What gigs have you just been to?

[Shinesalight]

Earthless - Whelans, Dublin: Better than a dinner with the missus.

All depends… are we talking fine dining or take away fish and chips??!!

I’m gutted as was meant to be seeing them in Brighton on Thursday but it got cancelled due to poor ticket sales.

[Laz69]

Guess who's now going to see Earthless????

[sunray]

Guess who's now going to see Earthless????

Proper order!

First time in Dublin last night and my first time seeing them. They're some musicians that's for sure, the drummer is an absolute powerhouse. Played all of the new album and a one song encore (it was a cover but i couldn't make out who Isaiah said it was by) for a total of just under 90mins.
The only part i felt dragged was the bit where it's mostly drums with some atmospheric guitar noodling over the top, but i also find that section a bit of a drag on the album too.
Surprisingly little merch, just new album on vinyl/cd, How The West Was Won cd and a few t-shirts all, rather frustratingly, in black (they had some nice brighter colour ones on their website and was hoping to pick one up).
Maida Vale were ok, more psych than i expected but too clean a sound for me.
Managed to nab a rather nice poster off the wall on the way out, will look nice in a frame

Gig of the year so far for me but i hope that will be challenged this week with Mogwai and Spiritualized to come and then the Oh Sees next week.

[Laz69]

Saw them a number of years back, and they were amazing to watch. Isaiah is one of my favourite guitarists of modern times (talented bastard! ) but the whole band were just phenomenally tight! Really looking forward to this now

I'm off the rest of my birthday week, so might as well rip the arse out of it as much as possible!

[Laz69]

You will be hard pressed to find a better power trio than Earthless! Utterly relentless, and all three members are just amazing at what the do. Deaf as a post, and had to catch my breath a few times due to the pummelling bass notes, but, my God, it was worth it

[cantona]

Mogwai, Aarhus-Denmark. Good evening with a varied setlist and noisy as usual but probably not as in the old days. Alex Mackay; a younger man who in himself was a great pleasure to observe on stage, where he played what might well be called the first guitar.

[sunray]

Mogwai, Aarhus-Denmark. Good evening with a varied setlist and noisy as usual but probably not as in the old days. Alex Mackay; a younger man who in himself was a great pleasure to observe on stage, where he played what might well be called the first guitar.

Should have seen them in Belfast tonight but 5 minutes into a 100 minute drive my car said "not today son", and as public transport simply wasn't an option by that stage of the evening i had to give up

[nghst]

I saw Kurt Vile Friday in Chicago with my brother. Musically it was great, but I went from happy anticipation through the opening act to feeling somewhat awkward in the middle to feeling better towards the end.

The next night we traveled to Detroit to see AURORA who I had discovered almost exactly 2 years prior. The feeling then was almost transcendent. I found myself waving an arm in the air along with everyone else and it felt good. She had a calming effect through her songs and her words in between. We felt so encouraged that we waited 90 minutes after the show to her up close on her way to the tour bus. She spent close to 30 minutes with her fans. She seemed the perfect anecdote for the terrible times our country and the world are going through.

[herman]

Saw Kikagaku Moyo last night in Brussels during their farewell tour. They absolutely killed it!! If you still have the chance then go and see them.

[PopeJez]

Beck - Brixton Academy. Bought the tickets back in 2020 but.. I bought them because my kid loved Colors as much as me. So last week I took her up to Brixton (she was a little nervous) and watched a stunning 48 song long set by a very tight band. At one point Beck asked if he could play one of his favourite songs - True Love Will Find You In The End. Such a weird moment listening to such a great song by Beck at such a great venue with my 15 year old girl. Music has been a constant in my life. But this was special.

[sunray]

Post Spiritualized (early May) live outings.

Oh Sees- Button Factory, Dublin: Gig of the year for me so far. Punk/Garage/Prog/Jazz/ through a Psych prism. Totally under their spell for 90-odd minutes. High energy maximum rock n roll. Not one moment of boredom or mind wandering. John Dwyer now sporting an impressive moustache (made him look like Nick Offerman) and a fine line in banter.

Jane Weaver- Whelans, Dublin: Nice slice of psych-pop but nothing to get excited about. An extremely old looking crowd at it. Made me realise i'm actually in pretty good nick!

Conflict- Grand Social, Dublin: Anarcho-punk legends doing what they do; hard and fast punk. Band were tight but Colin Jerwood struggled to keep up with the lyrics at times, which is understandable all these years later i guess. Would've liked it louder though.

Just Mustard- Spirit Store, Dundalk: Hometown gig in an intimate venue for one of my fave Irish bands. Moody, noisey and loud. I could feel the bass coming up through my feet Surprising amount of dancing at it as they're mostly quite slow paced.

Parquet Courts- The Helix, Dublin: Odd venue for them as it's a bit out of town and part of DCU. Maybe there were no other venues available on that date? Good performance to a large turnout but suffered soundwise. I don't think the venue is really geared towards rock n roll.

Bo Ningen- Soundhouse, Dublin: Poorly attended (i reckon about 25-30) but i'll put that down to PIL and the Descendants also having gigs on in town that night. I'm certain there would have been many more otherwise. Musically, they still gave it their all but there was a lot less of the garage / noise type material that they played last time i saw them and more of an electronic feel. I'm not even sure 'electronic' is the correct word at all. It was different to what i was expecting anyway.

Primal Scream- Fairview Park, Dublin: A Screamadelica gig in a tent. Had seen them do two of these already in Belfast and Dublin a decade or so ago and was underwhelmed with the former while the latter was better (but still nothing amazing). And now? I hate to say it but i think the lads should call it a day. They are so far removed from the lean-mean-rock-n-roll-machine they once were that it's getting a little embarassing. Even when the refreshments kicked in halfway through i still knew it wasn't great and it was just my enhanced mood that made it all sound better. It still had it's moments but they can no longer conjure the energy and excitement of yore. And i'm blue in the face from saying it but they desperately need a second guitarist. The backing tape with all the brass parts wasn't loud enough and nor were the 5 or 6 gospel singers they had with them.
In saying that Higher Than The Sun was on point and the intro of Loaded was pretty special, as they opened up the greatest hits set with it by sending out a lone piper onto the empty stage playing the Loaded riff
Also, plus points for the Andrew Weatherall tribute for Shine Like Stars (a song they hadn't played at the previous two gigs mentioned above), where they had a series of photos of him on the video screen and a dedication from Bobby.
Oh yeah, it was Bobby's birthday too! Naturally there was a rendition from the audience.
Overall though, myself and my mates found it to be a weak affair.

[angel-sighs]

Blimey Joycey you get around!

I watched a Just Mustard radio session that popped up on youtube , didn't know much about them but enjoyed it. A lot of the comments were asking why she wasn't singing in tune, and missing the point!

Watched a bit of the Primal Scream Glastonbury set and more guitars definitely needed. Does sound rather thin but obviously TV mix can't be doing them any favours there. Weird band for me, the Scream . They talk the talk and are obviously great music lovers but their moments of greatness of few and far between for myself.

[sunray]

Blimey Joycey you get around!

I watched a Just Mustard radio session that popped up on youtube , didn't know much about them but enjoyed it. A lot of the comments were asking why she wasn't singing in tune, and missing the point!

Watched a bit of the Primal Scream Glastonbury set and more guitars definitely needed. Does sound rather thin but obviously TV mix can't be doing them any favours there. Weird band for me, the Scream . They talk the talk and are obviously great music lovers but their moments of greatness of few and far between for myself.

In my defence most of those gigs had been rescheduled multiple times since 2020 and just happened to land on top of one another. There actually should have been another 3 in the same period (Bdrmm, Otoboke Beaver and OM) but they got put back to later dates. Or in the case of Om, cancelled altogether.

Funny about Just Mustard, i never had a problem with the vocals at all! Although i guess they might grate on occasion for some. Was it the KEXP session? Someone in the comments on that one complaining that the drummer is out of sync with the band

Sound didn't seem great for tv this year but yeah the Scream are sounding thin anyway these days imo. Definite lack of punch.

[Spiby]

I don't get out to gigs anywhere as near as often as I'd like, but I actually managed 3 gigs in 3 days recently. Quite an eclectic mix...

Max Richter (Chelsea Royal Hospital) 17th June. Performed Voices with the Chineke Orchestra (conducted by my business partner's son, woop woop!) followed by Recomposed. Lovely stuff on a balmy summer's evening

Arooj Aftab (Barbican) 18th June. Songs from Vulture Prince with a guest appearance by Anoushka Shankar. A voice from heaven

The Unthanks (Emsworth) 19th June. 5-piece band. Again, beautiful voices

Other than the voices, the other underlying theme was amazing violinists at all 3 gigs

[Shinesalight]

Saw Ride do a Ride do a Primevera warm up in Brighton a couple of weeks ago. Performed Going Blank Again in its entirety followed by an encore of the classic b-side, Grasshopper, and a select number of Nowhere tracks. No newer songs but what a show. They sounded incredible and its the second time I've seen them at this relatively small venue (Concorde 2) since they reformed. Never managed to catch them on the recent Nowhere anniversary tour so was well pleased when they announced this one-off show in Brighton.
Then my brother-in-law offered me a free ticket to see Tim Burgess the following night. Didn't realise how many solo albums he's put out as I only have one and I don't think I recognised any of the stuff he played, except the version of The Only One I Know they played at the end. I felt it all rather twee and a little meh to be honest. Especially after seeing the blistering Ride set the night before.
The downer of doing two gigs on the bounce though was that I came down with a bout of the old Covid afterwards which knocked me for six and only really feeling back to normal now

[Aquarian-Time]

Kikagaku Moyo-Clapham Grand

Got a ticket via the waiting list for this long sold out gig. Really wanted to do this, not just because these guys are not venturing North on their last UK jaunt but also, I have never been to this iconic venue
Neither dissapointed.
Lovely venue, warm sound, great sight lines, gig was superb, never seen a bad Moyo gig, but they are always different. Loads of extended parts on songs on random jams all depending on the crowd reaction it seemed. the Circle pit for Tree Smoke was not something I had thought i would ever see haha
4 songs of new album (which i got a tour edition of the merch desk) 4 from previous and a few older ones scattered in amongst. lots of chilled moments a few frantic ones and loads of meditative vibes. Absolute perfection

[angel-sighs]

Great to see Ride still getting rave reviews. There is the risk that the more a reunion goes on, the novelty kinda wears off.
I would very much like to see a Going Blank Again set. Can't believe its only a couple of dates.

Funny about Just Mustard, i never had a problem with the vocals at all! Although i guess they might grate on occasion for some. Was it the KEXP session? Someone in the comments on that one complaining that the drummer is out of sync with the band

Yep it was KEXP. Maybe i have cloth ears but i had no problems with vocals or drums. Their sound is meant to be a bit off kilter and strange

[niamhm]

The Music Glasgow Barrowland this was a kinda last minute one for me, I knew it was on and knda expressed an interest to a mate ages ago - yrs in fact, been postponed and rescheduled a few times over 2 yrs now- and he sprung it on me a few before hand but Christ it was good, The Music`s premise is pretty basic but when it hits it hits hard, honestly never seen a reaction to band like this in a long time, was it an Oasis-y lad type thing? Maybe, but the place was going f#ckin` nuts, you could feel the atmosphere, people losing there shit all around me, and the big dumb Zepplin`esque riffs from Adam Nutter just encouraged more of this insane behaviour, I came on my own and was driving but it was hard not to get carried along, Take The Long Road and The People were the highlights of a brilliant night.

Michael Heads And The Red Elastic Band, Glasgow St Lukes 4 night later and quite a different proposition, the level of expectation and dedication were very similar though, not the driver tonight so could loosen up and enjoy it a bit more, if Dear Scott isn`t one of the best albums this yr brings then I guess we`re all going to be a bit spoiled as so far its a front runner, kicked things off with Kismet which has to be up there with Micks best, what a tune, so uplifting, I think they played maybe 9 songs form Dear Scott, had an acoustic section in the middle and a smattering of classics, two fantastic gigs in one week, very uplifting

[spzretent]

Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band was my first post covid show and what a pleasure it was to finally see him/them especially at the Brudenell in Leeds which is also my favorite venue in the world.
The crowd was super respectful too which was nice to see. No talking during songs and limited mobile phones in the air.
Agreed about Dear Scott. I bought both that and Kelley Stoltz new LP at Piccadilly and the clerk told me those are two of his favorite artists. We had a long chat. It was nice to make an impression on a clerk in that record shop. My favorite "new" record shop in the UK.