rate the last gig you went to

kaleidoscope festival thing at ally pally saturday

The Magic Numbers have lost some timber, except ROMEO, when he smiles I want to cause destruction. Still kinda dull after all these years
Charlote Churches LATE NIGHT Dungeon was on next.. at 4:30PM. Great fun, if she ever comes to a festival you're attending its well worth your time.
Happy Mondays were next. I'd only seem them once in about 05 at Brixton Academy & it was really shit. The band sounded terrible & Shaun was not in a good place, they had the lyrics on cardboard on the floor yet still he just kept saying FUCK, FUCK, FUCK during most the songs as he had no idea what song they were playing. This thankfully was much better. Apparently the herbert on bass had been in the band previous when Paul had left. Band were pretty tight, Shaun is Shaun, Rowetta can barely hold a tune & then Bez, well he's Bez too. They are great for a hour festival set. Really enjoyed it. Also weird to see so many 16-20 year olds really into it, all looking like they've come fresh from a Liam Gallagher gig.
Saw some band called New Car Smell play on a bandstand, they looked like little posh tits. Did a pretty good upbeat Sons of Kemet thing though which was nice enough, ended with Scummy Man. Orbital headlined, had a spot right by the front speaker so it was nice and loud & got really into it. Doubt I'd ever pay to see them but was perfect to end the day off.

Solid day, so glad that *I* found someone giving tickets away for free on twitter¬

Happy Mondays / Primal Scream In Cardiff Castle (moved from Cardiff Bay)

Never seen HM before but they really impressed me to be fair. As Karl said they are who they are 😂. The age range of people there off their nut surprised me, old fuckers in their 50s/60s and younger kids
The weather was immense, the castle is a nice setting, no pricks in sight.

Seen PS about 5-6 times before, this was by far the best. Again the weather etc may have put people in a good mood, but not 1 bit of trouble, immense gig, and I was sober too

Oh at it was in the top 3 of the loudest gigs I’ve ever been to
REALLY FUCKING LOUD

10 outta 10 all fucking night.

I went to the corporate hell-pit that is TRNSMT the other week. I know a lot of the old dads on here don’t really follow live music any more, so I should explain it is a weekend festival at Glasgow Green. It’s run by the same people who used to do T in the Park, only TRNMST is about a million times worse. Basically, the venue is far to small for 50,000 people, the sound is nearly always shit, and they only sell fucking Carlsberg.

Thankfully, the Saturday I was there was glorious weather. The crowd was also a decent mixture of ages - TRNMST is notorious for attracting teenagers who have never drunk outside of their hometowns before. But frankly the less bald men at gigs, the better I say!

Fontaines DC played a solid late afternoon set on the main stage. This was my first time seeing them. Yeah, they dress like wankers but they write some great tunes. I look forward to seeing them do a headline show on their own tour.
Maximo Park played a side stage and a pal wanted to see them. They sounded exactly like they did the last I saw them in 2007 or whenever it was. Except they’ve lost all the members except the front man.
JIMMY EAT WORLD were not a band I ever thought I’d end up reviewing on the Soapbox. But they were next up on the side stage, the crowd at the main stage for Foals was a fucking nightmare, the group I was in were now all drunk, so we stayed up at the back and watched 25 mins of them. It was alright TBF. The crowd fucking loved it. You could tell a lot of people were only at TRNSMT to see them

The Strokes were reason I paid £80 for a ticket. First time seeing them since 2005. It was great to see them tour again. We made the effort to batter down the front, which definitely helped in terms of sound. The crowd was absolutely massive but we managed to get a good spot. The set-list was very heavy on the debut album, but the band were tight and Julian - when he could be arsed - sounded great. He was drinking on stage and a little bit surly as usual - but he’s always been like that, right? A lot of bedwetting people on social media later claimed he’d shown disrespect to the crowd Fuck off and go watch Foals, I say. I really wanted to hear more songs from The New Abnormal, but they did bring out a big version of JUICEBOX. I genuinely loved seeing them again and sincerely hope they tour again soon. 8.

LOL, Chrissie went to see Jimmy Eat World

For some reason I went to see a Led Zeppelin tribute the other day. You know, besides the technical skills and the songs, the vibe (especially Robert Plant) was all about being young and sexy and reckless. That aspect was surely missing. Plus they didn't play Houses of the Holy. But Kashmir was big tbh.

😎

JIMMY EAT WORLD > dry cleaning 

You fucking know it!

The Shakes at Voodoo Daddy's in Norwich on Friday night.

They ended up playing to 8 people in the end but I've since realised at least one of them was the bands manager. Fair play to the band they put on a great show still. The music is about as imaginative as their name but it was high energy rock n roll with a bit of garage rock thrown in. Quite a big Strokes influence and the frontman has bags of charisma.

I attended an event at Rough Trade east with popular forum member Krburg on Thursday. The two opening bands DC Gore & Reuben's Daughters were two of the blandest pieces of shit I've seen in a very long time. Thankfully Regressive Left who topped the bill were ace. Their 4 track EP out now is banging, translates well live too.

Saturday I went to THE GREAT WELLING BEERFEST and... it was great indeed! A great set from The Tonks followed by a lively dj set from the one and only DJ RON, incredible scenes.

On Sunday I went over to Kingston with popular forum member Krburg, where not only did we see the Cribs once, we saw them for a second & then a third time in one day! They've just re-issued their first 3 records on wax and so were playing each record in full. The bands van broke down so they were late arriving but once everything got going it was joyous. The anthem rate on those records is at about 90%, plus you could tell almost everyone there was pretty much hardcore cribs fans so it was a cracking atmosphere. What a band. Not sure I want to pay to see them do big venues like the roundhouse ever again, but under the right circumstances there isn't many better heart on sleeve indie-rock bands than the Cribs.

Been enjoying that deluxe boxset I bought on a whim, listening to the bsides and reading the liner notes. I initially considered them less more than landfill indie and mostly got into them by Ignore the Ignorant (which I still love). Never knew Edwyn Collins had produced Fellas, that record surely reflects the madness of that moment. A very special band, glad they get their credit over there but very misrepresented elsewhere.

Some of those B-sides are some of my favourite songs that they've ever done tbh. Even now they still manage a few absolute anthems on each record.

lovely evening at south facing festival yesterday just a shame the venue is a bit of a ballache to get to

tess parks cancelled last minute so first band ended up being bdrmm. i saw them last year and like the guitars when they spazz out but find they struggle with no songs and vocals are poor. this was exactly the case again here.

steve lamacq was djing between bands early doors. he was wearing a lovely fred perry and looked a bit sexier in real life.

ride were up next playing nowhere in full. i just fucking love them. probably the worst time ive seen them in terms of crowd being a bit lacking and a short set but i still had a great time.

next was alan mcgee time. he smashed his dj set and played some wonderful tunes.

ashcroft was exactly as expected headlining. great voice, great presence and bought the hits. only disappointment was his set felt a bit short. could have easily done another couple of tunes.

I attended the south facing festival in Crystal Palace with popular forum member The Good Will Out aka Cast No Shadow. A wonderful time was had. BDMRMRMRM were really boring. Ride did Nowhere in full, it was enjoyable, but none of my favourite Ride songs are actually on that record so it was a little frustrating, although Andy looked sexy. Ashcroft, well, he was Ashcroft. I'll never get bored of hearing Sonnet & Lucky Man live, shame about the rest!

Can the two of you not just agree to post one joint review

No

He's not wrong. It's a little much.

YOU SEE?!