Concerts - general discussion and experiences

[Camel]

On 12 July 2016 at 01:04, DjSatansfur3h said:

Been to a few.

 

Largely stopped going though. Combination of few bands I like making a stop in the North East of England (and costing an arm and a leg to travel beyond), a dash of apathy and general issues with every frigging venue cranking the sound up to 11. Makes the mix indistinguishable half the time and it sound like utter shit.

 

 

Man, I hate shit sound systems at venues.  Brixton Academy used to be the worst for this when it came to hip hop.  Sound man seemed be a guy who equated hip hop with bass, so all you'd hear all night was thundering bass and little else.  Fucking dreadful.  Couple that with the slopy floor designed to give you backache after an hour and voila, the worst venue in London.

[Hawklord]

Going to see Billy Joel at Wembley in Sept. By the time we factor in flights to London and hotels were out over £700!

[Nathan Wind]

Off to see Tom Jones in a couple of weeks. I'll be sure to pack a couple of pairs of sexy panties to throw at him.

[Plissken]

On 7/10/2016 at 20:03, Benny said:

I've never really been one to go to live music much, but I want to make up for it now. Going to see John Carpenter in October for a start.

 

Manchester?  You know it has shifted to the Saturday only, don't you?

[englishbob]

My last gig was Janes Addiction at the o2 Forum (formally Kentish Town and Country Club). One of the worst gigs ever, the sound was beyond terrible. There have been a lot of gigs like this recently, just shit, shit sound. Ticket prices have rocketed, yet the sound systems have not been invested in. 

 

Sunday is UNKLE at Somerset House in London.No idea what to expect, but its outdoors and hopefully be a nice evening.

 

After this I have nothing lined up. My tinnitus has ramped up quite badly in the last 12 months, and with the bad sound at most venues now, I am thinking of hanging up my gig shoes, only potentially going to outdoor venues in future.

[MrPogo]

On 12/07/2016 at 01:04, DjSatansfur3h said:

Been to a few.

 

Largely stopped going though. Combination of few bands I like making a stop in the North East of England (and costing an arm and a leg to travel beyond), a dash of apathy and general issues with every frigging venue cranking the sound up to 11. Makes the mix indistinguishable half the time and it sound like utter shit.

 

Yeah. Seems almost everyone/where things loudness is the be and and end all. I've been in a few soundchecks over the years where the quality has been fantastic, then for the gig itself they ramp up the volume and it's now all shit and distorted.

[Benny]

On 15/07/2016 at 20:41, Plissken said:

 

Manchester?  You know it has shifted to the Saturday only, don't you?

 

Eh?

 

I was thinking Liverpool.

[Plissken]

Ah. When I got tickets, the only UK dates were Friday and Saturday in Manchester.  With the collapse of ATP, the two shows have been combined - looking at his dates, it seems the Friday has been replaced by a Liverpool date.

[Darren]

I went to see Belly at Rock City last night. I never saw them in the 90s and at the time only had a passing interest in them. But in recent years I've been filling in lots of gaps in my record collection, including basically the entire works of the Throwing Muses and all Kristin & Tanya's other projects, and so I've kind of rekindled my fandom after the event. And given that Belly split up twenty years ago, I never expected to get the chance to see them play live.

 

The sound was terrible for the first song, but by the second or third the desk had that sorted and from then on it was quite mesmerising. They did two sets with an interval, rather than have a support act, and there wasn't even any merch, so the whole thing had a low-key, DIY, fairly ramshackle vibe, and was all the better for it. This wasn't a legendary rock band reforming with all guns blazing, it was a minor indie band of the mid-90s reconnecting with their audience two decades on, and it was wonderful.

[JohnnyNolan]

Throwing Muses are one of my favourite bands and Kristin live is always phenomenal. Tanya's post Muses work has always felt a bit patchy to me. There are some great moments, but equally matched with some less than interesting work. I see Kristin is touring the UK later this year.

 

I saw the Throwing Muses tour the other year where Tanya did support and then joined Muses on stage to play in the songs of her time with them. Absolutely amazing gig.

[Darren]

I must admit I love the two of them equally, in their own different ways. They complement each other so well, I'd love to see them write and record together again before they finally hang up their guitars.

 

Speaking of which, I just found out Tanya turned 50 last week. From where I was standing she didn't look a day over 30. She's incredible!

[Mike1812]

Saw The Ginger Wildheart Band last week at The Musician in Leicester. It's a really nice, small venue and the sound was great. The band were superb, playing their 'Grande Rock' show too small audiences. The place was packed, the atmosphere was great and everyone behaved like adults. Support acts Massive Wagons and Ryan Hamilton were great too, and both got a big crowd who showed their appreciation. 

 

I really hate arena shows these days, feel like I'm watching on tv but more uncomfortable and with more expensive and worse beer. Small venues like The Musician are so much better, but I think the reaction of the audience make the show and when it's packed it out like it was here, it makes for an amazing experience. 

[Vespa Alex]

I was going to see Ginger last night, but the venue in Wolverhampton is hot at the best of times and would have been unbearable. I've seen Ryan Hamilton before and he's great live. 

[Nathan Wind]

Tom Jones was surprisingly alright last night. Plenty of his usual filler but he did some quite dark soul and blues songs as well, which were really good. Amazing backing band. Sousaphone solo was a highlight. 

[Ivanho]

Went to Ramblin Man Fair in Maidstone, Kent, last weekend.  Be rude not to as its a Rock Festival in the town I live in.  Very well organised, some great bands (Bob Wayne, Dead Daisies, Whitesnake) and a good atmosphere.  Would definitely recommend it.

[SharkyOB]

I've been to hundreds of gig over the years and plenty of festivals too.  Highlights are:

 

Radiohead on the tent tour for Kid A, although they were also great at Old Trafford a few years back on the In Rainbows tour.

Tool at the MEN touring 10,000 Days.

Pixies last year (might have been the year before actually) in Manchester.  Open air gig by a canal I think.

Red Hot Chili Peppers at Reading Festival, John had just rejoined the band so it was mostly stuff off Californication and BSSM.

Elbow at The Barfly in Liverpool.  Amazing little gig that I got into by entering a competition.  Used to love Elbow, can't stand them now.

Elliot Smith/Badly Drawn Boy/Beck/LCD Soundsystem/Hot Chip at Reading Fest.

Beck at The Academy in Birmingham on the Midnight Vultures tour.

 

There's loads more I'm sure.

 

[Nathan Wind]

I saw Tool on the Lateralus tour at Brixton.  They were fantastic!  Maynard played the gig behind a screen so you just had his silhouette with swirly trippy visuals projected on it.  Sounds shit but it was really cool.  I don't remember if they did the whole gig like that or just part of it.  It was a long time ago and I'm afraid that I was very, very drunk.

 

 

[SharkyOB]

I don't remember a screen in manc but he did most of the gig facing away from the audience. I was right at the front close to Justin Chancellor, that guy can really fucking play!

[Rsdio]

I was at the Manchester show for Lateralus and I can't remember if he did the screen thing or not. I do remember him being really grumpy and having no sense of humour whatsoever about their visuals not working for the first song. I saw A Perfect Circle there a couple of years later and he was on a weird podium sort of thing then and the entire band constantly bullied James Iha between songs and made him stay out there while they went in back before the encore. He attempted to entertain the crowd with jokes that nobody laughed at and songs from his solo album. Awkward.

 

Bands I've seen the most (aside from local DIY type bands): Mogwai late 90s/early 2000s, QOTSA late 90s/early 2000s and once more randomly in 2008, Shellac. Also Asian Dub Foundation quite a few times early on, the records aren't all that but they were great live.

 

First thing I remember going to was U2 on the Zooropa tour when I was about 11. I probably thought all shows were going to be as insane as that.

 

Best ones I reckon were Boredoms in 2007 and Public Enemy doing It Takes a Nation of Millions. The crowd for that one was absolutely insane.

[5R7]

remembering this thread exisist!... im very much looking forward to seeing one of the best bands ive seen live ...royal repupblic in october! seriously, better live than on CD! ...summit is used to only say about the wildhearts!

[LaParka]

Saw Cattle Decapitation last night in Liverpool, and it was so much fun. Was one of the busier shows I've been to recently (about 250-300 people) and it was nuts. I'm too old to be down the front head banging but you can get really close without fearing for your life. It's such a different experience to going to a big show. Other than maybe seeing Iron Maiden again, I think I'm done with bigger shows (and the cost) 

[Bojangle]

On 4/14/2016 at 18:54, Mr Do 71 said:

Seeing The Cure this December.

Finally managed to get hold of some tickets for the Copenhagen date in October, and after looking at the setlists from the recent US/AUS tour, excited doesn't even come close to describing how I feel!

   

Aside from that, quite a busy last half of this year. Got Amity Affliction, Northlane, Stick to your Guns, Architects (this is going to be really weird  ), Bury Tomorrow, Biffy Clyro, Black Peaks, Stray from the Path and Bring Me The Horizon. Music, yay!

[englishbob]

You will always get value for money from The Cure live. Legendary sets, only Bruce Springsteen to my knowledge plays about the same length of gig every night

[mexos]

On 3 August 2016 at 17:22, Nathan Wind said:

I saw Tool on the Lateralus tour at Brixton.  They were fantastic!  Maynard played the gig behind a screen so you just had his silhouette with swirly trippy visuals projected on it.  Sounds shit but it was really cool.  I don't remember if they did the whole gig like that or just part of it.  It was a long time ago and I'm afraid that I was very, very drunk.

 

 

 

My first ever gig was Rage Against the Machine in 1993. The support was Tool and they were bloody brilliant. The problem was that gig set the bar so high the next few concerts I went to seemed crap!

[Down by Law]

This year I saw Brian Fallon (Gaslight Anthem) at the Institute in Digbeth which was a fantastic show. To say it was a solo gig the fact there was a 6 man band made me chuckle.

 

Saw Offspring and Bad Religion at the Birmingham Academy which was a brilliant show, completely rammed sold out and both bands gave a great performance.

 

Got Feeder next in on October 4th (who were the first live band I saw as a 15 year old back in 2000) and John Carpenter on Halloween.

 

Other than Bad Religion last year these are the first gigs I've seen since 2008. I used to go loads but ticket prices shooting up as well as some venues being quite poor put me off. Being a short arse I only go for shows if there's a balcony option, luckily, I managed to secure a couple of Balcony tickets for Carpenter after the ATP tits up.

[Sardan]

I've become a part time roadie. 

 

Festival for three days this weekend. Teenage Fanclub on Monday. Seeing Roy Harper tonight!

[Marzipan Travolta]

I saw Thee Oh Sees in Leeds last weekend. I've not had huge exposure to them really as they don't put more recent stuff on Spotify, I just knew they fitted the general 'garage rock' sound that I enjoy in a live band. They were bloody mesmerising. They have two drummers who perform perfectly in time throughout, not a clue how they do it. Their songs are tight as hell and they even got along a great support act in The Blind Shake. I thought I would have travelled the furthest to see them after a couple of hours up the M1 from Leicester. Not even close. I came across people from Newcastle, Edinburgh and even Stockholm who had come for the gig. 

 

I've a first kid on the way in a few weeks. After about 15 years of 1 gig a week on average this being my last big show in a very long series was a glorious way to bow out.

[Guest]

Went to Acid Mothers Temple last night, buzzing still!

 

It was free also which is mad.

 

 

[Rsdio]

I dragged a few long term Acid Mothers haters to a show a few years back, they were all pretty converted. Makoto's such a don when he gets going.

[cerseis eyebrows]

Went to a Jools Holland taping a few weeks back. It was the first in the series and had a pretty hot line up with Sting, Kings Of Leon, M83, Banks, my girlfriend Kandace Springs and Jack White. The Tuesday it happened to fall on was the hottest day of the year so the 'dark clothing only' entrance policy was a bit of a pain while waiting about in the blazing Kent sun. After an hour we were taken to the waiting hall where we enjoyed a sandwich and a well earned pint. Come showtime we entered the main recording area, a decent sized room where the 300 hundred in attendance were divided into the four corners, 75 to each corner, school photo standing formation. Everyone got a decent view of everything, nice and democratic like. With the exception of Sting -whose group sounded like any band at your local- the music was great, lovely clear sound with nice bass levels. It was fun to see the behind the scenes aspect of it, the show runners and floor directors restless dedication, the knob twiddlers in the booth sipping from their wine glasses, (presumably) Jools's endearingly crap comedian mate keeping everyone entertained during the downtime (every one of his punch lines was some variation of "I'm a fat bastard, me"). Also was interesting to see the bands behavior as they waited their turn, the highlight being one of the Kings of Leon twats watching M83 as he enjoyed his bubblegum. He stood there all macho, arms folded, legs apart and let it pop into his face. Just standing there with gum all up his nose and down his chin.

 

The one time my eyes weren't wandering was with Jack White. I've never cared for the guy either way but he blew everyone off stage that night. Being alone under the spotlight with his acoustic made him stand out but his presence can't be denied. His was the only set that hit a raw nerve and was producing genuine feels. And bonus points to him for being the only act not to regurgitate the same tracks for the live and the taping portions of the show.

 

Only slight negative was the interview with my man Jimmy Fuckin Page. He was sat down behind some rigging shit, literally the only place in the entire fucking building I couldn't get a view of.

 

At the end of the day though the performer of the night was Jools. The guys a total pro, calm as you like in the relentless live environment, always alert, bouncing around positive energy, making everyone feel at home.

 

Great night. (And for free!)