They destroyed The Astorias, The Metro Club, one venue with numbers but not The 12 Bar (Studio something maybe? where I saw Electrelane there once) and some decent boozers. They then put in visual art installations that look good for 10 seconds before being boring and we also got ubiquitous venues like this. It’s not totally shit, just vanilla.
Used to love Astoria/2 gigs and even the waiting outside and the anticipation where you’d queue with the faint/strong smell of piss and beer and “look forward” to being sold warm cans of Red Stripe from a bin with ice. Shit toilets, crap ventilation and occasionally far too much dry ice. Without any sarcasm both of those were perfect venues. The Jesus Lizard at The Astoria 2 in 1998 was me and my mates favourite gig for quite a few years and set a damn high bar.
Anyway, NewDad seem to be making some waves and gaining some traction. Not sure how I first heard of them. I can’t remember hearing a song but they appeared on my Songkick thing. Checked them out, sounded ok and it was a very cheap ticket. They’re a good woozy indie rock outfit. A lot of their songs sounds similar. Not a huge negative as I like their sound. I did leave before the end as I had a shit day at work and just wanted a few pints in a glass before closing.
The rantings or the stream of consciousness review of an aging 90s indie kid’s gig night out. Enjoyed tonight and the music despite my faint praise of the bands.
Saw Feist in London on Saturday night and had a brilliant time. She is such a confident performer and manages to make the show really intimate.
I left off posting until today in case anyone was going to Manchester so I didn’t spoiler anyone but the stagecraft was excellent. It started off in the round with just her on stage. Then she involved an audience member to film the stage and audience, which is projected on a huge curtain where the stage usually is. The camera operator later turned out to be a plant but they sold it really well and fooled me for a while. That section ends with the cameraman finding a book of hand written lyrics and handing it to her to read out, which eventually leads to her making her way to the stage when the curtain drops to reveal a full band set up for the rest of the show.
Absolutely loved it. So glad we travelled up from Kent for it. It was scorching hot and the temptation to just go to the beach rather than travel up on the train with all the people heading back from the sea was great. Really pleased we went in the end.
I also fancied deathcrash, but in the end chose Matthew Halsall at Belgrave. Happy with my choice, understated and restrained melodic modern jazz from a 7-piece featuring amazing harp playing. Two sets, the first mostly from his new album and the second from previous albums. We missed the start as promoters no longer seem to post stage times anywhere and we gambled and lost.
Looks amazing. Im seeing them on Sunday where they are merging their set with the support band, makig it one 80 minute performance. Did they do that last night?
Loved these guys and the first 3 albums when I was a teenager, then I fell off post-rock hard by the time I started going to gigs. Between them going a little quieter and me just … forgetting about them, this is my first time actually catching them after I think 8 or 9 obvious missed opportunities. Sorry guys!
I’m not sure about albums-played-in-order gigs overall, but because I only got into Wild Light a few weeks back in preparation for the gig it still sounded very fresh and I didn’t really know what track was up next. They followed it up with a second set too so you got best of both worlds - good shit basically, can’t complain about 100 minutes of killer tunes
Monstrous floor vibrating bass, epic drums, pin drop silence when it was needed, and full nostalgia pangs when Install a Beak kicked into gear. Only downside was being too far back to see the drummer do his shit, get him on a riser already! Some funny banter, clearly felt lucky to still be doing this, and a very warm reception in the room. I waited too long for this, but at least it was well worth it - and had a very nice time hanging with @friendofthenight also!
Lost track of how many times I’ve seen these guys live but I think it’s about a dozen or so. Total no brainer for me - if they announce they are touring, I am booking tickets. I saw them twice on the original Wild Light tour so it’s nice to revisit my second favourite album of theirs. The whole set of songs hangs together so nicely, and live it sounds even mightier. Second set was a near perfect selection from their back catalogue.
Merch stand had obviously taken a hammering on the previous two tour dates as they were running out of everything Been whispers that they are thinking of calling it a day, so hopefully the crowd reaction and goodwill last night changes their minds
Repercussions festival at The Warehouse Project, Manchester
No pictures from me. Last Saturday was great. First time at the festival and thought it was well arranged (though some more outdoor/chill out space would have been nice). Most people were sound too. The drink options were a pisstake though - really pricey (almost as though they endorse drug taking…).
It was a 12 hour blur but as for the music - I really enjoyed Jyoty. Jon Hopkins wasn’t quite as good as the last time I saw him - felt like his set was pandering a bit more to a festival crowd but the peak of Open Air Signal was very high. Standout for me was Moderat. They opened with this stop/start build of rumbly bass that was one of the best things I’ve seen/heard live all year.
All round I had a lovely time. Will go again I reckon.
Been whispers that they are thinking of calling it a day, so hopefully the crowd reaction and goodwill last night changes their minds 
