Who did you see live last?

[Skybone]

Took my son to see Tool last week in Manchester. Brilliant.

[Noogat11]

I've only been to a real concert once, I've been to a Lana Del Rey concert.
  I'm really sorry I didn't get to see Lel Peep in concert.
Now I listen to a lot of his songs and think about the fact that such a talented man died (.

[Intoutof]

Went to Cambridge Junction on Monday...Saw Thee Oh Sees for the third time. Quite possibly a band I could see every week and not get bored of : )

[Peloquin]

I went to see Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons last night. 

They did a Motorhead set and it was fantastic. 

... Road Crew and R. A. M. O. N. E. S. were the massive highlights for me but classics like Bomber, Iron Fist and, obviously, Ace of Spades were hammered out. 

  My ears are ringing and I've lost my voice. 

One of the best gigs I've been to for years. 

 

Now roll on SLF. 

[Stub Mandrel]

52 minutes ago, Peloquin said:

I went to see Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons last night. 

They did a Motorhead set and it was fantastic. 

... Road Crew and R. A. M. O. N. E. S. were the massive highlights for me but classics like Bomber, Iron Fist and, obviously, Ace of Spades were hammered out. 

  My ears are ringing and I've lost my voice. 

One of the best gigs I've been to for years. 

 

Now roll on SLF. 

 

PC&TBS are awesome. I've seen them do their own set three times. Unfortunately the Merthyr gig sold out in two days!

[Peloquin]

38 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

PC&TBS are awesome. I've seen them do their own set three times. Unfortunately the Merthyr gig sold out in two days!

This is the second time I've seen them.  I was a bit put off in case the new singer wasn't as good as the old one but Oh wow, he blew it outta the park. 

Looks the part, great voice and good stage presence. 

Missed the support band but wasn't too bothered. I'll be getting tickets next time they come around again. 

Edited May 14, 2022 by Peloquin

[dmccombe7]

ELO Experience tonight with our very own @casapete on bass.

If you haven't seen these guys and gals then get along to one of their gigs.

Cannot fault them, so much to watch. Cello players were dancing and twirling their cello's like toys and singing along to almost every song. They were amazing to watch, Violin player was outstanding too and also has a fantastic voice.

Harmonies in the band were simply exceptional from singer, guitarist, keys and  bass.

Very very tight playing. Its hard to pick anyone out as the level of musicianship was so high. All brilliant.

That's coming from someone who likes ELO but wouldn't class myself as a fan. I recognised every song tho.

Audience were loving it from the word go.

Highly recommended.

Dave

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Rebelution and Steel Pulse

Edited May 19, 2022 by JeezyMcNuggles

[Nail Soup]

Not exactly a gig, but a Fado night in Porto

[Graham]

Bill Bailey in Brighton on Wednesday doing his En Route To Normal tour

 

It was absolutely brilliant, incredibly funny from start to finish, plenty of great musical parts and we had amazing seats so a great night

[casapete]

Jimmy Webb at The Stables in Milton Keynes tonight, a perfect venue for him.

 A stunning evening with the award winning songwriter, just him and a grand piano. 

Some wonderful songs interspersed with amusing stories of how they came about, 

so interesting to get an insight into such a prolific storyteller. 

 

Support act was Ashley Campbell (Glen’s daughter) and Thor Jensen. Both accomplished

guitar players and some lovely harmonies too. A great evening.

 

Jimmy is touring the UK now, highly recommended.

[sykilz]

Thunder, with Ugly Kid Joe and Kris Barras band, all three were great, Thunder were majestic, had good seats luckily because it was at Wembley cattle shed. 
Chris Childs of Thunder has moved from his Sandberg basses to ( I think) a Status graphite neck 5 string , he didn't change it at all and I didn't even see him tune it which is refreshing in an age when people seem to use a different instrument every few songs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ezbass]

1 minute ago, sykilz said:

Thunder, with Ugly Kid Joe and Kris Barras band, all three were great, Thunder were majestic, had good seats luckily because it was at Wembley cattle shed. 
Chris Childs of Thunder has moved from his Sandberg basses to ( I think) a Status graphite neck 5 string , he didn't change it at all and I didn't even see him tune it which is refreshing in an age when people seem to use a different instrument every few songs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The boys from Thunder always deliver and my best gig of all time was seeing them at the old Astoria in London. Chris is also one of my biggest influences from when he and Harry were in South London, pub rock stalwarts, Bad Influence. A great player with a huge range of ability, great voice and a thoroughly nice chap. Hopefully, his bass wasn’t drowned out by a heavy kick drum mix (it normally is with Thunder ). I noticed the Status on Instagram, Chris does like to chop and change. He started with a Stingray in Thunder (they bought it for him), then his old, go to Jazz bass, then a Ricky and, until recently, the Sandberg. Looks like he’s using a Fender backline now, having used Orange for a significant period. He should join us on BC, his GAS would fit right in.

[sykilz]

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

The boys from Thunder always deliver and my best gig of all time was seeing them at the old Astoria in London. Chris is also one of my biggest influences from when he and Harry were in South London, pub rock stalwarts, Bad Influence. A great player with a huge range of ability, great voice and a thoroughly nice chap. Hopefully, his bass wasn’t drowned out by a heavy kick drum mix (it normally is with Thunder ). I noticed the Status on Instagram, Chris does like to chop and change. He started with a Stingray in Thunder (they bought it for him), then his old, go to Jazz bass, then a Ricky and, until recently, the Sandberg. Looks like he’s using a Fender backline now, having used Orange for a significant period. He should join us on BC, his GAS would fit right in.

 

We were about 8 rows from the front almost dead centre, so the sound wasn't too bad for Wembley, and for once the drums didn't drown out the bass!!! There was a decent amount of bite and definition to his sound, I don't doubt in a smaller venue it would have been very much better, but for a barn it was good. The vibe was great, Thunder do a very nice line in smile inducing rockers.

[ezbass]

5 minutes ago, sykilz said:

Thunder do a very nice line in smile inducing rockers.

Some of their onstage poses are cheesy, but that doesn’t stop them being entertaining poses. Clichés are clichés for a reason. Danny’s dad dancing is another matter altogether, however. 😂

 

Danny and Luke are the same age as me and went to school just down the road from where I used to live at that time. They even played my sister’s old pub. Given how tight knit and cliquey music can be, especially in your teens, I find it amazing that we never ran into each other. It’s only through Chris & Harry (and a work colleague’s recommendation) that I got into them at all. I also find it strange that they’re enjoying their biggest success and notoriety in their 60s. Given his recent health issues, Ben looks the fittest of all of them. So glad he recovered.

[Simon.]

Pet Shop Boys in Glasgow last night!

 

Not a bass in sight, but as always, they put on a hell of a show.

[kevin_lindsay]

Mayday Modfest 2022 in Glasgow on Saturday. 

 

Kenney Jones Band were headlining - they were rather pedestrian.  Left halfway through their set.

[Woodinblack]

35 minutes ago, kevin_lindsay said:

Mayday Modfest 2022 in Glasgow on Saturday. 

 

Kenney Jones Band were headlining - they were rather pedestrian.  Left halfway through their set.

 

You did or they did?

[alembic1989]

John McLaughlin & the 4th Dimension at the Barbican on Sat 28th.

[nekomatic]

I feel I ought to do a round-up of the Manchester Jazz Festival, as we did quite a lot of it this year. (If you feel otherwise, please skip to the next post.)

 

Daniel Casimir was great, I hadn't heard him live before and I'd seek him out in future.

Jasmine Myra, The Deportees and Emma Johnson's Gravy Boat all played fine lyrical contemporary jazz and Secret Night Gang decent jazz-funk or neo-soul or something.

Kara stood out, three singers (plus band) singing quirky soul type stuff in close harmony (apparently there's also a K-pop band by this name… it wasn't them).

Nguvu didn't quite live up to their billing for me, basically a competent funk covers band with a couple of good originals. Laetitia Alexandratos deserves mention for tearing it up on six-string bass though, especially as she was just depping and is usually their sax player 😮

The Intergalactic Brasstronauts played ska and reggae with a brass-heavy line-up including sousaphone and contrabass clarinet covering bass duties. Good party band but not mrs nekomatic's cup of tea.

 

Ruth Goller's SKYLLA was an absolute highlight for me - the sort of thing that you will either love, hate or ridicule, the latter not discouraged by the fact that the three of them perform in paper headdresses like goat or dog skulls, but I thought it was incredible. Goller creates sound textures on the bass, using a lot of harmonics and unpitched notes, and she and the two singers add vocals I assume are mostly improvised and for which my nearest reference point was Maggie Nichols, but to my ears often sounding a bit Lappish or otherwise Nordic. It was in the perfect setting of St. Ann's Church on a Wednesday lunchtime and I dragged a friend along who was generous enough to say he quite liked some of it. If that description makes you want to run a mile then fair enough, but you won't hear anyone creating a more individual sound with a bass guitar any time soon.

 

Zoë Rahman played a solo piano gig also in St. Ann's and was brilliant. 

 

Gary Crosby brought a sextet to do a show dedicated to Mingus and obviously this was a fine band and should have been bass heaven, but I couldn't shake off the feeling that it was all a bit polite compared to what Mingus must have been like live. I also can't quite shake off the feeling that I've never really got Mingus though, so maybe it's just me.

 

Ayanna Witter-Johnson was another great discovery - she sings (and would be talented enough if she just did that) while simultaneously funking out on cello, and is well worth checking out if you get the chance.

 

And last of all Tim Garland and his group themed around Chick Corea, who you would expect to be superb and yes, they were. I hadn't heard Conor Chaplin on bass before, and also Ant Law on guitar who was ace.

[Old Man Riva]

Jeff Beck at the Albert Hall last night.

 

It was a bit of a mixed bag - great to see Jeff Beck do his thing, and his band were excellent (though the sound/mix was massively dominated by the guitar, to the detriment of other instruments at times). On the flip side, he brought on Johnny Depp who, for me, added absolutely nothing to the gig (it was reminiscent at times of a Sunday lunchtime jam at the Dog & Duck where that one guy who always outstays his welcome still finds a way to shuffle back onto the stage).

 

Really pleased I finally got to see Mr Beck, but can't see myself ever mustering up one iota of effort to witness the musical talents of Mr Depp in the future...

 

"We love you Johnny!!"...

[toneknob]

Agree Jeff Beck was brilliant, Johnny Depp terrible, it ruined the show. And I've been looking forward to this show for over two years!

 

[casapete]

We’re in the Isle of Man doing a gig tonight in Douglas, but have been here since Monday.

Just along from the theatre we are playing there’s an open air stage running gigs, Big Stage @ 1886.

Primal Scream were playing on Monday, and then last night we caught Ed Force One, a local

tribute to Iron Maiden. Not my kind of thing but they played great and were quite authentic (according to our guitarist who like IM).

Very few people attending though, despite being free and also week 1 of the TT racing

event so a lot of people around. 

Tonight we’re up against Rag n Bone Man who I’d like to have seen, and later in the week there is 

James Bay, Madness, Nike Rodgers and Chic and The Darkness. 

Edited June 1, 2022 by casapete

[Lozz196]

A good range of artists there Pete

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

1 hour ago, Old Man Riva said:

Jeff Beck at the Albert Hall last night.

 

It was a bit of a mixed bag - great to see Jeff Beck do his thing, and his band were excellent (though the sound/mix was massively dominated by the guitar, to the detriment of other instruments at times). On the flip side, he brought on Johnny Depp who, for me, added absolutely nothing to the gig (it was reminiscent at times of a Sunday lunchtime jam at the Dog & Duck where that one guy who always outstays his welcome still finds a way to shuffle back onto the stage).

 

Really pleased I finally got to see Mr Beck, but can't see myself ever mustering up one iota of effort to witness the musical talents of Mr Depp in the future...

 

"We love you Johnny!!"...

I was there too. I quite enjoyed it.