rate the last gig you went to

Went to a free gig Friday at the Shacklewell Arms. QUADE opened, seen them before & I do kinda dig their sound but too much of their set just feels a little aimless. When they up the tempo and make some noise they're pretty damn good.
LARA JONES was on inbetween, she performed solo with a couple of synths, a laptop and a sax. Set had its moments, but kinda passed me by.
the ROBOCOBRA QUARTET headlined the bill, a band from Belfast that I hadn't heard until about a week ago. They fit nicely in with the spoken word post-punk happening down here at the moment, but they've got a more jazzier side to them too. Really impressive set, the drummer/singer is pretty funny inbetween tunes too. Liked them a lot, their new single is great.

how were Metronomy?

Fine, I guess

Saw Melt Yourself Down last night. Was at a newish venue called Lafayette in Kings Cross that is owned by one of Mumfred & sons Gotta say, the venue was fucking excellent. Nice high stage, good sound, a balcony & £5 a pint in TCOTU isn't to be sniffed at now. "O" opened, seen them a few times with Black Midi. Really fun sax/drum duo, excellent set.
Melt Yourself Down I've not been too fussed with their past 2 records, though live it makes perfect sense. They have an insane amount of energy on stage, can see them really smashing the festival circuit & getting a solid fanbase that way. Got a few of the oldies out for the encore as well as a cover of I Wanna Be Your Dog. 2 great sets, good venue & a earlyish finish for old man mahoney, great times.

Friday night at The Roundhouse with popular forum members KrBurg, Mahoney and Forever, seeing The Cribs for the first time in 15 years.

Strong start with some early career highlights, big lull in the middle with tracks from the latest album (which weren't bad, but parhaps a little unfamiliar) and a b-side or two and then a strong closing third with more hits.

The Brothers Jarman have still got what it takes to keep things lively, but the Roundhouse is perhaps not the right venue for them despite a lively and receptive Friday night crowd.

Important mention for Hot Rod's pre-gig pub selection- Tapping The Admiral.

A top night all round, but wish it was Astoria 2007, rather than Roundhouse 2022.

8/10

Vanity Tapes at Biddle Bros in Hackney. Krburg’s bass lines touched me in places that I didn’t realise you could be touched.

The Cribs at the roundhouse, probably my least enjoyable time seeing them. Think it’s a case where I’ve seen them one too many times, mostly in much smaller venues. Wasn’t bad, but probably should have given it a miss and waited until they do a smaller gig to see them again. Sound was too boomy, set had too many lull’s for a big audience and I think I’ve just realised that I much prefer small capacity venues when seeing live music + can no longer be arsed queuing to get into a venue, queuing for the bar & fighting my way through crowds of people. They even searched me on the way out of the building because they said pick pockets had been in operation. Go fuck yourself Roundhouse, Long live the cribs tho!
Jamie, sorry we didn’t get to have a proper catch up. Green man is soon approaching though!

Saturday neet saw TCOTU’s premier party-time garage-rock band King Salami & the Cumberland 3 at the ex-servicemens club in Leytonstone. Just pure joy as always, even the PA overheating and the gig being shut down for 10 minutes a couple of times could not stop them, fun night + Some right characters in the building to.

Ok first of all, wtf?

"Rhys plays the guitar in an unusual style. Although he is right-handed, he learned to play left-handed on his brother's left-handed guitar. Once his brother left home, Rhys only had access to a right-handed guitar. As he had already learned to play left-handed, and rather than invert the nut and re-string it, he taught himself to play the right-handed guitar upside down so the bass strings are on the bottom"

It is like the silliest thing ever but twice. Amazing

40 or so people with lots of bald and gray heads gathered on a rainy postFallas Sunday clásico night to see Gruff Rhys. Unlike whats usual, the greatest hits section worked as an introductory warm up to the full new record being performed, Seeking new gods, which i thought worked much better? Maybe because it was on my 2021 list...

Then afterwards Sadness set me free was a new one, lee hazleewoodesque with an spiritualized coda. And then some ones including a couple sfa. Nice enough but couldnt fully connect, maybe with a bigger crowd? 7.3/10

Some day last week saw lords of altamont and some opener, which were the most generic 60s psych bands ever

Royal Blood - Swansea Arena

The gig itself was awesome to be fair, never seen them before and they impressed me alot. Nice stage / lighting set up too.

7/10 - Marked down a bit as I had to put a drunken idiot in his place

As a former friend of the lost tapes I'd imagine you're experienced in this.

Fuck him up Welshylad.. lad!


Cate Le Bon @ The Hackney Empire
Good gig. The set was basically her last two records plus a John Cale cover as an encore. I wish she'd perform stuff from Crab Day still but oh well.
Mega Bog (great name!) supported, similar kinda art-pop thing to what Cate Le Bon does. The ballad/slower numbers weren't too interesting but the more upbeat material was impressive.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra @ the Barbican
They performed a bunch of Frank Zappa's orchestral works as well as opening with a Stravinsky piece. The final piece they performed was fantastic. Probably preferred the Stravinsky gig performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra from last year but still, good stuff.

Peter Doherty & Frédéric Lo @ the 100 club
A lunchtime show to promote the new record. Was basically Lo on guitar, a french women on keys (maybe Pete's new mrs? dunno) & Pete on vocals. Did the entire new album minus one song. The record itself is my favourite thing Pete has done for quite some time, worth checking out if you've not heard it. He's lost a few pounds & is looking fighting fit and healthy.

Moses Boyd @ the Albany in Deptford
Got there nice and early so got some of the few seats they had on the balcony. CIL supported, the singer had a bunch of strange electronic instruments that she played with hand movement. Had a ton of sound problems but just about pulled it off.
Moses Boyd was fucking great. Performed as a 5 piece with keys, guitar, Sax, bongo’s & of course Moses on drums who was fucking great. Nice arrangements letting the entire band have their moments to shine. Brought out Theon Cross of Sons of Kemet for some Tuba action towards the end too.

Are you, a man who subscribes to a website dedicated to nothing but adding ratings to albums, refusing to add ratings to your gig reviews?

I went to see Yard Act, that band Karl and Kev used to like but now hate. All you need to know is I am rating the show 7/10. Because this is the Rate the Last Gig thread. And ratings matter.

HOWLING BELLS 7
LEXI BERG 2

THE BUG CLUB 7
THE EARLY MORNINGS 7.25
IN TONGUES 6.5
POLYSCRAPS 1
QUADE 6.25

THE SMILE 9.5

DRY CLEANING ROUGH TRADE 8.5

BLACK MIDI KARAOKE 7.25
O 7.5
MORGAN NOISE 7

THE COOL GREENHOUSE 9.25
THE EARLY MORNINGS 7.25

TEETH OF THE SEA 7
THE UTOPIA STRONG 7

ANTHONY JOSEPTH 9.5

ANDY BELL 7

IN TONGUES 7.25
FRANK LLOYD WLEFT 6.5

CASSELLS 4
KYOTO KYOTO 7
CURTSY AND CRY 5

SEA POWER 8.25

DRY CLEANING SHEFFIELD 8.25
PVA 7.5

DRY CLEANING NOTTINGHAM 8
PVA 7.75

DEADLETTER 8.5
PEEPING DREXELS 7.75
DIVORCE 6.75

DRY CLEANING BRIGHTON 8.5
PVA 8

DRY CLEANING KENTISH TOWN 8
PVA 7.75

ROBOCOBRA QUARTET 8.5
LARA JONES 5.5
QUADE 6.25

MELT YOURSELF DOWN 8.75
O 8

VANITY TAPES 7.5

THE CRIBS 6.5
THE BLINDERS 3

KING SALAMI AND THE CUBERLAND 3 8

CATE LE BON 7.5
MEGA BOG 6.75

BBC SYNTHONY ORCHESTRA DO ZAPPA 6.75

PETER DOHERTY AND FREDERIC LO 7.75

MOSES BOYD 8.5
CIL 5.75

Decimal points? Calm down Pitchfork

Fuckin expert mate

Went to a cool gig Thursday at Rough Trade East. Jowe Head & Friends present the Swell Maps live project. Basically Jowe with a bunch of friends including ex members of TV Personalities, Wolfhounds, Alternative TV & everybody's favourite gobshite Luke Haines playing Swell Maps material. Great timing as I had only gotten into them last year. The band sounded fucking massive tbh, much stronger than I'd expected. Also they were joined by Gina Birch of the Raincoats for a few songs. Great night considering it was free, even if not many people turned up except me, kev & Thurston Moore.

edit, sorry I keep forgetting rocks man.. I think I will give this one an eight of out of ten!

Here's a rating for you Chrissie...

Paul Weller at Norwich UEA 10 out of fucking 10