rate the last gig you went to

because i was wearing adidas spzl trainers and a nice new paisley print pretty green jacket.

they ushered me straight in without even checking my ticket.

Hey guys, chuze wrote!

Me, many shows. All of them from nice to great to amazing. Life is something now

Saw Fabio Frizzi perform his score with live band for Lucio Fulci's cult classic Zombie (aka Zombie Flesh Eaters) in a Church. They wouldn't let you bring beer in but were ok screening a film where Zombie's gauge women's eyeballs out! Was a fun night. The score for the film worked great in places though there was a few spots where it felt kinda off. Once the film was done he did half an hour of bits from other Fulci films he'd worked on.

Desire supported. I had no idea there would be a support act. I spent the entire set thinking that they sound like a parody of music from the Drive soundtrack, only to find out they actually had a song on the Drive soundtrack It was pretty awful, what I'd imagine live music on a cruise ship would sound like. They even decided to murder Bizarre Love Triangle. Some of the worst lyrics I've ever heard

Two nights of Bob Dylan.

Friday night - Massey hall, Toronto. Rumours that this may his final go-round and it being the cathedral of music in Canada meant I had to be there, and so did the who’s who of canadian music (and Elvis Costello for some reason?. Bob’s being weird again, and his band and his piano are set waaaaay back from the front of the stage, meaning the natural viewpoints of a normal show are all messed up in rhe balconies meaning I was staring at someone’s head instead of bob for a portion of the show. Nevertheless, the sound was pristine and bob was in good (“good”) voice. The arrangements are a bit samey and I was a bit bored, but still very good. 7/10

Sunday night in Montreal - simply one of the best shows I’ve ever seen him do. Could write a book about it, but he did a cover of Leonard’s “dance me to the end of love” and it was fab. Likely my last time seeing the old man, and it was special. 10/10

SQUID @ the troxy with popular forum member KRBURG
Their biggest gig yet, though unfortunately wasn't sold out. We got a spot just above the pit and the sound was great. Also glad we stood there as the KIDS went mental, circle pits, the lot. Squid are sensational live right now. They've just got better & better, set was perfect for the larger crowd. Blue Bendy were quite forgettable supporting. Also insisted on thanking squid twice after every song which annoyed me more than it probably should have. Opener was called BRUCE, did some ethereal vocal bollocks over some horrible music, it was shit.

Nadine Shah @ The Lower third with popular forum members KRBURG & ROD
Cool new small venue off of Denmark St. I liked it, though could probably do with having a slightly raised stage so people can see. Was a bit concerned as Pete Wareham wasn't there on Sax, not sure if he was missing that night or is now not in the line-up but without him it worked really well. The guitars were more prevalent in the mix & it worked really well on the new material. She did 4 new ones, all sounded good though one of them I thought was outstanding. Rest of it was pretty much the set she'd been doing at festivals off the last LP. Support came from CALLUM EASTER. An accordion, drum machine & 2 backing singers. Sounded like hard work when he started but the more upbeat the set became it actually worked.
"Screamadelica for the homeless" - Mahoney
Eaves Wilder opened. Apparently she usually has a band & makes a racket, this was solo piano & it was painful.

SLOWDIVE @ the Troxy with popular forum member ROD
DEARY opened. I get putting on a similar sounding band as support act is often a good idea, but when they sound like a 5th rate version of what you've paid to see it becomes pointless. Crowd seemed to enjoy it, losers.
SLOWDIVE was good but fuck me that venue was PACKED. Just a pain in the arse to move about anywhere. I still think the new record is boring as fuck. Live it had a bit more life to it but tbh I was only interested in the early material. Did five off of Souvlaki, Catch the Breeze + Avalyn so I was happy. Won't pay £50 to see them at Hammersmith next year, or probably pay to see them again but was glad I went.

Wild Billy Childish & the Singing Loins @ The Medway Little Theatre
Another beautiful night in the company of Billy Childish. Was poetry readings from he, Bill Lewis & Wolf Howard then an extended set by Billy & the loins. Gig came with a free 7".

Slowdive @ Mandela Hall

Wanted to see these forever and got the chance last night. Gig was at the newly renovated Mandela Hall, and though I'm not a fan of the new layout, they've obviously spent a fortune on the sound system which Slowdive put to the test last night.

Highlights were 'Star Roving' 'Souvlaki Space Station' 'Sugar For The Pill' and 'Catch The Breeze'. Really enjoyed the visuals as well.

Support came from Gurriers, first tune was abysmal but after that I quite enjoyed them tbh.

Embrace - Cardiff Tramshed

10/10 - Fucking amazing. Played The Good Will Out from start to finish and about 5/6 newer songs
Saturday night, everyone was pissed, winner

I actually heard 2 English guys talking when we we walking out, they were saying "That's the thing about Wales, all these poeple pissed up on a Saturday night and all they want to do is sing, no nonsense, no fights, nothing"

starsailor at norwich waterfront last night

last saw these on my 18th birthday 20 years ago. they were doing a 20th anniversary tour of that same second album tonight and as i had a little moment recently where i started digging back into my poncerock roots i decided to get involved.

it was as expected really. tight band and james walsh has an excellent voice. no charisma or showmanship whatsoever though. the other thing i noticed was how old the crowd were. most of my LADROCK gig have a mix of teenagers and old cunts. this was all old cunts though and there seemed to be a lot of people our age in their late 30s/early 40s who were there with their parents in their 60s/70s.

Yep, more of that

Is the first album the one with "... daddy was an alcoholic", is it not?
What is next JP, a Longview 20th anniversary tour?! Or Magoo!?
Lots of love from Germany xxx

Yeah Alcoholic was on the 2001 debut but this tour was for the 2003 follow up featuring Phil Spector's last ever production job. We still got Alcoholic in the second set though, don't worry!

Joanna Sternberg @ Kings Palace with no popular forum members
Posh hall in what is apparently the Guardian HQ. Love her record from this year, pure Daniel Johnston vibes. She was proper nervous & awkward & had to restart a bunch of songs but damn, when it hit it hit. Lovely gig and it was done by like 6pm or something

Bill Orcutt @ Cafe OTO with no popular forum members. Gotten into Orcutt over the past couple of years, bought a ticket at the start of the year when he had a new solo record out that I loved. Since then he's formed the Bill Orcutt quartet, they did a tiny desk concert that has blown up & he's gone on tour doing that. This gig was sandwiched in the middle of that tour, almost as an inconvenience. He decided to have the other 3 members support, which would have been fine but they all did like 40 minutes late. Bill came on late and probably did less than 40 minutes, so in some respect that was disappointing. Though at the same time I'm not sure I'd have been fully down for 90 minutes of his style. Either way, great to see him, such a unique talent.

Genesis Owusu @ Heaven with popular forum member Krburg. Genesiswas my fav gig of last year. the new record isn't a patch on his previous yet I'm still digging it. This time it was just him, no DJ, no rappers. But he pulled it off totally, the guys a star. Excellent gig
Master Peace supported, a TCOTU rapper, bags of energy. The set was fun, he will probably end up being quite big, it's very on your nose kinda indie flavoured hip hop. I enjoyed it purely for the energy, not sure he'd ever be worth listening to though.

TCOTU BREW with popular forum members Krburg & Titch @ the Barbican. A who's who of the UK Jazz scene doing an improvised interpretation of Bitches Brew. This was very very good & in spots spectacular.

Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul @ Heaven WPFMKRBURG
so much fun. Invited some fans on stage early on which of course turned into a full on invasion within minutes. They've got some real BANGERS. If they follow up that album with more of the same they'll be doing big festival slots for years to come.
Support act Laima was similar vibe to Adigery & Pupil. She spent most the set playing with a disco ball. Decent.

last night with popular forum member KRBURG, a night of Pixies & Breeders songs played by 50+ musicians at the moth club. We saw a Talking Heads version of this earlier in the year which was great. This time they just had too many bands, 8 bands. The changeovers were quick but it really killed the pacing. Had members from Shame, Lambrini Girls, Nua Ruby Ra, Blue Bendy, Deadletter, Golden Dreggs & others which I forget. Highlight being Katie "Josh T" Pearson doing Divine Hammer.

Not a gig as such ...

A mate of mine has been given a benefit season for playing 10 season's with Larne and invited a few of us down to an event the club had put on for him. It was a Q&A with Tony Cascarino. Normally I'd not be arsed but the club put a few quid for us behind the bar which I took full advantage of.

By the time Tony came on I was well oiled, when the floor was opened up to questions I asked him if he'd like to talk about his career a bit more rather than just telling stories about Roy Keane which didn't go down well.

As a Linfield fan I then spent the rest of the night annoying various Larne first team players and the club's owner (and his son).

10/10

This is even worse than when I used to include stand up comedy in this thread.

To be fair Big Tone thought he was a comedian, turns out he just comes across as a bit bitter and spends most of his time talking about players he played with that actually had a bit of success in their careers.

What the fuck is this shit