Sparsely attended sets

Also saw Caribou play to maybe 15 people at the Social in Nottingham on the Andorra tour. One of my favourite gigs ever, mesmerising. Caught them half a dozen times on that tour and they gained so much momentum through live gigs and the growing reputation of that record, that by the time Swim dropped they already seemed huge. Unfortunately from then on they weren’t quite the live beast they were before, mainly as the newer material is less frantic/more dull (in the case of the last record)

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Actually really good fun live. And to their immense credit, they still put on a very enthusiastic set to the 4 of us who were there.

I was tempted to go to this in Bristol but gave it a miss when I saw it was around £30. Plus presume they wouldn’t play any SKM or Jesu songs they did separately.

I saw SKM in Bristol a few years ago which was pretty empty, that was pricey too and it was the night of a load of riots.

The Field at the ATP Halloween thing at the Forum in 2010 - they were on at about 2am by which point pretty much everyone left. They were bloody great.

I saw Fool’s Gold at Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh in 2010, it was amazing, but there was literally about 7 people in the crowd.

Horrifically bad pub-rock support band probably didn’t help, but still.

i was at that caribou gig!

HI!!!

They played here late last year/early this year and apparently their drummer did play naked.

Still didn’t go.

Am enjoying the indie rule abiding “it was still great though” after every story here. Course it was, that thing you went to that no one else did, always is.

Except for:

Trail of Dead last time in Bristol, at the Academy. No idea how few, but maybe 200? In a 2,000 person room. They were fucking dreadful though, not because of the room, or the small crowd, but because they were fucking dreadful.

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Some of my favourite gigs genuinely are the ones that noone else turns up to though- for example that ATP inbetween days in 2010 had Hallogallo, Ulrich Schnauss, Emeralds and White Hills playing to about 20 people, who were sitting in chairs for most of it, and was amazing. Likewise Thought Forms and Primordial Undermind played the Hare and Hounds in Birmingham to 3 of us a few years back and were brilliant. They probably would have been as brilliant if it had sold out, but this way I didn’t have to queue for the bar.

I was at Trail of Dead, I got a spot right at the barrier. It was the quietest I have seen a gig at the Academy I think, it would have been tons better at the Fleece / Thekla / Exchange or somewhere. I thought they were alright actually if I remember.

I thought it was wretched. I saw a Conrad tour diary thing saying the same, but he was blaming the soulless venue rather than the terrible session musicians that now make up the band, and his inability to write a vaguely new set in the last 15 years.

Yeah I’ve seen TOD three times, enjoyed them all 3 times but the setlist are pretty much identical

Glastonbury can be a slow filler between sets but the worst I remember was the Beta Band in 2000 on the Other Stage. We hot-footed it round there and as the band were setting up the field was almost entirely deserted. And I mean like fewer than 100 souls present.

We walked up to the front and you could see the look of horror on Steve Mason’s face while he tested mic levels. Thankfully once they started the field filled like someone had tipped a saucepan full of people over it, and it was a stone-cold brilliant set which included a barnstorming Dry the Rain played live for the first time in - at that point - ages.

Unfortunately I got dragged off to see David Bowie before the end, cementing my eternal dislike of him…

Yeah I saw the Strypes setting up at the Other Stage as Azealia Banks’ replacement. Just deserted

Cyprus Avenue here always has terribly attended shows. 40 there for Cloud Nothings, 20 for Black Lips, 5 for Shrinebuilder.

Capacity is 200+ but that’s still a fucking embarrassment. The promoter deserves to be fired.

There were about 40 people in the tent for LUH at Reading festival this year, I think everyone else was at Chvches or something.

Also back in 2001 just before Is This It was released, The Strokes were meant to play the Radio One tent, but they got upgraded to the Main Stage. clearly word hadn’t got out, so when they announced it, just before Cosmic Rough Riders or similar came out, the tent completely emptied. Felt a bit bad.

I saw Biohazard play to about 30 people in Bristol in 2001 too. it was amazing fun.

That’ll be the tour that made them split I guess.

Bang! That’s the band. Thank you.

Oh god they are even worse then I remember them:

Probably the straw that broke the camel’s back.