Cato

From reading your other posts about the band it sounds like there was a fair bit of travel involved? Maybe if you found somwthing a bit more local it might bring some of the fun back? Anyway, all the best for the future and whatever you do it'll be good to see you hanging around on BC.

I can't understand why anyone would want to go an event like that and watch it from a private box. Being part of the crowd is a key part of the gig experience for me.

The £455 seems to be for one of the hospitality packages, which, as far as I can tell are the only prices to be officially released. https://www.avfc.co.uk/concerts/back-to-the-beginning/ Having said that I wouldn't be at all suprised if general sale prices are approaching £200 which would put them in line with recent Oasis and Talyor Swift stadium shows.

I was wondering if it might be similar to the Freddie Mercury tribute at Wembley. Several shortish sets from various bands during the day followed by a 'Sabbath & friends' set in the evening featuring multiple special guests from the other bands. It would make sense in terms of giving Ozzy a bit of extra support Time will tell.

I don't think anyone going to the gig is going to be under any illusions over Ozzy's physical health. It's a celebration, a chance to say goodbye, both for him and the fans.

It's a hell of a line up. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c805m3l02v5o Despite being a huge metal fan as a teenager I haven't really listened to heavy music for 25 years but I'm very tempted to try and grab some tickets.

I know Trump is framing this as a big win but when you look at the detail it all seems rather performative. Most of the measures touted as Trunp forcing Canada to take action on illegal activity at the border were announced some time ago. Mexico may have agreed to move more troops to the border but there has to be a suspicion that they may have agreed to do so without the threat of tariffs especially given the US quid pro quo to finally crack down on gun running from the US side of the border, which has been arming the cartels with military grade weapons for many years. All in all it seems like a lot of noise to obtain fairly low key results, with all parties making concessions. Were the threats really necessary?

Lets face it neither we or our Western Allies have ever had any issue getting into bed with abhorrent regimes if it's convienient ot even just profitable. Just look at our cozy relationship with Saudi, even when they were caught & recorded red handed murdering and dismembering a political dissident our government did barely more than give a half hearted 'tut tut' before flogging them yet more weaponry to use on their neighbours.

Trump's portrayal of Mexico as a willing collaborator in the drug trade is highly dishonest. Arguably the US demand for recreational drugs has caused more harm in Mexico than it has in the US. Mexico came close to anarchy in the drug wars that peaked a few years ago, 100,000s of thousands were killed or are permanently missing. The majority of Mexicans would love to see an end to the power and influence of the drug cartels in their country but it's driven almost entirely by US demand.

The elephant in the room is that wages in the US are high, much higher than most western countries. For comparison the avergage wage in the UK s around £37,000 pa, in the US it's around £53,000pa. I doubt Trump can ever make tariffs high enough to make it economically desirable for manufacturers to move their factories back to the US, which Trump claims is his ultimate goal with the policy, especially not if they want to sell to the rest of the world at competitive prices.

I stopped reading at 'bubblethumpwhip'.

I honestly think Trump would just cancel the debt. His whole international position seems to be "we're the biggest kid in the playground, we'll take what we want and there's nothing you can do about it" And it applies equally to both long term allies and enemies. How realistic that position is and whether the US really is still the biggest and baddest, I guess we're all going to find out over the next few years

International supply chains being wht they are these days I suspect that a lot of US manufacturing, including guitars, involves some Chinese components or raw materials meaning that there could be a double hit for US companies once on the cost of the components they need and again on exporting the finished product to any country with retaliatory tariffs. So even if the UK manages to stay out of the trade war it's likely that we'll stil see an increase in the price of US guitars.

Kings of Leon are heavily influenced by the Stones. Sex on Fire is the obvious one but this was probably their biggest hit prior to that.

I got one of the FSR purple ones from Andertons a couple of years ago, absolutely delighted with it. I noticed the other day that Squier are doing a Tahitan Coral one for 2025 Although personally I think I'd go for either the Olive Green or Silver Sparkle if I was to get another one now.

Just watched the first review I've seen of these that isn't a promo for a guitar shop. He's reviewing a Strat but I suspect many of the review elements will hold true for the basses Short version: No major build issues, but the initial set up isn't great. The reviewer points out that there are better specc'd Squiers in terms of pickups and that it doesn't feel any better than a Squier CV. His conclusion seems to be that it's an OK guitar but there are better options in that narrow £500-600 band.

Wasn't the reason that Leo Fender originally put the ashtrays on the Precision because he thought the pickup was ugly and wanted to hide it? I'm so used to seeing bass pickups that I don't think about it too much these days but I remember as a teenager, when I first became interested in basses and guitars, wondering why guitar pickups tend to be slimmer, rounded, more low profile affairs, sometimes even behind shiny chrome covers whilst many bass pickups are basically just huge plastic bricks with zero refinement.

I've been rediscovering Lonnie Liston Smith recently. Got to be one of the most underrated Jazz/Funk guys from that era, he's up there with the very best.

I'm not sure how well that's going for them judging by the number of Epiphones that were originally listed at £1k+ that regularly turn up in the seasonal sales at places like Andertons with significant discounts. People don't seem ready yet to pay that kind money for a brand that's been associated with affordable instruments for decades. Maybe Fender have taken note and decided it's better to sell cheap Fenders than expensive Squiers.

I like the Candy Cola colour. I imagine they're pretty decent instruments, probably not going to set the world alight but there will likely be a decent demand just as there was for the Mexican stuff that used to be at the same price point.

Prices have risen so much in the last few years that they've found space for a new range between Squier and Mexican Fender.

I'll probably check out the Andertons youtube coverage when it's over. Dangerous business though when I'm currently GAS free.

I think it does. I'm not someone who's a great believer in tonewoods etc but I think having the magnets in those exact positions on the string length is where most of the tone come from. Also the split P is functionally a humbucker so apart from anything else it's less susceptible to hum and noise than ,say, the single coil in a jazz.

If the problem is the Precision body shape then literally any body shape with the split pickup in the same spot will sound like a Precision. If it's the split pickup shape itself that causes offence then there are versions that are sold in humbucker style cases but it's going to take a bit of research to find which, if any, production models are currently using them in the correct P position.

I really like that, I'm a sucker for those quirky retro designs. Just had a look at them online, the website is a bit turn of the century but there's some lovely guitars and basses on there.