Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Big Gig Thread 2017

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    I've never been to a concert at Pizza Express. Not that it's a burning issue for non jazz fans, but the idea seems a bit odd, even though it has always been a big part of the Soho branch's identity. They are doing live music across more locations than they used to, so it must be popular enough to warrant that.

    Comment


      You can add Martial Canterel to my list as well, now! October 28th at The Waiting Room, in Stoke Newington. Only £8 via the (booking-fee-less) Dice app, too! (Makes me wonder if he's going to do without a support act, at that price, though!)
      Last edited by evilC; 18-09-2017, 18:48.

      Comment


        Artist: Jaret Reddick (Bowling for Soup frontman on a solo acoustic tour)
        Support: The Lounge Kittens
        Venue: Thekla, Bristol.

        First gig I've been to on a boat. Jaret talked about the stories behind the songs and about his anxiety and depression. It was a fun but serious set and he announced that BFS plan to tour again next year.

        The Lounge Kittens were ace. Three very talented vocalists doing a wide variety of cover versions accompanied only by a piano. The Slipknot cover was unexpected. I bought their CD afterwards.

        Comment


          Artist: Yes
          Support: None
          Venue: Massey Hall, Toronto
          First time seeing.

          Just stellar. Fantastic prog with all the twiddling, solo'ing, keyboarding and wizzard's capes that you'd expect.
          Me: 9/10
          Mrs WOM: 5/10



          Artist: Alison Moyet
          Support: Some twee fucking folkie asshole that kept asking the crowd to ssshhhhhh.
          Venue: Danforth Music Hall, Toronto
          First time seeing.

          Beautiful woman in beautiful voice. Lovely presence on stage and with the crowd. Yazoo hits and solo selections alike, with much from the decent new album.
          Me: 9/10
          Mrs WOM: 9/10


          Artist: Steve Earle and The Dukes
          Support: The Mastersons
          Venue: Academy Theatre, Lindsay
          Fifth time seeing.

          Man, does he rock a room. Engaging banter, killer songs, tight band. Excellent selection of hits and deeper cuts. Probably the best gig of his we've seen.

          Me: 9/10 (didn't play 21st Century Blues)
          Mrs WOM: 9/10 (rednecks, rubes and request-shouters were really getting on her nerves)

          Comment


            It would be good if they really were Wizzard's capes. Also WOM - it seems like you are a really soft scorer - you could get a job at Q.

            Comment


              Originally posted by caja-dglh View Post
              It would be good if they really were Wizzard's capes. Also WOM - it seems like you are a really soft scorer - you could get a job at Q.
              True enough. I rarely have a bad time at shows or think 'that was crap'. Our more-true indicator is usually 'would you see them again'? Much as I enjoyed it (and I really did), I don't really need to see Yes again, nor Allison Moyet.

              We'll see Earle again for sure. Same with, say, Elvis Costello and Lyle Lovett and Springsteen and a fair number of others. You're dying to see what else they'll do on a different night. I'm pretty sure once you've seen Gary Numan, you've pretty much seen Gary Numan.

              Comment


                Originally posted by WOM View Post
                ...I'm pretty sure once you've seen Gary Numan, you've pretty much seen Gary Numan.
                That was once true ...and just about is, once again.

                The thing was, in the middle, he went through an amazing phase when he ditched the 'funky' stuff from the late 80s and instead (perhaps on advice from other parties) started mining his back catalogue. This started with the tour following the 'Exhibition' compilation, which covered his Baggars Banquet career. Anyway... me and my mates turned up to the Guildford gig, expecting what had become 'the usual crap' from the 'I, Assassin', 'Warriors' and 'Berserker' tours and instead, we were treated to an almost fantasy set of loads of old Tubeway Army tracks: 'Jo The Waiter', 'My Shadow In Vain', 'Friends' and loads more early stuff - it was fantastic! We were blown away and just couldn't stop grinning! Numan himself seemed entirely different from his previous tours, too: really relaxed and chatty - even cracking up mid-song on 'Friends' when he couldn't remember the lyrics! It was lovely to see.

                However, these days, despite having been 're-evaluated' and found more fans in the 'alternative' crowds, sadly it means his shows have again become more formulaic as a result. Nowadays the emphasis is firmly on the 'rock' side of things, complete with walls of guitar, posturing with said instrument, leather pants, lighters-in-the-air sections - all the cliches, basically. As a guitarist, he always was a bit of a rocker at heart - it just remained latent through the synth-heavy years. He's very much part of the 'alt-rock establishment', these days - a term which might seem contradictory, but sadly isn't. The rebellious youths out to shock a decade or two ago soon become the myopic conformists who won't entertain much other than straight-up rock trappings, perhaps adorned with however much eyeliner is currently fashionable.

                So on the one hand Numan was way ahead of his time. Though he wasn't an innovator per se, he brought electronic pop (and rock) to the masses as other contemporaries had failed to do and, as such, you could say that without him there would be no Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson or IAMX. On the other hand, he is sadly becoming bogged down in cliche again ...and I can't see him moving on from the current format before he retires (which is probably only about 10 years away).

                So (and this is a general public service announcement) if you've never seen him before, by all means go - you'll probably enjoy it and be surprised at how much he and his band rock out. But a lot of the people I know locally who go and see him now are exactly the same people telling me that he was shit and "not real music" before they accidentally caught his performance at some festival or other. But it was that 'not-real-music-ness' that made him attractive to me in the first place! So, once again, I no longer go to see him - 18 times is enough! :-)

                Comment


                  Jeebus, Clive. 18? Nah, we saw him do Pleasure Principle in its entirely maybe two years ago, and I'm happy with that. It was a great show, but really heavy with the guitars and drums and whatnot. I'm satisfied to leave it at the one, though.

                  I saw the Go Gos last year, too. Tons of funs, but once is fine. Same with a lot of bands, I guess.

                  I'd see Adam Ant again, but I'm not sure I'd persuade my missus.

                  Comment


                    18 Numan gigs costs less than seeing Bruce 3 times I would wager.

                    Comment


                      Christ, I'm sure I've paid for at least one of his horses.

                      Comment


                        LCD Soundsystem were incredible at Glasgow Barrowlands last night, with the tunes and atmosphere building to an absolutely euphoric crescendo towards the end. New tunes sat comfortably alongside new, and the two hour set seemed to go past in a flash. Looks like they are back in a big way and can see them playing big venues and festival slots next year, but I'm glad I got to see them at Barrowlands, perfect setting.

                        Comment


                          Has the Barras (ballroom, I’d imagine they’ll be trying to wind down rather than tart up the market with raids and trading standards so they can move more beards in, what with fucking Brewdog starting a thing round there) been refurbed at all, or is it still that sticky floored crumbling shabby beautiful mess?
                          Last edited by Lang Spoon; 21-09-2017, 19:35.

                          Comment


                            Originally posted by Lang Spoon View Post
                            Has the Barras (ballroom, I’d imagine they’ll be trying to wind down rather than tart up the market with raids and trading standards so they can move more beards in, what with fucking Brewdog starting a thing round there) been refurbed at all, or is it still that sticky floored crumbling shabby beautiful mess?
                            Still frozen in time - whenever it was that you were last there, it still looks like that. The only thing that changes is the array of posters on the stairs advertising forthcoming gigs (usually at other venues). It also smells the same, particularly the middle floor where the toilets smell like a football ground bogs and the tshirts on sale at the mercy table absorb the smell of onions from the burger stand.

                            It's brilliant and one of the few big city venues of that size and type not to have been swallowed up the Academy group, but the longer it goes on, the more likely it is to have to be taken over and refurbed, or just closed altogether, so i like going there while I can before either of those things happen.

                            Comment


                              Last night I went to see Saint Etienne on their last ever US Tour. Opening night here in Somerville. The club has only in teh past month or so started to put on 'rock' gigs. It's more a local arts resource center, My daughter played on the same stage during her rock star camp one summer. The sound system was small and the mix was not great.
                              Crowd was a sell out - all of 375 persons. Audience most definitely 90% gay, with straight old farts like me making up the other 10%.

                              Set was full of the classics and about 5 tracks off the new Home Counties LP. Sarah's voice was a bit ropey on a couple... with the ever ace Debsey Wykes ex-Birdie/Dolly Mixture picking up the slack. They had just flown in from the UK late the night before, it was 92f and incredibly humid during the day and the hall had no a/c, so I cut 'em some slack.

                              Anyways - highlight was grabbing them for a chat after the gig. I've been hoping/waiting for a long time to chat with Mr Stanley about record collecting and non league football. And of course, I was starstruck to stand alongside Crackers. We even got to talk about an old OTF'er of this parish.

                              The version of Hug My Soul was tremendous though and at that point at the end of the gig I felt like I had something stuck in my eye...

                              Comment


                                The Horrors were pretty damn good, last Friday evening. It was my first time seeing them, so I haven't got anything to compare that performance to, but they seemed pretty relaxed - none too intense. Although I love these early shows at Rough Trade East (for the price of an album) it has to be said that it's not the most atmospheric of venues. Damned convenient, though - I was able to have a pint-and-a-half in The Pride Of Spitalfields first! :-)

                                Next up is Marie Davidson + Not Waving, at Moth Club, on Wednesday.

                                Comment


                                  Rod Liddle gives opinion on LCD Soundsystem, LCD Soundsystem give opinion on Rod Liddle

                                  Comment


                                    Having not been to a gig either big nor small for a very long time I now find myself in the situation of four in four weeks with Placebo, Cud, The Wedding Present and Bananarama all lined up.

                                    Oh and some ballet to squeeze in too.

                                    Comment


                                      Saw Sparks play their second date at Shepherd's Bush Empire last night. Pre-gig drinks at the Defectors Weld and their overpriced beer. Seems all the pubs round the venue are now gastropubs or hip places like Brewdog. The O'Neill's next to the Empire has gone since I was last there. Anyway, Sparks were awesome as expected. Career spanning set list, as well as half a dozen or so from the new album. 'Nicotina' and 'When I'm With You' were thrown into the set at expense of 'Angst in my Pants' and 'Dick Around' (shame). However, always a joy to see the brothers Mael.

                                      Comment


                                        Awesome, RobW! I considered coming up for this (or one of the dates, anyway). But when the far more economical Rough Trade East event cropped up, I decided to put my monetary eggs in that basket. The new album is a cracker, though. The only problem now is that even if they played a gig that was 3 x 1-hour sessions, with breaks in between, they still wouldn't be able to include all their good stuff, such is the quality of their back catalogue.

                                        Comment


                                          Just thought I would throw this in here: tickets for Maroon 5 on 30th December in Las Vegas, START at $425.

                                          Comment


                                            Having seen Marie Davidson on Wednesday (who was superb, by the way), last night I bought a ticket to see another one of her projects, Essaie Pas at The Pickle Factory on the 23rd of November (my birthday, which is nice!)

                                            Comment


                                              Originally posted by Gerontophile View Post
                                              Just thought I would throw this in here: tickets for Maroon 5 on 30th December in Las Vegas, START at $425.
                                              Blimey. How big is the venue? Public Enemy did something over here last year where tickets were something stupid like £150 but the venue only held 200 people so the idea must have been to milk the serious fans with the promise of an up close experience.

                                              Comment


                                                I think it's the 12,000 seater at Mandalay Bay casino. They are playing the next night (NYE) too, and I imagine they will throw another $50 on, just for shits and giggles.

                                                The 30th is sold out.

                                                Comment


                                                  Ignore my last two posts: I must be seeing things. $125 for the 31st (cheap seats).

                                                  I must have got on to the executive package page or something. (I am so tired.)

                                                  Comment


                                                    That's significantly less insane, while still coming in around $124.50 higher than the 5 could legitimately charge on merit.

                                                    Hope a decent snooze is on the agenda, meanwhile.

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X