Live gigs - Who you've seen were they good, bad etc.

[Quark]

Been a busy week!  Already mentioned a couple on here, but both MarthaGunn and The Lathums were really good last week.

Last Monday was MarthaGunn. They're one of those bands that sound pretty much the same live as they do on record. For some people that's not always a bonus, but for the style of music they play I thought it worked really well. Small venue but as Brighton's where they started out it was a nice homecoming show for them, and as I only caught part of their set at Beautiful Days it was great to see a full show.  Was a last minute chance to see them so wasn't there in time for the support sadly. @Gilgamesh69 did you go see them in the end?

Tuesday was The Lathums supported by The Stanleys.  Never heard of them before but Stanleys are another Wigan band, part of this NW guitar revival that seems to be going on.  Guitarist was straight out of the John Squire playbook, and singer was a blend of Tim Burgess and Ian Brown, but with a more powerful voice. Decent enough, but not going to rush to see them again.

Lathums were bloody brilliant. They just looked so happy to be where they are, and you can see how made up they are to have that #1 album. Musically they're really tight, great singalong anthems and Alex's voice is spot on live, even on the high notes he hits.

Top night.

 

 

 

Last night was Red Rum Club supported by Hushtones. Hushtones are another band I'd never heard of, but really glad I made it in time to see them.  5 piece drea-psych-indie-pop type from Liverpool.  Live they reminded me a bit of Echobelly, but with synths added in. Some really nice harmonies across the band and mixed female / male lead vocals that work really well. In terms of current bands they made me think of Hadda Be and maybe a bit of Jetstream Pony. 

Red Rum Club are just fantastic. Got a ticket as @Gnomicide has been beating the drum for them as a live act on here, and he's absolutely right. Just great fun live, big singalongs and loads of energy. Crowd were well into it, but not that well known in Brighton so was only a small venue. Will definitely be making a beeline for them anytime they're in the area again

 

Slow Readers Club tonight and then I've got a week off! 😄

Edited October 11, 2021 by Quark

[gigpusher]

@Quarkyou have been busy. Tomorrow I have Laura Marling which is 3 in 10 days for me but you put me to shame. After tomorrow I won't have any until December. The sacrifices I make for my severe noise sensitive dog. Why oh why is October/November the best time for gigs? Missing out on so many that I would love to be going to but hoping that a lot of them circle around again in the new year. 

[Quark]

3 minutes ago, gigpusher said:

@Quarkyou have been busy. Tomorrow I have Laura Marling which is 3 in 10 days for me but you put me to shame. After tomorrow I won't have any until December. The sacrifices I make for my severe noise sensitive dog. Why oh why is October/November the best time for gigs? Missing out on so many that I would love to be going to but hoping that a lot of them circle around again in the new year. 

I've got Laura Marling coming up next week I think, never seen her and Brighton Dome is a lovely venue for that style of music, so really looking forward to it!

Tbh I just got giddy when bands started announcing tours and booked them up without really thinking about the logistics!

[gigpusher]

12 minutes ago, Quark said:

I've got Laura Marling coming up next week I think, never seen her and Brighton Dome is a lovely venue for that style of music, so really looking forward to it!

Tbh I just got giddy when bands started announcing tours and booked them up without really thinking about the logistics!

Ah I remember those days. Now November is a no go time and weekends in October and the latter half of October are pretty much a no go time as well. I bloody hate fireworks now!!

[Homer]

2 hours ago, gigpusher said:

@Quarkyou have been busy. Tomorrow I have Laura Marling which is 3 in 10 days for me but you put me to shame. After tomorrow I won't have any until December. The sacrifices I make for my severe noise sensitive dog. Why oh why is October/November the best time for gigs? Missing out on so many that I would love to be going to but hoping that a lot of them circle around again in the new year. 

I think most of the gigs I have booked over the past 18 months have been shoved into the next two months!

[gigpusher]

2 hours ago, Homer said:

I think most of the gigs I have booked over the past 18 months have been shoved into the next two months!

Yes I had to give up tickets to Jarv Is as it fell badly and there is probably 7 or 8 more that I definitely would have gone to were it not for Nuala's absolute terror when people set off fireworks. She's so bad now that we book a fortnight in the middle of nowhere for absolute peak firework season and can't make any plans to go out for last week in October until about the last week of November. I had a few international acts that are still being re-scheduled as well. 

[DomDom1984]

So my last one was the tremendous Ash at Glasgow's SWG3. I've now been in two of their venues. Galvinizers this time and was in the TV Studio for The Rasmus, and thought both were excellent.

With it being a 25th Anniversary tour, it was loaded with great songs. Tim Wheeler looked like he could have kept going for another few hours, while the bass player looked monumentally f**ked within about 2 minutes of walking on stage. It was a tremendous show though, capped off with everyone staying behind to sing along to "Time of My Life" at the end.

Kudos to Indoor Pets who were the main support act, who I hadn't listened to before this gig, and they were pretty impressive. I've kinda fallen behind with music in recent times and this is a band who I might need to dive into.

[benali]

2 hours ago, Homer said:

I think most of the gigs I have booked over the past 18 months have been shoved into the next two months!

Pretty much what happened with us. And then other things kinda fell in the gaps as well.

There's so much going on I felt guilty about not going to see Liz Lawrence last night, and it looked great, but I really just needed to stay in and sit around doing nothing.

[DomDom1984]

I was fortunate enough to have Funeral for a Friend pushed to my birthday next year, which was a delightful shift. I always try and find something to do, and the decision has been made for me this time!

[Quark]

Last one for a week, Slow Readers Club in Brighton. Missed the support acts tonight as was meeting up with mates for the first time in 2 years and wanted to catch up without talking through the bands!

Brilliant as always. New material sounds great, old material sounds as good as ever. Aaron's voice never ceases to amaze, his range is just something else.

 

[WFD]

23 hours ago, Quark said:

Last Monday was MarthaGunn. They're one of those bands that sound pretty much the same live as they do on record. For some people that's not always a bonus, but for the style of music they play I thought it worked really well. Small venue but as Brighton's where they started out it was a nice homecoming show for them, and as I only caught part of their set at Beautiful Days it was great to see a full show.  Was a last minute chance to see them so wasn't there in time for the support sadly. @Gilgamesh69 did you go see them in the end?

Not my first back but saw MarthaGunn last night in Newcastle, really enjoyed it.  It was small crowd in a small venue - the singer mentioned that they'd heard from people that had bought tickets and then got a cancellation email saying it was off - but everyone there seemed to enjoy it.

I bought something off the merch table and the guy out of the band who was serving asked me out of curiosity how I'd heard of them and I said they had quite the following on efestivals and he was pleased with that!

[Quark]

1 minute ago, WFD said:

Not my first back but saw MarthaGunn last night in Newcastle, really enjoyed it.  It was small crowd in a small venue - the singer mentioned that they'd heard from people that had bought tickets and then got a cancellation email saying it was off - but everyone there seemed to enjoy it.

I bought something off the merch table and the guy out of the band who was serving asked me out of curiosity how I'd heard of them and I said they had quite the following on efestivals and he was pleased with that!

Glad you enjoyed! Did they ask you for a polaroid photo with your merch purchase? They were building up a big photo board when I saw them, looked like they'd been doing it during the tour.

[WFD]

25 minutes ago, Quark said:

Glad you enjoyed! Did they ask you for a polaroid photo with your merch purchase? They were building up a big photo board when I saw them, looked like they'd been doing it during the tour.

They had the board out, and the singer was just getting the camera out as I was leaving, so I disappeared into the night and saved them having to put my mug on there!  I had a look at the board, must have been a long running project as there were some dated 2019.

[gigpusher]

Last night was Laura Marling. She had no support and came on at 20:30 and played until just after 10. (perfect for old me at a midweek gig 😄) but worth noting for anyone who likes to rock up last minute. 

She had hurt her back so made a joke about how her guitar tech had to go above and beyond the call of duty and help her take guitars off and on. It was an acoustic set just her and the guitar. I  really enjoyed it and considering the Albert Hall in Manchester can be a bit of a noisy venue the audience were very well behaved. All sounded lovely. 

[Dom Wall]

Saw Gabriels first ever gig last night at The Social in London. No support but came on at 9pm, played for 50 minutes or so.

You’d never have said it was their first gig. Amazing sound, amazing voice. Felt like the start of something huge.

[benali]

Went to see Talk Show last night in Southampton. They were really good, and seem to absolutely love what they do. Smiling throughout and having fun.

I imagine they'll be all over the festival circuit next summer. 

[Quark]

2 hours ago, gigpusher said:

Last night was Laura Marling. She had no support and came on at 20:30 and played until just after 10. (perfect for old me at a midweek gig 😄) but worth noting for anyone who likes to rock up last minute. 

She had hurt her back so made a joke about how her guitar tech had to go above and beyond the call of duty and help her take guitars off and on. It was an acoustic set just her and the guitar. I  really enjoyed it and considering the Albert Hall in Manchester can be a bit of a noisy venue the audience were very well behaved. All sounded lovely. 

Ooh excited for next week!

1 hour ago, Dom Wall said:

Saw Gabriels first ever gig last night at The Social in London. No support but came on at 9pm, played for 50 minutes or so.

You’d never have said it was their first gig. Amazing sound, amazing voice. Felt like the start of something huge.

Saw a few things pop up on Twitter about this, sounds like it went down a storm. Only heard them on the radio yesterday for first time, going to dig into their EPs

[Jamesthedrake]

Had a few gigs since things have opened up again:

 

Damon Albarn: This was when things were still locked down slightly which gave the venue (GMEX) a slightly odd vibe but he was on great form and played a cracking set - I really enjoyed it having not yet had chance to see the likes of Blur or Gorillaz in the flesh.

New Order: Not usually a huge fan of gigs at Heaton Park but this one was pretty special. Couple of great support acts in Working Mens Club and Hot Chip (Who were probably my highlight of the evening) as well. Only real complaint was the price of beer (£6 for a warm can of Carlsberg). Lighting and atmosphere were sensational. Top notch.

Chic feat Nile Rodgers: I've never been to a Warehouse Project gig before but I'm delighted that this one was my first. Was a shame that Craig Charles pulled out but Chic (as expected) delivered an absolute barn stormer. Few bands can rattle off number ones like they can. Crowd weren't quite sure what to make of it, mind - seems like quite a few just go to Warehouse regardless of who's on.

Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbot: Castlefield Bowl is maybe tied for my favourite venue in Manchester - never had a bad night there. This was no exception. Vocals were unreal and had just the nicest, friendly vibe and an unbeatable setlist of hits to boot. Didn't catch the support (The Skints).

The Courteeners: I know they get a bad rap round these parts and rightfully so in many respects. I'd got tickets for this because of the sensational support bands - The Big Moon, Blossoms and Johnny Marr. Real liked the cricket ground as a venue - particularly early on when the sun was shining and the beers were flowing. Big Moon are one of my favourite acts around at the moment and managed to win round quite a few of the crowd around us. Blossoms were fine though were clearly way too big to be playing third down at this kind of gig. Huge queues meant we missed most of Marr but what we caught was spellbinding. Courteeners did the job and did it well enough!

[Maurice Mecca]

Busy-ish week for me too.

Saw Maximo Park at Earth in Hackney on Saturday night, have been there before to see Black Midi a couple of years ago but they seem to have two halls.  The one I saw BM in was a flat taditional concert venue but for MP we were in like a lecture theatre.  Not ideally suited to a band like Maximo Park.  They were, as always, great and support band Peaness were pretty decent too.

Then last night saw The Howl & The Hum at Islington Assembley Hall.  Band were great, lead singer has a fantastic voice although his dancing leaves a lot to be desired.  They were supported by Tommy Lefroy who were a female duo, shades of Evermore era Taylor Swift, they were OK but songs were all a bit samey.

Finally off to see The Reytons in Camden tomorrow night before I too have a little rest from live music.  But it is wonderful to be back!

Edited October 13, 2021 by Maurice Mecca

[gigpusher]

1 hour ago, Jamesthedrake said:

Had a few gigs since things have opened up again:

 

Damon Albarn: This was when things were still locked down slightly which gave the venue (GMEX) a slightly odd vibe but he was on great form and played a cracking set - I really enjoyed it having not yet had chance to see the likes of Blur or Gorillaz in the flesh.

New Order: Not usually a huge fan of gigs at Heaton Park but this one was pretty special. Couple of great support acts in Working Mens Club and Hot Chip (Who were probably my highlight of the evening) as well. Only real complaint was the price of beer (£6 for a warm can of Carlsberg). Lighting and atmosphere were sensational. Top notch.

Chic feat Nile Rodgers: I've never been to a Warehouse Project gig before but I'm delighted that this one was my first. Was a shame that Craig Charles pulled out but Chic (as expected) delivered an absolute barn stormer. Few bands can rattle off number ones like they can. Crowd weren't quite sure what to make of it, mind - seems like quite a few just go to Warehouse regardless of who's on.

Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbot: Castlefield Bowl is maybe tied for my favourite venue in Manchester - never had a bad night there. This was no exception. Vocals were unreal and had just the nicest, friendly vibe and an unbeatable setlist of hits to boot. Didn't catch the support (The Skints).

The Courteeners: I know they get a bad rap round these parts and rightfully so in many respects. I'd got tickets for this because of the sensational support bands - The Big Moon, Blossoms and Johnny Marr. Real liked the cricket ground as a venue - particularly early on when the sun was shining and the beers were flowing. Big Moon are one of my favourite acts around at the moment and managed to win round quite a few of the crowd around us. Blossoms were fine though were clearly way too big to be playing third down at this kind of gig. Huge queues meant we missed most of Marr but what we caught was spellbinding. Courteeners did the job and did it well enough!

Interesting how we can all have such different perspectives Castlefield Bowl is probably my least favourite venue so much so that I was offered free tickets to Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbot (whom I love) and I refused to go because I hate it as a venue so much. 

I agree the New Order gig was fab and that Hot Chip were absolutely class as always. Food prices at Heaton Park were awful as well. I paid £11 for a small portion of Mac and Cheese!!

Can't believe I didn't know about the Chic gig until after the fact but have seen them 3 times are they have always been brilliant. 

[maelzoid]

They called their band Peaness?!?!?!  I guess they don’t want to be successful

 

[DomDom1984]

Chic and Nile Rodgers was probably the most perfect festival headline set I've attended, and that covers a lot of ground. Just a wonderful experience.

Coincidentally, I seen Courteeners that weekend too! And they were outstanding too.

[sedra]

On 10/11/2021 at 11:37 PM, Quark said:

Last one for a week, Slow Readers Club in Brighton. Missed the support acts tonight as was meeting up with mates for the first time in 2 years and wanted to catch up without talking through the bands!

Brilliant as always. New material sounds great, old material sounds as good as ever. Aaron's voice never ceases to amaze, his range is just something else.

 

Saw them at Portsmouth Sunday and agree - Aaron’s voice seems to have benefited from an enforced rest- absolutely killed it. 

[gigpusher]

13 hours ago, maelzoid said:

They called their band Peaness?!?!?!  I guess they don’t want to be successful

 

I really like what I have heard of them as well 😄

[Quark]

14 hours ago, maelzoid said:

They called their band Peaness?!?!?!  I guess they don’t want to be successful

 

 

15 minutes ago, gigpusher said:

I really like what I have heard of them as well 😄

Seen them a couple of times and they're really good.  They've got a really (for want of a better word) sweet sound but the lyrics can be quite snarky. Don't be fooled basically!