rate the last gig you went to

We did the same to 'The Maze' at one of his first gigs. He got a shedload of abuse. They were playing a mostly covers set in a pub and a random women got up to dance which led to my mate shouting 'GO ON JAMIE, FUCK HER!' in between songs at the top of his voice lol

Tuesday I went to the first of Bodega's 3 night run at the Moth Club. I was a bit worried as they had lost a couple of members including my favourite, the giant lurch looking guitarist. But it became clear quickly that the new members were more than up to the job. I like the new record, but it has a layer of sheen production wise which bothers me a little. Live the new stuff sounded GREAT. Apart from a couple of international acts which managed to do Green Man festival last year I think this was the first American band I've seen since pre covid. After seeing bands do short sets for so long it was refreshing to see Bodega play with no regard for the curfew, they bashed through near 30 tunes including B-sides (didn't know they had any tbh), covers (Slow Train Coming) & a bunch of new material which sounded like it's gonna be classic. Great energy, really fun gig.
Opening band was Media Giant in what was apparently only their third ever gig. Pretty decent, even if they were shamelessly going for the classic Talking Heads sound.
M(H)AOL was the main support & left me a little on the fence. A pretty dense and minimal post punk sound which was cool, though lyrically despite tackling big themes it's just so on the nose & unimaginative. Do quite like a few tunes from their EP though.

Wednesday I went to a free gig at studio 9294 in hackney with popular forum members RodNKev. Pozi opened, always enjoyable. did a few new numbers which sounded promising. Great band. BDRMM were the main act. I thought their album from the other year was kinda forgettable & the same applied live. It's shoegaze with no memorable hooks. Nothing terrible but MEH

Thursday I decided to go see Bodega again on the last night of their stint at the moth club. Popular forum member FOREVER was also in attendance. Drag Queen Ash Kenazi (drummer from happyness) opened & it a shitload of fun. Involving sparklers, treadmills, costume changes & a broken ceiling. 3 piece Deep Tan were on next, a band that is getting a lot of hype. Second time seeing them & like before they were completely forgettable. There's just nothing to their tunes, it gets a little bit surf-rock in spots but never played any any kind of passion. I really think they could use an extra member or two to flesh their sound out.
So glad I saw Bodega for a second time. After seeing Dry Cleaning play it safe and play the same fucking set every night it was refreshing to see an American band be PROFESSIONAL & take risks. The first about half hour of the set was completely different to what they'd performed the first night including opening with Sympathy for the Devil. Threw in a bunch of other different songs throughout the set as well. A real joyous gig. Just a shame that the crowd on the 3rd night was much older, which is fine, but it contained the type of old ugly men that go to see Idles so they decided to act like cunts and start pushing into people like twats.

Nice, seeing them in a couple weeks and, although I really liked them when I saw them a few years ago (shame about the tall guitarist tbh), I'm still not so sure about the new record.

Saw !!! yesterday. Not a big fan but just thought they'd be a fun live band. And that's what I got more or less, even if it wasn't the right day or crowd and I didn't have enough energy to get fully into it.

Bodega are playing a little one day indoor festival here in a few weeks. The only other bands I've heard of on the bill are Holy Fuck and Penelope Isles, but tickets are only 35 euros, so I might have to go check it out.

Yeah that's a bit steep. Though I guess if you have a flick through the other bands on youtube you're bound to find a few more worth catching.

Last night went to a half empty moth club with popular forum member Krburg. Scottish post-punkers Buffet Lunch topped the bill. Pretty solid set, nothing too remarkable but I dug it. Me Lost Me, a solo project with a couple of additional musicians was completely forgettable. However, opening band Shake Chain I've been wanting to see ever since lockdown began and they didn't disappoint. Loud as fuck noise-rock/post-punk band with a singer who literally screams & cries her way through the performance. I don't know if anyone remembers that episode of Game On where Matt joins a band & has a meltdown on stage, well its the closest to that you'll get. Incredible performance, from the opening song where she slowly crawled from the back of the venue like something out of a horror film all the way to the stage, to making people shit themselves to moving the bins to the middle of the venue, covering it with her coat and then crawling under like it was a tent to scream and cry some more. Punk as fuck.

I went to a morning thingy thing by the sea, finally some sun after weeks but still freezing. Some guy singing in Valencian with just a guitar opened, didn't pay any attention. Then Juan Wauters to who I did pay very little attention. By the time The Parrots started I was quite knackered but still was quite surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did. They album from last year passed my by and I had the idea of them as one trick pony but they are now a 5 piece sax included and moving forward in many aspects.

My first gig in 4 months the other day, Ron Sexsmith at the National Arts Centre, just him and an acoustic guitar and piano. 2 sets, 2 hours. The songs still all kind of bleed together, but my god the main can write a melody. Nice to be out again. 6.5/10

Went to Gravesend to see a workmates band THE TONKS. Fun was had. 70s covers band BARBED headlined, they did a lot of 70s smelly rock covers.

Me & popular forum member Krburg went to a disappointing gig at the Lexington last night. Went to see The Bug Club & neither of us made it to the end. Really loved that mini record thing they released last year & we had seen them a few months back at an alldayer where they had bashed through that EP before the set went downhill. Here they mixed it up, but the problems I had the 1st time became even more evident this time around. The mini record I had them down as a fast and frantic lo-fi indie-pop band with catchy tunes. But they seem hellbent on being a RAWK band. Wasn't bad by any stretch, but it wore thin pretty quickly + the sound was incredibly flat. 5.5/10

HOWEVER, the support band PREMIUM LEISURE were one of the most offensively dull things I've ever seen. They had the nerve to fucking smile whilst doing it as well. I'll leave you with a quote from popular forum member Krburg, which he brilliantly came out with only seconds after they had finished.

"Mark E. Smith didn't exist so that you could sound like this" 
1/10

Me & popular forum member Krburg went to XOYO last night for a wonderful night of electronic music. L. Jacobs opened & sounded exactly like The Jesus Abyss, so he was awesome. Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul topped the bill + were on nice and early. If you've not heard the record it's fucking good, released by the brothers from Soulwax on their own Deewee label & it's kinda along those lines, sort of electroclash, tech/house meets art pop. They performed as a two piece & it was just full of energy, fun gig definitely worth seeing if they come your way.

peter hook and the light at norwich uea last night

my 4th time seeing them. it has no right to work and the first time i went to see them i had such low expectations but every single time i've seen them they've been brilliant.

this time it was an opening set of new order tunes before performing unknown pleasures and closer by joy division in full, ending on an encore of a few other non album hits. 3 hour sets, always on tour. they must be one of the hardest working bands out there. hooky > life.

Warmduscher @ SWG3. 7/10

Hey Karl, JP - see those numbers at the end there? That’s called a rating. Why not try it.

I shall never use numbers again

Try letters. Six point five out of ten.

Bodega yesterday, I'd say it was good but ended up deflating because they probably played EVERYTHING from their records. Their sameness it's probably the biggest fault imo and probably went along for too long (I was quite tired though). But they're a cool band and at some spots they're fantastic. When I was zoning out I just had to watch the drummer as her energy was so infectious.

La Paloma opened, displaying a weird Spanish kinki look that it's getting on vogue again plus the smoke in the room it felt a bit like entering the 80s. But despite of that they don't sound like you could expect by the looks, having a great distorted guitar sound and 3 different singers which is usually a plus. I'll keep an eye on them for sure