rate the last gig you went to

Gruff Rhys @ the roundhouse. I was going to give this a miss but had a few days off work so decided to go. It was all seated "in the round", much smaller than your usual gig maybe 800 tops, nice set-up. My 3rd time seeing him on the tour which is more than enough, though each one was a bit different. First one an acoustic in-store, second with orchestra and this with full band. Did Babelsberg in full which was great then the same set of solo favourites which he always plays. TBH I've seen him too many times to get excited about hearing Candylion any longer & I've said it before but why the fuck does he insist on performing colonise the moon every single gig? Though he did have a sax player come out and play a bit of Careless Whisper towards the end which got a chuckle. Enjoyed it, but I'll do my best to avoid any more gigs he does until there's some new material or SFA return.
7/10

Gigs can get fucked...

GODS OF RAP standing tickets £85.75
Ryan Adams stading £65.45
or RYAN'S PINBALL LAIR EXPERIENCE - PLAY PINBALL, ONE BIT OF SIGNED MERCH, SNACKS AND MINERAL WATER £152.90

Instead I got a ticket for Amyl and the sniffers for £13.

Well that's that out the window then. 

Saw Black Midi last night at some fucking hellhole not far from stratford. I've been on at Kevin for a year to come see them with me but he just wouldn't listen.

Very impressive, they've got their own thing going on for sure. Very strange arrangements, the drummer is immense, like having a great jazz drummer behind the kit. Not everything worked for me and the vocals were far too low in the mix all night but they've got something special going, definitely ones to keep an eye out on.

Some awkward looking hipster called JERSKIN FENDRIX supported. A press play on laptop and sing some ironic songs type of thing. He had a few lyrics that were entertaining and a gimmicky microphone that made him sound like a 4 year old girl. It was memorable, I'll give him that.

I checked out a few songs from Black Midi a while back as they were at the arse end of the Latitude lineup last year and remember them sounding intriguing. I think they ended up playing a different day to the one I went though. Any idea if they've got an lp out this year?

They should have, from what I've heard, they're recording it with Dan Carey producing, I don't even think they've signed a deal with anyone yet. They hada 12" single on sale last night that they haven't even announced anywhere. I can only find a couple of mentions of it on social media as well. They keep their cards very close to their chest. Amazing band though, absolutely love them. Go and see them live if you get the chance.

Went to label mates festival Saturday, an all-day thing in multiple venues around Hackey.

Started the day in the Victoria, caught GHOST CAR first. Pretty good female indie-RAWK thing, I had forgot their name as I'd seen them support Amyl & the Sniffers last year. HONEY HAHS were decent, they're 3 young girls doing a cutesy indie thing, like the soundtrack to Juno coming to life. Next up were FAT EARTHERS, 2 piece garage-punk from the isle of Wight, sound exactly like you'd expect. I doubt they will be anything special on record but live that sort of thing I'm always a complete sucker for. Saw a bit of ICE COLD SLUSH, they sounded OK on youtube, though the sound was pretty terrible so left half way through.
Went to the Shacklewell arms to see PILL who were outstanding. I've really enjoyed both their records but they're a different animal live. So much energy & the sax player is the bollocks, such a huge sound.
Went over to the moth club to see SQUID who I was really impressed with. They've got a dynamic sound with each from sounding different from the next. Definitely a band to keep an eye out for. Alex Kapranos was watching them, didn't realise he's only 4 feet tall. Hung around for the last band ALL WE ARE who were fucking atrocious.

Excellent day out for £15, venues weren't particularly busy either which was nice.

Fat White Family @ the Lexington with Krburg & Rodders

As much as I've tried to get into their records neither of them really seem to match the hype. Though I did see them the other year at Brixton and appreciated the energy of it, though they still didn't click with me properly. Thought I'd give them a go in a small venue... it was good. Came on bang on 9 did under an hour with no encore. Added a sax to the mix which sounded great. Good gig... still can't say I quite understand what everyone is going mental over but still. Hopefully it'll be 3rd time lucky for me with their new record. Jarvis Cocker was there, he is taller than Alex Kapranos.

im probably going to go see fat white family in norwich in may but kinda feel the same about them on record. the new song hasn't caught my attention much but they were great when i saw them at latitude a few years ago.

from what ive seen it looks like theyve lost a bit of the danger live nowadays though. at latitude there were fights and the singer got his willy out. any of that kinda drama at the lexington? basically i want willies. don't want them to go all tame like black lips have done.

The most dangerous it got was when the singer threw an empty bottle of water in the air, only to hit the ceiling and come down on someone's head to which he apologised

Willy's replaced with Saxophones.

It nearly got dangerous when Krburg's otherwise gentlemanly mate announced he rated Fleet Foxes but not Ringo Starr.

I went to see Preoccupations last night, like many post punk acts they are rawer live than on record and that's a good thing. It was fine.

A very postpunk and very Vasque band opened, it was quite competent.

Tim Burgess in Norwich tonight.

First support was dire, The Silver Field who are newly signed to his label. Some avant garde shit was never going to go down well in a room full of britpop lads

Average Sex were up next and really good. Another band signed to Tim's label and musically it reminded me slightly of early Pains of Being Pure at Heart but with really strong charismatic French female vocals. Enjoyable set.

Burgess was decent but had a really bad cold so was coughing and spluttering his way through the set. His vocals were proper husky at times but he soldiered on and the stuff from that last album especially sounded really good live. 7/10.

Great name

Steve Mason @ SWG3

EDGAR JONES did a solo support slot. I don't think anyone had a clue who he was apart from me and about six others. He started a rendition of Weed Bus and I was the only guy who cheered
I'm still annoyed I missed The Stairs' brief reunion in 2015.

Steve Mason probably sounds better live now than ever before. Adding Little Barrie on guitar has really beefed up his band's sound. 'We blew all the budget on getting him,' as Mason told the crowd. The new album sounds great live, but I would have preferred him to have mixed up his set a bit more by playing some older stuff. There was 0 Beta Band tracks and he ignored his first proper solo record. Still, he did 1hr20mins and it didn't lag at all. 7.

Mason cancelled on me the slag.

Just had a great weekend of LEMONHEADS. Cambridge Junction was what I'd call a typical Lemonheads gig. Raced through a bunch of songs with no fuss, short felt a little short but no complaints. Birmingham the next night was outstanding. Evan seemed really up for it, the guitars sounded really big & the setlist was spectacular, he really looked like he was having a great time out there too.
TCOTU last night on the other hand was pretty shit Evan was enjoying himself too much playing whatever the fuck he wanted, lots of country songs & brought out the bloke from the Beavis Frond to which he completely fumbled the lyrics for. It felt like one of those Pete Doherty solo gigs where he's forgetting that people are actually there. Completely lost the crowd, but pulled it back towards the end with a few hits but very disappointing after how good Birmingham was.

went to the Scala last night. Caught the arse end of a band called Dry Cleaning who seemed pretty interesting. Sort of minimal post-punk with a female vocalist who did a spoken word thing. Will keep an eye out for them. Gong Gong Gong were on next, a two piece from Beijing. Just electric guitar and bass, sort of Spaceman 3'ish in places, though often just sounded like extended intro's to BRMC tunes. Enjoyed them for 4-5 songs but they seemed to be on for an eternity & lacked any kind of variety in their set. was ok. Bodega topped the bill, really fun & energetic set of SECOND RATE parquet courts style material. The singer is a complete bellend, everytime he opened up his mouth I cringed. Fun set though, they've got a handful of great tunes.

Sounds amazing!

Gave them a listen. Digging it but it could get old very quickly. 'Siren' is a tune.