Zombies' Odessey and Oracle tour last weekend, it was really good. The lineup was solid, featuring Animals/Kinks' bassist Jim Rodford, and Paul Atkinson being the only member who is no longer with us. Earlier in the tour singer Blunstone was very ill and the tour was on the verge of getting cancelled, so you have to appreciate the physical challenge for a group of septuagenarians undertaking a transatlantic rock tour. It's practcally the last call for the great generation that started it all over 50 years ago.

                                      The crowd was majority boomers, with a scattering of Xs,Ys and millenials. I had some good conversations with Expo 67 vets.

                                      It was a privilege seeing the band play in a relatively small venue. Rod Argent is a great keyboardist and a very convivial host who took a lot of pleasure leading through the band's repertoire, including the full Odessey [sic] album, almost down to the note. They had good backing and were somewhat able to recreate the elaborate studio sound of the album with a digital Mellotron and a portable wood organ. The album is underrated IMHO relative to Sgt. Pepper and other contemporaries.

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                                        #69
                                        The Big Gig Thread 2017

                                        Got tickets to see Midnight Oil in London in July.

                                        Never thought I'd get the chance to see them again. The only time I've seen them previously was in 1994 so it will be a 23 year gap between gigs. (Well 22 years and 11 months)

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                                          #70
                                          The Big Gig Thread 2017

                                          I bought ticket for this seconds after it was announced. Two of my favourite bands (Vile Electrodes and Battery Operated Orchestra) on the same bill (for only £8) and a day or two at the seaside too. There's a kind of mini synth expo as part of the day too. Right up my street.

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                                            #71
                                            The Big Gig Thread 2017

                                            Went to see Run The Jewels at the Melkweg on Wednesday. Dead good, crammed to the rafters and sweaty, loads of fun, and their already excellent stage presence has come on loads since we saw 'em a couple of years back in an abandoned railway yard in Tilburg.

                                            Had been drinking all day, so we stood upon the balcony like a pair of auld buggers.

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                                              #72
                                              The Big Gig Thread 2017

                                              Saw The Can Project last night. Irmin Schmidt's LSO thing was pleasant enough, but the Thurston Moore band + Malcolm Mooney show was a bit of an abomination, tbh. There aren't many drummers who could fill Jaki Liberzeit's boots, but Steve Shelley isn't even fit to lick them. Good call by Damo Suzuki to keep on doing his own network stuff and steer clear of this nonsense. Sad to hear Holger Czukay is unwell at the moment, too.

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                                                #73
                                                The Big Gig Thread 2017

                                                Have forgotten to post on here, partly due to being discombobulated as to whether there was a "Small Gig Thread 2017" or this was a conflation of the two and having seen mainly a combination of my band and other bands that I have reviewed here loads. Anyway, I have seen a crop of bands that - bar one - topically fit into the tinnitus causing category that we have been talking about.

                                                On Friday, went to see The Forgetting Curve who were an interesting cross between a sort of Minutemen/Shellac post-hardcore sounds mixed with angular surf-style instrumentals. They were followed by Megabats who were more of a Quicksand/Refused/Groop Dogdrill offering. During The Forgetting Curve, I realised I had forgotten my earplugs which, due to my tinnitus, I am increasingly finding essential. Therefore, I was moving further and further back in the venue. By the time the aptly-named Deaf Horse, who I have seen before, came on, I was in the back bar where I couldn't even see the band but I could hear them quite clearly. To be honest, the latter two bands were not the most entertaining visually so I wasn't missing much. Great big riff-fest but I did wonder whether it was one of those areas where you point out the difference between, say, Slayer and Sepultura to people that don't listen to death metal and they give you that look like a dog being shown a card trick.

                                                Last night, I say my guitarist's other band, the Deltics. Completely different kettle of fish. 60's covers or originals that sound like 60s covers. I have to admit I wasn't quite sure which was which half of the time. Nice bit of Lee Brilleaux-esque harmonica on a fair few songs. In contrast to the night before, the volume was low enough that one could hold a conversation but that did mean that attention wandered on occasion through the two sets that they did. Great version of "125" and a fair few others though.

                                                A late mention of Hatepenny who I saw in January who I will lazily compare to the three bands that I mention in my first paragraph. More lazily, Shellac but fairly enjoyably so.

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                                                  #74
                                                  The Big Gig Thread 2017

                                                  I wasn't quite sure what to expect but tribute act Absolute Bowie were very entertaining at Nell's Jazz & Blues in West Kensington last night. There was the odd slightly preposterous moment but those were easily outweighed by good sound, an impressive attention to detail and obvious love for the man himself. More seasoned Bowie aficionados than me seemed convinced. The set was the big hits from the seventies through to the singles off Let's Dance - apparently they do a 1985-2015 set too, but that might be more for the hardcore DB heads. I saw 'David' still in costume but without hair on the way out, which was quite disorientating. The venue was pretty comfortable, in a swish '80s wine bar kind of way. Van Morrison occasionally plays there but makes up for the small capacity (300?) by charging something silly like £175 per ticket.

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                                                    #75
                                                    The Big Gig Thread 2017

                                                    A rare venture to a gig for me last Sunday, British Sea Power at the Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh.

                                                    10pm curfew meant a slightly shorter set than earlier tour dates, but still an excellent night - most of the new album had an airing, with 'What you're doing', 'Praise for whatever' and 'Saint Jerome' being particular highlights. Some old favourites scattered throughout the set, with the closers in the main set being 'Waving Flags' and the rapturously received 'The Great Skua'.

                                                    The encore saw the band all change into silver suits, which must have been hot as hell - though not as hot as being inside the bear costumes, as both Ursine Ultra and Bi-Polar bear made an appearance to lumber/dance through the packed crowd.

                                                    Thoroughly enjoyable night out, the band were really tight and bar a couple of rather muddy slowies, the sound was excellent. No dickheads either, which was a bonus. The early finish also allowed a couple of swift pints in the Malt Shovel on the way back to the hotel.

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