#815

Caught the beginning of Shopping’s set in Bristol last night before sadly having to dash and get my train and they definitely know how to get the crowd moving (unfortunately they did have some slight technical issues at the very start of the show)! Having now seen Rachel perform with both them and Sacred Paws, I cannot praise enough how good a frontwoman she is - her energy is totally infectious!

Colleen Green supported for this show. Hadn’t really heard much of their material beforehand and whilst their rapport with the crowd was quite amusing; I found their set to be a bit samey bar their Blink 182 cover which for nostalgia reasons I loved.

#816

Saw Meat Wave tonight in Southampton, they were a lot of fun. Think I prefer their pop songs to the noisy ones.

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#817

One of my favourite things about them is that it feels, like they want to be a really abrasive band, which they are good at, but the guy just can’t help accidentally leak out melodic bits, and pop hooks and stuff.

#818

I have seen a few interesting things lined up at Rough Trade. I have only popped into the shop once but don’t remember there being much space for bands - is there a back room I missed, or do they just play in the cafe?

#819

Yep, there’s a dedicated live room. The entrance is by the café at the back.

#820

GoGo Penguin doing their live jazzy/classical/electronica thing as part of In The Round at the Roundhouse. (A crap description, that is.) A stunning hour and a quarter in one of my favourite venues. Drummer, double bass player and pianist all very impressive. Not seen them before, but would def see them again.

#821

British Sea Power, The Globe, Cardiff (Sunday) extremely good as always. Great crowd for a Sunday evening as well. I even got a Selfie with bi-polar bear. I am 42.

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#822

Golden Void - Louisiana, Bristol. It was bit dad-rock tbh but any chance to hear Isaiah Mitchell on guitar is not to be missed. Enjoyed it. Spoke to him briefly afterwords. He seemed to be well stoned. (which made the fluidity of his fretwork all the more impressive(but may explain his less than perfect vocals))

#823

Really enjoyed The Soft Moon at the Dome on Friday night. Absolutely cracking live show as expected. I’m a sucker for strobes and coordinated drumming. People watching was great too, the crowd was a lot more of the rock/industrial/goth vibe than the show at Hoxton Square three years ago. Think I was the only person not in all black, and had these two tall European guys sniffing mandy next to me all night and absolutely losing their minds.

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#824

Four Tet at Village Underground. Playing in the round, surrounded by an amazing light show (strings of bulbs hanging from the rafters), played Morning Side as the penultimate track to huge approval.

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:bulb: :bulb: :bulb: :bulb: :bulb: :bulb: :bulb: :bulb: :bulb: :bulb: /10

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#825

Just back from seeing The Orielles @ Clwb Ifor Bach and damnnnnn their stuff is so bloody catchy! Gonna be humming I Only Bought It For The Bottle for days now!

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#826

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Nils Frahm’s set tonight was extremely pleasing :grinning: The new stuff sounded great live and plenty of classics thrown in towards the end for people who just want to hear Says or Toilet Brushes/More, etc. Really glad we’re seeing him again this weekend, as I could happily have watched him play an hour or two more.

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#827

Roger Waters - Us and Them tour at Perth Arena.

Not a huge fan of Waters as a solo artist but was convinced to go with a friend who scored tickets for $80-something instead of the $300-odd standard price.

There was a bit of his anti-Trump preaching but fortunately that was confined to a small part of the show. Most of Dark Side of the moon was played, plus lots from Wish You weWere Here, Animals, The Wall and his solo stuff.

Band was top notch. Visuals were very well done. Maybe a bit too much reliance on the visuals, sometimes I felt like I was watching a Youtube video. Overall, 4/5 stars.

#828

Michael Gira @ Koko…

A very different proposition to Swans (although still damn loud) - just him and an acoustic guitar plus a modicum of inter-song chat. Was nice. Koko was hugely undersold, which actually makes it a tolerable venue :+1:

Caught some of Okkyung Lee in support and she was very good too. Korean cellist who gets some good noise/percussion out of her instrument.

This was my first gig of the year :scream:

#829

What time was he on?

#830

9, doors at 7.30.

#831

Great, thank you, really looking forward to it!

#832

No worries. The promoter replied to one query about stage times with “Doors at 7.30!” That wasn’t the question, lid…
If you want to get in front of the sound desk, get there early.

#833

Had a 3 night break in Berlin last week and got to three shows:

Wand at urban spree which was a black box of a venue in the hipster part of town. Rammed with lots of people smoking - after a 4am Ryanair start from the uk really couldn’t be arsed with the discomfort so sacked them off after a couple of songs which was a shame as I was looking forward to seeing them.
Ezra furman playing a big 1500 venue - he seemed genuinely humbled by the size and reaction of the crowd. I was quite surprised as I’d last seen him around the dog album to 80 people. I do like him but not sure he’s got the show to put on over 100 mins in such a big space. Could have done with losing 20 mins off the show to keep the momentum going as there was a definite mid set lull.
An arvo part performance at the national concert hall (which was attended by Arvo). Great music and impressive performances but (as with most classical concerts I go to) I find the atmosphere far too staid and tediously deferential. Was craving a smoky overpacked toilet venue by the end.

Off to see frahm in Bristol on Sunday so good to see he’s on form.

#834

Saw Morrissey last night at a virtually sold out Leeds Arena.
As expected, lots of casual Saturday gig goers turned up expecting a Smiths greatest hits set-list, which of course he didn’t deliver.
Played a good proportion of the new album, plus a few Smiths and solo classics.
He sounded better than ever, and I felt some of the new tracks really came to life in the live environment. His band is very strong these days.
The obscure YouTube clips are the start are always really interesting, including the obligatory New York Dolls track, and a performance of Tatu covering ‘How Soon Is Now?” on Top of the Pops.
He’s replaced the shocking abattoir footage of ‘Meat Is Murder’ with films of the police using excessive force and violence on bystanders at various marches and protests from around the world during ‘Who Will Protect Us From The Police?’