Gig Review Thread

[european son]

in amongst much else, the prolific VM mentioned the idea of a gig review thread in one of his posts.

here's one from me. sorry its a touch gushing and more than a touch overblown. its partly like that cos it may end up in the student paper, and they seem to like that sort of thing, and partly because i'm not a particularly good journalist (yet!)

The Libertines, The Bandits, The Scene – Manchester Academy, 1st March 2004

First on are The Scene. Despite their horribly presumptuous name they're not bad at all. Their best moment is the last track, a run through Eddie Cochran's classic C'mon Everybody that does its bit in warming the crowd up. The only problem with The Scene is that their influences are worn a little too proudly on their sleeves; in short they sound like Oasis.... a lot like Oasis. Another band who often get comparisons flung at them are The Bandits, but claims that they're simply a workmanlike Coral are as hackneyed and lazy as the journalists making them (Liverpool! Guitars! They might as well start talking about The Beatles). If I were to compare the group to any particular bunch of Scousers, it'd have to be The La's at their rockiest. The band open with the single "Two Step Rock" before moving on to album highlight "Hung or Hunger". From then on there's a touch of diminishing returns, but the band still impress and manage to keep us entertained.

On to The Libertines, and what is there left to say really? The gig may not have had the unabashed joy of the dates they did at the Forum towards the end of last year, but they still sound pretty damn good. The Libertines command the sort of devotion from the crowd that other bands have spent years working for; the intros from every album track (and b-side) are welcomed with the sort of rapturous applause that usually only accompanies hit singles. They run through all the album, (bar Radio America), and don't let up for a second, tracks like Time For Heroes, Horrorshow, and the untouchable Good Old Days illuminating why the band are so loved by both fans and critics at the moment. They close with a suitably noisy Skag & Bone Man, and stumble off, mission well and truly accomplished.

Any criticisms? Well, despite the energy of the performance, and the fact they play a few admittedly great new songs, (the opener and the other newie intrigued, and if the as yet unreleased Last Post On The Bugle doesn't go Top Ten, I'll eat my leather jacket, zips 'n' all), you can't get away from the fact that The Libertines have been touring Up The Bracket for about two years now. The difficult second album is set to be released later this year, and expectations will be running very, very high.

But this writer isn't worried for a second. I remember reading some article about The Clash, pointing out that whilst some bands find it hard to find a decent frontman The Clash were flaunting two. On tonight's evidence I can't help but feel the same pity for many of The Libertines contemporaries, in Pete Doherty and Carl Barat they've got two talented songwriters and rock 'n' roll stars that brilliantly play (and play up to) being folk heroes for the kids. What more could you ask for really?

[TraceyQ]

Heres mine:

I went to see The Libertines. Someone offered me a pill. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

[splattermac]

Stellastarr, Manchester, Academy 3, tonight

in a word, a quiet b-side performance,

touring the album, almost perfect recital with no personality

how sad, boo hiss rubbish

I listen to the album louder in my car than they played it tonight.

bless them, they are young and I sung along and got fed up shouting 'louder' after each track in the end,

where was the soaring noise, the fuck fuck fuck off crisp drums, the needling guitar and bowel rumbling bass?

fuck KNOWS!!

shoot the soundman, I left before they finished

[Gazeuse]

Heres mine:

I went to see The Libertines. Someone offered me a pill. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Was it a diuretic???

[SnapperOrgans]

O.K then Ill review both things I went to last weekend, seems logical as they were both in the same place, Glasgow University Union.

Saturday 28th February Ninja Zen TV tour
Coldcut / Kid Koala/ DK, Blockhead

Kid Koala was just starting when I arrived, big swooshes of nicey nicey orchestral jazz hip hop and bass rumbles, just the thing to get the large and rather unsettlingly young looking student crowd swaying from foot to foot but not quite funky or interesting enough to hold my attention very long. The highlight was 'drunk trumpet' where he scratches out a trumpet solo over a cool jazz beat. It said on the flyer that coldcut were doing a 'laptop set' but what this actually meant was that it was just one member of coldcut playing off a laptop and decks which these days isnt really anything special....I expected some kind of crazy computer mixing of coldcut tunes but it was just other folks tunes one after the other. Don't get me wrong I like to hear "supersharpshooter" by ganja kru as much as the next man but I expect a wee bit more when i pay 12 quid to see coldcut play a 'laptop set'. The pasty faced little virgin students were loving it though, so perhaps they were just playing to the crowd. Oblivious to this, some little student tit thought it would be an awfully funny jape to set off the fire alarm so we all had to troop out and wait in the cold untill the firemen had been. All in all it was a mediocre night made shit by students. I may be a student myself but by god I hate them so.

Stereolab Mon 01 March

An older more discerning class of person was at stereolab thank god, and no one was disappointed. I was just happy to see the girl from stereolab in the flesh, after having visualized her so many times. She has a sort of sexy english teacher look about her, and as I gazed directly into her eyes she sung me beautifull pop lullabyes in french in between playing the trombone. They played quite a few tunes of margerine eclipse like cosmic country noir as well as old classics like "harmonium" which made me very happy indeed. The only thing that annoyed me is that I'd liked to have seen the tunes with two singers to hear all the lovely harmonies, but it was still brilliant. Every one of them playes like 4 instruments and they constantly change during tunes, alternating between trombones, french horns, different guitars and synthesizers and tambourines etc to create the big dreamy throng of gliding sound they do so well. subtely life affirming entertainment.

[NattyDread]

Yes, I thought Stereolab were top notch. Lovely pristine sound which was far tighter than I expected after hearing bootlegs of gigs. It was a joy from start to finish. I've never seen a more static crowd though. The music was funky space bubbly niceness which demanded that I shake my ass accordingly. Seemed to have te same effect on very few of the rest of the crowd though.
I did meet the drummer out of Belle & Sebastian outside though and he said he danced, so it wasn't just me and ma lady.

[Neville Chamberlain]

NOMEANSNO!!!

Crikey!!! What a band!!! Just three good ol' wholesome Canadian boys...Rob Wright, most probably the best bass player in the world (seriously!), looking more like Harold Bishop than ever, or a slimmed-down Newt Gingrich, imploring us all to "look into my eyes!!!" on Rise, brother Jon, most definitely the best drummer in the world, sporting a horseshoe-shaped moustache straight out of the Village People and a nice pair of Bermudas, and necking large quantities of beer, and guitarist Tom Holliston, with his 'shock' of straggly, greying hair plus bald patch, and horn-rimmed spectacles making him look as mad professorish as can be, all three of them together create what is quite simply some of the most intense and - this is what really sets NoMeansNo apart - downright creative noise you'll ever hear, somewhere between prog, funk, jazz, blues and, of course, lashings of full-on honest-to-goodness punk rock!!! What did they play? Loads of stuff! With no new album to tour and a "Best of" to promote, they just hammered randomly through their back catalogue, which included The River with Jon's awesome pummelling repetitive rhythm, The End of all Things with Rob's hyperspeed bass riffing, I Can't Stop Talking, Victory, Rise, and loads of other stuff (unfortunately they didn't play Dark Ages or What Slayde Says, but hey!). They are incredible to watch...you just knew they wouldn't put a note wrong and they didn't...bass and drums in perfect alignment, guitar noise all over the top...an absolute fucking POWERHOUSE I tell ya!!! One of the many highlights included Rob yelling at this stage diver who was attempting his 500th stage dive (yawn!) before batting him off the stage with the end of his bass. Hurrah! Then it ended and twas all over. Booo! Still, I took the opportunity to get kitted out for the summer with two very nice NMN T-shirts and I trotted off home with a click of the heels and jaw dragging along the floor!

They're coming to England soon. Do. Not. Miss.

[mr rou-rou]

nice one Jim, I still can't be arsed to travel to my nearest NMN gig which is Leeds, I see they are playing London with Alice Donut as support, that would be the winner for me, too far though.

I've bought tickets to see NOFX, I'm in two minds about that as I've not listened to any of their recent stuff, plus I'll probably stand out like a sore thumb amongst the hardcore Sum41 and Avril fans, oh dread.

[european son]

i'll pop a Kraftwerk review up in this post when i've finished my essay, for now i'll give it a one word review

wow

[NattyDread]

Jings! Alice Donut are still on the go? That's the most remarkable thing I've heard all day.

[Uncle Gripper]

After a very long wait i eventually got to see Kraftwerk, on Tuesday in Glasgow.  Needless to say it had sold out months ago, the faithful would be rewarded.....It was in The Carling Academy, an old bingo/cinema, i had not been to it before and i was pleasantly impressed, various mezzanine levels and a balcony to boot.  However as it was sold out, the place was heaving, choc-a-firkin, crammed, everyman for himself type scenario.  There was no music beforehand or a support, a massive stage curtain hid proceedings as well.  After much deliberation and a few hand rolled cigs, the lights go down and the vocoded intro sparks into life, bringing gasps, cries and general pandemonium to the expectant throng.  The curtain glows red and four  sillhouttes are cast upon it, massive they are, eventually opening to reveal prolly the most elusive and influential i will ever see in my life.  The Mensch MAchine duly starts off proceedings, it all sounds quite light and airy and very very s p a c e y, noodling between the gaps is a pastime of mine.  Then the bass kicks in and the fucked up dynamic bleeps and crunches start to move the sardines like crowd, as best they can.  The place woulda been much more comfortable with about half the punters in............anyway.  The gig was supreme, in terms of solidity, light show, sheer stage presence, the tracks played and dynamic sound quality.  Autobahn sounded mint, particularly at the beginning when the car starts, revs and drives away, it was panning all over the place and it sort of drove over the top of us with a cheeky wee 'beep beep' as it passed.  Now this was a definite comedic turn, as i saw Florian laugh as it played, it sounds like a wee cheeky 'ha-low' and i had a broad smile to match Florians......  La Forme from the new album sounded excellent as well, in fact it was all good.  The only downer being i know ill prolly never see them again, ach well.  I would love to see them get daddy with the old acoustic instrumentos, some flute action perhaps and playing out some monster tracks like Tanzmusik, Kristallo and Rucksuck.  Still we can hope eh!!

Overall a great night if a little busy, but hey watcha expect its Kraftwerk after all.  Here are some piccies, i used my digi cam and elected not to use the flash, therefore its was a slow shutter speed, therefore they are blurry, plus i was quite far back.  Some of them are 800x600, its not much but its something!!

[mr rou-rou]

you lucky bugger, this thread is just going to turn into 'you didn't see this great band hahahah :)'

That first picture is great, accompanied by your review I can begin to imagine what it must have been like, I must ask my mate who went to the Manchester one what he made of it, well reminded.

I've got tickets to a few trendy bands coming up soon:

Rapture
Scissor Sisters
Peaches
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
British Sea Power

and then some others I feel an affinity with:

Beta Band
Phoenix
Explosions in the sky (clashes with the Rapture)
Pixies
Mclusky (this will be good, playing the pokey wee hole that is the Roadhouse, it will RAWK!!!)

I think that's about it, oh and Morrissey for my stadium blockbuster

[mr rou-rou]

word up ma bitches,

I've been over the door twice

Once for the Scissor Sisters, yay, good fun, loads of energy, can't be arsed saying any more, but miles better than I expected, he's a bog eyed freak hybrid between an organ grinder's monkey and a hillbilly and she's a disco punk Alison Moyet, but much more attractive, the rest of the group are backgroup players....whatever...



But I just saw the Yeah Yeah Yeahs tonight and they were fucking ace, Karen O is my new crush, she's so cute, and small and slim, I thought she was a heffer, maybe she has a stomach parasite, anyhoo its working for her, rawrrr.

fashion tips girls: she came on stage in a blue and white tight stripy boobtube cum mini skirt, white retro sneakers and pink tights, what looked like a Boys Brigade hat and a couple of fluorescent orange greasepaint marks under her eyes like an American football player. Oh, and black knickers which she kept showing off like a harlot or your drunken aunt at a wedding do.

encore costume change, a tight sliver speedskater suit complete with hood up and a red cape/poncho, on the side of her hood were fastened what looked like red ears/clam shells - whatta beauty!

She pranced and pogo'd and screamed and crooned away for about 90 mins, doing all my faves and personally seducing me with 'maps' not the ordinance survey type but the song 'wait... they don't love you like I love you' oh Karen O, I feel your love, there wasn't a dry crotch in the house.

All the time grinning away like a loon and doing these sort of dramatic early morning yawning stretches, and a spot of rolling around on the floor, erm... trying to deepthroat the mic (art star), whipping the stage with the mic lead, spitting water and beer on the audience, brandishing a large baguette, trashing it on the stage and then salivating on it before chucking bits into the crowd. If you looked at the walls of the venue you could watch her spindly shadow slither over them like a Czechoslovakian folk tale.

It's amazing the sound you can create with just a drummer, guitarist and vocals, speaking of which the opposite of gurning Karen was the poefaced guitarist who I don't think even cracked a smile, but its no wonder, he had his work cut out doing the bass, melody and lead all on the one guitar :/ - the drums were nice and crisp and magnificently pounded by Egon Spengler from Ghostbusters, they played a track I didn't recognise and he was loving it, some octopus like drumming as they whipped up an 80's dirge of power goth punko pop rock.

Aww she's so cute, like an attractive mental patient.

p.s the supports were shite, noisecore "the Locust" and some twat I missed, but my chums said he was arse.

Howzat!

[bill hicks]

The Locust are more art-Grind than Noisecore Rou, although I think they did support Converge a few times so it could go either way.

And they rock high style. So ner.

[TraceyQ]

Did they? I thought they just came on and played the same thing for half an hour with kitkat style little breaks to swear and spit at the booing audience. Oh, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs bored me so much.

[imitationleather]

I just went to see The Libertines at the Rhythm Factory. They was good. Yes.

[mr rou-rou]

less is mo...

- -

Peaches, last night with my bitches Fanny and his missus and my mate Paul (who to protect his identity I shall refer to as Clive)

Clive drove me there so I could booze, what a top guy, he then drove me and the Fanny ensemble home, I've no idea if Peaches was any good but I've a terrible hangover.

just kidding.

We got there in plenty of time to watch the warm up, Kissogram, two smartly dressed euro types playing a dirge of electro pop, you know the kind, sleazy Berlin beats, Clive said they reminded him of Franz Ferdinand without the guitar, hmm... I suppose. They weren't really that good but it's hard to resist the call of the drum machine, so you could see peoples hips and shoulders starting to go...

...and then they finished,

21:30 lights go down, crowd faces front, whoop whoop, the Stranglers - Peaches starts up, as it plays out...

a small woman appears on a podium, facing away from us, mini skirt and boots, long blonde hair (wig), grinding out a fuzzy racket.

Yay it's Peaches, up go the lights, off comes the wig and straight into some of her patented snarling sexy rap antics, two female dancers of Amazonian stature join her on the podium, wearing :) pink trucker hats and false Fidel Castro beards, hot pants and strap on dildos, this is Shake yer dix , and that was the ice breaker, I think she'd won over the crowd at that point, oh how they jiggled and hip fucked those rubber cockies to and fro.

Kick it, tear it up fuck it up, I really liked this bit and a big cheer went up from the crowd as they wheeled a projection screen on behind her and Iggy Pop appeared, the sinewy old wriggler that he is, and they proceeded to duet to Kick it, fucking loved that, I've got a sore throat from screaming out all the swear words

a nice little carnival of bondage as her dancers tied her up in blue rope while she stood there singing, notice the attractive PVC Bat girl outfits :)~

suddenly she disappears from view having fallen over, sustaining what looked like a self inflicted blow to the chops during some freaky dancing... only to stagger to her feet, trot forward, mount the monitor speaker and spit blood out on the front row, nice, later on after the gig I spotted a girl from the front with blood on her face so I asked if I might have a lick

Sadly I can't find a picture of her stood on the speaker stack in rock pose in her bra and hot pants, yay!
or

The fantastic and unexpected hula hoop display from the more attractive of the two Amazonian dancers, she came on in her bra and panties (I can't stop typing that) with show girl lashes and thick blue mascara and proceeded to pout and wiggle a hula hoop up and down her body, and then did a stack of them and one really cool trick with her arms in a sort of windscreen wiper motion, what a top bird.

For the encore she came on, said 'with me up here its not much more than karaoke is it?' hmm wait

I might have the sequence of events wrong because near the end she came on to make an announcement, 'you are all fucking thieves, someone has stolen my naked lady guitar', she asked the crowd if they could remember her four guitars, and then named them and showed them, I don't know why I cheered for the flying vee, but everyone else did :) and then when it came to missing guitar number four she just called Manchester a bunch of thieves and as if by magic the missing guitar got passed up on to stage from the crowd and she proceeded to play a track which I can't remember, I was a bit tiddly like.

back to the encore, rock and roll and fuck the pain away, class! she got a pretty girl out of the crowd to sing Fuck the pain away with, dare I say... wearing a bra and jeans :)~ , it was great, loved that, plenty of crowd participation swearing, not difficult lyrics 'fuck the pain away fuck the pain away fuck the pain away' etc

a splendid do and I hope some ladies went away from that feeling empowered by her, I know I did, I could hardly wait to get home to put on my hot pants.

[fanny splendid]

Everything he just said.

Bloody brilliant.

bra and panties!

[mr rou-rou]

British Sea Power, Thursday 22nd, Manchester Academy 2

meh!

not hungry enough to wow anyone, a nice rendition of the album and that's about it. If you look at their gig photos and listen to the album you might be mistaken for expecting a punked up angular stomping gig, nah... boring, left after 50 minutes for another pint and a kebab, but you pay your money you take your chances.

interesting things:
I saw Lard there 'hello Lard' ooo starstruck giggle giggle

They play stood in front of a projected backdrop of silhouetted trees and hedgerows, with crows and other birds swooping in and out of the scene. They also dress up their onstage speakers with branches and a stuffed owl to create a sort of parallax view and during the three songs I enjoyed I was fooled into thinking I was at an open air gig by the edge of some woods as the sky was beginning to bruise.

This also had the strange effect of transporting me back to playing in the woods as a kid and sitting in the fields as it grew dark as well as imagining a Pathe newsreel of old footage of ship building yards and Britain's pre war industry – so really them droning on through their set was just a catalyst for some daydreaming on my part.

That also reminded me of something I read which I now can't find in order to quote, but the jist of it is

we are never in the place where we are, the present rarely exists because if for example we are on a beach, we are comparing it to other beaches we have been to and therefore looking backwards into the past in order to quantify the present, by which time it has moved on.

I know that doesn't stand up to analysis but in my case, 50 minutes in their company was so boring I retreated into my own head which was the very place I wanted to be coaxed out of :) still I like the album and the ep's.

Their fans make the sign of the owl, when you close your thumb and forefinger together to make eyes and stick your remaining fingers up like ears/tufts. My expectations was to see a crowd full of owls, the reality was 'one' owl, so it's true that they are indeed nearing extinction, luckily I had a mouse in my pocket which I managed to feed to the poor youth.

ramble on

[never trust a hippy]

saw blanche and calexico monday night.blanche are very quirky bunch very cardiacs stage pressence if u know what i mean live i would say the handsome family mixed with the cramps excellent i would recomend them u see them.Calaxico stunning but a tad to loud very  good nite in all for a monday nite at b ham accademy 2

[king mob]

p.s the supports were shite, noisecore "the Locust" and some twat I missed, but my chums said he was arse.

Howzat!

Be thankful you missed them, at the Forum they were booed & bottled off & the cry of "ccccCCCCCCCUUUUNNNNTTTTSSSsssssssss" that wallowed round the venue during the break between each song.
The twat was responsable for the bar being rammed when he was on because you needed to be pissed to stand him.
Possibly one of the worst support bands ive ever seen and a shame because the YYY's were smashing that night.

[imitationleather]

This evening me and about thirty other people were treated to a very special gig in Pete Doherty from The Libertines' bedroom. The performance mixed highs and lows, and will most likely never be forgotten by anyone who attended.

At about 11.30pm, after queueing outside a flat in an east London council estate we all piled into Pete's bedroom, which had walls covered in graffiti and photos torn out of magazines. After a while it was announced that we had to leave not only the flat, but also the estate because neighbours were complaining about the noise. It seemed like the gig might be over before Pete had even arrived...

However, about an hour later we were let back in (and charged ten quid). It took a while, but finally Pete arrived. He looked very white and frail, even more so now he's had all his hair shaved off. He began an acoustic gig and laughed and chatted with the audience. It was almost impossible to hear what he was singing due to the extremely poor quality of the microphone, but that didn't really matter. We were in the bedroom of the man of the moment, and that was entertainment enough.

After a few Libertines and Babyshambles songs, he began doing covers of songs by The Beatles and The Smiths. Then he announced that everyone who had brought a musical instrument (as we had been instructed to do on the internet) should go outside with him to work out a routine. Almost everyone went, and Peter continued his perfomance in an adventure playground on the estate.

We then went back upstairs where Peter announced he was moving house this evening and we had to grab whatever we could and take it over to his friend's house where he was staying. I grabbed a couple of pillows and we began to walk across Whitechapel.

At this point it had been a truly magical evening. No, not musically brilliant, but there was something bizarre about being so intimate with one of your musical heroes. However, once we arrived at the new flat the evening took a much more dark and depressing turn.

The warning signs were there from the start. In the living room there was a girl smoking heroin. I had always knew that the whole point of this gig (and the ten pound entrance fee) was to fund Peter's crack habit. At the first flat it had all seemed lighthearted, the only real suggestion of drug use being when I was waiting to use the toilet and three people piled in and wouldn't come out. Luckily I knew someone who lived on the estate and they let me use their facilities.

Peter seemed to get agitated. One of his friends shouted, "Don't worry Peter! I've got a pipe waiting for you back here!" A girl he had been hanging around with looked well and truly fucked. He managed to belt out a few more tunes, and then, suddenly, something snapped. He threw his acoustic guitar and smashed a lightbulb. Then, straight after he punched someone in the audience who had been asking him to play a song. Almost immediately Peter realised what he had done and apologised, and sneaked off to the bedroom in order to take his friend's offer of a pipe up.

With that, the gig was over. Although the latter part had been pretty depressing, there was no doubt that this had been something very special indeed. I used to be cynical about Peter's constant "keeping it real" and secret gigs, but now I think he simply is someone who cares about his fans.

Even if you don't like The Libertines and their music, it's impossible to be saddened by someone as tragic and self-destructive as Peter Doherty. I really can't see him being alive a year from now, because to look at him this evening was like looking at a living ghost.

[european son]

stuff

wow. sounds like quite a night. i'm simultaneously jealous as fuck and also relieved as anything that i'm stuck up north and couldn't make it.

i was going to write that however bad the kid looked that i wouldn't worry much, cos he always seems to pull himself together every now and again. but i'm not so sure.... that living ghost thing is something i'm sure i've heard before, and that was reading about cats chatting about Sid towards the end.

well, i hope he manages to straighten himself out somehow.... i hope that he wants to y'know.

[Frinky]

Then, straight after he punched someone in the audience who had been asking him to play a song.

But now I think he simply is someone who cares about his fans.

Love hurts.

[mr rou-rou]

where are the photos and what else belonging to your hero did you steal?

[imitationleather]

Nooo, I didn't actually steal anything. I gave them to some bloke after a while because I couldn't be bothered anymore. What happened to them after that I could not say.

[phes]

a splendid do and I hope some ladies went away from that feeling empowered by her, I know I did, I could hardly wait to get home to put on my hot pants.

I also hope ladies left feeling empowered to express themselves in that fashion. Grrr!!!

[axel]

Went to see Lightning Bolt recently, they totally blew me away.

BTW love the reviews of the YYYs support bands. The twat you refer to is quite well known music journo Everett True. I'm a big fan of his writing, but i'm afraid his music is pretty poor.

[european son]

where are the photos

looked about online and found some snaps from last night

from the pictures it looks like a really fun time was had by all. imitation's in a few of these, but i aint saying which ones....

[fanny splendid]

where are the photos

looked about online and found some snaps from last night

from the pictures it looks like a really fun time was had by all. imitation's in a few of these, but i aint saying which ones....

red t-shirt, leather boots, centre of the picture?