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

[Riggins]

Saw Bombay Bicyle Club at South Facing last week, was struck by just how average they've gotten. The songs from the first album still sounded quality, but everything else just sounded like TK Maxx indie to me. Reminds me of a lot of bands that broke out around that time with a great first album and slowly regressed.

[Skip997]

3 hours ago, Riggins said:

Saw Bombay Bicyle Club at South Facing last week, was struck by just how average they've gotten. The songs from the first album still sounded quality, but everything else just sounded like TK Maxx indie to me. Reminds me of a lot of bands that broke out around that time with a great first album and slowly regressed.

Never heard that before - love it, but it could be applied to most guitar based indie bands.

[maelzoid]

Just on my way home from 3 nights of Phish in Atlantic City. The gig was on the beach so everyone dancing in the sand. Musically, they are as good as it gets and the shows were utterly spectacular due to the light show. The fan community is wonderful as well, everyone very welcoming to a solo traveller from the UK.

I remain convinced that they are one of the most remarkable bands playing live right now, and yet, utterly unknown in the UK. I think they’d go down well at Glastonbury, but cannot see a suitable stage / time where they would fit. It’ll never happen sadly.

[Riggins]

2 hours ago, Skip997 said:

Never heard that before - love it, but it could be applied to most guitar based indie bands.

Yeah I was standing there as they rattled through the fourth chorus of whatever the 'eat, sleep, wake' song was and thought the same of White Lies, Two Door Cinema Club, Courteeners etc. Still rattling on.

[Green Croc]

23 hours ago, Riggins said:

Saw Bombay Bicyle Club at South Facing last week, was struck by just how average they've gotten. The songs from the first album still sounded quality, but everything else just sounded like TK Maxx indie to me. Reminds me of a lot of bands that broke out around that time with a great first album and slowly regressed.

I'm surprised. I saw them last year at Lost Village with absolutely no expectations and I thought they were really really good

[balti-pie]

Went to see GWAR last night in Brighton - they're a fairly notorious live band, because (assuming not everyone is down with the GWAR) they're a punky/thrash metal band who play in massive rubber suits, and have a very theatrical live performance with beheadings, executions, guts, brains and blood - so much blood - all over the stage and the audience. They executed Joe Biden, the Queen, Vladimir Putin, and various other people, in quite grotesque style. 

I was aware i would get a bit messy, i was about fifteen ft from the stage so not exactly front and centre, but didnt realise i would be absolutely covered from head to toe in red blood, blue alien semen, green pus, and who knows what other colours . . . had a shower as soon as i got home, and had another one this morning, and my thighs are still blue 😆 

In short; if ever you get a chance to see GWAR, take it. They're brilliant. Dunno how they manage to play so tightly while wearing their costumes! 

[Skip997]

8 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

Went to see GWAR last night in Brighton - they're a fairly notorious live band, because (assuming not everyone is down with the GWAR) they're a punky/thrash metal band who play in massive rubber suits

My idea of musical hell

[fred quimby]

13 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

and my thighs are still blue 😆 

 

So still covered in Semen from the night before

[tarw]

32 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

Went to see GWAR last night in Brighton - they're a fairly notorious live band, because (assuming not everyone is down with the GWAR) they're a punky/thrash metal band who play in massive rubber suits, and have a very theatrical live performance with beheadings, executions, guts, brains and blood - so much blood - all over the stage and the audience. They executed Joe Biden, the Queen, Vladimir Putin, and various other people, in quite grotesque style. 

I was aware i would get a bit messy, i was about fifteen ft from the stage so not exactly front and centre, but didnt realise i would be absolutely covered from head to toe in red blood, blue alien semen, green pus, and who knows what other colours . . . had a shower as soon as i got home, and had another one this morning, and my thighs are still blue 😆 

In short; if ever you get a chance to see GWAR, take it. They're brilliant. Dunno how they manage to play so tightly while wearing their costumes! 

Sounds like an upgraded version of Alice Cooper. Went to see him a couple of times back in the day and always thought the beheadings etc were to distract from the mediocre music 

[balti-pie]

38 minutes ago, tarw said:

Sounds like an upgraded version of Alice Cooper. Went to see him a couple of times back in the day and always thought the beheadings etc were to distract from the mediocre music 

I'd love to see Alice Cooper - he wont get a legend slot, but might be up for an afternoon pyramid thing (that metal slot that kind of happened a couple of times) and a secret Truth stage 1.30am appearance too please. I like a fair bit of his 70's output, and you've definitely got a point about the theatrics covering up for less amazing music perhaps, but it still adds up to a very enjoyable spectacle 

[ghandi]

Ok, so now I didnt personally attwnd but watching back Dry Cleanings Primavera Sound gig, now they BBC have deleted the Park stage gig permenantly. Its just as good. Worth looking on YouTube. Thumbs up from me. Actually think the sound is better and with the screen they have above them makes for better spectator viewing imo. Although obvs without the Glasto atmosphere.

[theciderviking]

Caught 3 complete unknowns to me last night at Soup Manchester - Yossari Baby, Oyster and Scuttlebuggs.

All were great, but Yossari Baby were sensational! Cracking vibe, the crowd were really into it for a Thursday night...and when you're singing about gay popes marrying in the Vatican and Prince Andrew's sweat you know you're onto a winner! 😂

Great innovative visual artistry from Lucy Martin too, something completely different to the norm.

Sub £5 a pint for decent craft ales was the icing on the cake too. 😉 

[sfroml]

Went to see the Dandy Warhols back in June in Leeds. A bit of a hit/miss live band (seen them a few times) but it was easily one of the most rubbish gigs I've ever been too.

Boring to the point where about half way through I turned to my wife and apologised to her for how bad it was. She'd not seen them before so had nothing to really gauge them by, she thought they were "alright".

Weirdly enough what really spoilt it was that Courtney had his monitors set up at the back of the stage next to the drummer, so the entire front of the stage was empty. It really spoilt the dynamic of the gig (as well as coming across as being a bit pretentious). 

[gigpusher]

On 8/9/2022 at 3:39 PM, Green Croc said:

I'm surprised. I saw them last year at Lost Village with absolutely no expectations and I thought they were really really good

Yes I have always really enjoyed Bombay Bicycle Club live as well. Last saw them a month before the pandemic and it was a great gig. 

[briddj]

Went to the launch show for the new Kasabian album in Kingston on Tuesday night. Was immense and came out incredibly sweaty. Bloody love those gigs. They were also incredible headlining Tramlines last month. Think they are going to be ok without Tom...

Promoter has put the last 12 mins on YouTube. Carnage for Fire.

 

Edited August 11, 2022 by briddj

[moogster]

4 hours ago, sfroml said:

Went to see the Dandy Warhols back in June in Leeds. A bit of a hit/miss live band (seen them a few times) but it was easily one of the most rubbish gigs I've ever been too.

Boring to the point where about half way through I turned to my wife and apologised to her for how bad it was. She'd not seen them before so had nothing to really gauge them by, she thought they were "alright".

Weirdly enough what really spoilt it was that Courtney had his monitors set up at the back of the stage next to the drummer, so the entire front of the stage was empty. It really spoilt the dynamic of the gig (as well as coming across as being a bit pretentious). 

That's "good news": I've barely missed a local Dandy Warhols show in... 20 years but missed the show here in June because... Glastonbury! Looks like it wasn't one for the records then.

[Riggins]

3 hours ago, gigpusher said:

Yes I have always really enjoyed Bombay Bicycle Club live as well. Last saw them a month before the pandemic and it was a great gig. 

They weren't necessarily bad in the sense they didn't put on a good show, I think the newer songs just did so little for me compared to the early stuff. They also must've only played for an hour, which struck me as a bit odd for a £50 headline show when you've got lots of material to draw from.  

[EamerRed]

Being in Australia for a few months or so I've been trying to get stuck into some of the big local bands here. They're largely quite indie bands, the likes of Hockey Dad and Lime Cordiale, etc, all pretty basic but good fun. Also managed to catch Wolf Alice at a festival here, 4th time seeing them and they just get better and better, absolutely outstanding.

The real tricky one for me is Sticky Fingers. They are huge here ,we bought tickets before learning that they have a bit of a tricky situation here, having been accused of racism in the past. We watched a documentary and it's unproven, so we went along with an open mind. They're very fun, the singer has an excellent voice and they create a great relaxed/hippy mood, it was a really good gig. Then we learnt that the show on the next day, they came out on stage 90 mins late, did 4 songs and then the singer launches his guitar on the floor and walks off. I've read he has a fair few problems that he's battling with. Not sure what to think, but they've just announced a UK tour which could be interesting...

Over coming months we have The Smyths, Spacey Jane, Fisher, Fat Freddy's Drop, Khruangbin and Sam Fender lined up, so we're getting them in. Very excited 🍻

[blue6field]

Went to the latest of the Kelvingrove Bandstand shows last night.

king Creosote doing a live soundtrack to the movie , From Scotland with love.

incredible experience! Movie on the big screens with the band on stage 

[nikkic]

22 hours ago, briddj said:

Went to the launch show for the new Kasabian album in Kingston on Tuesday night. Was immense and came out incredibly sweaty. Bloody love those gigs. They were also incredible headlining Tramlines last month. Think they are going to be ok without Tom...

Promoter has put the last 12 mins on YouTube. Carnage for Fire.

 

Do bands play a full set at these things? Or is it like a few songs and done?

[briddj]

11 minutes ago, nikkic said:

Do bands play a full set at these things? Or is it like a few songs and done?

Generally speaking, the bands play for an hour and tickets only are usually like £11. It's a ridiculous deal really.

They get an album release show for lots and lots of bands, many of them obviously far too big for a little night club.

Kasabian though was £19 and they played for 45 minutes. If you bought the album too, you got the deal much cheaper. It was £23 for ticket + CD album for Kasabian.

The only band who didn't get the memo a while back was Ash. They must have thought it was going to be an instore. They played for 15 minutes and went off! Came back on and did another song out of guilt I think.

(Aug 18 is Hot Chip, which is £11 a ticket or £15 ticket + CD album)

[charlierc]

On 8/8/2022 at 10:32 PM, Riggins said:

Yeah I was standing there as they rattled through the fourth chorus of whatever the 'eat, sleep, wake' song was and thought the same of White Lies, Two Door Cinema Club, Courteeners etc. Still rattling on.

Tbf I think Two Door Cinema Club have a few singles since their first album that are pretty good. Even then, however, their setlist is still pretty much Tourist History in full plus a few others.

White Lies I didn't know were still going.

[briddj]

3 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Tbf I think Two Door Cinema Club have a few singles since their first album that are pretty good. Even then, however, their setlist is still pretty much Tourist History in full plus a few others.

White Lies I didn't know were still going.

White Lies are (comparatively) pretty big in Europe, and can tour there extensively. Not sure there's very many bands of that era that could do anything remotely like this (and certainly not post-Brexit).

They still sell out in Manchester, Glasgow and London over here. This is the length of their European tour earlier this year. (poster point is first week of tour)

 

 

[Pipkins2]

On 8/8/2022 at 8:53 PM, maelzoid said:

Just on my way home from 3 nights of Phish in Atlantic City. The gig was on the beach so everyone dancing in the sand. Musically, they are as good as it gets and the shows were utterly spectacular due to the light show. The fan community is wonderful as well, everyone very welcoming to a solo traveller from the UK.

I remain convinced that they are one of the most remarkable bands playing live right now, and yet, utterly unknown in the UK. I think they’d go down well at Glastonbury, but cannot see a suitable stage / time where they would fit. It’ll never happen sadly.

Phish played the Pyramid many years back. Unfortunately I missed them. They were first on. They would be excellent on West Holts. String Cheese Incident played on there (I was lucky enough to catch that one.) Sadly I flew out of the US at Easter the day Phish were doing the rescheduled MSG dates. A strange time as my Regina Spektor at Carnegie Hall was cancelled as we were waiting to board to fly to the US. Big Brother and the Holding Company was also cancelled, but I did end up seeing B Joel for a 2nd time at MSG. Not as good as the date just before lock down when he brought on JBJovi. It seems a very uncertain business investing in gig tickets these days.

[Skip997]

15 minutes ago, Pipkins2 said:

 Big Brother and the Holding Company was also cancelled

Woah, hold on a minute how old are you?

Janis Joplin died in 1970