Who did you see live last?

[Bassfinger]

Took the Missus to see Hugh Jackman in June, and to my shame I enjoyed it.  Didn't realise he was a multi instrumentalist.  

Prior to that it was Ian Anderson, who still belts it out with gusto in his 70's.

 

[radiophonic]

Nordic Giants. We supported them at a festival in Nottingham and even then I have no idea what they look like without the costumes. This is a few years ago, but it's what they do.

 

 

[Paul S]

On 08/10/2019 at 18:56, Baxlin said:

Saw Albert Lee in concert a couple of weeks ago at the 200 seat theatre in Tring.

Absolutely brilliant.

I've seen him a few times over the past few years - in Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings and on his own at the Apex Theatre in Bury St Edmunds.  The man is a god.

Speaking of the Apex, I saw the James Taylor Quartet there a couple of weeks back - superb.

[mr4stringz]

Helmet last night in Manchester. They were flippin’ ace. And Page Hamilton is still rocking a pink ESP.

 

 

[NancyJohnson]

I saw Mike Peters of The Alarm last Friday in Fleet, Hampshire.

It was somewhat excruciating.  Two 55 minute sets of just him, an acoustic guitar and a bass drum, followed by a short run of Alarm material.  He was doing this odd story arc thing, deep diving tracks from two of The Alarm's later albums Eye Of The Hurricane and Change, linking everything together with short speeches like, 'And the angel showed itself to me and said, 'You have come so far but you are One Step Closer To Home'.  And so on.  Like I said, excruciating.  He lost his audience after about five minutes; people just talking and on their phones.  Also, while I thought that we were in row J, we were actually on table J - the whole thing felt like being at a wedding reception, but without the suits.

While it feels like Mike is on a mission to keep The Alarm's legacy alive - and credit to him for doing this - but this backfired spectacularly and it made me want to never listen to Declaration or Strength (AKA 'The Good Stuff') again.

[Monkey Steve]

1 hour ago, mr4stringz said:

Helmet last night in Manchester. They were flippin’ ace. And Page Hamilton is still rocking a pink ESP.

 

 

off to see them in Islington tonight

not helped by the fact that I have a meeting at Camden Council starting at 4.00 and have to be out of bed at 4.30 tomorrow morning to get to the midlands for a presentation

Hoping to make it by the time they kick off...might not stay for the whole encore...though I've seen the set lists they've been posting and don't want to miss the songs they're saving for last

what time did they start/finish?

[mr4stringz]

3 hours ago, Monkey Steve said:

off to see them in Islington tonight

not helped by the fact that I have a meeting at Camden Council starting at 4.00 and have to be out of bed at 4.30 tomorrow morning to get to the midlands for a presentation

Hoping to make it by the time they kick off...might not stay for the whole encore...though I've seen the set lists they've been posting and don't want to miss the songs they're saving for last

what time did they start/finish?

They were on a little after 8 and it was done for just on 10. Worth sticking around for the lot though for sure, they were ace. Had similar woes as live near Birmingham so up about 5 this morning to get back from Manc for work!

 

Enjoy!

[sykilz]

Got a last minute ticket to see Alice Cooper, thought the band were really good, lots of great 80's style shredding guitar from Nita Strauss if that's your thing then you'll love this tour. Good set list too , I thought, and he can still sing as well as any 70 year old rocker.

Support was the Stranglers, I only really know the singles but they seemed like they didn't want to be there. Golden Brown ( which I love) sounded, to me, awful, like a bunch of amateurs playing it, and the singing wasn't good. Things did improve on the more punky/rocky songs and No More Heroes went down well.

[DJ '65]

Went to see Walter Trout last week at the Birmingham town hall. First time I’ve seen him (late to the party again) and thought he and his band were awesome! Funny thing though, I’ve never seen a pro bass player break a string live, the bass player broke 2.

[ezbass]

23 minutes ago, DJ '65 said:

Funny thing though, I’ve never seen a pro bass player break a string live, the bass player broke 2.

I saw Mo Foster break one back in the ‘80s when he was touring with Jeff Beck (awesome gig). If memory serves, he was playing an Alembic.

[BreadBin]

Hell Death Fury at the Three Horseshoes in Bradford on Avon.

Awesome metal/ska mashup and very entertaining.

[Nothingman]

Sebadoh. Met Lou Barlow and Geddy Lees nephew! 

[Attie]

Hi .went to the local bikers clubhouse called the yardbirds saw a clash tribute playing the london calling album due to  it being 40 years since it was released .very good does'nt time fly.regards to all Attie.

[T-Bay]

Saw the Cult in Birmingham, Ian Astbury’s voice was stunning, the sound was perfect (something the O2 doesn’t always manage) and a great set including the first ever live version of Edie complete with a strings section. They were brilliant and a good pick me up as I was feeling terrible due to my arthritis flaring up (glad we had seats!). One of the support bands stood out too - The Last Internationale, superb live performance from them.

[Paul S]

I went to see Christopher Cross at the Cliff's Pavilion in Southend last night.  I had only ever heard 3 of his tunes before - hated Arthur's theme, quite liked 'Sailing' and really liked 'Ride Like The Wind'.  I thought - he was a massive star back in the day so it must be good.

Nope.  Left at half time.  His voice, never strong, was a flat, lifeless squeak that didn't ever quite make it to the pitch of the note.   He had the stage presence and charisma of a discarded toenail.  His songs were soul-less dirges.  The sound was not very well balanced, drums were massively loud (although it did go some way to drowning out Mr Cross's voice), could barely hear the bass.  The swirly keys and stupid little sax thingy just made my gorge rise, trying to emulate that huge 80s production sound live just didn't work.  His flashy guitar licks were ott and out of context.  Easily the worst gig I have seen for a couple of years.

Hey ho.  Had a nice meal out anyway.

[MacDaddy]

The Cult, at the Hammersmith Odeon last Sunday. They were better than when I last saw them 5-6 years ago, but they were missing a second guitarist which came through on a number of songs, despite the keyboard player trying to cover.

 

[BreadBin]

I just got back from seeing the Neville Staple Band at the Cheese and Grain in Frome. A fantastic show, loads of energy and plenty of crowd pleasers (although Ghost Town wasn't the same without Terry Hall's mournful tones and needed the low parts too - I'm really nit-picking here though!)

It must have been good, I've sung myself hoarse!

[pst62]

UFO back in 2015. An hour and a half of Vinnie Moore ruining their classics did nowt for my Tinnitus.

 

[deepbass5]

Blow Monkeys - this week

Very good too -  Great vocals and guitar work by Dr Robert and some very good bass playing, all very tight and pro as you would hope

so worth checking them out   *****

 

[Paul S]

From the ridiculous (Christopher Cross, see above) to the sublime.  Saw Rival Sons at Brixton Academy last night and this morning I am still smiling.  Proper rock band.  Saw them supporting Black Sabbath a couple of years back, even better to see a whole set.  Good original songs powerfully delivered.  Jay Buchanan has a remarkable set of pipes!

Anyone wanting pre-gig food could do worse than visit 500 Degrees, a pizza place with a wood-fired pizza oven, that is just a few mins walk away.  Cheap by London standards, too.

[Graham]

I was working at the Damnation Festival in Leeds on Saturday, I saw half of Wheel, Raging Speedhorn, heard most of Mgla as I was loading in Mayhem during their set, about half of Primordial, Alcest, Mayhem and then the last 25 minutes of Opeth.

It was a long, hard day and some of the bands were difficult - most were no trouble at all - but very satisfying nonetheless.

Alcest and Raging Speedhorn were my highlights of the day, Wheel and Mgla were good too. I'm a big Opeth fan so I was disappointed to miss most of them but I'd seen the set list so I knew it was skewed towards their modern stuff which I like less; what I saw was very good though.

Primordial were a surprise, I've never really got into them, but they were great live, will have to listen to a full album

[DaytonaRik]

I went to see the chat/acoustic event with Luke Morely and Danny Bowes front Thunder - two incredibly talented musicians who can take an out and out rock track and play it on an acoustic and still make it sound great!  And boy, does Danny have a set of pipes!

[Buzzy]

Friday night I saw John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett. A great evenings entertainment and unlike anything you've ever seen.

 

[deepbass5]

I thought Mr Otway and Barrett would be playing bridge in an old folks home somewhere in their slippers

Good on um, still doing the buizz

[Stub Mandrel]

Saw Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons last night, the Tramshed in Cardiff.

Well, they did play three Motorhead songs, but the crowd sang along from start to finish for a set crammed with their own material - including two songs from his new solo Album that's only been out for about a fortnight. Probably one of the most enthusiastic and joyous crowds I've ever been in, and a complete and balanced age range too. Funnily enough the song that went down best was probably Silver Machine though! They completely avoid the trap of just being a backdrop for Phil showcasing as a solo guitarist - all solos were short and too the point, and equally shared with Todd Campbell whose grimacing was as entertaining as his playing (he doesn't half look like the late lamented Maartin Allcock too!)

Support was King Creature, who describe themselves as old-school metal but have a touch of thrash about them. They were bloody good too, very confident and polished, really know what they are doing.

In another thread there was much discussion of headliners giving support bands a less favourable sound/lights etc.  King Creature not only got an excellent mix, but the full lightshow (although it was fairly unsophisticated for either band) and although maybe not quite as loud in the round their kick drum was definitely the loudest thing all night. A definite case of letting the support give their best paying off with a totally pumped crowd when PC&TBS came on.

One thing I did notice was that Neil Starr was a lot less sweary than when I saw them in Glasgow. Probably explained by his mum (and I suspect Mrs Phil and others) being in the audience!

I don't think I've bounced around like last night since I was in my early 20s and I woke up feeling like I'd been beaten up. Interesting that few years ago some 'rock journos' were suggesting that Phil was destined to spend the rest of his days as a Motorhead tribute/novelty act - definitely not!

End of the night I went to the Merch stand and who should sell me a t-shirt other than Tim Atkinson, bass player with leader of Down, who were support on the previous tour 🙂

& King Creature: