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

[Gnomicide]

11 minutes ago, gigpusher said:

Who were the ones to keep an ear out for??

The Chase were great fun, the type to go down a storm at festivals. Enjoyed The Kairos and reckon Harriet Rose has the chops to make it in the Country/Americana world. Columbia were enjoyable enough, with a good frontman but perhaps a little too close to Oasis with their sound.

Andrew Cushin seems to be on an upward trajectory but didn't really do it for me to be honest.

[Gnomicide]

First Aid Kit at Liverpool O2 Academy last night.

This was one of two gigs that came from a last minute cancellation at the larger Olympia last year (audience basically split in two and allocated tickets for one of two dates).

Really nice to see them in a small indoor venue after only having seen them at festivals before. The harmonies were as sweet as you would expect, the backing band were excellent and a pretty nice setlist. 

The 'quiet' section in the middle was particularly good, basically forcing the audience to shut up and listen. 

 

Support was from The Last Dinner Party, a nice surprise as they weren't the act mentioned on the ticket, so it was a good chance to see if they live up to the hype. And they probably do. I really enjoyed them and they went down a storm.

[august1]

13 hours ago, Gnomicide said:

First Aid Kit at Liverpool O2 Academy last night.

 

I was wondering how that slipped past me but being a rescheduled makes sense. 

Solid gig that.

[Hotchilidog]

Boygenius utterly sublime yesterday at Gunnersbury Park, for anyone going to Halifax you are in for a treat. Sadly engineering works meant I had to duck out before the encore but the day was so good with an amazing performance from Muna and an engrossing Ethel Cain set making it a fantastic day.

Would love to see any of these on the farm next year.

[moogster]

I second the Boygenius love. Saw them this week end at a festival and ... yes, sublime. Can't word it better. Record's really good but it's x10 better live. (and kudos to the "rest" of the band in the back, that bass player was having the time of her life)

[Yokel Again]

Was gutted to miss Boygenius as was on holidays. Hopefully a full UK tour sometime in the future... no idea how long they are playing before they go back to individual projects/tour.

[lemons]

Bought a ticket for Muna after Saturday 

[Hotchilidog]

Muna are flipping brilliant 

[sfroml]

Went to see Fat White Family in Leeds on Friday night at a new venue called Project House in Armley.

Hottest gig I've been too in years. It was wild, pushed and shoved about from the off, a lot of crowd surfing, my t-shirt was stuck to me afterwards and needed peeling off, trainers are now completely wrecked. Very loud, ears still ringing a bit on Sunday morning. The new songs sound blummin' marvellous!

Probably my favourite gig of the year so far.

[henry bear]

Three gigs in three days last weekend whilst visiting a very hot and humid NYC.

On Friday we were at the glorious Radio City Music Hall, an Art Deco masterpiece, to see a Squeeze/Psychedelic Furs double bill. Both were in fine form, and it was the first time I’d seen the latter since they headlined the Pyramid on the Friday in 1986.

Saturday saw us travel out to the UBS Arena in Elmont, Long Island, to see the mighty Aerosmith, supported by The Black Crowes. I was taken aback by how great Tyler looked and sounded given his age (75). The show was so good, and it is a shame they never did do their Glasto slot. A few days after this show Aerosmith released a statement saying that all the dates over the next 30 days were postponed as he’d damaged his vocal cords. Would have been gutted if I’d missed them.

We were at MSG on Sunday for show 94 of Billy Joel’s 100 gig residency there. Our cheap-ass (not!) tickets were behind the stage, but fairly close to it and gave an amazing view. His piano swivelled around regularly so he rarely had his back to us. I’m not a huge fan, but it was a top notch concert, banger anfter banger, and his pipes are in fine form - much much better than the likes of Macca, Reg etc. Get him on the farm whilst he still has the voice.

[Skip997]

On 9/11/2023 at 9:50 AM, sfroml said:

Went to see Fat White Family in Leeds on Friday night at a new venue called Project House in Armley.

Fat White Family are fantastic live, but strangely listenable sat at home.

Possibly the best name ever for a band.

[Pipine]

Saw Dead Pony on Wednesday in Sheffield.. they were great, a very intimate show, the live space at Sidney and Matilda is about the size of my front room!   Really enjoyed the support South Arcade too. 
 

[cidy]

On 9/15/2023 at 7:13 PM, henry bear said:

Three gigs in three days last weekend whilst visiting a very hot and humid NYC.

On Friday we were at the glorious Radio City Music Hall, an Art Deco masterpiece, to see a Squeeze/Psychedelic Furs double bill. Both were in fine form, and it was the first time I’d seen the latter since they headlined the Pyramid on the Friday in 1986.

Saturday saw us travel out to the UBS Arena in Elmont, Long Island, to see the mighty Aerosmith, supported by The Black Crowes. I was taken aback by how great Tyler looked and sounded given his age (75). The show was so good, and it is a shame they never did do their Glasto slot. A few days after this show Aerosmith released a statement saying that all the dates over the next 30 days were postponed as he’d damaged his vocal cords. Would have been gutted if I’d missed them.

We were at MSG on Sunday for show 94 of Billy Joel’s 100 gig residency there. Our cheap-ass (not!) tickets were behind the stage, but fairly close to it and gave an amazing view. His piano swivelled around regularly so he rarely had his back to us. I’m not a huge fan, but it was a top notch concert, banger anfter banger, and his pipes are in fine form - much much better than the likes of Macca, Reg etc. Get him on the farm whilst he still has the voice.

Billy joel at hyde park in july up there with one the best gigs ive been too in many a year 

Still sounds great and would be great on the farm but ive got a feeling he will announce retirement from gigging after residency in new york ends or when he does his news years eve gig

[Drinky]

They’re in the frame for next year and everyone has an opinion on their show… but I went to Coldplay in Seattle on Wednesday

Cons first - the set leans heavily on the post-2014 material: A Sky Full of Stars, Something Just Like This, everything off Music of the Spheres… if you’re coming for Rush of Blood or X&Y or Viva la Vida then it’s thin gruel.

There are a few set pieces that will make people cringe - the band wear alien mascot heads for a couple of songs (“Everyone Is An Alien Somewhere” say the t-shirts and lots of merch), and there are a couple of songs with actual Jim Henson puppets, apparently from recent music videos, that make you question what’s going on.

Pros - they’re maybe the best band ever to play to 50+k, more so than U2 or the Stones in their pomp - the big songs hit, the set pieces work, the pacing is right. The big singles go off, even Yellow or Fix You. The wristband lights and fireworks still hit the mark. Chris Martin has more charisma than anyone else trying to do their big stadium thing. They are able to adjust their set to circumstances, changing songs for the folks they invite on stage or whatever.

 

 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Drinky

[The Nal]

John Grant in the Concert Hall in Dublin last night doing the Patsy Cline songbook. Lovely to hear him do Paint The Moon in the encore. CMAT came on and sang a few tunes too.

 

Edited September 29, 2023 by The Nal

[zzzfest2.0]

PJ Harvey@Barrowland, Glasgow, Tuesday [N.B. spoiler alert]

Great but it doesn’t mean flawless. This being the only fourth date on the current tour, the first half of the show, where the songs from the new album were played in full, gave me an impression of still on its way to completion, if not underrehearsed. In between-song intervals, crew more than once moving the position of the mikes, the flow of the show was rather disjointed and lacked seamlessness.

For the first time in a long while (I think), Polly played a lot of guitar, both acoustic and electric, even a zither on one occasion. Sort of back to her garage/grunge roots, so to speak. The response from the floor towards the end was nothing short of ecstatic.

As a whole, though, the show last night felt to me like a slow burning affair. It finished with a rare performance of Bob Dylan’s cover, Dark Eyes, an obscure song from his Empire Burlesque album, all the musicians gathering to the front of the stage and sitting on the chairs, instead of the usual two-song encore of the better known songs. Whether you take it as a bonus or benefit of the night depends on each one’s preference and experience.

All in all I prefer 2016-2017 The Hope Six Demolition Project tour, her previous one. The show I attended in Manchester and Edinburgh was impeccable, art of perfection.

Show duration: 1 hr & 45 mins

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/pj-harvey/2023/barrowland-glasgow-scotland-1ba39130.html

Edited September 27, 2023 by zzzfest2.0

[blue6field]

Was there on Monday (Glasgow). Agree on the first half of the show, enjoyed it but felt the crowd really wanted it to get going, when she came out after the small break and played earlier songs it took on a different feel!

on the whole I really enjoyed it, her vocals were flawless, great night! Was at the National the night before and that was an incredible night! Brilliant double header!

[zzzfest2.0]

I also attended The National gig at the Hydro. Have just posted a brief comment with a few photos on their thread.

[Johndenis]

On 9/25/2023 at 6:03 AM, Drinky said:

They’re in the frame for next year and everyone has an opinion on their show… but I went to Coldplay in Seattle on Wednesday

Cons first - the set leans heavily on the post-2014 material: A Sky Full of Stars, Something Just Like This, everything off Music of the Spheres… if you’re coming for Rush of Blood or X&Y or Viva la Vida then it’s thin gruel.

There are a few set pieces that will make people cringe - the band wear alien mascot heads for a couple of songs (“Everyone Is An Alien Somewhere” say the t-shirts and lots of merch), and there are a couple of songs with actual Jim Henson puppets, apparently from recent music videos, that make you question what’s going on.

Pros - they’re maybe the best band ever to play to 50+k, more so than U2 or the Stones in their pomp - the big songs hit, the set pieces work, the pacing is right. The big singles go off, even Yellow or Fix You. The wristband lights and fireworks still hit the mark. Chris Martin has more charisma than anyone else trying to do their big stadium thing. They are able to adjust their set to circumstances, changing songs for the folks they invite on stage or whatever.

 

 

I'm pretty interested in the stage set up (or as everyone calls it now, "production") for these big stadium shows as it seems like u2 lugged around "the claw" over a decade ago to play "360/in the round" and everybody (the folk who design these things) decided that was an insane and expensive choice.

So the stadium acts are back to a big stage at one side or end, and a wee runway to a B stage. I have never seen Coldplay in a stadium (last time I saw them was in the queen's Hall in Edinburgh around 2001) but I would be surprised if they're as good a overall experience as the rolling stones, u2 or beyonce (these are the stadium shows I've seen that immediately come to mind as being very impressive indeed). Coldplay remind me a bit of that criticism of Marvel bring squeaky clean - "everybody looks great but nobody is horny", or words to that effect 🙂

I don't "get" who the audience is for this present edm-ish version of Coldplay. Efests is clearly not where their (clearly massive) fan base hangs out. Maybe a Depeche mode kind of thing where they are wildly popular in other countries. I've paid £100ish for DMs tour in February and am expecting it to be an impressive show - have never seen them before but the overall live band is supposed to be incredible. 

[El Matador]

Saw The Joy Formidable at Clapham Grand last night. What should've been an excellent gig ruined by the awful sound. Small venue but it sounded like listening to a band from outside the tent at a festival. Not a venue that gets used for gigs very often and it was obvious why. 

[Nestacres]

On 9/28/2023 at 6:26 AM, Johndenis said:

I'm pretty interested in the stage set up (or as everyone calls it now, "production") for these big stadium shows as it seems like u2 lugged around "the claw" over a decade ago to play "360/in the round" and everybody (the folk who design these things) decided that was an insane and expensive choice.

So the stadium acts are back to a big stage at one side or end, and a wee runway to a B stage. I have never seen Coldplay in a stadium (last time I saw them was in the queen's Hall in Edinburgh around 2001) but I would be surprised if they're as good a overall experience as the rolling stones, u2 or beyonce (these are the stadium shows I've seen that immediately come to mind as being very impressive indeed). Coldplay remind me a bit of that criticism of Marvel bring squeaky clean - "everybody looks great but nobody is horny", or words to that effect 🙂

I don't "get" who the audience is for this present edm-ish version of Coldplay. Efests is clearly not where their (clearly massive) fan base hangs out. Maybe a Depeche mode kind of thing where they are wildly popular in other countries. I've paid £100ish for DMs tour in February and am expecting it to be an impressive show - have never seen them before but the overall live band is supposed to be incredible. 

Having seen Coldplay 4 times at Wembley, I would say there are the best stadium live band I've ever seen. The production with all the lighting etc is spectacular. Their core fanbase is definitely not on here

[Nestacres]

PJ Harvey was excellent last night at the Camden Roundhouse. The new album came across better than I expected live and the old stuff was great. She hasn't played Galsto since 2016 so I would say is a pretty decent bet for next year. 

[emmanuel]

On 9/27/2023 at 6:45 PM, zzzfest2.0 said:

the first half of the show, where the songs from the new album were played in full, gave me an impression of still on its way to completion, if not underrehearsed.

PJ Harvey: Interestingly I thought the show was very well staged and rehearsed. I mean there were instrument changes but that's not a problem. I really liked the new album section. I thought this tour was better than in 2016, and overall in my top two this year along with Lankum. The only thing is that I wish the older songs were a bit different, as all but 4-5 were played in 2016/2017 or 2011.

[gigpusher]

On 9/27/2023 at 10:01 AM, The Nal said:

John Grant in the Concert Hall in Dublin last night doing the Patsy Cline songbook. Lovely to hear him do Paint The Moon in the encore. CMAT came on and sang a few tunes too.

 

Saw him do this in Manchester and loved it. He has such a great voice am hoping him being drawn and inspired by this kind of stuff could be a good sign for any new material from him. 

Would love to have seen CMAT with him! 

[Boomtowner]

The Reytons at Sheffield, playing to 12,500 fans, a joyous evening with great support from Declan Walsh and the K's. Definitely deserve an opportunity on the farm.

Great show and a fantastic crowd.