Who did you see live last?

[mr4stringz]

Tyler Ramsey (Ed-Band of Horses guitarist) at St Pancras Old Church on Monday.

Beautiful venue and a superb gig. His fingerpicking is great.

His new album, For the Morning, is highly recommended too if you like the singer/songwriter thing...

 

 

[HazBeen]

Scott Thunes .... with a hologram Zappa!

Edited May 23, 2019 by HazBeen

[Thunderpaws]

Saw Feeder last night at the inaugural Vibrations Festival in Falkirk. As always they were excellent. 

Taka played brilliantly all night, full of energy and his sound was great. The Rickenbacker sounded grindy but with too much bottom to start. Sound guy sorted that. He also played a cool looking gretschy shaped bass that sounded killer. 

Have to say, for a wee event in Falkirk, dubbed as a family festival, Feeder really turned it on. It was great seeing some of the kids first experience at a gig with a band like Feeder🤪🤟

I missed all the other acts due to family stuff but The Coral were there as were Alabama 3 even though their front man, Jake Black, passed away only a day or so before. 

[rOB]

Lizzo last night at the O2 Ritz in Manchester. What a voice! What charisma!

[casapete]

On ‎19‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 23:38, casapete said:

Yola at the Caroline Street social club in Saltaire. Sold out gig (200 capacity) , wonderful venue. My fears when seeing the small Mackie PA were unfounded, as the sound was faultless.

One of the most outstanding gigs I’ve been to in recent years. Amazing young band - keys, guitar, drums, pedal steel and bass ( electric and DB) all playing to serve the wonderful songs. Yola was simply incredible, her vocals never failing to reach out and connect. We managed to get seats near the front, and were mesmerised throughout. If you get chance to catch her on the rest of the tour you won’t be disappointed. Dates coming up in Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham, London , Bristol and Brighton.

Not a great picture, but you can see what a small and great gig this was. Bassist played probably 50/50 upright and electric. The electric was an old P-bass style (Sakai?) in sunburst, sounded fantastic.

Edited May 27, 2019 by casapete

[mangotango]

On ‎20‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 10:26, mangotango said:

Mrs. Mango and myself have just been added to a group going to see Marcus Miller on Sunday 26th. 

Massively excited about that. Report to follow......

Report follows.....

 

Got there late and only saw the last two numbers by the support, Emma-Jean Thackray and her band. She played vocals/trumpet/electronics; band included keys, a v. good drummer...and the bass was played on a Sousaphone, which from my seat in the rear stalls, sounded like a whale gargling. Shame really, some interesting musical ideas going on overall. Won't be adding one of those to the instruments of Bass Destruction any time soon...ever.

Marcus....last time I saw him at this venue, there were real sound problems and the band sounded out of time with one another, particularly the trumpeter. This time started off exactly the same, and everything sounded a bit quiet and polite. Things got much better by the second number, though the trumpet still sounded out of time occasionally.....weird.

Anyway, loads of stuff from the new album, none of it bad; plus, since it would have been Miles Davis' birthday, he played 3 Davis tunes, beaches Brew, Amandla and of course Tutu, the last two of which he composed for Miles. Dramatic rearrangements of all 3.

Usual signature bass played, plus a sunburst fretless that sounded good. Wasn't sure from way back in the rear stalls, but it might have be one of his Sire basses? And despite what you might think, with a walking bass-line on Tutu, much old-school pluckage on the Davis numbers and the fretless included, it wasn't just a non-stop slapfest. Yes, this was Marcus Miller, so of course there was still a load of gank bass going on, but there was more to it than that.

Marcus also brought on a young English saxophonist, Sam Healey from Beats'n'Pieces, to play on a few numbers and he absolutely stormed it!! There's a really bright future for him I think.

Edited May 28, 2019 by mangotango
I can't type. I know what I'm saying; I just can't type it.

[cetera]

Saw our very own resident @Hamster on Friday night in Horsham playing with his Quo tribute supporting Quo man Rhino Edwards. Nice solid grooves from our man on a stealth black Stingray!

[Pat2019]

Went to see Loyle Carner in Grand Social here in Dublin. Excellent show, he really grabbed the crowd and kept them going!

Only two others on stage with him guy on decks and.......a bass player! Did a great job and I’ve got GAS for the Laney Nexus SLS rig he was using! Didn’t catch his name, sorry!

Next up is Cedric Burnside tomorrow followed by Primal Scream/ Charlatans/ Fun Loving Criminals on Sunday with Elbow/Spiritualized on Monday after which it gets quiet for a month.

[Roger2611]

Theatre of Hate on May 18th

Chameleons Vox on May 22nd

Stiff Little Fingers tonight in Leamington.........I have been a good boy!!

 

[Japhet]

At the Red Rooster Festival near Thetford this weekend. Last night was very impressed with William the Conqueror (especially the female bass player who played some really nice stuff and had a great tone). Here's a YT offering.

 

[cetera]

Saw Tower Of Power at the Royal Albert Hall last night! Fantastic grooves (as expected) but shame it took half the set for anyone to realise that the bass DI wasn't working! You'd think the soundman would have noticed....

New singer has some serious pipes and the horns were on it as always but I prefer seeing them in a more intimate venue. Something about the energy/need to dance didn't transfer to the more polite RAH.

[pete.young]

44 minutes ago, Japhet said:

At the Red Rooster Festival near Thetford this weekend. Last night was very impressed with William the Conqueror (especially the female bass player who played some really nice stuff and had a great tone). Here's a YT offering.

 

Just on my way over there now, hope to catch them on the.LRR stage.

[foxyFuze]

Ex Hex at the Exchange, Bristol.  Rock is still very much alive, and it was great to see some old-school twin shredding by these ladies. Good to see a band enthusiastic and appreciative about the audience, nor did they mess around either; they must have got through nearly every song they've done - the advantage of doing 3-4 minute no-nonsense rock tunes.

 

 

[steantval]

9 hours ago, Japhet said:

At the Red Rooster Festival near Thetford this weekend. Last night was very impressed with William the Conqueror (especially the female bass player who played some really nice stuff and had a great tone). Here's a YT offering.

Wonder if they may have listened to the Feelgoods.

 

Edited May 31, 2019 by steantval

[Monkey Steve]

Camden Rocks at the weekend - one of those festivals where they take over most of the venues in town and armed with your wristband you can wander around and see as many different bands at as many different venues as you want.  Reasonable size headliners at the bigger venues, some well known names on the undercard, and plenty of new bands to discover.  Emphasis on "Rocks" - loads of punk, metal, indy and rock bands

Saturday turned into a bit of a lost afternoon as I bumped into a couple of mates who were working as crew and alcohol beckoned.  So many shots at random venues watching random bands.  Didn't remember having been to the Black Heart until yesterday when i checked my bank account and saw that I'd bought a round in there...

Of the unknown (to me) Angerland and Repair to Ruin really impressed at the Dev.  The headliner I picked for Saturday was New Model Army at the Underworld.  I'm a big fan anyway, and while I thoroughly enjoyed them and they played well, I did think that they picked a slightly obtuse set list - playing songs in the main set that the fans will recognise but not necessarily the casual listener.  the encore made up for that, but IMHO bands playing festivals are missing a trick if they don't appeal to a crowd who may not have seen them before and might not know much of their stuff.

Best band of the weekend - Angelic Upstarts.  Hadn't seen them before and don't know much of their stuff so was expecting a lot of shouty Oi! but offered far more.  Honourable mentions for Discharge, The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing and My Hollow My Home.

On my "OK, I don't need to see them again" list were The Glamour Of The Kill and Ash.  Just not for me.

It expanded from just a Saturday to two days this year, and it didn't really work. The quality of the bands across the two days was maintained, but the crowd just didn't come out for the Sunday - I was stood in the Underworld as one of a couple of dozen watching when Raging Speedhorn came on (though more joined as they played) and saw it half empty for Discharge, playing later slots on the Sunday than lower profile bands who packed it out on the Saturday

[Woodinblack]

3 hours ago, Monkey Steve said:

Camden Rocks at the weekend

I went there a few years ago, some stuff was ok but not really much that grabbed me.

3 hours ago, Monkey Steve said:

Honourable mentions for Discharge, The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing and My Hollow My Home.

I saw the men that will not be blamed for nothing supporting someone a few years ago and they were good.

 

[Monkey Steve]

2 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I went there a few years ago, some stuff was ok but not really much that grabbed me.

 

I think it depends how you look at it and what you want from the festival.  What always strikes me about Camden Rocks is the sheer volume of music that's happening - 20 venues, all of them with bands on constantly from midday. Outside of the later slots at the bigger venues there weren't a huge amount of big names, so it's going to be a bit of pot luck in what you get to see at some of the smaller stages.  So you can intricately plan your day to see exactly what bands you want and plot your route from venue to venue, or pick out a couple of highlights and see what else you happen across.

I was probably more of the former last year, and more of the latter this time.  Probably because there were more "name" bands that I wanted to see last year...maybe not in total and i wonder if that was the consequence of stretching it across two days.  Fortunately it worked it fine for me...although I was all festivalled out by early evening on the Sunday and with no bands that i was too fussed about seeing was happy to wander off.

[Woodinblack]

18 hours ago, Monkey Steve said:

I think it depends how you look at it and what you want from the festival.  What always strikes me about Camden Rocks is the sheer volume of music that's happening - 20 venues, all of them with bands on constantly from midday.

Agreed - I didn't know anyone apart from a few people I had heard mention (who turned out to be the least interesting). Its unfair to say that nothing was good, there were some groups I was very impressed by although my memory is a bit rubbish and I either can't remember who they were, or didn't know in the first place.

I do think it is a good idea, thats for sure, even if it is a little chaotic.

 

[bartelby]

Just got back from seeing Nick Cave do one of his conversation gigs. Question and answers and songs. It was highly entertaining...

 

[Stub Mandrel]

10 hours ago, bartelby said:

Just got back from seeing Nick Cave do one of his conversation gigs. Question and answers and songs. It was highly entertaining...

 

Sponsored by British Gas?

 

 

[dmccombe7]

Ultimate Bowie at Motherwell last night. Another fantastic tribute to the late great David Bowie.

Probably the best tribute act i've seen.

Dave

[casapete]

Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets in Hull on Friday. Absolutely superb gig at a great venue, Jubilee Central. Los Straitjackets are an American band channelling 60's surf / twang sounds but somehow making them sound up to date. They perform in Mexican wrestlers (Lucha Libre) masks throughout! Two guitars, bass and drums, all great players. Their performance was just full of humour but still totally spot on - really entertaining. They also served as the backing band for Nick Lowe, who was on superb form. Nick treated us to a great selection of his songs, from old to new. At 70 he is still in great shape and voice, sounding just superb. Two encores, the last one being a solo version of Elvis Costello's 'Alison' when you could have heard a pin drop - breathtaking stuff. One of the best gigs I've seen in ages, if you get chance to see them on this tour then you won't be disappointed. ( Apologies for the crappy photos!)

 

[Monkey Steve]

Back from Download over the weekend.  Didn't see the "biblical levels of mud" that the media was reporting, and while some of my mates that were camping reported that it was much worse there than in the arena itself, the reports of the crowds all leaving on Thursday night seemed to be the media taking a couple of tweets and running with them (in the wrong direction).

As ever with Download, organisation was patchy: having arranged to meet at the Real Ale Bar, we arrived to find that the Real Ale Bar had in fact been relocated into a different field, and the map hadn't been updated.  And wasn't opening until 3.00.  And as ever had a pretty poor selection of beer when you got to the front of the massively long queue that rapidly formed on the first day.

Highlights were Me First & The Gimme Gimme's, Beartooth and Slayer, with honourable mentions for Power Trip, Slash, Deadland Ritual and Last In Line.  But my favourite band of the weekend was Elvana - a band doing a mix of Elvis and Nirvana songs, just a joyous celebration of the music that turned into a huge sing-a-long.  I'm not sure it would work nearly as well outside of a festival.  Became a bit of a guilty confession amongst people we spoke to, as soon as you said you'd loved their set they felt a weight being lifted and could agree just how good they were.

[Monkey Steve]

So for the benefit of @Graham 🤘😂🤘

On my way home from Fen at the Underworld.  Didn’t get to see Pete, sorry, Havenless play drums because he’s on holiday in the Lake District. Rock n roll isn’t what it was

so drinking with them ahead of the show we decided that the dep deserved a Fen stage name and picked one from the. Brewdog  beer menu so he shall forevermore be known as Origami Orangutan.

possibly because of having a dep drummer the set was quite straight ahead death metal, and not too heavy in their usual atmospherics.  A lot in the crowd who hadn’t seen them Before were very impressed, as was I.  Only one new song (well, only one song that they announced as new...honestly I couldn’t tell you otherwise).  Again, fast and quite direct,  it I don’t know whether that’s a reflection of the new album or just the easiest one for the drummer to pick up at short notice.

i then popped outside as I had a missed call from my parents - best to check that nobody has died. Nobody dead,  it trains are knackered so I said goodbye to the band and headed off without seeing Vltimas. 😤

[Graham]

I'm looking forward to their new album, I won't be too disapointed if the new album is more straight ahead, Winter was good, but far too long