Last night's gig was

The Cure @ St. Jakobshalle, Basel.

Bit of an enormodome show by DIS standards but I’ve always had an affection for them and never managed to catch them before for some reason. Sound wasn’t great on the floor but fine higher up so I basically relived my teenage indide disco years by getting really drunk and dancing around like a bellend obstructing everyone trying to walk around the balcony.

Not many surprises in the set - Push was an unlooked for highlight - but a good trawl through their back catalogue. And plenty of it: they probably played for about the same time as Swans the other week but with five or six times as many songs.

Managed to catch the end of Twilight Sad’s support slot. They had a decent stab at it and got a pretty warm reception but I missed their usual volume and I couldn’t help but find it incongruous seeing them dwarfed in the place.

I went to this and have the same feelings. Did you see her earlier this year with Colin Stetson? They were excellent that night, and perhaps that’s why I thought Tuesday was a little sparse in comparison. Was pretty quiet in the Lexington as well, so maybe that didn’t help. But yeah, unfortunately pretty forgettable now with what followed.

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No, Tuesday was the first time I saw her. I’d definitely would see her again. I downloaded the album as a curiosity when it came out and thought it was a 7/10. I only bought a ticket as I was on an overnight shift last night and so could have a few drinks too without worrying about an early wake up. I thought it would be an average gig at best but turned out to be hypnotically brilliant.

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Okkervil River at Islington Assembly Hall. Anyone else go? Another great gig. I hadn’t seen them for maybe seven or eight years. Will Sheff came on stage and inevitably said that he was shocked and hurt after the election result but was looking forward to performing tonight as it would take some of the pain away. As a result we were treated to a brilliant warm live performance. He turned up in the crowd at the back and started a song alone. The band on stage kicked in after a few minutes. Brilliantly done. I was about two metres away from him but he had his back to me and others. No matter. Great moment.

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Will Sheff about two metres away with his back to us. Hopefully, one of you guys has a better photo. Which song was it? A War Criminal Rises?

Austra gig tonight. Just Katie on a piano.

WOW

She is a star.

<3

Yeah, was ‘a war criminal…’ (which is a great song!)

Okkervil River have been reliably great everytime I’ve seen them and last night was no exception.

The new stuff sounded really warm and jammy - think it works better live than on the record (though he didn’t play indianna through the smoke :frowning: ) Really enjoyed the new arrangements of the old material too.

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saw The Drones last night as part of ‘Melbourne Music Week’ at Melbourne Town Hall

Great venue, wish it was used more often. Steve even got to play the enormous pipe organ which sounded amazing

Top form last night, mostly stuff from Feeling Kinda Free and I See Seaweed (the title track is a monster live). Personal faves were the older tunes like Minotaur, This Time and of course Shark Fin Blues

should mentioned great cover of Diamonds in the Mine as a closer as well

Not quite last night’s gig, but the Three Trapped Tigers + Physics House Band gig at Heaven on Friday might just have been my gig of the year.

Incredible musicians, the pick of which was Adam Betts - TTT drummer. Don’t let the words ‘drummer’s solo album’ put you off his debut platter either. Colossal Squid is a blinder!

I was right next to him for the manchester in-audience encore. Was both awks and incredibly moving.

I was so close (touching distance) that pulling out the phone would have felt a bit rude.

Wasn’t fussed on the new arrangements of the old stuff to be honest but Down the deep deep river, So long marianne :cry: and that encore (literally the best OR song) more than redeemed it.

I saw The Wave Pictures on Thursday. Probably north of ten times I’ve seen them now, and I still thoroughly enjoy every set. New stuff was pretty on-point Wave Pictures, they were charmingly self-effacing as usual, and the set was completely different to every other time I’ve seen them play, as usual.

I then saw The Low Anthem on Saturday. I bought the tickets as a gift for my girlfriend as she’s a fan - while I really like Oh My God Charlie Darwin, the other records I’ve got don’t do a whole lot for me. When they started the set with five minutes of ambient noises while one of them typed and read out a short story, I wasn’t, er, hoping for a whole lot. But they absolutely killed it - beautiful beautiful music played by people having a ball. Ended by covering Bird on a Wire but with the mics turned to the crowd so we could all join in. Tremendous stuff.

Ryley Walker at the Haunt in Brighton. so amazing interludes, and great chatting on the mic. he’s becoming my new favourite.

GNAW VI - Cluny 2, Newcastle

This was actually on Saturday. Think I said before how much I liked the Cluny 2, still do but after going three times in six days I’m a bit sick of it now! This was an event dedicated to music of the dark, droney and doomey variety. It was pretty great!

Corpse Twitcher - You would assume a band called Corpse Twitcher wouldn’t be a barrel of laughs, and well, you’d be right. This was essentially one long track of (improvised?) drone, 2 guitars and a fella sat down growling into a microphone. The venue was shaking and it was intense as fuck. Really enjoyed. They also had a (demonic) saxophone going on in the background, and that really added to it I thought. Like a jazzier Sunn O))) I suppose? I’m too tired to come up with better comparisons sorry. The whole thing was positively nasty.

Culver - One baldy bloke with a bunch of pedals on a table and other assorted trickery. Some really good loops and builds. Maybe the first half was a little too repetitive but it certainly ended strong.

Nadja (Headlining) - Wanted to see these since 2007, and it was everything I hoped it would be. This was scorchingly loud and the set just flew past. Great ambient doom stuff, with just SO much sound! Only the two guitars and pedals but this sounded more complete than most bands, without being cluttered at all. A really satisfying combination of things, really full and rich and helped by the sound of the venue being spot on. Felt in a good kind of daze afterwards and it was a complete head fuck in the best possible way. Bought a vinyl and everything. Great stuff.

65daysofstatic at Islington Assembly Hall…

Nice venue - sound was good and loud. They played a good mix of old and new stuff. Surprising amount of chat between songs. Always think that they might benefit from some visuals though, especially having done the Silent Runnings/No Man’s Sky stuff.

Seen them a bunch of times now and they never disappoint :+1:

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Horse Lords at the Lexington. Immense show, a bit math-rocky, a bit kraut-rocky, a bit Colin Stetson-y and more than a bit cowbell-y. They’re playing the Safe As Milk festival next year, which is very fitting as they’re exactly the kind of awesome, off-beat discovery you’d have found at the old ATPs.

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Black Mountain @ Stereo, Glasgow

Christ that was loud. Even with earplugs in it was loud (although being about 6 feet away from the speakers probably didn’t help).

Anyway BM did their whole Pysch/Prog/Stoner thing and it was great. Hadn’t really liked the newer stuff but it sounded much better live. Pretty sure the crowd were described as “crunchy” at one point…

Tortoise at The Dome

Such a good live band. Amazing double drumming. Played a good mix of new and older stuff, all the TNT stuff in particular sounded wonderful. I think seeing them live is a good way to get their music if it’s not clicked on record, you can see how intricate it all is and how incredibly well they gel as a group of players. And so much fun too.

Cheers @petagno for the ticket!

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I was there too! It was great watching them all tackling different instruments. Whenever there were two on the drums, it was immense.

I hadn’t seen them live before but it all translated really well. The setlist blended so seamlessly between old and new. I had been listening to The Catastrophist quite a bit leading up to the show and I can see myself continuing to do so for weeks to come.

I quited like the ambient fella that opened too - did you catch his name?

Dinosaur Jr. My ears are still ringing.

One of the loudest and bests shows I’ve seen in a while.

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