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

[efcfanwirral]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

Sounds about right. I've been to big stadium events before so I'm aware sometimes it's a case of just getting the hell out any which way you can.

 

It's certainly different to my only previous trip to Manchester for a gig, which was to see Bloc Party at Castlefield Bowl. Or to be more clear, a smaller venue with more tram stops nearby.

Love Castlefield Bowl, really cool venue!

 

By the way I forgot to say, if you can't be bothered being herded around and waiting ages for a tram, walking back to town is my preferred option. 1 hr 15 ish for a fast ish walker to Victoria then one stop to Queen's Road 

[clasher]

Saw Tool in Budapest. What an experience. Terrific sound. 11/10.

[charlierc]

On 6/15/2024 at 12:20 PM, efcfanwirral said:

Love Castlefield Bowl, really cool venue!

 

By the way I forgot to say, if you can't be bothered being herded around and waiting ages for a tram, walking back to town is my preferred option. 1 hr 15 ish for a fast ish walker to Victoria then one stop to Queen's Road 

I mean, this is going to be the day after seeing Kings of Leon in Leeds, likely having a pootle around the National Football Museum as I likely will have time after coming in from Yorkshire and then the full experience of 5 hours or so of standing around in Old Trafford. I sincerely doubt I'm going to be in the mood to do a full hour plus walk back to the city centre unless I really really really have to.

 

... sod's law that I probably will end up having to.

[gigpusher]

Went to see Taylor Swift on Saturday at Anfield. I went as a fairly casual fan. Really enjoyed Folklore and Evermore during the pandemic, had listened to the playlist a lot in the last week to know the other stuff a little better, had not watched any footage so I didn't spoil any surprises for myself.

 

I don't usually spend so much on concerts and hadn't seen a stadium show in quite a while. I decided to go because it's not often you get to see an artist do a greatest hits tour during the peak of their powers. I have to say it did not disappoint. Firstly the support act Paramore were top notch. Hayley has a great voice and got the whole stadium going.

Then the Taylor show was excellent. Having heard how long it was I suspected that it might drag in parts but it absolutely zipped along. The staging, costume design etc was fantastic. It might be an expensive night out but at least you can see that they are spending money on it too. How Taylor has the stamina to do that performance 3 nights on the bounce. I have to doff my cap to her. She must be next level fit and seriously hard working. Anyone still waiting to go you are in for a treat. Husband and I are now converted Swifties. Not going to post any pictures as still so many shows to go and I think if you don't see too many spoilers it's probably even better.

 

Have to say for all the stick Taylor Swift fans get as well it was a lovely, kind, warm and welcoming crowd. Saw lots of touching sweet moments between fans. Actually gave me slight Glasto vibes which is good as next stop for me is Glasto. Hope one day to get Taylor on the farm because she would be a spectacular headliner.

[Sitruc97]

Liam Gallagher at the Co-op Arena, Manchester on Saturday night.

 

First visit to the venue and it is impressive, Liam was on good form and the crowd were right into it. Overall a great night.

[Purple aki squat]

Courtney Barnett at Liverpool arts club tonight. Absolutely brilliant and very loud. Best gig of the year so far.

[gingerevans84]

Nothing But Thieves at Cardiff Castle smashed it. Great venue and loads of space to dance.

[charlierc]

9 hours ago, gingerevans84 said:

Nothing But Thieves at Cardiff Castle smashed it. Great venue and loads of space to dance.

Ooo I'm seeing them open for Green Day in Manchester tomorrow. Sounds promising that they're in good form.

[dotdash79]

Just back from Green day. 37 tracks played and a really good show, except the sound was a little light but I don’t thin that them more old Trafford, will be interesting I. What others thought. 
 

them not headlining would be a massive miss by the festival.  

[efcfanwirral]

1 hour ago, dotdash79 said:

Just back from Green day. 37 tracks played and a really good show, except the sound was a little light but I don’t thin that them more old Trafford, will be interesting I. What others thought. 
 

them not headlining would be a massive miss by the festival.  

It was unbelievable I thought. Got front standing tickets and i thought it was incredible start to finish. American Idiot in full is something I've always wanted to see, love the middle songs that don't always get played. Production, atmosphere, all what I wanted. 

 

Shame about the sound further back (presumably?), it was perfect where I was. 

 

Agree on Glastonbury. I feel like they're more of a grown up band now if that makes sense? Fits better than it would've done in the past 

Edited June 22 by efcfanwirral

[dotdash79]

I might be a bit controversial but American Idot is a better all round album than Dookie

[flyingmonkeypigs]

1 hour ago, dotdash79 said:

I might be a bit controversial but American Idot is a better all round album than Dookie

Not sure that’s controversial. Artistically AI is far better, I still prefer Dookie though

[charlierc]

7 hours ago, dotdash79 said:

I might be a bit controversial but American Idot is a better all round album than Dookie

I mean they're both very good. I'd been lucky to see Dookie before in full tbf - they did that at Brixton in 2013.

[charlierc]

17 hours ago, dotdash79 said:

Just back from Green day. 37 tracks played and a really good show, except the sound was a little light but I don’t thin that them more old Trafford, will be interesting I. What others thought. 
 

them not headlining would be a massive miss by the festival.  

I can see what you mean by light sound, but I'd say inconsistent. Was poor for Maid of Ace, better for Nothing But Thieves (if took a few songs to warm up) and then was in two parts for GD. First half, no issues. But after they finished Dookie, it would meander, where some songs were still crisp and some were thinner. Though I noted that after the bang pyros, it would be weaker.

 

Still, band themselves were great. Impressed just to see them have the energy to rack off all the songs.

 

Getting out of the venue was horrible, I add. Whether it was the exits on stage right getting clogged up, or being sent in the wrong direction twice, or having to walk against the tide of what felt like about 20,000 people all waiting for the trams. Not really ideal.

Edited June 22 by charlierc

[charlierc]

Went to see Kings of Leon at Leeds' First Direct Arena on Thursday. Arena is very smart and had good seats, though had one complaint in that a vibration from the section behind would be distraction.

 

Vaccines as support were solid, although was surprised to see Justin Young pretty much didn't play any guitar. Kings were just doing a KoL, which I think if you see them before and like them, you'll enjoy it, and if you don't, you don't. I'm not sure I enjoyed it as much as the first time I saw them in Milton Keynes ten years ago, but they were still good to me. King of the Rodeo was played so I was very happy with that as I think it's one of the best of their early work. Sex on Fire being played in the first half an hour was unexpected.

[dotdash79]

31 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Getting out of the venue was horrible, I add. Whether it was the exits on stage right getting clogged up, or being sent in the wrong direction twice, or having to walk against the tide of what felt like about 20,000 people all waiting for the trams. Not really ideal.

 

We need up going down passed the football ground to Wharfside to get that tram, which allowed us to get back into Manchester so we could get our train. I didn't fancy queuing for the Old Trafford tram stop

[charlierc]

13 minutes ago, dotdash79 said:

 

We need up going down passed the football ground to Wharfside to get that tram, which allowed us to get back into Manchester so we could get our train. I didn't fancy queuing for the Old Trafford tram stop

That's what I eventually did, but I left the wrong way, then went another wrong way and ended up having to walk essentially through the Old Trafford crowd to get out as I worked out it would take forever.

 

Also annoying is that the tram to Wharfside ended short at Deansgate-Castlefield, and the ones onward to Piccadilly Gardens were ones that came from Old Trafford.

[Fudgerama]

The Strokes at Lytham a couple of years ago.  Proper Ace! 

[dotdash79]

5 hours ago, charlierc said:

That's what I eventually did, but I left the wrong way, then went another wrong way and ended up having to walk essentially through the Old Trafford crowd to get out as I worked out it would take forever.

 

Also annoying is that the tram to Wharfside ended short at Deansgate-Castlefield, and the ones onward to Piccadilly Gardens were ones that came from Old Trafford.

if you waited you would have been able to get on one from the airport or Eccles, 

[wozwebs]

Taylor Swift with my 18 year old daughter on Tuesday in Cardiff was superb. When she eventually headlines Glastonbury it will go down as one of the best ever sets I would imagine. Staging only the top American artists can do and hit after hit. Shout out to Paramore too who I’ve always liked but never seen live. Hayley’s voice is incredible and Ain’t it Fun has to be one of the best pop songs of the past 10 years. Will see them again. 

[theciderviking]

Two visits to Old Trafford cricket ground in 8 days for me - Foos last Thursday and then Green Day last night.

 

 

 

Both absolutely smashed it! Personal view is the sound was much better last night than a week ago, despite being further back. 
 

I fell in love with Green Day when American Idiot was released, age 15. It remains one of my all time favourite albums, and having waited 20 years to finally see them live I was absolutely in my element. It really was the kind of gig where total strangers turned to each other in tears and hugged, just simply magical.

 

Foos also being a firm favourite, I was never going to have a great time. First full gig set I’ve seen since we lost Taylor (although I was of course there to see them churn it up 😉) and it felt special. Aurora dedicated to Taylor was a moment, but it was My Hero which brought the memories of Shane playing for his dad at Wembley that turned on the waterworks. I’m turning emotional in my old age. 🙈 

 

Amazing warm up run ready for partying in the fields! Even walked back into the city centre both times to get some prep in for that horrendous 5am trudge back from SEC to camp on Darble. 😂

[Pipine]

8 hours ago, wozwebs said:

Taylor Swift with my 18 year old daughter on Tuesday in Cardiff was superb. When she eventually headlines Glastonbury it will go down as one of the best ever sets I would imagine. Staging only the top American artists can do and hit after hit. Shout out to Paramore too who I’ve always liked but never seen live. Hayley’s voice is incredible and Ain’t it Fun has to be one of the best pop songs of the past 10 years. Will see them again. 

I’ve read so many rave reviews of the Eras tour even though I’m not a huge Taylor fan I feel like I need to go see it, I like a lot of her singles and the staging etc sounds so epic.. getting a ticket at a reasonable price seems a long shot though. I’m not paying silly prices. 

[DDave]

Grace Jones at Piece Hall, Halifax. Not at the face value of over 80 (!) quid I might add. 

 

Surpassed all expectations, to be knocking it out of the park like that at 76 is amazing. Great sound, great backing band. Williams Blood being the highlight. 

 

[charlierc]

10 hours ago, dotdash79 said:

if you waited you would have been able to get on one from the airport or Eccles, 

In fairness the second of the two trams that arrived at Deansgate when I was changing was slightly less congested. Though the two arrived pretty much back-to-back.

[wozwebs]

1 hour ago, Pipine said:

I’ve read so many rave reviews of the Eras tour even though I’m not a huge Taylor fan I feel like I need to go see it, I like a lot of her singles and the staging etc sounds so epic.. getting a ticket at a reasonable price seems a long shot though. I’m not paying silly prices. 

Keep your eye on Twickets, some are coming on there but obviously sell fast. Set an alert up. It’s the biggest grossing tour of all time, shame to miss it.