In line with the annual, "Gigs for…" threads, where people post reviews and have general discussion about shows they see throughout the year, I'm starting this off, as we don't have one yet.
Paul Heaton was brilliant last night. Banger after banger from Beautiful South and Housemartins back catalogues and some good stuff from his solo albums too. Rianne has a stunning voice which fits in perfectly.
Always had a soft spot for Lightning Seeds as well so great to have them as support. Top night all round.
The Vaselines tonight....
Nearly dropped my phone when Bucket played their Intro tonight in Whelan’s. A sledgehammer of noise!
Realised after about 15 minutes I still had my earbuds in but when I took them off, it was so loud, I put them back on again for the rest of the set. Dublin band.
Support were ace too, no idea who they were though. 🙄
Zeal & Ardor in the Academy tonight was fantastic, love the use of 3 vocalists layering the vocals. They all make it look effortless, great setlist too, even got an extra unexpected tune.
Spiritualized in the Theatre Royal Glasgow was another successful night. Lovely fully seated venue, think of a plusher, way more comfortable Olympia. Gig wasn't quite as good as Dublin but still quality. Fantastic sound, but like Dublin could've been slightly louder. Such a joy to see one of my favourite bands rediscover their fire after many years, for me anyway, of frustrating gigs. I've been absolutely buzzing since Thursday. They may be touring an old album but it's no nostagia trip.
A good celebration of Nordic culture with Wardruna at the Olympia theatre on Sunday evening. I'm not very familiar with their music but they came highly recommended by a friend, whose opinion I value a lot. Great use of traditional instruments, namely frame drums/percussion, horns and small harp variations and a very effective light design that projected shadows on the back wall.
Support from cellist Jo Quail. With only her electric cello and some loops (both prerecorded and recorded on the spot), she created some lovely soundscapes.
Six Organs of Admittance in the Bello Bar last night was grand. Just Ben Chasny solo so it was never going to be the same as the band setup. Droney, finger picking, folksy material was the order of the day, though he did manage to squeeze a Melvins cover in there! 1 hour and he was done. Overall, some of it i enjoyed a lot and some not so much. Hope he returns with a band at some point, although considering the last time was nearly 20 years ago i won't hold my breath.
Anyone been to the Roundhouse in London? How was the sound?
Saw Skunk Anansie there this evening and the sound was abysmal. Really frustrating as they were giving it socks, but it just wasn't right. Still enjoyed it, but could just feel like I wasn't getting what they were delivering
Discussing afterwards though, I can't think of a better frontperson in rock than Skin these days (or, I'd argue, the last 30yrs!). She's 57, still crowdsurfing, once atop a giant inflatable pig that she fell off, still didn't miss a beat. In the crowd orchestrating the moshpit, belting out the tunes, incredible range from screaming to delicate falsetto, she's properly incredible
But yeah, Roundhouse, crap sound 😕
Shame, great looking venue
Never been to the Roundhouse myself, I have a copy of the Rifles live at the roundhouse and it sounds terrible so I don't listen to it. Always thought it was just a bad recording/pressing but having read your post it might be an accurate recording....
I was in the Roundhouse for Gary Numan last year and the sound was excellent
roundhouse has always sounded great for shows I’ve attended there. mark it down to bad sound engineer for the artist
I was really looking forward to Bilk in the Workmans tonight. Spiked is one of my favourite shmuunes
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/25okjgqZUh1zWvtEm3KFep?si=MYVGE7DKSRWCfUtRSHtZqQ&pi=C-B07WkPTWK6s
Fuckers wouldn’t play it. 🤬
That's more disappointing in a way, but good to know. Cheers guys
Might be of interest to some. A remarkably well shot video of the full Spiritualized set from their second night at the Barbican last week.
Epic, that got me home without rage after the mess around the Naas Road tonight
Divorce brilliant in the Workman's tonight. Really brilliant. They have such a bank of fantastic songs now. They just have a slightly different slant on songwriting than anybody else I know. His guitar is so quirky, her vocals the same. Beautiful harmonies. I think they're really special. Crowd in the Workman's agreed. Small venue, sound crowd, homemade, band painted **** backdrop, everything as it should be. Loved it.
Oh and kudos to the sound desk. Sound was fantastic.
We know the drill by now so i won't write anything else 😉
Ha! Were you there?
I was. I liked their first ep but wasn't too keen on what i heard subsequently. Figured i'd give them a go anyway. Ah they were grand like, but ultimately not really for me. The bassist is totally my kind of woman though! Plus a nice wee bonus of being charged only €17 on the door. A fiver saved there i think…it all adds up!
You're a gas man. I wouldn't have had them down as your cuppa at all at all.
They have some bangers all right - Antartica & All my Freaks. Enjoyed the harmonies, veering toward alt country / americana. Thought mid set after Antartica lulled a little, possibly an unfair critism given they only have one album.
17 different items of merch. on offer including tea towels and socks, boring me just picked up a T-shirt (paid for mind ;-))
Agree about the songwriting / lyrics eg. there are a lot of layers to Mercy - domestic violence?
Funny you mention sound I thought it was off (bass?) for the final few songs of the support act - Holly ???
Holly Munro. I know what you mean about the last few songs of her set. The bass tones definitely seemed to jump in volume.
Solid gig I thought, pretty polished for a young band, not too much faffing between songs and just the right amount of chat
As granite head says, they certainly have some bangers , should pick up an audience on the festival circuit,. for me I much prefer the latter half of the new album,
Lambrini Girls - well just mad. H&S out the window, didn't think she would jump but she did. Never heard an English band to F@ck UK and also call for an United Ireland, just as well there isn't a NI leg to their tour. Political & angry - Female successors to The Idles. Very ecletic audience - young and old punks and a few skins.
Hot Girl, didn't warm to their initial songs, ok toward the end.
Lambrini Girls in Whelans tonight. Just like the first time i saw Amyl & The Sniffers, i'd had enough at the 45 minute mark. Sure it was energetic and whatnot but all the crowd interaction got pretty tedious. I know their songs are short and they have to pad out the set but still… Nice bass tones though! I'll probably give them another go but like Amyl, Idles and a host of others i suspect i'll lose interest pretty quickly.
As for Hotgirl? I've seen them four times in the past year and they get less interesting every time. Bass player needs to be got rid of too as he seems to be under the impression he's a comedian. He's not.
The Tubs supported by Soft on Crime and Oh Boland. Great night. Soft on Crime fantastic. They style themselves as Psych pop but loads of Mod in there, really enjoyed them. Oh Boland brilliant, loved them. God Knows what you'd classify them as, a bit of punk, a bit of alt country, all sorts. Loved them.
And the Tubs fantastic. Much better live than on record.
Maybe don't expect much if your heading to Ryan Adams. I'm on mobile, dunno if link will work correctly
https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/s/oFfDZgBcHw
David Gray, Sat 5th April. What a very strange vibe, I felt sorry for him people coming and going every time he sang anything that wasn’t on White Ladder. He picked up on it quick enough, calling it the world’s biggest pub. Trouble up in the gods as a pair of eejits chanted Free Palestine were ejected. Security far too slow to react. He forgot the words to one song and said in jest it was due to all of the fannying around. David Gray himself was again suberb, a large majority of the crowd unfortunately were not.
I would have preferred to be at the Lambrini Girls, even with DW’s review. 😉
Really? Were you there? Ah I had a great night. Horses for courses, innit?
Yeah. It was all ok. A few sparks but my bones were not shaken. But it was a night out supporting live music, always better than a night in. 😉
