Gigs

Really enjoyed seeing Pulp earlier this year glad you enjoyed them too.

JC is a legend and still delivers so well on stage and the band were surprisingly tight just a class act.

Also kept me very amused the looks of disbelief on the face of my wife (not knowing much pulp) at the perviness of some of Jarvis’s lyrics she had not heard before lol. They just don’t make music like this anymore…

Vote for my favourite Pulp song ever… Seconds… total genius!

I love Pulp, but yeah they're a bit on the dull side. Wet leg seems like a fairly odd choice for a supporting act, as they're a complete contrast to them in energy levels.

His lyrics are ace, for sure. Just can't really think of any musical moment - riff, chord change, whatever - in their music that gets me.

Also seeing Blur, although going on the Sunday.

I was at Pulp too - and thought they were excellent.

Wasn't ever into them in a big way, I know the hits just through exposure but until recently hadn't listened to their albums. My partner is a massive fan however, and so have listened to them more in recent times, but this was the first time seeing them, though I have seen Jarvis a couple of times on his own.

We were in the front section, and the crowd was excellent right from the off through to the encore. Standout for me was This Is Hardcore - what a track!

Enjoyed Baxters set, but missed Wet Leg. Had gone to the bar for a top up to be greeted with massive queues everywhere, and we somehow picked the worst of the lot, as we joined the queue at 7 and only got served at 7.55! Ended up buying 2 pints of rum punch each so we didn't have to go back. Having been at Glastonbury the weekend before, and never waited more than 5 mins to get served even at the busiest bars I thought it was shocking, really really bad planning.

Jarvis Cocker is a legend. If he had not fronted up such an iconic Indie Pop (correct classification?) band then he could have easily have been a 1st class poet. So lucky that they have brought Pulp back for us... hoping for some new material next year! (pleeeease!)

Saw Hozier at the Castlefield Bowl in Manchester with Teskey Bros. supporting.

Firstly, cracking little outdoor venue.

Teskey Bros. are great musicians - and the singer is basically a white Otis Redding - but there’s not much oomph to it and it’s a bit like all the more MoR parts of Tedeschi Trucks band without the jazzy virtuoso soloing to break it up. Much better live but my attention did wander.

Hozier was simply amazing apart from the one song of his I hate. ‘To Be Alone’ is one of the most powerful things I’ve ever heard live. Really recommend seeing him if you have any sort of affinity with his music.

Wasn’t prepared for the screaming girls. It was like being at a Bieber concert at times. And they did it at every bloody guitar break so I couldn’t hear them!

Saw Midnight (w/ Devestator) this evening.

Both acts are best described as blackened thrash / speed metal. Devestator probably leaned slightly more into the black metal side of things, but only slightly, as a few of their songs had that tremelo picking riffage heard in black metal - though more than a few of their songs went heavily into the duel guitar riffs of speed and classic metal like Judas Priest. Wasn't really familiar with their work but I liked it a lot.

Midnight were a lot of fun. Whilst I knew a few of their songs I've never really gotten into them deeply, but I think I'll explore their discography a bit now. They've been around for 20 years - this tour is billed as their 20th anniversary tour - and they know what they're doing. Whilst they're also rooted in blackened thrash, I was surprised at just how punk they sounded - many of their songs are based around three chord riffs and gang vocals. Or maybe they're just based in rock and roll, but played loud. But imagine what Motorhead or really early Metallica did, that kind of thrashy sound with an obvious punk influence and it's not far off.

Anyway, was a fun night, but now I'm tired.

And what a fucking great gig it was...

And also Blur, but on Sunday. Really good mix of songs, including a few very unexpected ones. Still so much energy and they clearly can't believe the amount of love they get from the crowd. Following Under the Westway, Albarn literally broke down in tears at the reception. It was a magical moment.

Still not worked out was going on with the polar bear though.

Saw what is left of The Who in St Helens last, most of the show being with a full orchestra. Largely amazing, although I do wish they’d let Zak’s Starkey play a real drum kit and not e-drums - I know it’s about managing stage volume particularly for the two deaf original members but it does rob some power.

One of the seven different competing iterations of UB40 in support who meshed as well with the angriest and most intellectual band of the 60s and early 70s as you’d expect. Mrs liked them.

Awful audience though, have scarcely seen anything like it. It was like watching a cup final in a pub. More interested in queuing for trays of beer than the band, people CONSTANTLY walking in and out of the place, facing the wrong way and having shouty conversations, people dashing for cover and leaving the middle of the stadium empty because of a bit of drizzle.

A huge exodus to the toilets for Emminence Front (which was amazing) and worse still, I’m One, which you’d expect a Who crowd to know and go nuts for The majority of the audience didn’t even recognise *Pinball Wizard* until the DU NUNN! bit came in. FFS. Definitely a sizeable proportion of that crowd who just can’t conceive of the idea of a night out without getting tanked up on pint after pint. Massively distracting and a lot of disrespect for the artist IMO. The much younger crowd at Hozier the other week were the complete opposite.

Sorry if I sound like some kind of puritan, it’s just how I felt.

Meh…do you like Blur? I really don’t care for them…but I don’t hate this business model.

It’s harder than ever to make money from music so diversifying is potentially good for them. I bought a couple of these types of streams over lockdown and didn’t regret them. It can depend on the site and bandwidth of its servers whether it’s stable. But although it’s not got anything like their atmospheric punch of an actual live gig this is potentially a good way for a potentially international audience to all have the same chance to witness a unique event firsthand. Price is very, very reasonable as these things go.

I'm sure Blur aren't short of a way of making a bob or two.

I can't even be arsed watching things like glasto being broadcast on BBC, let alone some random streaming solution. For gigs you lose so much of the experience from not actually being there. I'd need to *really* love an act to be bothered with sitting through a live performance of their stuff on my sofa.