Last night's gig was

Me too. The day after restrictions are due to relax. It should be a great gig if it goes ahead.

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I was at a real life, in a field, with music, festival last weekend - Bigfoot festival in Warwickshire. No idea how they got it off the ground - but despite the rain that was forecast (but disappeared early evening on the Friday) it was a big success. Obviously far less crowded than the average festival (so much less queuing for a beer). Hope it worked out for the organisers as i assume Primal Scream headlining can’t come cheaply. I particularly enjoyed Fat White Family and
Warmduscher. Should have watched A Certain Ratio rather than the England match on the big screen.

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Nice. Were you camping and did you have to do any Covid testing?

Ooft :grimacing:

Negative Lateral Flow Test was a pre-requisite. Three nights camping (although I had to leave on the Sunday as the kids were in school on Monday).

Good to know. We’re due to be at Latitude next month, which is looking increasingly likely to go ahead, so expecting some hoops to jump through - did the kids have to do a test also? The TV and I are both double vaxed, so if Covid passports do become a thing…

I’ve got tickets for Womad which is the same weekend as Latitude so in a similar position to you. Kids 12+ needed to be tested prior to Bigfoot’s Getting my second vax the week before Womad so fingers crossed.

Jesca Hoop at Kings Place

She was doing two sets; one at 7pm and the second at 9pm. I was at the latter.

Always liked her albums and her last two have been brilliant. Booked this just yesterday and was a perfect wind down for me after double night shifts.

It was just her and a couple of guitars and it worked really well. I think these were her first sets since the pandemic and it seemed to be an emotional return for her on stage and she managed it perfectly.

My first “usual” night out too. I went to a Peggy Sue gig a few weeks ago but went straight home as I had an 8am start at work the next day. Tonight I headed to my usual pub in Camden where I’m currently for a few pints, a crap gig review write up here and then a journey home.

Good night out.

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Snapped Ankles @ Corsica Studios…

First gig in a long time and a good one to start back with :+1:

A selection of old stuff and a smattering from the forthcoming album. They were their usual hypnotic weirdness selves. Handed out percussion to all tables so I got to play some serious cowbell during the set :cow2::bell: Lovely stuff.

Can confirm that Corsica is unharmed from Monday’s neighbouring fire.

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Jamie Lenman in Southampton. Would be happy if seated, table service gigs were going to continue forever.

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Pete Astor at The Lexington

Advance apologies for the long dull story.
I bought a CD from The NME in 1994 where you had collect a few tokens and pay them a £3 cheque for postage and they’d send you The Patron Saints Of Teenage CD compilation; an early Creation Records compilation with bands including The Loft, JAMC, Ride, MBV, Sugar… so many bands that I love now where that CD was my first introduction to.

Pete Astor was in The Loft and then The Weather Prophets. I’ve seen him well over five times (maybe 10) over the years. Usually it’s just him and an acoustic guitar as it was tonight and I really enjoyed it. First gig tonight for a long time with my mate and semi regular gig buddy.

The set up at The Lexington was great as was Astor; a huge thank you to both.

Pete Astor is a brilliantly understated and underrated quintessentially British 80s indie musician. Finally after 27 years of loving The Loft song Up The Hill And Down The Slope, I finally got to hear it live. Nice one.

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Saint Sister at Rough Trade East

A “test event” for BMS1. My first socially undistanced gig. I specifically bought and wore a ffp2 mask throughout my time at the venue for this gig.

The venue was approximately half full. I noticed a slight degree of social distancing between groups of two or three actively making sure there was some space between themselves and other groups, but that was somewhat the exception and not the rule.

The lack of masks was the hugely surprising factor and my overriding take home from tonight. I’d estimate there was just 10% of the audience were wearing a mask (dangling a mask under your chin isn’t wearing a mask). I was expecting higher.

I picked the gig as I liked the “folk-electronic” sound and somewhat Radio 2 friendly music and knew the venue to be a relatively open space (if you felt unsafe you can always go back to the bar area near the open exit door, where you can still see and hear the band).
Maybe my own preconceptions but at a quiet folk gig at Rough Trade East at 7pm I was expecting more than 10% of attendees being mask wearers.

The staff were friendly and welcoming and wearing masks and it was otherwise a routine RTE set up and they did have the air conditioners on to high setting.

The band were great and it was just the two women and a harp which provided a brilliant stripped back version of the songs on the albums. Really enjoyed the music.

For me was more of an interest night and to see how things potentially might play out regarding gigs and I understand that this is one gig on a night out in “isolation”. I’ve my own personal safety bar regarding events and activities like all people have.

I felt relatively safe at the venue mainly as it wasn’t sold out and also my mask provides me with more personal protection than my usual blue surgical mask that many people wear. I envisage that I wouldn’t personally feel safe at a sold out Lexington/Sebright Arms gig etc. currently but would do another Rough Trade East gig even if was more busier; I’d just mask up and head towards the back of the venue and still see and hear the band.

This might appear to be a somewhat below average “review” of my night but I really did enjoy it. The band put on a great show and the acoustic versions of the songs were terrific. The feel and the familiarity of the gig as a whole was great and even the recognition and hello between me and a staff member (whilst both of us wearing masks) was a nice encounter as the last time I was there was mid-March 2020. A few post gig drinks with my mate at pub sat outdoors added to a brilliant night.

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This is probably a good indication of what most gigs are going to be like. Doesn’t sound too bad. The average age range in rough grade is usually quite young as well isn’t it?

Do they have a bar there? I’ve only ever been during the day to shop.

The age of the audience varies with who’s playing. Last night the average age was around 30-ish.

They have a bar at the back of the venue. They do coffees too.

Rough Trade gigs are “ideal” or as good/safe as things can be with the lifting of restrictions currently. At small venues like Sebright, Shacklewell and The Lexington you’ve little chance in seeing the band and creating much personal space even if the venue is ½ or ⅔ full.

At Rough Trade East you’ve the option of standing alone at the back with no one near you with the shop door open for fresh air. You can still see and the band albeit from a distance.

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The TV and I have upgraded to these for public transport and tentative forays back to gigs. Glad that easing restrictions involves upgrading one’s own PPE :roll_eyes:

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Just back from Latitude festival - was good.

From (hazy) memory, music-wise we caught Lynks, Goat Girl, Dry Cleaning, Supergrass, Damon Albarn, Working Men’s Club, Chemical Brothers, Sleaford Mods, Self Esteem, Tim Burgess, Rick Astley, Anna Meredith and The Kaiser Chiefs.

Comedy-wise, Rich Hall, Jo Brand, Simon Amstell, Nina Conti, Glenn Moore and Bill Bailey.

Plugging their books in the literary tent, saw Professor Greta Defeyter, Jess Phillips (MP) and John Cooper Clarke.

Top five of the weekend for me:

5 - Lynks
4 - Damon Albarn
3 - Working Men’s Club
2 - Dry Cleaning
1 - Anna Meredith

Just a joy to see live music again, especially as it looked pretty joyous for a lot of the acts too. Next up, got South Facing in a couple of weeks time.

Covid-wise, I felt ok but solely because it took place outside. Covid precautions were basically non-existent.

MUSIC!

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they’re doing quite well in Ireland, i haven’t got massively into them but wouldn’t mind seeing them, only caught a short bit of their set at an awards show pre covid

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Desperate Journalist at Rough Trade East

Rough Trade East gigs seem to be an acceptable compromise of risk-reward for me.

For those that haven’t heard them they’re a young-ish band with a sound that seems to appeal to an audience of mostly over 35 year olds. That’s what I’ve noticed from the last 10-15 times I’ve seen them and again last night. More mask wearers for this gig and also more groups keeping a distance from one another. I’d estimate it was 45% to 50% of the audience wearing masks for this gig.

Music-wise the band haven’t missed a beat from the last time that I saw them which seems an age ago at The Garage in April 2019. It was a delayed album launch gig and I was expecting just songs from the new album but instead the short seven song set did include a few oldies which was brilliant.

Jo Bevan remains one of the best British front women currently with Fightmilk and Porridge Radio. Great gig.

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Enjoy your Desperate Journalist updates :+1:

Have never actually listened to them, but going to change that right now…

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My favourite song of theirs varies often. This one is probably representative of their sound perhaps.

My (ageing) fan boy status of the band has had it’s advantages. @GarethI identified me as BMS1 at an Anna St. Louis gig from the Desperate Journalist tote bag I was carrying at the time and had a great chat and drink with him there.

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I quite liked some of the first album but I’ve completely failed to keep up with them since