1114th
Oct

It’s been a bumper week for me with two gigs one after the other. The first was the fantastic Horrors at the Roundhouse (see previous entry for my review), and the second was IAMX at Heaven last night.

It was a pretty early one due a 10pm curfew, and the band came onstage at 8pm with no support act. It’s a good thing I checked the Heaven website as I was planning on moseying up there around half 8! I saw IAMX rather a lot on their last two tours so I got quite used to the stage presence of their touring drummer and bassist. Since the new album came out they have replaced most of their live musicians which feels weird and strange to me, so the only familiar face is Chris Corner, the man behind IAMX himself. (There is always Janine, but I strongly dislike her, so I rather wish she wasn’t a familiar face..) This coupled with the fact I haven’t listening to their newest album a whole lot meant I started off the gig in a rather apathetic mood. Who were these strange people on stage playing songs I didn’t like or know?

I changed my mind pretty swiftly as they kicked off with the two strongest songs on their new album, ‘Into Asylum’ and ‘Music People’, followed by a few more crowd pleasers in the form of the stomping club anthem ‘Nightlife’ and the ethereal single ‘Ghosts of Utopia’. Just as I was getting into the swing of things, they then played a block of slower (and in my opinion, more boring) songs which reverted me to my previous doom and gloom mood. I still think it’s a travesty that they continue to play ‘Tear Garden’ live instead of the far superior ‘Kingdom of Welcome Addiction’. Chris Corner, despite an ankle injury, was ever the emphatic front man and they kicked it up a notch again with a slew of singles and fan favourites. The encore was everything I could have hoped for with ‘Bring Me Back A Dog’ and ‘Spit It Out’ bringing the show to a dizzying conclusion. Overall I think I enjoyed myself, although it possibly came more from the older tracks than some of the newer offerings. Although if you have not seen IAMX live much, you will still be impressed by the vigour and pomp they inject into their live show, so they are well worth the ticket price.

The setlist was:

Into Asylum
Music People
Nightlife
Ghosts of Utopia
My Secret Friend
Fire and Whispers
Tear Garden
Oh Beautiful Town
Volatile Times
Think of England
Nature of Inviting
Cold Red Light
Kiss & Swallow
——————————-
Bernadette
The Alternative
Bring Me Back A Dog
Spit It Out

I only have a few passable photos (A combination of bad lighting and distance), but you will find some excellent shots at Sophie Garrett’s flickr.

114th
Oct

You know how I mentioned earlier that Metronomy keep getting better every time I see them? Well that’s still true. Seriously, I’ve seen them about 5 times this year and at the end of every gig I think, well that was amazing, it really can’t get better. And then it does! I’ve been a fan of them since I saw them supporting CSS in 2007, so it’s been nice to see them grow from a band that used poundland push lights on their chests into a band that now have a large fanbase and got nominated for a Mercury Music Prize. It was this nomination that meant they could play the vast Royal Albert Hall and comfortably sell it out.

It was a bit of an odd gig at first as everyone was sat down, and no-one wanted to be the first person to stand up and start dancing. Sadly they played ‘Love Underlines’ right at the beginning so I had to just chair bounce to that one instead of my usual mad dancing, but as soon as they reached ‘She Wants’ it was enough to get everyone on their feet. They had so many fantastic little moments, like Oscar Cash being pushed on in a synth on wheels, and a previous band member appearing on the stairs to perform a solo. Together with their flawless funky pop it was enough to put smiles on everyone’s faces and raise the roof with the audience’s applause. It’s one of those gigs that people will be talking about for a long time, and if you weren’t there you have missed out.

Unfortunately I cannot find the setlist anywhere for the life of me and I can only remember patches. If anyone finds it, please let me know!

There are lots more gigs coming up in October, including Death From Above 1979, The Horrors, IAMX, Bombay Bicycle Club and Miles Kane so it’s going to be a pretty busy one for me!

, , , , ,

1125th
Sep

After years of uhming and ahing over designs, placements and pain; I finally have a tattoo! I got Mischief Managed on my foot in lovely curly handwriting and I’m totally in love with it. It’s a quote from Harry Potter for those that don’t know, although it’s more as a tribute to the Marauders in my case, whom I love dearly. Some bits hurt horrifically but I was a brave little soldier and now I can look forward to 4 weeks of freezing cold feet while it heals! I’m already planning my next one.

,

119th
Sep

Last night I got a pretty unique opportunity to see one of England’s biggest bands, Kasabian, playing a tiny venue. They were there to record for the Album Chart Show and I managed to bag some free tickets earlier in the week. They played 9 tracks to a rapturous audience, including a selection from their latest album. Tom seemed to be either hungover or ill, and was hiding his red eyes with some oversized sunglasses at first, but that didn’t stop him from putting his all into it and getting the crowd singing along. They closed the set with ‘Fire’ and the whole place went mental! I took a pretty bumpy video which I’ll try and upload. It was a nice teaser for the new album and I felt privileged to have seen them so up close, but I do wish they had played something from their first album. I’ll be going to see them at the O2 Arena in December anyway so I have high hopes for that gig.

Setlist:

Velociraptor!
Where Did All The Love Go?
Days Are Forgotten
Shoot The Runner
Re-Wired
Underdog
Vlad The Impaler
Switchblade Smiles
Fire

There’s a couple more at my Flickr page.

,

114th
Sep

On Thursday I set off to Edinburgh for the first time for one reason, to see Arcade Fire. My love of them has really grown since The Suburbs came out last year, and after their amazing Hyde Park gig a trip to see them at Edinburgh Castle was too tempting to resist!

I arrived on Thursday afternoon, and after checking in to my hostel I decided to go and check out the Castle to see where they would be playing. As I got closer I could hear the band playing their soundcheck, and as I got closer still I realised that the esplanade was totally open due to tourists visiting the castle. I walked inside to see Arcade Fire performing their soundcheck to a small audience of fans and confused tourists! I was in my element! They ran through their set and included the track ‘Modern Man’, which was sadly absent from the set later that night, and then rather jokingly Win asked if anyone had any requests. Some fans in front of me yelled out their favourites, and as the rest of the band left the stage, Win and Regine stayed to play a lovely version of ‘Cars and Telephones’. I’m pretty certain I will never see them play that live again so it was a very special moment. When they had finished they came down to the side of stage and milled around for a bit, talking to people and having photos taken. It was totally surreal, and I’m so glad I decided on a whim to go up there early.

The gig itself was amazing as well, well worth the trip up to Scotland! I was on the barrier so I got some nice photos plus I had room to enjoy myself. I think they played the exact same tracks as Hyde Park but in a different order, with Power Out and Rebellion in the encore (as they should be!). I also bought myself a ‘Who the fuck is Arcade Fire?’ tshirt to add to my collection of band tshirts with fuck on them!

Setlist:

Ready To Start
Keep The Car Running
No Cars Go
Haiti
Rococo
Speaking In Tongues
Intervention
Suburban War
Wake Up
Neighbourhood #2 (Laika)
The Suburbs
The Suburbs (Continued)
Month Of May
Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)
We Used To Wait
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
————————————
Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)
Rebellion (Lies)

More on my Flickr page.

The next day I wandered around Edinburgh being a tourist, shopping and buying rubbish presents for people back home. All too soon it was time for me to go home, but I had a lovely time and I’d like to go back one year for the fringe festival.

More on my Flickr page.

, ,

Designed and maintained by Amy Walker 2017 | Contact