Gigs.

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Arctic Monkeys last night in Southampton. I am not a fan of outdoor/big venues but daughter was so excited about the tour so I took one for the team. This gig didn't change my opinion of large outdoor gigs the queues for the female toilets were a sight to behold, pretty sure there would have been some accidents. Then the mens were closed which obviously didn't go down well with people holding 6 pints of Hollands best in their bladders. Then there was the queue for drinks, absolutlely ridiculous, how have they not worked this out yet. And then finally the pièce de résistance, the park and ride system. FFS! How many large sporting or music events does it take for someone to work out how to do it. Gig finished at 10.45ish and we were still in the ground after 12pm, sat in the car not moving at 1.30AM and eventually home at 2am, we live 15 miles away from the venue. Lesson learnt, book a park on my drive option in good time.

The gig itself, well, they were really good. I moved from the main crowd as my wife and I are short arses and magnets for 7ft vikings, daughter went down the front. Sound was really poor until I went to get a beer (I know, bad form during the set) and suddenly the sound became amazing from where I took the attached photo. Obviously the multiple layers of speakers all being in front of me made the difference so we took a back seat and enjoyed the sound and watched the screens. Great to hear some of the first album live for the first time (still the best IMHO) They got too big too quickly for me so I missed any smaller shows they did. A mate of mine saw them in the Wedgewood Rooms, for that I am insanely jealous. Weirdly bumped into said mates daughter at last nights gig 🙂

Wow, that was a lot of words, sorry. It's a bloody good job they were good, and the sound was good, as everything else supporting the show was shocking. Back to small venues for me but worth it for the smile on my daughters face when she eventually found us later on

Park and rides are just one of those things that they can cheap out and screw it up and there's rarely much backlash. I went to something at knebworth where it was mostly just a crowd control trick, the police were worried about people walking to the venue and blocking roads so they put on a half-assed bus service just for that, the queue was hours long so pretty much everyone that was in it, missed bands... Likewise toilets, you're already committed. T in the Park solved the latter by just having everyone piss everywhere all the time, it is almost beautiful watching people return to nature but I wish they'd stop doing it right up against the artisan pizza oven.

Bars and food at least they're normally incentivised since queues cost them money but I guess it's complicated maths, different crowd demographics will change demand loads, or whether there's parking, and the weather, and the nature of the mid-afternoon bands, I reckon if you could see in the offices whatever they've put on that's got huge crowds today, will have been total overkill at some other event that on paper looks teh same.

Booked PWEI and The Utah Saints in London in October. Very excited in a retro greebo kind of way.

Conversely for the Arctics in Sheffield last weekend the organisation was really good. Loads better than tramlines at the same venue. I parked a 20 minute walk away for free. 20 minutes after entering I had 2 pints in my hand (wife was driving).
Miraculously didn’t need a pee till the end and no queue then. Got food as everyone was leaving. Back at the car for 11.15 and home 10 minutes later. There were trams running and my daughter got one into town after to go to the leadmill (no trams during tramlines weekend- teh ironing)we were pretty much smack bang in the middle of the crowd and sound was great. Don’t think I need to see them again now, that experience can’t be topped…

Ears have now stopped ringing from the Placebo gig. I think they were channeling Motorhead for loudness, there also seemed to be an inordinate amount of distortion from the rig which added to the charm but rather spoiled the music from the new-ish album as the studio recording is rather well done.

The support (Cruel Hearts Club) are worth keeping an eye on too (a nod the DezB there).

Unknown mortal orchestra at the Albert hall Manchester last night with my lad and his girlfriend, her parents, sibling and sibling’s boyfriend. Top night. Lovely venue. My god it was hot in there though! Also weird with all the stained glass it was so light inside.

Booked PWEI...

Surely Clint has better things to do with his time these days?

Booked Mary, Indiana at the (yep) Green Door Store in November. Never actually heard them! but what I've read they definitely sound worth catching. Remixed by Giant Swan and Gilla Band, so definitely in my area of appreciation 🙂
Also November - my mate's bought tickets for Bob Vylan. Saw them in lockdown and they were great (I think the support might be Meryl Streek... )
And found Jungle are doing another outstore in Kingston in July so doing that. Nice bit of dancy funk.

Just got a ticket to see Bob Mould at the Brudenell in November. Last time I saw him was a solo acoustic show in something like 1992.

Bruce at Villa Park tonight……

Why is everything so expensive? Merchandise, £40 for a printed T-shirt and £35 for a baseball cap.  £50 for a long sleeve sweater.

Will upload some photos tomorrow, Wi-Fi not great in here.

Bruce has just ended, so glad I was here for it. That is one talented musician. Absolutely amazing!

I'm not a big fan of tribute bands*, and not strictly a gig 'cos it's on telly but Hooky and the Light tearing it up at IOW on Sky Arts right now if you have it.

* his words not mine

On Weds we're going to see The War on Drugs

Rather excited already

On Weds we’re going to see The War on Drugs

Rather excited already

They're fantastic live and on the records.  Probably in my top 3 bands of the last 10 years.

Like w00dster I was at Villa Park for Springsteen. Great concert, just a bit sad that it will probably be the last time he does a tour like this one.

Madness last night at the piece hall, they were great. Transported straight back to my youth, had a good old skank with loads of other oldies 😁

New stage set up at the piece hall this year, stage and sound system is much bigger. Possibly not for the better, let's see!

Mary, Indiana at the (yep) Green Door Store in November.

Mandy, Indiana. Doh. Have checked em out now and its gonna be good.

Oh man, another gig! was amazed to get a ticket for Gabriels at Prism in Kingston, july 5. Nice atmospheric club.

I bought Love and Hate on 12” back in 2020 not knowing anything about them. TBH I thought, on first hearing, that the vocals were sampled from some Nina Simone type old crate diggings. Then saw them on Later wiv Jools this weekend, and my gawd, that guy’s singing is incredible. Checked back on the web and tix still for sale. So thats gonna be quite special in a small venue.

I was also at Villa Park last Friday stood alongside the RH speaker enclosure fence in @w00dsters first picture. It was the first time I'd heard The River live (there was a wobbly top lip present for that). It's doubtful I'll see him again as he's in his 70's and the voice is starting to go but what a night.

Just got a ticket to see Bob Mould at the Brudenell in November. Last time I saw him was a solo acoustic show in something like 1992.

He’s amazing solo. Makes the noise of a whole band with his guitar and voice. Saw him in a very sweaty Thekla last summer and loved every second.
Can’t find a gig on this new tour that I can attend unfortunately.

Upcoming Cult of Luna tour will be quite good. Whoever decided to open with Cold Burn rather than end the set with it deserves a doughnut.

Peter Gabriel at The O2 last night. I’d read somewhere that it was around a two hour set in two parts, starting at 8pm, so I was considering taking the train, as I’d have had time to get back to Paddington for the 11.32pm train. Bloody glad I drove instead! It started at exactly 8.00pm, and it didn’t finish until nearly 11pm, I was still on the tube at 11.30, didn’t get back to my car at Hammersmith until nearly midnight. Why can’t public transport providers actually provide public transport at times that might actually be of benefit to the public?

Anyway, rant over, the concert was superb, Gabriel still has a superb voice, and a dry sense of humour. His band are phenomenal, the new members mesh so well with his long-time band members that it’s like they’ve been working together for decades. The lighting and visuals were stunning, with each song having artwork created by artists from all over the world, including Al Wei Wei. Having now heard  much more of the new album, I can’t wait to finally hear the whole thing right through. One thing made a particular impression, and that was the video that went with ‘Solsbury Hill’; it showed roads, railways, rivers and portrayed a journey, which fits the song’s narrative, but I recognised the roads and railway, because much of it was around Bath, near where Peter lives, and that made it a bit more personal, somehow.

Dunno about rumours concerning not enough tickets sold for Nottingham, that may be just conspiracy rubbish, it seems mor likely that events in Nottingham made the organisers decide to cancel rather than add extra issues to a strained situation. O2 might have had a few left, but judging from when I bought mine, they would have been up in the high seats, where oxygen is required, along with a better head for heights than I’ve got. On the arena floor, I had the last available seat, there was one restricted view seat by the sound desk, but there may have been other seats around the sides, I didn’t look.

In case anyone was wondering who took Kate Bush’s part for ‘Don’t Give Up’, her name is Ayanna Witter-Johnson, and she plays keys and cello as well as does vocals, and she’s amazing.

QOTSA at the Piece Hall. Awesome gig, unfortunately ended early for me as the BIL passed out and needed medical attention, so had to bail early to get him home. Coach Party warm up act were good too.

One of my local venues, The Craufurd Arms in Wolverton, have Kosheen playing in November.  If tickets aren't expensive I'll go to that.

Kosheen is £25 at the Southampton venue. About a tenner too much for me 🙂

Muse at the John Smiths Stadium in Huddersfield last night. Bloody brilliant

Yeah, £25 is a bit steep IMHO.  Nothing's cheap these days is it?

Well, the Meryl Streek one was £8 😀

All these bad photos! What's it about? 😆

Muse were super last night, but agreed with others about stadium gig poor experiences. A lot of those can be fixed with staying over in the city, but Huddersfield doesn’t have many hotel rooms. Sound was pretty good and only too loud on Kill or be killed in the encore. Royal Blood were awful, had more fun cleaning my barbecue.

We must have been about ten feet forward and to the left of @spawnofyorkshire.

I’m also off to see Gabriels, albeit at Somerset House in London. Quite excited, haven’t been to a live gig in years. Also a bit worried as my hearing knackered (and I have tinnitus) are posh earplugs worth it, or should I just get a couple of sets of the disposable ones?

We're going to see The War on Drugs tonight at Piece Hall !!!

are posh earplugs worth it, or should I just get a couple of sets of the disposable ones?

I wouldn't bother at Somerset House  - it's pretty easy to get away from anything too loud there.

Meh I’m off to see Rod Stewart in July in Murcia,the 85 year old FIL wanted to see him.

Not sure how this is going to play out, not sure I can take more than 2 minutes of Rod 🙂

All earplugs deaden the sound to some extent IMHO (OK, I haven't gone to silly money but that's how they work) but a decent pair for about £25 like ACS Blackstar are pretty good in my experience. I'd recommend. Not mad money compared to functional ears, I always take a pair and if sound isn't that loud you can take them out.

The War on Drugs at the Piece Hall last night were brilliant. Dad rock in open air stadium drinking cold beer on a warm evening.. perfect!!

They're also playing Glastonbury this weekend

Meh I’m off to see Rod Stewart in July in Murcia,the 85 year old FIL wanted to see him.

Not sure how this is going to play out, not sure I can take more than 2 minutes of Rod

I saw him in the early 90s, at the request of a friend who tried to sell it to me on the basis that Status Quo were supporting him. I pointed out to her that I have never been into Quo, but Rod (and Joe Cocker) would be entertaining. And they were - very. Oddly, despite being exactly average height, it's the only gig I've ever been to where I was taller than everybody else.

Currently waiting for QOTSA at the rather improbable Margate Dreamland

Rock the Moat in August. Never been before but sounds good.

Dr Feelgood(no orignal members left) and Nine Below Zero in December, lookng forward to that.

Joe Tatton Trio (plus Pete Mason on guitar) at MASH in Macclesfield this evening. Bloody marvellous 🙂

Peter Gabriel tonight in Glasgow, superb show.

My Mrs is off on an unexpected week away. Quick check of live music on next week and now me and daughter are off to see The Haggis Horns at the local jazz club. This should be fun 😊

I've not been updating the thread, but I've had a fair old live-music-a-thon lately.

Late May: Wedding Present at Colchester Arts Center
Early June: Thurs night at Download (mainly to see the Bronx, then Friday at the Brighten the Corners multi-venue festival in Ipswich, then on Saturday I was volunteering a the same event.
Last week: Arctic Monkeys at Emirates Stadium (Highbury)
Last night: Queens of the Stone Age at Margate Dreamland

Top tip, if you go see a band in Margate, don't park in Mill Lane car park. The shutters come down at 7pm and there's a £50 release fee! It's very poorly sign-posted. Bit of a sour end to a phenomenal gig.

Peter Gabriel tonight in Glasgow, superb show.

Yeah, I was there. It was fantastic. His voice is still great and the backing band were tight.

Last night I was fortunate enough to see the first performance by a Radiohead tribute band in Derby Cathedral.

Amazing experience, acoustics of the cathedral helped their sound. They seemed moved by the standing ovation they got at the end. Hopefully they'll do another gig soon.

verses
Full Member
I’ve not been updating the thread, but I’ve had a fair old live-music-a-thon lately.

Niice!
Bit of a brouhaha in Dublin as Arctic Monkeys cancelled their big gig here last week in favour of the Glastonbury headline slot.

Recently I've been to:
- Bruce Springsteen, final night of 3 in Dublin, outdoors at the RDS. Great concert, bit chilly by the end.
- Hot 8 Brass Band in a tiny little bar. Top notch, and a good crowd, and a great venue for them.
- Dermot Kennedy at Marlay Park. No clue who he is, terrible beer selection (Heineken was the only thing available) but a great afternoon/ evening.

In the next couple of weeks I've got the Wailers (could be interesting, but it looks like they bear little resemblance to *The* Wailers) and Billy Joel in Hyde Park