Gigs.

Not gig per se but Gig adjacent, we missed Ghost on their tour last year but I’m taking the Metal Kid to see their “2 night only big concert film thing” Rite Hear, Rite Now in a couple of weeks.

Also can we mention the new and exciting way concert organizers have worked out to fleece fans?  The “Golden Circle” guaranteed STANDING space right down the front for circa double the price of General Admission. Except “right down the front” apparently extends 2/3rds of the way back down the floor of London’s O2 arena.  Though sometimes it makes for comedy…

https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/jun/05/thirty-seconds-to-mars-review-jared-leto-gives-half-empty-arena-his-full-attention

The first sense that this might not be the busiest show in the O2 Arena’s history comes in the concourses: no one is having to queue at the bar before the show. Inside, the top tier is closed, and the arena floor is bizarre: a packed back third, of general admission, and a vast golden circle that is barely a third full. It looks awful, and visitors to the toilet during the show are accosted by arena staff trying to persuade them to take wristbands to go to the front. Thirty Seconds to Mars singer Jared Leto even appeals before the encore for people to go in search of wristbands to come and join the little throng at the front of the stage.

Glastonbury just around the corner so spent an hour trying to work out who I’m going to watch
Looks like you’ve posted a lineup from about 1992. Might want to check again 😆

Last year, my wife and girls suggested we go to Glastonbury as a family this year. I pointed out that I wouldn’t see them all weekend because my schedule would include obscure folk-rock bands and ancient bands on side stages, so what’s the point in going as a family. :D

Not really ever been too bothered about going to gigs. Partly cos I’ve always lived fairly rural, miles from big cities and decent venues. But oddly for me, I’ve got two lined up for the autumn and am fizzing quietly with excitement for them both:

‘The The’ at Wolverhampton Halls in September, then a month later ‘Iron And Wine’ at SWX in Bristol.

Loved Matt Johnson’s stuff since I was 18 (54 now) and always regretted never having made the effort to see him live. Took my eye off the ball and completely missed the Comeback Special at the Albert Hall a few years back, and thought I’d never get another chance. Till recently! Snapped up a ticket for his Ensouled tour as soon as they went on sale.

Sam Beam seldom comes to these shores, and I simply love what he does so I cannot miss him this time round.

Gigs this week,so far and planned.

Wednesday- James Oliver at The Actress n Bishop in Brum. One of the best guitarists out there.Free and 9 people there to see the gig.

Thursday-open mike at The Station in Cannock,Saw 3 young bands,cherry B,Tech2 and didnt catch the name of the 3rd band.Also a solo vocalist Melissa. All good and would see all the bands again.

Tomorrow Saturday-The Heels at The Actress n Bishop.Brass heavy soul and funk,very danceable.Possibley followed by Stickey Mouse at The Gunmakers Arms.Both in Birmingham.

Sunday KD and The Dogs at The Brasshouse followed by Jo Baldwin Project at Snobs. Also Melvin Hancox at The Actress and Highway 61 at The Gunmakers Arms,all in Brum.

Birmingham is doing well atm for Blues/rock and theres metal/thrash/indie at The Flapper,Sunflower Lounge and various places in Digbeth.

Saw the smashing pumpkins last night in Brum, supported by Weezer. They were both great, in fact the Pumpkins, who I didn’t hold out much hope for as Billy can be odd, were on top form rifling through their extensive catalog with a something for everyone set.  Really really pleased. Mayonnaise, which I’ve had as an alarm clock for about 15 years was brilliant. Made me cry it was so good.

Setlist:

DJ Shadow in July.

Going to see Beth Gibbons at the grand old Usher Hall tonight. Saw Portishead about 25 years ago and it was one of my all time favourite gigs so have high hopes for tonight.

Another one for Beth Gibbons tonight – a bonus having Bill Ryder-Jones as support after missing out on seeing him in Glasgow a couple of months ago!

Anyone going to Download this weekend?

Extreme + Scorpions last Saturday night at Wemburlee.

Nuno Bettencourt’s guitar playing is phenomenal, though it’s a shame that the acoustics of the nuclear bunker leave half of the fast-playing notes unheard.

Scorpion’s much simpler straight forward rock playing etc sounded a lot clearer.  For a couple of fellas in their mid 70s, Rudi Schenker seemed to be having a ball, and Klaus Meine got stronger as the night went on.  Mathias Jabs as good as he ever was.

Machine Head next. Excuse me, I meant to say Machine ****ing Head. Not the biggest fan of their recent stuff and the ins-and-outs of the band’s become a bit of a pantomime but I honestly don’t care, I’m going to lose my shit completely for Davidian and Old and all that other 30 year old goodness and have a breather during the acoustic songs about depression or whatever.

High on fire doing the doom (and sludge).

maybe Nile next month?

I quite enjoyed Simple Minds in Le Mans on Saturday night

Tom Morello last week in Camden was fun. Bit of a mixed bag, he covered much of the RATM stuff with a couple of fun medleys, some acoustic numbers, and quite a few with the band. Not sure all of it worked but we all had a good time as did he. Highlights were a solo cover of Tom Joad, and Killing in the name with the crowd doing vocals. Great fun.

Also saw Blondie at the Piece Hall the week before. A great gig, they came out and tore through the classics, Debbie Harry was having a blast and the band were tight. Really glad to have seen them. She is brill, funny and charismatic.

Haters will hate.  Coldplay in Budapest… great concert and quite spectacular show.

Haters will hate.  Coldplay in Budapest… great concert and quite spectacular show.

They are headlining Saturday night at Glastonbury. I can’t wait personally. As in I can’t wait to catch Orbital and The Magic Numbers on other stages. I unapologetically hate Coldplay.

Last week I took my 2 daughters to Doja Cat in Brum, good show, very well done if not my usual cup of tea. I was definitely dragging up the average age of the audience.

I’ve got John Grant at an acoustic in store set this evening which should be good – that’s a bit more my thing

My wife went to see Foo Fighters on Saturday night.

Get the impression she wasn’t blown away by them – just got a ‘yeah, it was good’ response when she got home and not much more! (other than lots of moans about **** in the crowd).

She felt the 3hr set was an hour too long too, which is one reason I gave it a miss. There’s only so much shouting I can be doing with.

Speaking of haters gonna hate, I had a brill time at Liam Gallagher doing Definitely Maybe last week thank you very much :) And yes I dared to hold up my phone for a few seconds, sorry STW (my only defense is I held it in landscape format like an old person).

I came back from Drownload a day early as Electric Callboy cancelled due to Nico falling ill. Nobody playing on Sunday were worth another day in the slop and another night in a tent.

Hanabie were awesome opening the festival on the Opus stage but 30 minutes was way too short, especially compared to Babymetal on the main stage.

Mr Bungle were disappointing; I could barely make out the words most of the time.

Heilung were both bonkers and amazing.

Offspring were great, especially the two closers.

The band of the festival for me were Billy Talent. The set was amazing, the crowd was jumping and the Avalanche tent was way too small for them.

Saw this lot on Monday evening at Bristol Beacon, first time since it reopened after being gutted and rebuilt – seems more intimate now, somehow. Great gig, too.

Sat third row back, so people’s heads were unavoidable. People were requested not to use flash when taking photos, it upsets the bass player! 😁

Machine Head were pretty damn good, getting out of festival slots and doing a headliner seemed to suit them, still a lot of the Robb Flynn Script Bot but he seemed to get out of that and have more fun later on. Mixed set but good and long so the misses weren’t too bad, gave us a bit of a break for the good stuff. Old still sounds absolutely amazing even after like 30 years.

I miss the covers/mess about section though :(

Kings of Leon in Leeds tomorrow, one for the Mrs really but looking forward to a night out.  Yard act/English teacher/fat dog and ultimate thunder in Millennium square in August.

Saw this lot on Monday evening at Bristol Beacon, first time since it reopened after being gutted and rebuilt – seems more intimate now, somehow. Great gig, too.

For those not in the know, it’s Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets band.
Yep, I was at the Birmingham Symphony Hall gig last night – bloody superb. It reminded me how much of the early Floyd stuff, including several tracks written & performed by Syd Barrett, has been overlooked recently in favour of DSOTM, WYWH, The Wall etc

People were requested not to use flash when taking photos, it upsets the bass player! 😁

“I’ve only worked with 2 bass players in my life, both of them were difficult” – Nick Mason, with his tongue possibly slightly in cheek

People were requested not to use flash when taking photos, it upsets the bass player!

Thread grinds to a halt when I load it cos of a load of duff photos of ugly old duffers 😠

Last Saturday at Rock n Roll Brewhouse was Kid12-Brilliant,they’ve won a guest slot at Glastonbury,all originals.Main act was Low Red Moon,all originals and made a great noise.

Sunday was Draculas Garage punk afternoon starting with The Mighty Intercepters-Good,loud n fast phsycobilly with the main act being The Dead Marshes,again good n loud with a darker set than last time I saw them.

Tuesday was Snobs on Broad Street to catch Rich Dickensons Driving Force.If you like long guitar solos its heaven and a walk out to the bus stop to check the wireless range. All classic covers.

This Saturday it’ll be the Actress n Bishop for Midnight City n their soul/Tamla covers.

This Sunday will be Pete Hyde and The Villiards at the Brasshouse doing a mix of original n covers.A proper feel good smiley band. Up the road at Snobs will be the Worried Men doing blues/rock covers as far as I know because I’ve never seen them yet.

All these are Brum.

Finally, it is Glastonbury week – working today and tomorrow, then chilling on Wednesday and getting the train down on Thursday. When I get in, my tent will be up and ready for me as the rest of my small group are going down for gates on Wednesday and are staking out our little circle. Really looking forward to a few days of relaxing and it finally looks like the weather should be quite settled. There aren’t many acts I am desperate to see, but I’m particularly looking forward to Fontaines D.C., SZA, Paul Heaton, Last Dinner Party and New Model Army. The rumours are strong that it’s Pulp doing the secret set at Woodsies on Saturday evening – that would be superb.

I thought it was Kasabian doing the secret set in Woodsies? Missus and kids are going, I get a week of peace at home on my own! They travel down tomorrow….juat packing up the car at the moment.

Yesterday was Deacon Blue, Lottery Winners and Rianne Downey at the Waterfront in Liverpool yesterday. Weather couldn’t have been any better….im now hung over and slightly pink from too much sun. Deacon Blue were absolutely amazing.

we’re flying to dublin tomorrow, see idles, lcd soundsystem and young fathers at malahide castle on wednesday.

seen idles a few times now, im more excited about seeing young fathers for the first time.

also never been to dublin yet, so looking forward to a couple of days there and trying the local guinness.

Green day tomorrow in Glasgow, not a huge green day fan but got the tickets as a present.
Body Count next Tuesday, looking forward to that
maybe Cro-Mags on Wednesday , not sure yet

and then Bob Vylan later in the year , missed him the last time he played Glasgow so really looking forward to that

Bob Vylan is a them – Bobby and Bobbie (on the drums). Fab live :)

Bracing myself for popping my Hellfest cherry this week.

Current plan

* Fly to Nantes on Weds

* Try not to die of alcohol poisoning over 4 nights of Rock and Metal (plus a warm-up on Weds night)

* Fly back on Monday

I’m looking forward to Air and Michael Kiwanuka later this week at the Piece Hall in Halifax, be great if the weather holds out :-)

The festival collaboration of the summer. Anyone inviting Taylor Swift, Dave Grohl or Bruce Springsteen to join them, at Glastonbury, Leeds, Reading, wherever ……. can just **** off now.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0020yx4/idles-x-hey-duggee-stick-song

I thought it was Kasabian doing the secret set in Woodsies?

Just another of the rumours – The XX and Kings of Leon have also been mentioned

I’m looking forward to… Michael Kiwanuka later this week

Yeah he’s on my list to catch at Glastonbury too.

@stevie750, I was tempted by Bodycount, saw them at Reading a few years back (uh, probably about 15 years, you know how that goes) and they were fantastic. Start to finish great.

Off to Mogwai’s mini festival thing at teh weekend, should be interesting. Was looking for the right expression for the lineup, someone said “crowd-displeasing mutual masturbators” and that seems about right :) But Mogwai’ll kill it and there’s some decent stuff in the support bill.

Bristol…

Join us instead :-) … well after Glasto, anyway.

Line Up

@jondoh Hopefully Jaqui will be fit for you.

Correction: Nile tour in September.

Korn in Scarborough.

I booked with viagogo. Wish me luck…

Just returned from Alvvays at The Troxy, London. Very good as usual. Hopefully they will be part of this weekends Glastonbury coverage.