rate the last gig you went to

Anyone who calls them 'the fannies' is in fact a fanny themselves.

Hi Chrissie. How were Squid last night mate? Did you get T-shirt?

I’ve heard Norman Blake refer to them as the fannies. Therefore, you are the fanny.

Fake edit: The only acceptable nickname for the band is The Bellshill Beach Boys.

But even that doesn’t work now that Gerry has gone

Hi JP and thanks for your questions.

That’s right Soapboxers, long-term forum member Columbia_rocks_man went to see Squid on Tuesday night. Local noise act Kaputt were sadly the support. I saw them last month and a second time so soon was too much. They’re like Squid but without the tunes or musicianship.

Unlike professional TCOTUer and forum favourite Krburg, who has seen Squid 67 times, this was my first experience seeing the group. Most of them apparently now live in Bristol, which makes a lot of sense, as I have never seen a band who look more like a Bristol band.

But I have to say, they sounded brilliant. They opened with Sludge and GKS, both of which were epic. I was also pleased to hear them do a powerful version of Paddling, which could be their best tune IMO. I was less thrilled by the number of no marks in attendance wearing IDLES T-shirts. A worrying trend.

The Squids (as I now call them) suffered a midset lull but they pulled it back to earn a solid 7 out of 10. I will say they are almost too polished and precise at times. They could do with loosening things up, as Shaun Ryder almost sang. Small, big, take your pick. Doesn't have to be legit.

And no, I did not buy a T-shirt.

[/quote]I was less thrilled by the number of no marks in attendance wearing IDLES T-shirts. A worrying trend.
[/quote]

*shudders*

richard dawson at norwich arts centre on thursday night. my first time seeing him and while i did enjoy that last album in the end, he is always someone i feel i should like more than i actually do. id booked tickets ages ago (this was a twice rearranged covid gig) in the hope he would click with me more and have to admit to nearly not going due to a mixture of feeling a bit shit and apathy. really glad i made it though as he was great. reminded me so much of a josh t pearson gig with the combination of humour and stunning long songs. i was shocked by how beautiful some of it was live. soldier and heart emoji were big standouts.

friday it was SOUND CITY IPSWICH, a new multi venue festival in suffolk. i started out in a venue that only opened this week called the baths. held about 300 people and was an old gym. good vibe and decent sound. lynks was up first who had blown my mind at latitude. was just as good this time around. hilarious, catchy and puts on a great show. the audience were totally won over despite mostly being old and bald and not his normal crowd. i then saw bdrmm who are another of those bands i feel i should like more than i do. im a big fanboy for shoegaze guitars so these just sounded great live. i realised the vocals and songwriting lets them down for me though. for all the nice guitar sounds the vocals aren't strong enough and the songs lack hooks. changed venue to the corn exchange up the road a much bigger hall that is your tradition theatre type vibe for big joanie. really liked them, good racket, thurston moore is a big fan and they seemed very humble likeable people. id enjoyed the last album with its slight raincoats vibe but they were even better live. headed back to the baths for truemendous. don't know much about her other than she's a rapper from birmingham. had a good vibe though and i'll try and check the album out at some point. she blitzed through her set and then it was time for yard act. slightly different set from wide awake with no peanuts or dark days and instead a couple more new ones along with a duet with katy j pearson. frontman is a superstar and the band are tight. my slight concern is while i love the early singles, some of the new tunes do sound a bit of a lurtch towards the mainstream with their big repetative choruses. one called payday was the worst culprit. overall though still a brilliant set and one of the most exciting new bands around.

i would have loved to have hung around longer for marlowe and warmduscher but decided to get an earlier train home in order to get the last bus back to mine rather than a 30quid cab. was a really good little event. venues all decent, no queues to get in or at the bars and decent lager too. kinda wish i was going today too as they have another strong lineup with cool greenhouse, working mens club, pva etc

M8

the missus is in the middle of a run of gigs supporting Tim Burgess, got this boss photo of Tim pretending he's in the shining

Went to the Windmill NOT to see Black Midi! It was a showcase of Nice Swan Records. Prima Queen were OK, a bit Ryan Adamsy. Had a few songs I really liked, the rest was kinda forgettable. Deadletter I was really impressed with. Singer had a lot of intensity about him. Unfortunately they played for about 50 mins which was too long. Still, really impressive, would pay to see them again.
English Teacher were interesting, it didn't fully work for me but there was definitely something there. Will keep an eye on them.
The night was has topped by Pip Blom. Have heard various track from them in the past, none that ever impressed me enough to check a record out. Though live they had a lot of energy, its straight up indie-rock but they do it well. Enjoyed their set more than I expected too.

Went to the Lexington to see Yard Act. Deep Tan supported, they feel like they need an extra member or two. Played their new single, but only an instrumental version as if somebody would bootleg it and cause their career to flop if it got out. Kinda forgettable. Yard Act... I've loved those early singles. The singer is an absolute star, bags of charisma and funny to boot. However, their new material is so on the nose indie-rock that it feels like 2006 all over again. I'm hoping their album has some tunes on there, but I feel it's going to be too obvious sounding for me to really care.

Then went to the Windmill, again not to see black midi! The Cool Greenhouse opened, magnificent as ever. It was Regressive Left's first ever headline gig. I dug it, not everything worked landed but they've definitely got some tunes.

Sunday, after 932 gigs I attended my first classical concert. I don't know shit about classical music, however the other year I really got into Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring after hearing interviews of Frank Zappa talking about him. It was performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra & was bloody wonderful. Got cheap front row seats last minute, but realised quickly that nobody buys front row for that kinda thing as you can't see most of the performers. It still sounded magnificent though.
Unfortunately some Finnish bloke did some traditional tune on violin before for about 10 minutes and went off the stage and back on twice for a applause, he looked like a massive cunt.
There was also a piece written by Bryce Dessner of the National, was OK. When it finished he ran on stage and tripped over the stairs nearly stacking it.
A nice experience though, not a genre I know enough about to really dig into but I wouldn't rule out going to another in the future.

yeah she's my other half and it's the thread here she got onto your music.

Just got back from seeing Squid at Paradiso, Amsterdam. My first gig in the Netherlands and my first post-pandemic one too.

The only reason I got tickets was because I kept reading rave reviews in this thread. I tried giving a listen to the LP a couple of times but it never really grabbed me, and I don't think I ever got past track 4. Tried once more today on the train to the gig and again, it sounded just okay.

But live, man, does this band deliver...
I didn't know any of the tunes, but every other song had me thinking "fuck me this is a tune". And the sound is loud and in your face, which is something I don't think is well captured on the LP.

One of the tunes they did mid-set sounded like early 90s psychedelia (think early Verve) and they closed with two songs bridged together by a long instrumental jam where they really sounded like post-Damo Can. I swear to god they sounded like the Stuttgart bootleg. When they choose to, they have this motorik/krautrock beat going on, which I couldn't hear on the record but live it was obvious, they play a lot with tension and they do it very well. On record I felt more of a jazz tinge but live that gets replaced by this more abrasive sound.

Overall, this band can really play and they have the tunes.

Next gig should be Black Country, New Road and I'm digging this approach of not knowing anything before seeing a band live, so I guess I'll repeat the experiment.

I'm encouraged that Squid made it to Amsterdam.

I have gigs coming up with a few British bands (Black Country New Road & Jesus & Mary Chain in Luxembourg and Black Midi in Amsterdam) and was worried that they'd all cancel due to covid movement difficulties.

Good review Simone. Totally agree about Squid being a much more enjoyable live band than on record - I also think the debuted that more psychedelic number at Wide Awake festival and I thought it was a really good progress. Sorry to hear you're having to see BCNR, though.

From what I've seen it seems that Spain is the only major sticking point right now. Apparently it costs £409 for a touring visa to enter the country per person. So for a 5 piece band with a couple of roadies you're looking at near 3 grand before you even pay for travel/hotels & other costs.  So if you're any kind of new band it's impossible to go there without losing money at the moment. 

I'd recommend going back to the record. I quite often am not impressed by records then listen back to them after seeing the band perform the material live & then it all clicks into place. 

A few decent bands on the lineup for this, though mostly TIÑA 
www.TCOTUcalling.nl/en/line-up/ (autocorrect has ruined the link)

Yep, we're like that. But the president is giving a 400€ voucher to youngers entering the voting age!

Cheers Rod! Yeah I think you can tell there is some significant evolution going on with their sound, they are mostly post-punk/funk but sometimes they veer in this psychedelic territory, krautrock even, and I really enjoyed that. Aren't BCNR supposed to be decent though? Never heard them!


Titch, if you're seeing Black Midi in Amsterdam drop me a line and let's get cabbaged before the show.
My next gig is likely going to be Soft Machine in the arse end middle of nowhere (near The Hague), Oct. 21st