Gig 'whores

[ThickAndCreamy]

I saw Health tonight who were pretty great live, huge amounts of energy. Unfortunately, this energy was not absorbed by enough of the crowd until the end, and the set was very short (45 minutes). It was good though, with reasonable support by Pictureplane, although not that memorable.

I do feel I have to moan slightly here however. There are many, many problems and annoyances with gigs that complaining about seem worthless, however I have to do it now as it pissed me off. Jumping about right at the front of the gig with many other people I accidentally stepped on someones toe behind and apologised quickly. She then kept on pushing me and glaring at me, even when I stood still, so I stared back at her in bemusement and returned the look as if I had violated her and murdered her very ugly and genetically inferior parents.

Why do people stand so near the front, stand motionless and then get pissed off when people dance and accidentally touch them? What are you honestly expecting? Do you want me to bow down and promise to never, ever dance again in fear of encroaching on your space you boring twat. If you stand near the front and you don't dance or even acknowledge movement when everyone around you is doing it don't get fucking annoyed as you can simply move back and your troubles will be solved.

Sorry about this inane rant but that creepy arse of a girl pissed me off.

[Captain Crunch]

I'm with you on that, especially as 99% of bands don't really put on any sort of show or spectacle so being 'down the front' means what, you saw a haricut up close?  Oh whooopie-doo, can't wait for the Facebook update.

Anyway, I've seen this:

http://www.scala-london.co.uk/scala/event.php?id=1201

Possible CaB Stoner Contingent mini-meet thing?

[jaydee81]

Went to see Grizzly Bear on Sunday night, they were playing with... the LSO I think. It was pretty amazing. Not straight up amazing.
I walked from London Bridge to the Barbican through a virtually deserted City of London. That was amazing.

[Captain Crunch]

A day of 'fun' awaits in London this Saturday:

BELLUSHI FEST
Saturday 7th November@the Windmill Brixton
22 Blenheim Gardens Brixton, SW2 5BZ Tel: 020 8671 0700
£5 Advanced/£6 Door
Tickets here
Doors 2PM.
INVASION (London)
Psych grooves of sonic wizardry.
London's Invasion are gaining much attention currently and with their Debut album having just arrived their stars are in ascendancy... ex do me bad things singer's Soulful vocals teamed up with two fine sonic sculptors who have mixed physcaedlic rock with Thrash and come up with something really rather marvelous! Catch em now before they take off into space!
www.myspace.com/invasion

TIMOTHY C HOLEHOUSE (London)
Dark epic movements.
The Birthday man himself. Playing with Electric Mud generator backing him up tonight. After his first album in this guise selling out in two weeks on dead pilot records he has completed and will soon see the release of his 2nd album in search of the binarystar. On this record as tonight he is joined by Electric mud generator from Leeds. Think long drawn sound scaped material rising and falling like Galicia's creeping slowly to a dramatic stunning conclusion.
www.myspace.com/timothycholehouse

ELECTRIC MUD (Leeds)
Progressive folk.
On Totally Prog records from Leeds Electric Mud generator play twice tonight backing up Timothy C Holehouse and playing their own set. They're own material is somewhere between mystical folk and progressive rocks finest sounds. Three of the most amazing musicians interweaving their finely crafted skills to make something truly wonderful.
www.myspace.com/electricmudgenerator

END OF LEVEL BOSS (London/Hampshire)
Groove laden phsyc stoner rock.
Ex Hangnail Harry and his band have made quite a fantastic niche for themselves... Games console progressive rock and Harry's small stature but massive voice will blow you away. On Exile on Mainstream records they have release some fine records over the last few years blown bigger bands off the stage and generally ruled!
www.myspace.com/endoflevelboss

ALABASTER SUNS (London)
Metal riffs; ex-Capricorns.
The demise of the Capricorns was a sad affair one of the best UK bands for a long time. But worry not Alabaster Suns will more than make up for that. Nathan and Kev have teamed up with ex frightener bassist Anthony dearlove and produced something special. In no way are they living in the shadows of the old band either forging a new more heavy and technical path. With Kev's smattering of brutal vocal delivery they are stripped down and ready for action.
www.myspace.com/alabastersuns

CRUMBLING GHOST (London)
Folk prog doom.
This could be a super group of sorts featuring ex Fanta plastic, Among the missing, Huge baby and current Koresh and small gang members. They have played as part of Damo Suzuki's improv group and played some very good initial shows. Sounding like a progressive doom band who have been listening to way to much Fairport convention (in a good way that is). This new band deliver the physcadelic goods.
www.myspace.com/crumblingghost

YOU'RE SMILING NOW BUT WELL ALL TURNS INTO DEMONS (Portsmouth)
Wizards in a blizzard.
Portsmouth's finest bringers of doom soaked phsyc... think what it would have been like if Rocky Erikson had been in the melvins. And your not even half way there.
www.myspace.com/thedemons

THE DEATH OF HER MONEY (Newport, Wales)
Metal doom soaked riffs.
From Wales these riff heavy fellas have toured the UK and they're records on Rat patrol have won them many fans. On tour with Hitcher this is the first time in a while they have played the capital.
www.myspace.com/thedeathofhermoney

HITCHER (Edinburgh)
Slow building from Edinburgh.
Imagine walking the streets of Edinburgh while in the shadows something lurks that you know at any point will jump out at you. This is Hitcher... slow building songs that explode into a frenzy of riffs and brutal vocals. On their tour across the country with Death of her money... we bring you Hitcher!
www.myspace.com/hitchermusic

ATTACK! VIPERS! (Portsmouth)
Hard fast and heavy as hell!
The best UK hardcore band! Fact! Heavy and manic basically mind blowing hardcore played with the style and passion it should be played. Their debut album made massive waves in the scene and their currently working on a follow up after several split releases and constant touring. Also in the pipeline is a collaboration with Timothy C Holehouse.
www.myspace.comattackvipers

FLATLANDS (Sheffield/Lincoln)
Solid dynamic building Sonics from the planes.
With a vast amount of touring and their second album under their belt Sheffield's Flatlands have very much built their own sound. With influences in early 90's emo to Post rock and post metal. They make their unique sound crushing and moving you in equal measures. With songs about growing up in a the Fen's (where they are originally from) One of the finest bands in the UK!
www.myspace.com/flatlandstouristboard

TIGER WARSAW (Lincoln)
Mostly instrumental dynamic sculptures.
All the way from Lincoln Tiger Warsaw are more than just another instrumental post metal band. They not only have awesome hooks and riffs that draw you in they rock out rather than just gazing at the stage like a lot of the bands within the genre do. Prepare to have your socks blown off!
www.myspace.com/tigerwarsaw

Tickets here http://www.wegottickets.com/event/61368

Anyone?

[Artemis]

I was in attendance for Jay-Z at Alexandra Palace last night. Despite the long wait and a pretty average DJ for 'support', the gig itself was superb. The crowd was largely, and weirdly, muted at key moments (most embarassingly before 'Thank You' which required Jay to come in with lyrics thanking the crowd and asking them to hold their applause, which had to be preceded by a request for the crowd to make more noise) but the crowd was secondary. The music itself, and the charisma and talent of Jay-Z was very evident.

Lots of songs were sung only in part due to the vast back catalogue of the man, but he was still on for a respectable length of time.

I'm not really big gig goer, but I enjoyed this one.

[jaydee81]

which had to be preceded by a request for the crowd to make more noise

That happened to me at a Cat Power gig a couple of years back. What is it with encores? Is there actually ANY point to them whatsoever?

[actwithoutwords]

Yo. La. Fucking. Tengo.

Fantastic stuff. Epic fucking Blue Line Swinger, beautiful Our Way to Fall, new songs sounded great. Long show. Never bored. Deadly stuff altogether. Yeah.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Good stuff.  Going tonight in Glasgow. and have really enjoyed the new album.

As an aside, need to vent that I've been to gigs in Glasgow (from Edinburgh) three nights this week and am getting really fed up with the Citylink.  And Midlake have just announced a midweek show through west.  I really, really wish Edinburgh would get more of a look in sometimes.  Getting too old to cross the country and back again after work. 

[Little Hoover]

Yo. La. Fucking. Tengo.

Fantastic stuff. Epic fucking Blue Line Swinger, beautiful Our Way to Fall, new songs sounded great. Long show. Never bored. Deadly stuff altogether. Yeah.

Ohh I'm seeing them on Sunday, was there a good balance between new and old? How long exactly? 2 hours?

[Spiteface]

In about 30 mins, I am about to head out to get the bus to go and see Ash at TJ's in Newport (The "N" date on the A-Z tour).  Looking at a setlist for the first one on Aldershot, looks to be great night if that set is any indication.  Plenty of old stuff, with only a handful of new songs (i.e. the singles released so far from the A-Z thing, and the new one out on monday).

To be honest if it's even only half as good as the "1977" gig I saw at the Astoria last year, I'll be happy.  Probably commment on it tomorrow.

[sheilatakeabow]

I saw Morrissey last night at Alexander Palace.

He seemed to struggle a bit for the first couple of songs but once he got going he was fantastic and played a lot more Smiths stuff than last time I saw him. Also he was looking as lovely as ever. What did other people think of the gig?

[Little Hoover]

Yo. La. Fucking. Tengo.

Fantastic stuff. Epic fucking Blue Line Swinger, beautiful Our Way to Fall, new songs sounded great. Long show. Never bored. Deadly stuff altogether. Yeah.

Well they were awesome although instead of epic fucking Blue Line Swinger there was face meltingly beautiful epic fucking The Story of Yo La Tango. Would have liked a couple more from I can hear the heart beating as one, but I enjoyed the new one's, I haven't listened to the new album much but this made me want to more. A lot of good stuff from electr-o-pura was played though, which I've sometimes found myself thinking is better than ICHTHBAO.

[CaledonianGonzo]

They were on top form in Glasgow on Friday as well.  Norman Blake of TFC joined them on keyboards for an epic version, 15 minute long version of I Heard You Looking.  It were ace (even if Norm's organ stylings were a bit over-loud in the first half, resulting in him either being turned right down or switched off towards the end of the song).

Nice version of Tom Courtenay, as well.

I'd definitely recommend giving Popular Songs some extra listening time - it's a wee cracker of an album.

[turnstyle]

I saw Morrissey last night at Alexander Palace.

He seemed to struggle a bit for the first couple of songs but once he got going he was fantastic and played a lot more Smiths stuff than last time I saw him. Also he was looking as lovely as ever. What did other people think of the gig?

I thought he was on top form, his voice sounded great.

Thought the crowd were a bit subdued, compared to when I've seen him before. After the end of the set there didn't seem to be much noise for him to come back on.

[niat]

Mew were fantastic in Leeds on Saturday. Nicely mixed set, plenty of Frengers and Kites tracks and probably too few from No More Stories (would have loved to see Introducing Palace Players).

I love it when you see songs performed live that perhaps you had overlooked on albums, and it gives them a new lease of life when you next listen to them. One of the joys of seeing live music, it can make you listen to songs in a new light. White Lips Kissed and Sometimes Life Isn't Easy are the two that have been going round in my head since the gig.

Anyway, great gig, great band. Support band Choir of Young Believers were good too, especially the lead singer's awesome beard.

[ThickAndCreamy]

Just saw The Flaming Lips at the Troxy.

It's the best performance I have ever, and probably will ever see. Dear god, that was incredible, overwhelmingly so. I've never felt so happy and alive at a gig, it was simply astonishing. I know people always praise their live show but it is truly perfect in every way.

I've spent the last hour since it ended smiling endlessly, it was simply two hours of pure elation watching them and everything they did. I would honestly have paid £100 to see that gig and I still would have felt euphoric.

If you haven't seen them live before, do it the next time you can.

[Cambrian Times]

Got a ticket to see Richard Hawley at the Royal Festival Hall in January. Got a seat near the front. Am chuffed.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I saw Om and Sunn O))) at the Koko in Camden last night. We were only really bothered about Om beforehand having been fairly ambivalent about Sunn, and while Om were fantastic (once we'd got past the initial confusion caused by Al Cisneros' new haircut), Sunn were absolutely amazing. Musically there might not be much to them, but as a theatrical performance it was astounding. U2 and Muse have to spend millions to achieve the same sort of visual impact that this lot managed with just some smoke and hooded robes. The guitarists spent much of the time obscured by the fog while their slow pulverising chords melded with the vocalist's Tuvan style throat singing, giving the impression that all the sounds were emanating from this one demonic figure on the stage. It was quite unlike any other gig I'd been to before.

[bennett]

Saw Jools Holland at the royal albert hall the other week.  Him and hte band were great as always with some great additions.  Ruby Turner especially was utterly fantastic.  It makes you realise quite how poor a lot of the vocalists on X-Factor etc really are when you hear a voice of that stature live.  Proper Aural Pleasure.   

[kittens]

I saw Health tonight who were pretty great live, huge amounts of energy. Unfortunately, this energy was not absorbed by enough of the crowd until the end, and the set was very short (45 minutes). It was good though, with reasonable support by Pictureplane, although not that memorable.n I stood still, so I stared back at her in bemusement and returned the look as if I had violated her and murdered her very ugly and genetically inferior parents.

Fucking hell, I love Health and Pictureplane, I would've loved that gig SO MUCH.

[boki]

Can I interest any of you drunken bums in joining me at [noembed]Oxynucid[/noembed]'s* gig at The Freebutt in Brighton on Tuesday?

_{*The lapsed Verbwhore formerly known as Fagan, fact fiends.}

[imitationleather]

Just booked one bad boy for MF DOOM at the Roundhouse on 5th March. Thirty quid, but considering the price of some gigs I went to last year (Fifty notes for Blur, over forty for The Specials etc.) I don't feel rinsed. Well, I won't as long as it isn't a miming imposter who performs anyway.

[tarmac]

Just booked one bad boy for MF DOOM at the Roundhouse on 5th March. Thirty quid, but considering the price of some gigs I went to last year (Fifty notes for Blur, over forty for The Specials etc.) I don't feel rinsed. Well, I won't as long as it isn't a miming imposter who performs anyway.

I'm all over that too - cannot wait.  I did however buy my ticket before being told I could not get the day off work, but fuck it, I'm hoping it will somehow work itself out.  Besides, it's not very often you get the chance to see some bloke pretending to be MF DOOM.

[actwithoutwords]

Got tickets to Beach House today for next month. Cannot bloody wait. New album is superb, and they sounded lovely while I was stuck in a 2 hour queue to see them last time. I may even get inside this time.

[dr beat]

Was going to mention this in the Bonzos thread before it got all spammed, but I'm off to The Three Bonzos and a Piano (or whatever its called) gig at the Bloomsbury in a couple of weeks - anyone else going? Not sure what to expect really.

Loulongs need not reply ;-)

[Serge]

Went to see Laura Veirs at the Union Chapel last night, and inevitably, thought it was great. It was the first time I'd ever been to Union Chapel, though I'd heard a lot of good things about it, and thankfully, it lived up to expectations. I went with my friend Noreen, and we went to the bar first, which, slightly bizarrely, looked like a youth club. And we sat on a rickety sofa which looked like it had been found in a skip and threatened to topple over every time either of us moved.

But anyway, the gig. It was the first gig I'd been to since 2006, when I went to see, er, Laura Veirs. It was the fourth time I've seen her, and definitely the best. She's rather heavily pregnant at the moment, and made the odd comment about the baby enjoying certain songs as she could feel him 'romping' in there. The band was all new, certainly none of her regular bandmates were there (though as they all tend to have careers in their own right, I guess getting them all together probably gets harder each time.)

One thing I loved is that each band member was a multi-instrumentalist, so there was a lot of swapping of instruments all night. Laura played the guitar mostly, switching to banjo for a couple of songs, and even the keyboard for the finale. Her voice is great, I could listen to her sing all day, she played most of my favourite songs, except 'Galaxies', which is only a minor quibble, as they were onstage for 75 minutes, so I didn't feel shortchanged.

She's coming back over in August apparently, so I might get to my next gig rather more quickly than I did this one!

[actwithoutwords]

LCD Soundsystem in April. Come on!
Owen Pallett as well hopefully, and Primavera again, which should be lovely.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Leftfield have reformed for gigs.  Just announced for Rockness.

[Neville Chamberlain]

Indica Ritual, The Chameleon, Nottingham, February 20th

One of my favourite new bands, proper progressive punk pop stuff

http://www.myspace.com/indicaritual

[dr beat]

The Bonzos gig at the Bloomsbury Theatre last night was a lot of fun, and I'm sure I saw Squidy and Lfbarfe there!

Also went to see the El Michels Affair featuring Lee Fields on Fri.  The gig itself wasn't great shakes but it was at the Bloomsbury Ballroom, which I haven't been to before and thought it was quite a decent venue.