rate the last gig you went to

Liam Gallagher and John Squire @ The Troxy

Jake Bugg - Looks and sounds like an unsuccessful open mic night guy whose dream never materialised and now works on his Dad's firm doing drives. I.e. Looks quite hench with very poorly cut hair and bad, bad, bad vocals. You would never have guessed he was once a big deal. He was alright though 5/10.

Liam Gallagher and John Squire - Let out a loud groan when entering the Troxy to see people were queueing for the bar but had to accept mere minutes later that they run a very efficient system. Managed to get down the front with 2 beers after about 5 minutes of entering the venue. In terms of the gig, it was easily the best I've heard Liam sing and the happiest I've seen him on stage. A really, really lovely vibe on stage which Liam has sort of alluded to on Twitter. Anything in or around Essex really seems to bring the best out of him.

The audience were really old. I don't think I've ever seen so many bald people in one place. Randomly, a young thuggish Chinese kid was stood in front of us and left after two songs. Maybe he only came for Just Another Rainbow? The album sounded brilliant live because it is brilliant. Big tunes bashed out left, right and centre. Whilst the majority of the crowd didn't seem to know much apart from the singles, I didn't hear any narks moaning the length of the gig on the way out or about wanting to hear Liam do Elizabeth My Dear. Why would they? It was brilliant and we are not short of a few quid down South so I don't think people were worried about the price of a ticket. It was of course worth every penny though because this rocked my bollox off. 10/10.

Goat Girl at Norwich Arts Centre tonight

Pretty disappointing. Only a 50 minute set with no support. 10 tunes in total with 8 of them being from the new unreleased album. Sad Cowboy stood out by a mile as the best song of the night. The rest lacked energy and stage presence.

Brown Horse at Voodoo Daddys in Norwich tonight.

The Brown Horse album is my most listened to of the year so far so I was looking forward to this. Tunes sounded real good live but the performance aspect was lacking and you can tell they're still a young band finding their feet. Did quite a few new songs too and apparently are recording album number 2 next week.

Baggio supported who I quite liked. South TCOTU 7 piece with lots going on and some real good tunes. Only thing that let them down is the singer can't sing.

The Hives @ Glasgow Barrowland

I last saw them at Leeds Festival in 2004. Fast forward 20 years and they’ve barely changed. 70 min setlist flew by. It was a lively crowd despite being a Monday night. On an unrelated note, a lot of aged goths were in attendance. 7.

Sounds gr8!

John Bramwell at Norwich Waterfront Studio tonight.

Of course big Dave Fidler supported and I must admit I enjoy his set more and more each time I see him. Maybe it's some kind of Stockholm syndrome.

Bramwell was great as always and surprisingly sober this time. Kept to the same pint throughout whereas last time I saw him he got through about 5 plus some shots. Seemed in much better shape despite long grey wizard hair which he tied back half way through thanks to a hair band from some old bird in the front row.

the wave pictures at norwich arts centre last night

support from some local bloke going under the name hello pedro. seemed a bit of a weird fit for a wave pictures support slot as he was almost slightly emo sounding. was a bit like stripped back american football type stuff. was ok but every song sounded the same.

wave pictures were great as always. one of those bands i'll always go and see and they always deliver a strong 8/10 performance. i love the fact that every song includes a big solo. proper.

Cymande @ Shepherd’s Bush Empire last night.

I expected it to be good and it exceeded expectations.

It all fell into place nicely. Homecoming gig towards the end of the tour so the band were well warmed up. An enormous amount of love in the room and first floor seating had a great view and spot on sound.

Saw my beloved Sadies in a tiny cafe the other night. It's still a difficult watch wihout Dallas there now, since a big part of their act was the dueling guitars (and the fact that he sang/wrote the majority of their tunes), but they've really been able to replicate as much of their sound as possible, given the circumstances. They opened with an acoustic set, which was an absolute delight. They played for 30 minutes, took a break and came back and played for another hour and flat-out rocked. Great night out. 8/10

The Warning - Cardiff Uni

10/10

just realised i never posted about the BIG gig i went to the other week - simon and oscar of ocean colour scene fame in norwich!

oscar unfortunately hurt his back so was replaced by his son, leon. the first ever simon and leon gig!

as stated when i saw ocs in december, simon fowler is a fat wreck with a limp now but the voice is still strong. this acoustic set up highlighted that even more. a great run through of a load of ocs classics so ended up a big singalong. simon fowler's banter is fucking atrocious which was fun too. in 2024 he genuinely referred to women in the crowd as "doris"

The Postal Service
Death Cab for Cutie
Slow Pulp

20th Anniversary Tour of Tranatlanticism & Give Up

April 24, 2024 - Kia Center - Orlando Florida


What an absolute great night. Slow Pulp opened and hit it out of the park. They sounded really strong live. I wish more people took them in to be honest but fuck it - 'Yard' has turned into one of my favorite records and this band is starting to become an obsession like pains were a long time ago.

Death Cab actually came on second and again they only played Transatlanticism and they sounded great. I can still hear the the open chords to The New Year hitting my body. Man that is a great album.

The Postal Service closed the show and people went nuts. I was surprised - must have been 15,000 people and the place abrupted. What a moment and I honestly forgot how good that album 'Give Up' is. Jenny Lewis sounded really good and she was really into it. They came on for an encore and I swear I started to hear the bass line to I Wanna Be Adored - I was feeling real big at that moment - I throw my bucket hat to the sky but suddenly my mood changed when I realized they actually ended up playing Enjoy The Silence by Depeche Mode.

Price of beer was nuts $15 USD for a can of fucking Bud Light. I asked if they had any Guiness and I was almost thrown out of the building.

10/10 night for sure.

Had to unexpectedly go to Toronto this week, so I caught kamasi Washington. He played basically his entire new album, which was…good, but not as good as the other two times I saw him. Didn’t help that I was tired, my back hurt and the show was at drake’s club I. Toronto, so I was worried about getting shot, but still…:the great man is still great.

7/10

fat dog supported by borough council at norwich arts centre last night

borough council were an interesting one. felt very much like a work in progress but when they were good they were really good. bit of a slow start but really grew into their set.

fat dog seem to be getting a decent amount of hype currently. they've definitely got something about them though and bring a nice chaotic energy live with the frontman spending half the gig in the crowd and the drummer playing the whole set wearing a dog head. whether they've got the tunes to make a good record is debatable but a fun live act.

Ride in Toronto last night. Still astounds me that this is now the 4th time I’ve seen them since they reunited. Didn’t ever think I’d see them at all, so a pleasant surprise. Show was heavy on the new album (I think they did 8 songs), and the hits, but I’ll gladly take a drive blind or OX4 any day of the week. And the new songs are mostly quite good llive. Just a delight to see them as usual. 8/10

Support band was (I think) knifeplay, who seemed to be going for a my bloody valentine tribute, except without the talent or the songs. I say “I think” because at no point did they say who they were or acknowledge anyone’s existence. Which is certainly a bold choice for an opening act. Wasn’t terribly impressed either way. 4/10

Sleaford mods with they say i cannot control what i say lyrics?

two gigs in one night yesterday #hardcore

first was king creosote at norwich cathedral. i really got into his last album thanks to popular forum member titchjuicy. he did pretty much all of it here along with selected other "hits". really beautiful setting but the sound was weird. obviously being in a cathedral it had a much bigger space to travel than a usual gig venue and i didnt think the pa system was all that. it improved (or i got used to it) as the night went on but the resounding feeling and comments i heard on the way out were "great performance but not sure about that sound"

i then legged it over to chapelfield gardens in norwich where there is currently a spiegeltent hosting late night band performances. tonight it was girl ray headlining. i have a bit of a weird relationship with girl ray. i loved their debut album but then found the change of direction with the second a disappointment. so much so i never bothered with the third album until about 2 weeks ago. i ended up really liking the third though and am now on board with the new disco pop sound. the guitars on the new stuff remind me of rip it up by orange juice which is a certified banger so im fully won over. this was a nice change of pace from the seated no booze cathedral gig. proper festival vibes in the spiegeltent and festival gardens that surround it. lots of pissed up people and a real diverse crowd. girl ray were real good and even through in a cover of missing by everything but the girl which is obviously a banger.

not posted in here this year

Billy Childish with the singing loins & the chatham singers at the Lexington. A nice matinee show, basically the same as the ones I'd seen him do in Rochester the year previous. Probably seen this lineup enough now, I'm ready for some CTMF garage-punk action again now.

David Byrne's neet @ the moth club. Went to it the year before, a host of artists from the TCOTU scene doing talking heads tunes, great fun even if the lineup (for me) was the least interesting of those big multi-artist tribute nights. *edit, this was with popular forum member Krburg

Gruff Rhys @ Rough Trade with popular forum member ROD
Huge set for an instore gig, did about 70 minutes or something. Big fan of the new record so was a treat to hear those songs.

The Go! Team at the roundhouse with popular forum members ROD & KRBURG
20 years of thunder, lightning, strike! Fucking hell, what a record & what a record to the development of my music taste. It was good, probably too big for Go! Team, not one of the best times I've seen them (I hate the roundhouse) but it was a huge celebration & a good time was had. Charif Megarbane supported, it was funky. Oh & a guy making ambient music with a bicycle which was regrettable.

Nadine Shah @ rough trade with popular forum member GOOD WILL OUT. Far too short a set but me and JP had a wonderful little day out in the big smoke

The Bees @ Islington Assembly hall with popular forum members KEV N ROD. I'd not listened to the Bees for fucking years. Listening to them in the lead up to the gig I'll be honest, not as great as I remembered. The gig was decent, great energy in parts, in others it's just watching white blokes pretend to do reggae. Martin Freeman was the support act as DJ.

The Lust for Life Band @ Islington Academy with popular forum member krburg
This was so much better than it had any right to be. A "supergroup" performing Iggy's lust for life in full featuring Clem Burke, Glen Matlock & Katie Pukrick of The Word fame on vocals. She was fucking great fronting it & still looks incredible. Did an encore of a bunch of tunes from Stooges/Bowie/Blondie/Pistols. Excellent night. Shame about the endless number of shit support acts which included a speech from someone that used to cut Bowie's hair

The Hives @ Hammersmith Apollo with popular forum member ROD_BLUETONES_ROCK
nice to see that they've acquired new fans along the way, a lot of younger people down the front. Still know how to entertain a big crowd, I'd imagine they'll still be doing it in 20 years time. Bad Nerves supported, terrible American garage-punk band... from Essex. terrible.

Dry Cleaning @ Earth theatre with RODERKEV. Did the first 2 EP's in full (still their best work) plus basically the hits from the 2 albums. viva dry cleaning! They never ever let me down! Dean Rodney Jr. & the Cowboys was an experience, worth it to see the absolute look of disgust Rod aimed in their direction for half hour.

KEG/POZI/OTALA @ brixton hootananny
new venue for me, decent though the woman behind the bar was useless/rude and it ended far too fucking late for a school night. Otala were a young band so usually I'd be forgiving of someone not formed their sound fully early doors butthey were basically a Black Country New Road worship act but with boring tunes.
Pozi & Keg delivered the goods

WIDE AWAKE FESTIVAL
Ended up getting a ticket the night before, the lineup was too good & had zero big clashes. Got there earlier than expected so saw Lambrini girls, they were stupidly on some tiny stage that had tiny amps so they drew a huge crowd yet most people could barely here them.
This year the 2nd stage was right of the main stage and outdoor rather than a tent which at first I was bummed about but it actually worked perfectly as when one band finishes you can walk to the next stage. BODEGA were excellent, though mid-set they announced special gusts "Nodega" & did 2 really horrible hardcore punk songs. They barely had a 40 minute set, fair enough if its your own show and you've time to do stuff like that but it was a shame as they could have fit a few more big hitters in. anyway, banging set other than them being daft.

Dry Cleaning were on the main stage & it was so disappointing 1: the sound was flat as fuck. They'd mixed flo's vocals far too high leaving the guitar/bass to feel like an afterthought. Also, their setlist was really poorly planned for the huge audience they had. First time I've seen them out of 278 times that I've been didzapointed so I can let this one slide, it was piss poor and the worst thing I saw all day.

FAT DOG drew a huge crowd. I've no idea how popular they are, not sure I'd even heard them before. Just one of those bands that always seemed to be on bills at the Windmill. Highly energetic set, not sure if they'd be any good on record but the crowd loved it.

Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul drew a smaller than I expected (at this point I've realised I'm clueless when it comes to these kind of things) but those that saw it were in for a treat. If they follow up that debut with more of the same I think they'll be a big festival hit for years to come.

Squid smashed it on the 2nd stage, unlike dry Cleaning they know how to pull off a festival length set. No real downtime, songs transitioning into the next. They're dynamite as a live act, continue to get better and better. On record I love them but live they're a different beast.

Slowdive were on next. Was in 2 minds if I should see them as I thought it'd be a bit of a buzz kill. Decided to go watch them, got a great spot by the front speaker and the sound was fucking perfect. As loud as u could hope for & perfectly clear, every instrument mixed perfectly. It was fucking great! TBH I only care for the old material but the new stuff worked great & the 1-2 of Alison & When the Sun Hits gave me goosebumps. To think I almost went to see a guy in a gimp-suit do electro-pop instead. Easily the best of the 3 times I've seen them.

Finished the festival off with DAVID BYRN'S NIGHT. Basically what I saw at the start of the year but with bigger artists involved this time. Members of Squid/BNCR/LosBitchos/Tapir made up the band then artists that had performed during the day took turns to sing. The singer from Special Interest, Bodega, Lynxx, Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupil. Shame it took ages to set up so it ended up being like 35 minutes long instead of an hour set but it was a great send-off for an excellent day. They should do this every year and just rotate what band they do, PIXIES/REM/SONICYOUTH/NIRVANA/SMITHS would be great