Gigs.

I went to my first Doom Metal gig the other day! Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs at the Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh. £15. Not normally my cup of tea but I thought they were amazing. I’d definitely see them again!

That’s good to know – it’s my next gig (at the end of April). I am not a massive fan of them but just going along for a night out with my brothers.

£11 well spent. Not my usual cup of tea but very engaging, industrial indie-electronica and a decent enough stage presence too

Sweet 🙂
I seem to recall some DAF influence in some of the tracks. Might wear my patent leather bib shorts (probably not though) 😆

Just back from Suede. They’ve still got it, and really helped by the fact their most recent album is their best for ages.

PVA at the Wedgewood Rooms tonight… me and my mate loved the support too, very different bit of bassy pop type stuff. We saw Charlie Xcx support Sleigh Bells a few years back and both thought tonight’s was better. PVA were superb, the mix was better than the last time I saw them. £11 well spent indeed (well £22 cos I bought both tickets!)

Was at the Black Midi gig last night. And the special guest was….

proof pic.twitter.com/UrajOPyTrH

— Sandro d'Alcamo (@dlcmsndr) March 9, 2023

That’s ace

Unusual and special one tonight – Andrew Wasylyk on piano, accompanied by a string quartet and a trumpet in the main hall of the National Portrait gallery in Edinburgh. Beautiful setting, soft unplugged sound, intimate with comfy chairs. Winner!

I love sitting close to a string quartet, watching the dynamics between them.

Got Thrash metaler’s Xentrix tonight…

Self esteem last night. Amazing as ever. Even managed to get a 6music dad hat from the merch. Gonna wear it to the 6music festival on Friday!

I dun a gig last night – Black Honey in a small brewery in Portsmouth. Wasn’t bad. Alternative rock with a female singer – she was good, charismatic, music was a tad ordinary for me, but it was good to get out to a different venue. Gigs seem to be thin on the ground this year so far, wonder if it’s the price of touring.

Saw Suede last night who were brilliant. Fantastic set list and Brett is a great front person (my biggest criticism of indie bands is the singers can be so boring live).

Only downside was it was at Birmingham Symphony hall which is an all seating venue and I much prefer standing (and smaller venues in general).

I also enjoyed Suede, but in Cardiff on Wednesday night. Another all seater venue, but Brett did his best to get the crowd up and spent some time with those who’d congregated at the front. Great to hear all the classic songs again, interspersed with those from their current album.
Managed to catch the support band, Desperate Journalist, who were better than expected and clearly enjoyed the use of the decent sound system. My hearing returned by morning.

Saw the Pixies at the Forum in Birmingham last Friday. Was there with Mrs asbrooks and daughter number 2, all three of us squashed in at the barrier. Was a good night with only a few minor spoilers, didn’t our play our favourites songs which had been cut due to touring the new record.

Also saw pigs……. a month ago at the Leicester Academy they were very good and very load

Next gig is a certain ratio at the rescue rooms in Notts

Top job getting to the barrier @asbrooks!!

@tartanscarf while I’m still fit and able, I’ll always be found at the barrier

Saw Loyle Carner supported by wulu last night at the Victoria warehouse in Salford as part of th 6 music festival thing. Wore my newly acquired 6music dad hat. I remembered why I don’t like gigs at big venues. Shit beer. Luckily I was driving so only had one pint. The crowd were completely uninterested in wulu then watched Loyle through the massive bright phone screens. Woman in front of us thought it was ok to FaceTime her mate and hold her phone up so she could watch. Morons.
wulu I have seen before and I like. They seem hard to pigeonhole. Gave it everything despite the crowd of 16 year olds mostly chatting and texting through their slot.
Loyle was amazing. Such a poet.

Saw Stiff Little Fingers in Leeds on Thursday, excellent as usual

I’m playing tomorrow in Bradford. Then it’s back to Leeds on Easter Monday for The Damned

^Awesome. It’s like the last 45 years never happened.

The Pixies in Birmingham last Friday, The Levellers in Buxton last Saturday and Ferocious Dog this evening in Sheffield. All fantastic gigs. All very different.

Love live music 🙌

Loyle Carner is fantastic. Saw him at Field Day, didn’t really know what to expect, definitely didn’t expect him to bring his mum on.

Went down to London to see the Hold Steady do their annual weekender 3-nighter. Not much to say about that, it was brilliant, it always is. But it did make me think about how the weekender 2020 was the last weekend before the pandemic properly hit and everything shut. Last year when they came back,I had a proper cry down the front. Turns out, I did this year too!

Also the Go! Team in Edinburgh… A little bit conflicted, I had a good time and a couple of the songs really hit perfectly, but the setlist was kind of a mess and the sound way too much of a mush for that sort of sound. Also I’m not sure, do they really think we’re an awesome crowd? If so, they’ve never seen an actual awesome crowd, 1% of Machine Head or Frank Turner’s crowd in the same venue had more energy. But they do say it a lot… Still, mustn’t grumble, it was still a good show, and Everyone’s A VIP was almost perfect.

Just in from Butler, Blake and Grant in Sale Saturday evening. Great gig and venue.

Ferocious Dog

I’ve loved watching their evolution over the last 10 years or so. From playing passable versions of levellers tunes on the fringes of festivals to now being a credible main stage act, they have done it the hard way. For me, nothing will ever top the raw energy of their first record…great that we have a band that can go toe to toe with the likes of DKM and Flogging Molly.

Went to see underworld at RAH on Monday ..

Sensational.. in my top 3 gigs ..they properly blew the roof of that place .

Amazing to rave at such cool venue.

Black Honey in a small brewery in Portsmouth.

@desperatebicycle I was going to go but my mate wasn’t up for it, a brewery and live music is a top combo, I should have just gone alone. Seeing BH on Friday with the family in Brighton after 3 missed gigs by them around covid time.

Empire State Bastard tonight at the Cathouse, first ever show for Biffy/Slayer/Oceansize/ um… Bitch Falcon supergroup.

Shite tbh. Support band was better, half their songs sounded like My Own Summer by the Deftones but I like My Own Summer by the Deftones so that was OK.

I can’t think of anything that nice to say about ESB. Some really good playing, some funny Whiplash bits from Dave Lombardo just going “I am ****ing brilliant at drumming”. Lots of Simon Neil barking like a dog and screeching. I mean, Biffy are the ink in my skin, I have a high tolerance for Simon barking like a dog, but this was bad barking. Two half decent songs, lots of freeform jazz. All in all, what my mate Graham calls “**** in a box”

Good crowd though, and bloody brilliant security.

Saw King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard last week at Ally Pally. Cracking as ever, two non-stop hours of madness from across their considerable catalogue. First time I’ve been there, quite a cool venue!

Also caught most of Los Bitchos supporting who were fun, surf rock type stuff. They’re in Manchester at the Psych Fest in September so will try to see them there.

Went to the 6music festival on Saturday to watch Christine and the Queens and Lava La Rue.
Caught the back end of Jamz Supernova’s set which was fun but to a fairly unreceptive crowd, until she dropped a Prodigy Breathe remix which perked things up a bit

Lava La Rue was really good, I’d be tempted to see them in their own right. Good fun and the band was brilliant

Christine was stunning and the show worked brilliantly in that venue, your focus was on him the whole time
I got a bit narked by the amount of iPhones up all the time, including the guy in front of me who was spending far more time getting the right insta post than actually enjoying the gig.

Inspiral Carpets Saturday night which was good.

Ozric Tentacles / Gong booked up for November.

I got a bit narked by the amount of iPhones up all the time, including the guy in front of me who was spending far more time getting the right insta post than actually enjoying the gig

I think we discussed this bizarre behaviour earlier in this thread? It’s so weird. Even at the Black Honey gig – fella bouncing around like a loon in the mini-moshpit, then completely stopping to take photos. Baffles me, it really does.

I also saw Suede at Sheffield Academy on this tour. It was an excellent gig and Brett in particular had such energy – the only issue was that Neil Codling looked a little bored at points – but that may just be his normal expression. Their latest album is great.

Pixies last Tuesday at Camden Roundhouse. Massively influential, have always been a band with a few songs I’ve liked, and have always had a few mates who’ve been really into them. But I have to say, having seen them live, blimey. I think I ‘get’ them a lot better now. A really, really great night.

Christine (sic) was stunning and the show worked brilliantly in that venue, your focus was on him the whole time

Top of my list of ‘must see’ – have been mesmerised since seeing CatQ on Jools Holland and then there’s some good live videos as well (mixed feelings as they’ve clearly been filmed by people on mobiles, and then I hate when people do that at gigs as others have said above)

Just because it’s a sensitive point with me; the artist / collective (him + whoever is playing / dancing) seems to have the name Christine and the Queens, the person is Chris (he/him) – but I think referring to him as Christine singular is wrong

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_and_the_Queens

Not a gig but wanted to share – I saw The Shawshank Redemption at Bradford Alhambra at the weekend. It was fantastic, a really good stage adaption of the book/film – very cleverly done.

Just back from Barcelona, Saw Robbie Williams, he was very entertaining and tbh I was very surprised at how quick we got in and out ,was Palau Sant Jordi on the top of the hill thing.

Was cracking fun thou, but the phone thing is funny,much more fun watching the concert but a sea of 18k phone screens lit up is an amazing thing 🙂

Sleaford Mods tickets booked for the Warehouse Project, which should be awesome. If you’ve not seen them live then I’d strongly recommend it. Its a visceral experience, which I know is an odd thing to ay about 2 blokes stood with a laptop, but it really is

Sea of phones.

Dear god, that looks absolutely horrendous! 🤣

Not my idea of a gig, that’s for sure.

Re Christine & the Queens – the Tilted performance on Later was a classic.