rate the last gig you went to

EWWWWWWWW

Glastonbury was weird, most the bars I went to were £5 a pint or cider, though by the main stages they were £5.25 or something for some reason.

I think End of the Road let you bring your own booze in, I think I'll do that eventually. Seems more suited to old bastards that like SFA & Mark E Smith. Think my days of Latitude are over

Oh yeah we are totally not their target audience anymore. I know several people who go to End of the Road and love it. It's just so far away for me. Will probably stick with Latitude forever due to how local it is.

TRNSMT, the crap mini festival that replaced T, only sells Carlsberg when it comes to beer. To add insult to injury, it’s the piss-weak 3.8% stuff. The worst lager known to man.

I was reminded of this post at the store today and so I bought my first Carllsberg since the last time in TCOTU in 2009. It’s...fucking rancid.

you poor people.

My missus and Tim Burgess became internet buddies recently so she played his little stage at Kendall calling and we talked a lot of shite all day yesterday. Also saw him sing oh my carazon and a weird version of north country boy. Festival was a war zone and hardly saw anything else but fuck me the manic street preachers were shite.

I enjoyed that Manics line. A band I’ve never seen the attraction of.

Speaking of fading 90s acts, I went to see Suede for the first time last night with popular forum member and sometime mini train driver Forever.

The band are tight and Brett Anderson flounced about as much as I’d expected. Rod pointed out he wasn’t hitting the notes as he usually did, but I thought overall his voice was in pretty damn good nick for a guy in his 50s.

The set dragged towards the end as they insisted on playing half a dozen newer songs. Brett also insisted on closing with a new song, which is a bold fucking move when you’re essentially touring the nostalgia circuit. I am grudgingly impressed he had the baws to pull off such a move tbh. 7.

Visions all dayer

Saw an instrumental band called Scalping which were a bit naff. Black Counrty, New Road did a good set though I'm always left feeling like they should play for longer, probably due to the length of their tunes. Orville Peck was kinda forgettable. Squid smashed it & then ICEAGE felt disappointing, all their songs sound the fucking same.

Good day out though, especially with the unexpected appearance from Stocky.

kev's looking buff.

All looking fly as fuck tbh

Loving how the soapy members who look sharp and young and have thick hair had a secret meeting

It was a beautiful day, first time i've met Stocky as well who managed to come to TCOTU by accident and managed to get a last minute tickets.

Squid are so fucking great live.

Spot the Soapboxers getting it on down during their set..

I’m definitely trying to squeeze one out in that last pic

Saw Johnny marr live for the first time.

Went up to Scotland to watch the scream live for the 12th time.
Had no idea Johnny marr was supporting. Skull crushing rain all night, thunder and lightning, the gig was stopped for 30 minutes whilst they decided if they were going to cancel everything, in the end they just told people not to touch the metal barriers to avoid death, was a little bit mental.

Was quite cool seeing Johnny smash through smiths songs, his solo stuff was also pretty decent. Guys an animal on the guitar. He came back out with the scream to do rocks and loaded.

7/10

You can point out plenty of issues with the current Tramlines set up - corporate sponsorship, lack of diversity in acts, safe line up, tight site. I can stomach the beer choice however. Beers are £6 a pop either Camden Pisswater Pale or IPA, a real ale bar (should be cheaper but isn't for some reason) and a Thornbridge bar w/ 4 great options.

Saying that I didn't even bother with the main festival on the Saturday or early Sunday this year and just stuck to fringe venues in the city centre this year.

Saw Bodega Friday. They did a free show at the moth club as that boardmasters festival had been cancelled. 3rd time I've seen them, 1st time I was underwhelmed, second time enjoyed it a bit more but still wasn't convinced, but this time it was banging. The guitarist is hilarious to watch, so intense - though he smiled at one point and I didn't know how to react.

the new song is pretty good too

Nice one. Seeing them Monday

The Cure @ Bellahouston Park.

First Cure gig in Scotland since 1993 so this was quite the event. It pissed it down during the day but thankfully stopped by the time the band were on at 8.30, although conditions underfoot were like a bad Glastonbury and I foolishly wore trainers

I’ve always been a casual Cure fan, enjoying bits and pieces rather spending time with their albums, so I did wonder whether I would enjoy their famously long sets. I shouldn’t have worried - they did 2 hrs 25 mins and I enjoyed pretty much everything they played.

The Cure are a strange band in a lot of ways. They have a few indie pop classics, of course, but they’re really an industrial outfit with the odd pop hook. You look at the bass player with his mullet, and the drummer with his perm, and they look like they’ve stepped straight out of 1986. They dress like a Donnington Monsters of Rock headliner. You wonder how they have been so popular for so long.

The answer is of course Robert Smith. The guy’s voice is incredible, literally no one sounds like him, and his lyrics are flawless. He’s spent 40 years writing tunes about the same woman and still manages to say things about love in a really unique way. I don’t think I’d ever really appreciated what a special talent he is before.

The band sound great as well. For an outdoor show it was spot on. 9.