Live Music 2013

[Hotchilidog]

Off to the Concorde 2 tonight to Steve Vai. Anyone else for a dose of strat abuse?

I popped down last night, excellent show even if it dipped slightly in the acoustic segment. For a 2hour45minute set it seemed to fly by, really enjoyed it.

Tonights rock fix will be Brighton's finest, Furyon at the Coalition.

 

[tinycowboy]

Sold out at the moment, sir, but I reckon I can grab you one between now and then. Can you message me/post on here if you get sorted?

Mr Banana, you might just be the saviour I was looking for. Please proceed with your cunning plan....

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Mr Banana, you might just be the saviour I was looking for. Please proceed with your cunning plan....

Yay. I love NSC for these moments.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

November is looking great on the live front: Arctic Monkeys, Nick Cave, Billy Bragg, Deep Vally, Motorhead, Primal Scream and now Savages. Tickets purchased for all!

 

[Pogue Mahone]

November is looking great on the live front: Arctic Monkeys, Nick Cave, Billy Bragg, Deep Vally, Motorhead, Primal Scream and now Savages. Tickets purchased for all!

I will also be seeing Arctic Monkeys, Nick Cave, Savages, Primal Scream (though some will be in October) along with Jake Bugg, Steve Mason and Asian Dub Foundation. At least Autumn's got something going for it.

But I missed out on Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip tickets. Can anyone help me out?

Please?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I will also be seeing Arctic Monkeys, Nick Cave, Savages, Primal Scream (though some will be in October) along with Jake Bugg, Steve Mason and Asian Dub Foundation. At least Autumn's got something going for it.

But I missed out on Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip tickets. Can anyone help me out?

Please?

I used to be a huge fan of ADF in the mid 90s. Buzzin' still remains a favourite song of mine and Rafis Revenge and Community Music are a couple of great albums which document the times. I saw them do a very powerful regular gig at ULU around the time of the Saptal Ram stuff as well as a heap of other things like live film scores and a rather excellent jam at the Barbican with some drummers from Chittagong. I am not sure why I lost touch with them but I will check them out again I think.

 

[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

November is looking great on the live front: Arctic Monkeys, Nick Cave, Billy Bragg, Deep Vally, Motorhead, Primal Scream and now Savages. Tickets purchased for all!

I will be interested to hear what you think of Deep Valley. I saw them at Great Escape and was not that impressed. It was in the Haunt though! Good cal on Nick Cave and Savages. Got tickets for both of those too.

 

[Trufflehound]

I will be interested to hear what you think of Deep Valley. I saw them at Great Escape and was not that impressed.

Who are Deep Valley? Are they a Deap Vally tribute act?

Deap Vally themselves are just a White Stripes tribute act, but not as good.

 

[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

Who are Deep Valley? Are they a Deap Vally tribute act?

Deap Vally themselves are just a White Stripes tribute act, but not as good.

I am referring to the White Stripes Deap Vally and they are in my opinion uninspiring.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I will be interested to hear what you think of Deep Valley. I saw them at Great Escape and was not that impressed. It was in the Haunt though! Good cal on Nick Cave and Savages. Got tickets for both of those too.

Deep Vally was the Frau's call. And I must admit the album sounds very lame. I was hoping the live show will compensate!

 

[Seagull kimchi]

I used to be a huge fan of ADF in the mid 90s. Buzzin' still remains a favourite song of mine and Rafis Revenge and Community Music are a couple of great albums which document the times. I saw them do a very powerful regular gig at ULU around the time of the Saptal Ram stuff as well as a heap of other things like live film scores and a rather excellent jam at the Barbican with some drummers from Chittagong. I am not sure why I lost touch with them but I will check them out again I think.

Oh yes! Memorable times - remember seeing them at the Depford Free festivals - absolutely blowing the crowd away. Loved the whole Anouka/Talvin Singh/State of Begal/Sounds of the Asian Underground scene back then.INDIAN AIRLINES ANNOUNCES THE DEPARTURE OF FLIGHT IC408!

 

[spring hall convert]

I might have to travel down for this - Sunday October 6th - Free at the Green Door Store

GUTS ALL-DAYER
Featuring: Fever Dream + Tyrannosaurus Dead + Birdskulls + GUM + The Hundredth Anniversary + Hella Better Dancer + Ides + Bayy + Object Object

I've not seen all of the bands before, but the ones in bold are bloody brilliant. Fever Dream in particular are fantastic and destined for bigger things (and I have a bit of a crush on the bassist).

I'll be there - T Dead are brilliant. I suspect The Hundreth anniversary and Ides will be to your taste.

 

[spring hall convert]

Who are Deep Valley? Are they a Deap Vally tribute act?

Deap Vally themselves are just a White Stripes tribute act, but not as good.

Bog standard average music. The whole image stinks of record company exec teenage fantasy, not for me.

 

[spring hall convert]

Back from Bestival - suffering from severe serotonin depletion

Here's the news

It was my fourth year and probably the worst for me musically but possibly my favourite socially. I didn't come across any aggro and whilst the crowd remained pretty young, everyone I met was good natured. The weather was ok, Thursday delightful, Friday & Saturday blighted by the occasional shower, whilst Sunday's rainfall was a little more persistent, the heavens only really opened at 1am Monday morning, just as Carl Cox was getting ready to finish it off in style.

Personally I missed the Rock & Roll tent/ Psycadelic Worm, however, the move of the comedy tent to it's former spot was inspired.

The new Port area was incredible, the best "new" stage there's been in my time at the festival, it was in the spot at the end of the Bollywood field where the old main stage used to be (replacing the Black Dhalia tent,) which worked well aside for the odd hairy moment when the crowds from there and the main stage met. It provided a real focus for all the big name DJ's and also took the pressure off Bollywood, that was noticably easier to get into over the course of the weekend. I saw:

Thurs

RDB's Prince set - Great fun
M.I.A - I felt it was probably a little niche for a Thursday night headline (cf. Janelle Monae, Sanitgold, Heaven 17.) Personally, despite the slightly dodgy sound I enjoyed it. There were many leaving though, whom I suspect found it hard going, she's a great artist but I felt with the lack of choice elsewhere, the audience was perhaps a little mainstream for her.

Friday

Caravan Palace - Heard a couple of tracks, sounded great.
Wu Tang Clan - More like the Who? Tang Clan, did anyone actually work out which ones made it? Lacklustre.
Drenge - Kickstarted my festival, good fun, though I'm not sure what is soooo special about them.
The Walkmen - For some reason I've always had them written off as the worst parts of Interpol & The Strokes. This set demonstrated the best parts. The Rat was one of my highlights of the entire festival & my word that singer has a serious pair of lungs on him.
Jon Hopkins - I remember Open Eye Signal being great and not much else.
Belle & Sebastian - Too f**ked, I don't really remember being there. The people that I was with were universally positive though.
Joy Orbison - Cracking set, he's really come on in the 3 or so years since I saw him last.
Disclosure - Saw the first 3 tracks before the extreme overcrowding got the better of me. For what they are; very, very good. They can actually sing as well which makes me wonder - Why all the guest spots?
A Love From Outer Space - Andrew Weatherall is amazing, great set of old skool, low tempo electronica. Infinately danceable.
Seth Troxler - Bit of a disagrerement between me and the gf here. I loved his non frantic subtle house/techno hybrid, the gf thought it was dull.
Evian Christ - Not really what I was expecting, very garage/juke heavy. Excellent.

Saturday

Little Axe - The bluesman was the perfect antitdote to the night before.
The Roots - Brilliant set, hit packed, amazing covers and great connection with the crowd. Made Who Tang look very silly indeed.
Merchandise - A very pleasant suprise, what sometimes comes across on record as a little lo-fi was in full on shoegaze mode live. The epic track lengths made for a really immersive experience.
Johnny Marr - The 3 tracks I saw were great but I missed all the Smiths stuff because I needed a dance.
Psychemagic - Really, really impressive stuff. Tribal psychadelic house.
Franz Ferdinand - Excellent hit packed set, sagged a little in the middle but Donna Summer cover helped a bit. New album has some absolute belters on it. Good to have them back.
Annie Mac - Absolutely blinding. Had it not been for Rustie it would have been my set of the weekend.
DJ EZ - I am now a Uk Garage convert, absolutely brilliant "history of" set.
Toddla T - I think anything would have suffered compared to the 2 magical sets I'd just seen. The Shoala Ama PA was just a little weak IMHO.
Rustie - BLEW MY MIND. I went absolute mental when he dropped Poison Dart by The Bug. By far the most futuristic thing I heard all weekend.

Sun:

Chic - Hit packed fun, great vibes
Elton John - I'm not sure why it was a suprise to me but he was absolutely outstanding. What a pro. Your Song brought a tear to the eye.
Carl Cox - Was just getting going with an old school set when the heavens opened. It was more than a little frustrating hearing Blue Monday getting dropped whilst sheltering fromn the elements in the forest
Parquet Courts - Decent enough but had the feeling of a 45 minute set being made to last an hour. There were some great songs but there were some pretty average ones as well. I had a sneaky feeling that this 1am Monday morning slot would have been Savages had they not cancelled.

Bring on next year!

 

[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

Deep Vally was the Frau's call. And I must admit the album sounds very lame. I was hoping the live show will compensate!

Always worth looking after the other half now and then!

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Back from Bestival - suffering from severe serotonin depletion

Here's the news

It was my fourth year and probably the worst for me musically but possibly my favourite socially. I didn't come across any aggro and whilst the crowd remained pretty young, everyone I met was good natured. The weather was ok, Thursday delightful, Friday & Saturday blighted by the occasional shower, whilst Sunday's rainfall was a little more persistent, the heavens only really opened at 1am Monday morning, just as Carl Cox was getting ready to finish it off in style.

Personally I missed the Rock & Roll tent/ Psycadelic Worm, however, the move of the comedy tent to it's former spot was inspired.

The new Port area was incredible, the best "new" stage there's been in my time at the festival, it was in the spot at the end of the Bollywood field where the old main stage used to be (replacing the Black Dhalia tent,) which worked well aside for the odd hairy moment when the crowds from there and the main stage met. It provided a real focus for all the big name DJ's and also took the pressure off Bollywood, that was noticably easier to get into over the course of the weekend. I saw:

Thurs

RDB's Prince set - Great fun
M.I.A - I felt it was probably a little niche for a Thursday night headline (cf. Janelle Monae, Sanitgold, Heaven 17.) Personally, despite the slightly dodgy sound I enjoyed it. There were many leaving though, whom I suspect found it hard going, she's a great artist but I felt with the lack of choice elsewhere, the audience was perhaps a little mainstream for her.

Friday

Caravan Palace - Heard a couple of tracks, sounded great.
Wu Tang Clan - More like the Who? Tang Clan, did anyone actually work out which ones made it? Lacklustre.
Drenge - Kickstarted my festival, good fun, though I'm not sure what is soooo special about them.
The Walkmen - For some reason I've always had them written off as the worst parts of Interpol & The Strokes. This set demonstrated the best parts. The Rat was one of my highlights of the entire festival & my word that singer has a serious pair of lungs on him.
Jon Hopkins - I remember Open Eye Signal being great and not much else.
Belle & Sebastian - Too f**ked, I don't really remember being there. The people that I was with were universally positive though.
Joy Orbison - Cracking set, he's really come on in the 3 or so years since I saw him last.
Disclosure - Saw the first 3 tracks before the extreme overcrowding got the better of me. For what they are; very, very good. They can actually sing as well which makes me wonder - Why all the guest spots?
A Love From Outer Space - Andrew Weatherall is amazing, great set of old skool, low tempo electronica. Infinately danceable.
Seth Troxler - Bit of a disagrerement between me and the gf here. I loved his non frantic subtle house/techno hybrid, the gf thought it was dull.
Evian Christ - Not really what I was expecting, very garage/juke heavy. Excellent.

Saturday

Little Axe - The bluesman was the perfect antitdote to the night before.
The Roots - Brilliant set, hit packed, amazing covers and great connection with the crowd. Made Who Tang look very silly indeed.
Merchandise - A very pleasant suprise, what sometimes comes across on record as a little lo-fi was in full on shoegaze mode live. The epic track lengths made for a really immersive experience.
Johnny Marr - The 3 tracks I saw were great but I missed all the Smiths stuff because I needed a dance.
Psychemagic - Really, really impressive stuff. Tribal psychadelic house.
Franz Ferdinand - Excellent hit packed set, sagged a little in the middle but Donna Summer cover helped a bit. New album has some absolute belters on it. Good to have them back.
Annie Mac - Absolutely blinding. Had it not been for Rustie it would have been my set of the weekend.
DJ EZ - I am now a Uk Garage convert, absolutely brilliant "history of" set.
Toddla T - I think anything would have suffered compared to the 2 magical sets I'd just seen. The Shoala Ama PA was just a little weak IMHO.
Rustie - BLEW MY MIND. I went absolute mental when he dropped Poison Dart by The Bug. By far the most futuristic thing I heard all weekend.

Sun:

Chic - Hit packed fun, great vibes
Elton John - I'm not sure why it was a suprise to me but he was absolutely outstanding. What a pro. Your Song brought a tear to the eye.
Carl Cox - Was just getting going with an old school set when the heavens opened. It was more than a little frustrating hearing Blue Monday getting dropped whilst sheltering fromn the elements in the forest
Parquet Courts - Decent enough but had the feeling of a 45 minute set being made to last an hour. There were some great songs but there were some pretty average ones as well. I had a sneaky feeling that this 1am Monday morning slot would have been Savages had they not cancelled.

Bring on next year!

Great review. With you on Elton John. I have seen him twice over the years and he is simply an outstanding entertainer with a staggering back catalogue. Your Song is lovely, and at the other end of his spectrum you have Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting which is a total belter of a tune. The joy of festivals.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Always worth looking after the other half now and then!

True. And in all fairness she does look after me although she will never let me forget the time I sold Bruce Springsteen's Glastonbury set to her as a "90 minute hit laden extravaganza which even a non-believer will enjoy." 2 hours 40 minutes later she limped back to the bar telling me she recognised about 4 songs in that time.

 

[spring hall convert]

Great review. With you on Elton John. I have seen him twice over the years and he is simply an outstanding entertainer with a staggering back catalogue. Your Song is lovely, and at the other end of his spectrum you have Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting which is a total belter of a tune. The joy of festivals.

As I said, I really don't know why it suprised me that much, he has an outstanding, versatile back catalogue, he's a great performer and his band were brilliant. It was an inspired booking from Rob Da Bank (we should be used to that by now.)

BTW it was his first UK festival performance since 1969. He must be due a Glasto headline surely. National treasure.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

As I said, I really don't know why it suprised me that much, he has an outstanding, versatile back catalogue, he's a great performer and his band were brilliant. It was an inspired booking from Rob Da Bank (we should be used to that by now.)

BTW it was his first UK festival performance since 1969. He must be due a Glasto headline surely. National treasure.

I liked your Belle and Sebastian review as well

 

[Mr Banana]

Franz Ferdinand - Excellent hit packed set, sagged a little in the middle but Donna Summer cover helped a bit. New album has some absolute belters on it. Good to have them back.

Unexpectedly, they played the best festival set I've seen this year. No-one is doing guitar pop music on better form than them at the moment. They've just announced a full tour for March, Dome tickets go on sale on Friday morning.

Glad you enjoyed Joy Orbison, he's got the potential to be a British J Dilla type. Parquet Courts are a work in progress live. I'm following Drenge around on tour a bit next month, so I hope they're better than you say.