What's the most recent concert you went to? And how was it?

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Note added June 2008:
I thought I'd move this thread out of General and into this section, where it probably belongs.

But if you would prefer to start a new, separate thread for a specific gig review, please do (and I will make sure it is indexed here). I really enjoy reading the in-depth concert reviews and wish people would post more of them.

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First gig? / Next gig?

Costello, last month in Sydney, great show, played 2 1/2 hours, mix of old & new. Never missed a beat & great mirrorball shoes too.
Support was dreadful.
Beer was expensive.

Who were they?

Apart from an informal gathering of folk musicians in a pub in Greenwich that I went to with Bagrec and a few others and also Scaledown (which I'm not sure if that counts as a pop concert - Terry Edwards & Thomas Truax were my highlights) - the last big show I went to was Ibrahim Ferrer at the Royal Festival Hall in London. It was good if not great. Perhaps too serious and grown up an atmosphere for me.

My last one was Nick Cave last month. Cavo was in excellent form, but christ, the songs he chose to play for the first 1½ hours were all from the bottom end of the last three or four records. Huge disappointement. The he chose some wrong tracks from the back catalogue for encores, and finally an only 1½ minute version of Mercy Seat :angry: :grrr:

Last one was a few days ago, in a tiny room in Oxford.

Started with a guy I know doing vinyl loops & stuff on 6 decks. Pretty good. Someone came to the door, stood there for a mkinute & left again, saying "What harroible ghost music" :D

Then it was all left field folk & Americana stuff.

The woman from Jackie O Motherfucker was pretty crap: her fingerpicking little songs were only "alternative" in that she wasn't very good at it.

MV & EE medicine show were very enjoyable, a sort of detuned clunky blues (but without any of the bombast & fluster of, say, Tom Waits).

Charalambides were fun, they went for a sort of country drone, featuring bowed banjo & stuff. Just as I was getting a bit bored they salvaged it by getting all the other musicians up to bang gongs & play tin whistles & stuff.

Quite a good gig, all told.

Can't remember the name, but it was 2 blokes with accoustics, it seems they were the front men of a fairly OK Aussie band called The Sports (XTc ish, from the little I have heard) but they would have been more at home in a pub on a Sunday afternoon. Very poor in the grand setting of Sydney's State Theatre.

Nunchukka Superfly in the Zoo last week (that's in Brisbane) . My ears are nearly back to normal. They play a mix of Melvins kind of rock and space-rock. You may know 2 of their members, Blackie and Ray from the Hard Ons. This band sounds quite different. I probably have seen Nunchukka more than any other band here in Oz. Their third record is just out and pretty good.
The Zoo is a good venue. They actually have the windows open during the gig which is great for the air quality. I have seen Wire and Calexico in the same venue earlier this year. Both excellent.

the stooltastic bob log III.

a one man, budget, blues explosion.

:beer: :o boob whisky.

I saw They Might Be Giants on their last tour, great show.
Opening was Corn-Mo. Imagine a younger, more profane Meatloaf who accompanies himself on the accordion -- Foe

last one I went to was The Decemberists, supported by The Unicorns.
Decemberists were great, if not very different from how they are on record. Unicorns were shambolic.

The Fall, manchester bierkeller.
Sure ive already mentioned this once or twice :zip:

Hey Gaz, I like your new avatar - is that inspired by the lead singer in Kings of Leon??

Kings of Leon are a class what I have heard of them, has anybody heard the album yet?
Is it worth getting?

Siouxsie's Dreamshow at the RFH.. Stunning, as you can see from my slightly pretentious and still-off-my-face review here...

http://invisionfree.com/forums/thefall/ind...?showtopic=3405

THMK, Ukrainian hip hop in Kiev

music was very good,didn't need to understand the words, just to be at a gig in a place where music really matters and makes a difference was uplifting

but before the gig we were in a small park in the suburb of Kiev where we were staying..because not a lot of people have tv or radio they gather together in the parks and sing...we listened for over an hour to a group of people standing in a circle singing songs..the group changed over the course of the hour, people came and went...at one point, we were invited to join in (which we did to the best of our limited abilites)...it was one of those experiences that really make you wonder what the f**k has become of music in the west..

The Television Personalities, this month, after 24 years of fandom.

Well worth the wait.

The Seeds in Glasgow. Very dissapointing i am afraid to say. Sky Saxon talked his way through most of the songs. Still they were brilliant in their day.

I saw The Pixies a couple of weeks ago at The Tweeter Center in Camden, NJ.

They were incredible, but our seats were horrible, we were so far back. I had to stand on my chair to see anything. I almost fell several times. It wasn't loud enough either. I could hear myself singing (which I don't what hear) and my ears weren't buzzing afterwards at all.

The opening bands were pretty band- I wasn't even paying attention. I hope the Pixies tour again. I have to see them in a club setting, not in a seated venue.

Great Setlist!

Oh god, probably a Supertramp tribute band I saw almost 10 years ago.

Never was much for concerts....I usually get bored at some point.

That being said, I'll wager that I'd thoroughly enjoy a Fall concert from start to finish.

A moot point, of course, since they seem allergic to Canada. :(

Nice posting. I can relate, I know it intimately - I'm Ukrainian. And did you also notice that the Ukrainian girls really knock you out; they leave the west behind?
Hubba hubba! I know this intimately, too: I married one.

:o Snap :wub: All this! I agree totally!! :rolleyes:
( I miss her :ohdear: , but she returns in January :) , but I am still worried :unsure: about all this voting )

I pray that Yuschenko's inspired guidance and the goodwill and the good sense of the people will prevail. I trust it will. And when your girl safely arrives in January your combined celebration will further take the chill out of January.

Cheers / na zdarov'lya!

:beer:

One bad aspect of my job is that I get up quite early, so I've unfortunately curtailed going to most shows, especially on weekdays. Nick's 2002 show in Portland was absolutely brilliant, Blixa was still in the band, a great mix of old and new, and an awesome venue (Crystal Ballroom). Too bad that he's cut Mercy Seat to that short length, and I just can't imagine Stagger Lee w/out Blixa these days.


Last show would've then been The Mekons, on their 25th anniversary tour, in Portland, Sept, 2002. Absolutely amazing show, lots of laughs, and lots of classic songs: Millionaire; Fantastic Voyage, Bastard, Rosanne, Orpheus, Memphis, Egypt, etc. Also, Rebecca Gates, ex-Spinanes, tried to lift Sally Timms shirt over her head on the sychronized dancing for Now We Have The Bomb, to her embarrassment and Jon and Tom's amusement.

The Pogues in Brixton on Monday - a good drunken time - Shane was in better shape than I expected and Cait was there to sing a couple of songs - including the Kirsty part on Fairy Tale - completely packed - barely caught the last train back to Hook.

I saw the Buzzcocks down in Portsmouth last week - fucking great as always.

Resurrecting this one...

The Arcade Fire & Franz Ferdinand, Princes Street Gardens

Arcade Fire were amazing - they had to play a short set, so they stuck to the big numbers - Wake Up, Neighbourhood #1, No Cars Go (stunning version, ripped it apart) and The Power Out running into Rebellion (Lies)... I'd seen them before, but in a wee student union hall, and they handled the big stage easily.

Thought it was brave of Franz Ferdinand to book TAF in support, and that's how it turned out - they just seem weak & thin in comparison. Nice pop tunes, pleasant demeanor, ruthless efficiency... passed me by. They're a good band, and fun live, but they were shown up by their support, simple as that.

Decent night out, mind...

The Fall at Bilston a year or two back. There's nobody I like enough to go and see any more.

I've got my Cecilia Bartoli tickets though.

LA band The Blood Arm at the 100 Club last week.. GREAT!

They're Franz Ferdinand's fave band, and have certain things in common - the angular riffs, the dissonant guitaring - but they're far better. Well worth checking out..

The Pixies at Ally Pally last Thursday. Had good view in notoriously flat-floored venue. Mrs.C however, being of diminutive stature, did not <_< . She thought they sounded good, though :mellow: .

Mine (if this counts) was Leeds Festival the other week. Highlights band-wise were Pixies and LCD Soundsystem, for me. It was generally fun though even when there wasn't music on.


Last non-festival gig was Louis XIV at Manchester Roadhouse in July. There wasn't a big crowd but they were much better than I expected. It was nice to go out with a mixture of people - some who aren't into music at all, never been to a gig before, my parents who have been attending concerts for years, some in between - and have everyone enjoy themselves equally.

A brilliant young children's band called Magnet at the local school fair. They played My Generation. Sweet kids dwarfed by their guitars. Fantastic. Wish I'd taped it.

Wilco here in Cincinnati. Great show! Before the concert John Stirratt and Pat Sansone played a little acoustic set at a local record store under their "The Autumn Defense" moniker.
All in all a good night................

Last concert was Roddy Frame at Ronnie Scotts back at the end of May.

I enjoyed the show, but the venue was packed and by the time we got through the door it was standing room only and there isn't much of that. We spent most of the evening getting out of people's way, even when he was on stage.

Next is Roddy Frame at the Stables, Wavendon in October. This is about a mile from my front door and we have front row seats.

I went to quite a few gigs up to the end of May, and have at least eight planned from October onwards, but none from June to September. I think that this is a result of the rise of festivals. There seem to be far less summer gigs than there used to be. I'm sure that it used to be the case that even if a band played a summer festival, they would be likey to do some other shows as well. Especially if they had come from overseas.

Maybe I'm just getting old?

Not that MES would approve but

Devendra Banhart - guy has genuine star quality, good band, played the song from the cheese advert and his other non-hits. Supported by Espers (intense acid-folk) and Josephine Foster (i think this was her name) who played bizarre Shaker folk ditties.

the same week i saw the Editors and they were very good in a kind of this is the best rip off of Joy Division/Chameleons/U2/Bunnymen ive seen in a while type way.

not a huge fan, but I've got a couple of free tickets so I'll be seeing the White Stripes on Monday. Cincinnati's own Greenhornes are opening whom I'm looking forward to seeing.

Last show I saw was Sunburned Hand of the Man and Magick Markers. I've already mentioned how SHOTM came off like a bunch of amateurs and bored me to tears. I didn't know what to expect from MM at all but was basically picked up and bodyslammed by the noisefest wrought by two young girls from Brooklyn. The audience seemed a little on edge. The "singer" kept ranting in people's faces and at one point looked like she was berating the drummer while she was throwing her arms around like she was summoning some demon. It was over 30 minutes of straight noise but kept my interest the entire time. At one point I heard the girl yell during one of her rants "Fuck Graham Parsons and fucking 3 part harmonies blah blah blah..." :D

GOGOL BORDELLO, yesterday. Fantastic! I've been waiting for three years to see them. Extended chat with Eugene Hutz after the show. Pleased to find out that The Fall is one of his all time top bands (number one is Birthday Party)...and that his uncle translated Andre Breton and works of the Dadaists into Ukrainian. Hutz is in "Everything is Illuminated" which I haven't seen as yet. He's currently finishing up a documentary he spearheaded about Ukrainian gypsies. Really nice fellow. Almost as handsome as me. The girls love him.

Goldfrapp in Norwich Wednesday night very good they were too :applaud:

define pop.....