Gigs.

I went to The Full Moon in Cardiff on Tuesday to see John Smith. The positives – John Smith and band were brilliant, the staff were all friendly, there were only about 30 people in the place so it was very intimate. The negatives – it is probably the worst venue I’ve ever been to. Tiny, with a stage positioned so that all the (very small) crowd need to be standing in one corner to see anything. The ceiling was so low that the double bass couldn’t stand up straight, and John Smith was sitting on a small stool all night because he couldn’t stand up. For two songs all I could see of the band was the headstock of a guitar!

A good night nevertheless, and he deserves a far bigger audience.

Went to see Wrest in Edinburgh on Friday past. Brilliant.

Being their ‘Home’ crowd helped a lot but the music was fantastic and it felt great to be back at a gig again.

Weird. And I picked up a dose of gig-flu afterwards (testing daily and all clear) but you can’t have it all.

I could make it worse by telling you I have a spare ticket and you’re welcome to join us! 😛

a very kind offer, thank you, but work commitments mean i cant make tonight anyway.

you offered it up on the Idles facebook group? (AFGang) one of them might have it off you…..

cheers

Is it frowned upon for musicians to wear covid masks on stage?
Asking for a friend who has to play a small venue in Bristol next Thursday.

First gig for my new (ish, we formed just before Covid hit!) band.

Exeter Cavern on 14th October.

The Supermercados (us) + two other great local bands for only £4 🙂

https://www.wegottickets.com/exetercavern/event/524109#tickets

Is it frowned upon for musicians to wear covid masks on stage?

I would say the musicians can wear whatever they see fit. No’one’s gonna be bothered if they have masks on.

IDLES last night was so much better than I expected. Proper gig. Proper loud and proper sweaty.
Great night out for £16. Going to be a hard one to top.

3 gigs done in 3 weeks.
2 of them playing the gig, which both went really bloody well for my first ever gigs.
Then last night the first gig as a punter since before the first lockdown.
While she sleeps at Leeds key club and it was absolutely insanely good.

Hoping to get to trivium in November, while she sleeps again in December and gojira next year.

I bloody love gigs.

My old gig partner (used to be my boss about 8 years ago) has just been in touch to suggest the resurrection of our gig-going activities

John Grant at the Royal Northern College Music in a couple of weeks. That sounds a lot more cultured and civilised than our usual. Idles was our last one, pre-covid. Opposite ends of the spectrum to bookend the pandemic 🙂

Elbow at Hammersmith (Eventim) Apollo last Monday evening, finally! Booked in 2019, postponed twice. Sadly my gig-going mate, who’s seen them with me eight or nine times before couldn’t make it, which was a shame. Bloody good, as always, and nice to see them back in a human-sized venue, last three times was at the O2 Areana. Jesca Hoop was supporting, with a band; previous gig I saw her at in Bristol she was solo, and the band made quite a difference, having extra voices for harmonies.
Elbow also had an extra member, Katie, who was doing signing for hearing impaired through the whole evening, which was an amazing thing, first time I’ve ever seen that at any gig I’ve been to.
Oh, and I’ve reserved a ticket for a festival next year! End Of The Road, Larmer Tree. I wanted to go this year, but when it was reinstated, Pixies weren’t playing, but they’ve been confirmed as a headliner next year, so I managed to grab one of the last tranch of tickets!
Jesca:

Lasers!

More lasers!

“C’mon, louder!”

“Please, let’s give Katie our signer a big round of applause!”

Went to my first post lockdown gig last night, Black Honey at Chalk in Brighton. Small venue, great live act, to say it went off would be an understatement. Nothing else currently in the pipeline though until the Foo’s in July 2022.

Also got tickets for EOTR next year, the day after we got home from this year. If it’s half as good as this year was, even without the Pixies, it will be money well spent.

Off to see John Grant tomorrow. Listening to his new album now, for some reason I missed it, and it’s pretty good for me, prefer it to his last, so now excited.

Booked Kart J Pearson at moles, in December, it’s going to be top banana 🍌

Nice to know some things are unchanged by the virus- went and saw the Manics and it was all very lovely and middle aged and selfindulgent, still brilliant at times though… Nothing now in teh diary for a month or so.

Just booked- 2 Frank Turner shows.

Saw Paul Heaton & Jackie Abbott last week at castlefield bowl. Was rather good. Going to see them again in November at the winding wheel in Chesterfield. Different vibe I think. Before that there’s snapped ankles at crookes wmc (as seen in everybody’s talking about Jamie), Laura Marling and porridge radio. First post lockdown indoor gig was at same venue as the last pre lockdown one… I’m so glad live music is back.

In contrast to Elbow, I saw the delightful and ever lovely Thea Gilmore at The Folk House in Bristol last night. Really great performance in a super little venue I’ve walked past many times without realising it was there! It’s been around for something like 120 years, and does a lot of adult education in crafts, etc.
It’s Thea’s first ever tour as a real solo artist, after her marriage breakdown and divorce, so she’s unsurprisingly a bit nervous, especially as she’s using a loop box for backing, but it all went very well. Had a chat afterwards, and I said I’m pretty certain the last time I saw her was at The Tunnels in Bristol, which, according to her, was 2012!
How time flies.

The ceiling was so low that the double bass couldn’t stand up straight, and John Smith was sitting on a small stool all night because he couldn’t stand up. For two songs all I could see of the band was the headstock of a guitar!

Ha! Sounds like the Louisiana in Bristol, and Moles in Bath. When I saw Lush at Moles, I had to keep leaning backwards to avoid being hit in the face by the head of Emma’s guitar. 😎

Got quite a few gigs booked. Alannis Morisette (wife loves her), James, Dinosaur Jr, Dexys and Tool. Waiting for Steve Mason to announce a tour too. Looking forward to getting out again.

Forgot about Gojira – booked for next year too.

Went to the Sound City Ipswich multi-venue festival at the weekend. Watching bands on the Friday and helping in the box office (before going off to see bands) on the Saturday.

Highlights for me were Yard Act and Billy Nomates. Katy J Pearson was on shortly before Yard Act, during their set we were stood near her in the crowd until she got back on stage with them to perform their remix of Miracles!

Was very enjoyable volunteering at the box office, mostly handing out wristbands and selling tickets, but also helping out some of the artists too. Got to hear Working Men’s Club’s soundcheck where they performed pretty much their full set. I’ve wanted to see them for ages, but I preferred the soundcheck to the main performance.

I can def recommend volunteering at this sort of thing, I’ve been a punter for decades, but getting a glimpse of how it all runs behind the scenes was really interesting.

Any interest in a pair of tickets to see Suede at the Manchester Apollo on Wednesday 10th?
I paid £108 all in for the pair, but I’ll take £50 for them as I’ve got tickets for Edinburgh instead – a much simpler proposition.

Advert in the classifieds here – https://singletrackworld.com/classifieds/advert/2-x-suede-tickets-manchester-apollo-wed-10-november/

I saw the aforementioned Billy Nomates last week. Didn’t get it. The music coming out of her laptop was ok, but her dancing was terrible and the American accent she sings in really grated on me (she’s from Leicestershire).
Left early.

Fontaines DC this week – first gig in about 2 years.

Bought tickets for the Chili’s and Tool recently. Best part of 400 quid spent – I’d forgotten how bloody expensive big gigs are these days.

Still might get a ticket for Einaudi in March though.

November is a bit bonkers for gigs, Evil Scarecrow on the 2nd, Monsterfest Inverness on the 12th & 13th, then LaFontaines on the 16th (with kids) and the 19th (without kids), The Offspring on the 27th. A week Later and into December is Alestorm on the 5th then Enter Shikari & Dinosaur Pile Up on the 13th. Can’t wait.

I saw the aforementioned Billy Nomates last week. Didn’t get it.

Possibly a bad description, but she made me think of an angry version of Goldfrapp.

Saw Coach Party on Sat night, on the whole I enjouyed them, they sound more punky than their Youtube videos suggest (good thing) although their lyrics all seem overly teen-angsty for me (bad thing).

Saw Kasabian at Rock City last week – first gig since early last year. It’s always a ‘cozy’ atmosphere there and ruddy hell it felt weird to be squashed in! Crowd was very enthusiastic too! 🙂

she made me think of an angry version of Goldfrapp

If only.
Pet Shop Boys fronted by Stevie Nicks was my impression.

Had an enjoyable first gig last week in the Exeter Cavern.
Got a decent turn out for a Thursday night in October too!
Been invited back to do the Saturday before Xmas, so we must have been ok 🤘

I went to see Wrest at the weekend in Aberdeen. It was the first gig in a couple of years and loved it. It did feel a bit risky COVID-wise being in such and enclosed venue (the Tunnels) with so many people so fingers crossed no-one in my vicinity unknowingly had it!

If you’ve not heard of Wrest but are/were :'( a fan of Frightened Rabbit then check them out, they are excellent.

Quite fancy seeing Wrest, they are on the to see list.
Won’t totally make up for the loss of FR though. 🙁

Just booked tickets to see Dreadzone at The Craufurd Arms in Wolverton in December. It’s my kind of venue, you come out feeling slightly grubby.

Pan American last night was good. Looking forward to Scorn in a couple of weeks.
My lot suddenly have a bunch of gigs lined up around Bristol over the next few months and a festival booking for next Feb, I didn’t even know there were festivals in February.

Working Men’s Club (band name, in case the squares were wondering 😜) last night. Utterly brilliant. Strange venue, little industrial unit, sound wasn’t brilliant, but good enough to keep me dancin. And laughing at the woman in front wanted to beat up a fella who’s girlfriend trod on her foot…proper entertainment 😀

I’ve got tickets for Pavement in 2022 to look forward to. Just found out Spiritualized are playing in town in April, so I may try and get tickets for that. Haven’t been to anything yet, next year will probably feel better for me, hopefully.

Not seriously upwards of £150 to see Pavement!??

Mogwai last night in Glasgow, felt good man. Not the best set for my tastes but they closed it out with a pretty awesome Fear Satan, and it was nice to see them all so happy. No that’s a lie, only Stuart looked happy, everyone else was all serious as usual.

Gomez’s Ben Ottewell coming up in Sheffield. Never knew he was from Chezzy

@Northwind – was there too. Not their best gig I’d agree (partly due to venue), but great to see them again regardless.

Off to the Great Western on Saturday – mainly for Papa M and Arab Strap, but also Cassandra Jenkins and others.

http://www.tgwfest.com

McGoldrick/McCusker/Doyle in a tiny village venue tonight. Traditional music at its best, stunning musicianship.

Pavement tickets are about 50quid where I’m looking. Sadly not playing anywhere in the South West 🙄

Didn’t think I’d be going to the Black Puma’s tonight after ripping my knee open on my local trails at the weekend – 8 stitches not great for mobility and I’m supposed to keep my weight off it. Emailed the venue last night without expecting anything, asking about seating and was surprised that they replied immediately with 2 accessibility seats reserved! So even if you have a stupid self inflicted injury, from your silly little immature hobby, it’s worth asking.l 😁

That’s nice 🙂
I suppose £50 ain’t too bad. Pavement were one of my fave bands, but I wouldn’t pay £50 to see em. Let alone the prices I saw on ticketmaster. Must’ve been resales by touts. Bloody ridiculous.

Anyway, Snapped Ankles tonight. Should be fun (£14s worth anyway :D)

I’d like to go to more but last months The Mysterines was cancelled on the day of the gig. Tonights Du Blonde has been cancelled. Next weeks Alanis Morrissette has been either postponed or cancelled (not sure which yet).

I was at the Mogwai gig with Northwind. It’s my first gig since lockdown so it was good for that if nothing else. I definitely preferred the Royal Concert Hall as a venue for a Mogwai gig to SWG3, which is where I last saw them. At least I didn’t come out of this gig with hearing damage, plus on reflection I think I’d like to try being seated at a Mogwai gig sometime. It’s hardly an energetic crowd anyway and I like the idea of being in a relaxed sitting posture and letting their wall of noise wash over me.