Maybe it was subconscious because I was one of the 100 other punters at RMH back then I think. Also saw them at Dreamland over the years twice, indoors and outdoors. The outdoor one last year on a gloriously sunny day was my favourite, they are a superb live experience.
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Excellent photo!
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I know! I surprised myself! Sometimes the lighting just works in your favour
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Incredible photo!
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Lisa Hannigan, David Keenan - Custom House Square, Belfast
This was a free ‘pre-Patrick’s Day’ show. Quite early as it was a family event, so no alcohol, and kids in face paint running around with balloon swords screaming at each other throughout the music. Also it was an outdoor show in March so I got soaked. But had a nice time nonetheless.
David Keenan was on first. I had it in my head that he was a bit of a bland singer-songwriter type but I listened to his most recent album yesterday and there was some really good stuff on there, including a collab with Junior Brother, and a couple of songs that reminded me of him or Richard Dawson - rusty folky guitars and heavily accented spoken word. Live he was somewhere between the two - I didn’t hear any of those album tracks I’d enjoyed in the live set, there were a couple of similar ones that were pretty good, the rest of the set was a bit ordinary folk rock - not bad but not as weird and interesting as I’d hoped from that album. But decent, and I think I recognised the guitarist from playing in Myles Manley’s band, he added some nice textures as always.
Lisa Hannigan was great, played for an hour, started solo and was joined by 3 backing singers and a cello player a few songs in. Such a good voice. She hasn’t released anything in quite a while so it was mostly the same set as when I’ve seen her before, though there was a track towards the end that I don’t think I recognised. It was a bit drizzly all evening but started absolutely bucketing down during that song, while the lyrics sounded like ‘rain down on my head’. We the Drowned was very appropriately the next song and she gave a knowing and sympathetic look during the first line. Then finished on Undertow which is also appropriately about water and weather. Was surprised she didn’t play Knots this time but A Sail was a highlight.
Left to go and get a pint in McHughs out of the rain after Lisa but there was another band called Jiggy on at the end, I was very surprised the one I’d never heard of was the finisher. We ended up coming back over to the gig for a bit to get some food from the food stalls and caught a bit of them from the back, they were like a trad fusion band and actually sounded quite fun, but went back to the pub soon after.
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I need to reacquaint myself with her stuff. I loved Sea Saw and Passengers.
I saw her twice; once at a seated Shepherds Bush Empire gig and again at The Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank on that Sunday when Man City won the league with that Agueroooooo!! goal.
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At Swim which she recorded with Aaron Dessner is very good too
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Cheers. I’ll check that out.
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deathcrash at Ramsgate Music Hall.
No epic photos this time I’m afraid due to the number of tall men stood in front of me. But this was EPIC. No chat, no messing around, just pure slowcore builds for an hour. When those proper rocky moments hit, it was blistering. Awesome show
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Kerbdog - O2 Islington
Standing waiting for the band to come on, I realised that it’s about 30 years ago since I saw Kerbdog for the first time. It was supporting Therapy? in the SFX in Dublin. That kind of crap can make a person feel old.
Yea, that crap lasted about 90 seconds into the first song. I’ve been to so many gigs where people (and the bands) just stand dead still, so being in the middle of a crowd that were jumping around and singing along like their lives depended on it was an amazing experience. These are songs that are hardwired into me at this stage, and the band never reformed to put out new music, so never fucked it up.
It’s also the first gig in ages where the only people who were having more fun than the crowd were the band. They were having a blast. It’s a four day tour and then they’re back to their day jobs and they were reveling in every second of it.
That was a magic night, but I hurt my ankle in the pit. 17 year old me didn’t have to worry about that kind of crap. 
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The Roves at The Lexington
A very 60s pop style band. They won’t set the world alight but I liked their album. Live they were good too.
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The Go! Team, Edinburgh
A combo of gig buddy testing for covid earlier that afternoon and a super early start time (on stage at 815!) meant this was not the Saturday night party extravaganza I was hoping for. Rocked up well after they’d started, could hear then finishing up Ladyflash as I walked down the steps ffs. Ended up with some very obstructed balcony views for most of it, and a fruitless attempt to join the standing crowd
However, band were clearly on form and having a great time - and really nice to see a sold out crowd for them, which they were very grateful for 20 years into their career. Still heard a load of bangers and had a little dance, and got a few fist bumps from fellow awkward single guy dancers
A really average gig in itself, but made me certain I’ll be going to see them next time they tour and reminded me just how much I love their energy. Also live double drummers will never fail to delight
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Bob Log III at the Purple Turtle in Reading. Must be over 20 years since I first started watching Bob (just checked wiki and Log Bomb came out in 2003). And he’s accidentally became my 3rd or 4th most- seen live act due to his incessant touring and popping up on lots of festival bills I go to. At a guess last night was show number 15. Over the 20 years the jokes and stage stuff has barely changed, but it’s still very entertaining and it all works because he’s a phenomenal guitar player.
I arrived 10 minutes before he started and there was no ticket check on the door (having paid £12 for an advance ticket) and the place was pretty empty. By the end the place was pretty full - not with your typical Bob crowd, anyone who knows Reading will know that the Turtle crowd wouldn’t be your typical slide guitar fans. But he went down really well with toast flying everywhere.
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Back to the Auckland Power Station for kiwi rockers The D4 celebrating their 1st album, supported by Schizophonics who as ever were energetic.
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half.alive at Here
Another gig with my daughter, this lot supported Twenty One Pilots last year and are a similar genre-bending indie/pop band. Good enough, some cool synchronised dancing on stage which is not what I usually see at the gigs I go to. Also my first time at Here which is a great new venue (wish I’d seen Daniel Avery there now). And at 14, my daughter’s first standing gig, way hey!
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Self Esteem - Albert Hall, Manchester
Finally saw her after years of missed gigs due to family/work etc. and she didn’t disappoint. The opening trio of songs was absolutely electric. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a crowd like that ever before, during and between the songs - at points the applause and cheering was nearly as loud as the Mogwai show I saw at the same venue a few weeks back.
Shame the solo song she did got drowned out by the onstage fans, and it looked like she was having other technical issues, but overall it was pretty perfect.
‘6 Music Dad’ caps were flying off the shelves, mostly to young girls who were presumably buying them for their dads, unless it’s become the latest hot accessory because of TikTok or something?
Also, we were told that we were a ‘lot more fun’ than the crowd at her last show there a few weeks ago 
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the D4, now there’s a band i ain’t thought of in a while
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Haha Maybe they’ve not thought about the band for a good while too, but I must say they were very tight well rehearsed and full of swagger, way more fun than it could’ve been. Their playing again with Guitar Wolf in a few wks might grab a tix as it’s a much smaller venue.
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I actually posted one of theirs in the last weekeeeend thread. One of the first gigs I went to was them and okgo nearly 20 years ago. Good god. 6twenty is a big load of daft fun
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Suede at Brighton Dome supported by Desperate Journalist
Came down here to see this. Apparently this isn’t London. I’ll have to ask my mate or Google Maps as I think I might be south of the river.
Desperate Journalist as expected were impressive. The sound on occasions was slightly ropey but I’m a big fan and so it didn’t bother me. I hadn’t seen them since February last year and so I got my DJ fix and bought a t-shirt of theirs that I hadn’t seen before. I was the (not very) cool guy tonight in the Desperate Journalist hoodie in a sea of oldies sporting Suede t-shirts.
Suede were great. I will admit that they slightly lacked the full on power performance that they had for their Electric Ballroom gigs last year but they were one off gigs and not part of a tour like tonight. Nonetheless a brilliant gig.
We got the usual big ones as well as The Living Dead that I hadn’t heard live from them for a few performances. Brett moves far better than any old aging bloke in the crowd; a group who I’m definitely a part of.
Usually when I see an artist/band whose heydays were the 00s, 99s or actually even far before, they’re nostalgic gigs for me like recent gigs from The Pretenders, Sugababes or Miki from Lush despite them releasing new material. The new Suede albums (mostly) keep impressing. The Blue Hour from their comeback was the only weak one. Their most recent is amongst their strongest and despite us oldies rocking out to the songs like So Young and Animal Nitrate tonight, first heard before we even did GCSEs, their gigs still feel fresh.
Maybe I’m rambling…I had a few pints before the gig and during and decided to have some late ones at the Wetherspoon’s instead of heading to the cooler Mesmerist and others nearby where I was earlier.
Right, let me find a red bus that accepts Oystercards.
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