115th
Feb

Heartbreaker

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After years and years of wanting to go, I have found myself with a 4 day pass for the 2011 San Diego Comic Con! Unfortunately I don’t know if I can go yet, as a quick scan for flight prices came back with £700 for a return from London. Plus I imagine hotels will be pricey and I will need some spending money. I’ll have to budget over the next few months and see if maybe the prices go down a bit. It will be quite easy to sell the ticket if I can’t go. But it’s a possibility which is still exciting! Maybe when the panels and booths start getting confirmed I can decide if it’s worth it or not.

There was a gig this week, and it was Metronomy at Heaven for the NME Awards. I first discovered Metronomy when they supported CSS at Bristol Academy in 2007. They were a kooky band with interesting electronic music and poundland nightlights stuck to their chests, and I was instantly intrigued. It wasn’t until late 2008 when their second album was released (‘Nights Out’, much easier to find than their limited first release) that I started to listen to them properly, and since then I have made the effort to see them whenever they are at one of my festivals.

The support acts were by far the worst I have seen in a long time and seemed so ill-fitted to Metronomy’s music (I blame the NME). There was the Cocknbullkid, who made music that sounded a bit like Florence and the Machine crossed with a soul singer, and then there was Giggs who was a bland rapper with some dj beats in the background. Yawn yawn yawn. Luckily the venue packed out by the time Metronomy hit the stage and they showed us a good time. There was quite a lot of material from their upcoming album ‘The English Riviera’ and it seemed quite mature in comparison to their earlier work. Still very nice and danceable, but I think they have lost some of their quirkiness from before. I did enjoy the new single though ‘She Wants’ and they blasted out some favourites in the form of ‘Heartbreaker’ and ‘Radio Ladio’. All in all it was a very enjoyable night, if I block out everything that happened before Metronomy, and I even managed to convert my friend to their awesomeness.

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1124th
Jan

On Saturday was the rescheduled Manic Street Preachers gig at Brixton Academy. I’ve had the tickets for it since May last year, so to say I was looking forward to it would be an understatement. Honestly I think it was the best Manics gig I’ve ever been to. The venue was ram-packed full of fans, old and new, with some having queued all day in the freezing cold for their spot at the front, and I arrived just in time to see British Sea Power take to the stage. I wasn’t expecting much from them as the last time I saw them I had been bored out of my mind and the singles I had heard on the radio weren’t great. They really took me by surprise with their stage presence and enthusiasm and I found myself really enjoying them. I think I’ll have to check them out properly in the future. Song recommendations please!

Manic Street Preachers came on just after 9pm and spent the next two hours blowing everyone away. The only way the setlist could have been any better, was if they took out ‘Tsunami’ and added in some more tracks from ‘Journal For Plague Lovers’. They only played four songs from their latest album and then the rest was a divine mix of hits and fan favourites. I think the highlights for me were opening with the energetic ‘Slash ‘n’ Burn’, hearing ‘Enola/Alone’ for the first time and the beautiful acoustic rendition of ‘You Stole The Sun From My Heart’, which had the whole audience singing along as loudly as they could. I think the band were trying to make up for rescheduling the gig, as they were bounding around the stage even more than usual, getting the audience to sing along and laughing and joking in between songs. It put the crowd in such a good mood and I think everyone left the gig smiling.

A lot of people seem to disregard Manic Street Preachers based on their more recent (and usually rubbish) singles, but if they delved deeper into their back catalogue and live shows they would find a band with some fantastic songs, who are consistently amazing live.

Slash ‘n’ Burn
Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
Motorcycle Emptiness
(It’s Not War) – Just the End of Love
Everything Must Go
Roses in the Hospital
My Little Empire
Postcards From A Young Man
You Love Us
Suicide Is Painless (Theme from MASH)
Enola/Alone
A Billion Balconies Facing the Sun
Motown Junk
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
Small Black Flowers That Grow In the Sky
You Stole the Sun from My Heart
Faster
La Tristessa Durera (Scream to A Sigh)
Some Kind of Nothingness
Me and Stephen Hawking
Tsunami
A Design for Life

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1117th
Jan

200th Gig

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I’ve been tracking my gig numbers carefully since I entered the 190’s, and now I have finally booked what is currently my 200th gig! It’s Micachu and the Shapes at the Royal Festival Hall in May, although no doubt I will book more for before that date so my 200th will change. It’s a nice milestone though.

It’s been an exciting week for gig bookings, as Atari Teenage Riot announced a show at the HMV Forum supported by none other than Kap Bambino! That’s two awesome bands in one night, I literally cannot wait!

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1111th
Jan

I got bored of having pink hair, so I whipped out the dye this weekend and did it purple. This is Manic Panic Ultra Violet, with some of my Special Effects hot pink showing through from underneath. I love the colour but I remember how hard it is to maintain, so I may switch to a darker colour with more staying power.

Last night I went to see Does It Offend You, Yeah? at the new venue XOYO in Shoreditch. It almost didn’t happen, as my ticket hadn’t arrived in the post and Ticketweb weren’t replying to my emails. Luckily, 5 minutes before I left work I got an email back saying they had put my tickets on the door. I arrived late anyway as the only support act listed were DJs, and that usually bores me to tears at gigs, and my tickets were waiting at the door for me. Unfortunately although Does It Offend You, Yeah? were supposed to come on at 9pm, for some reason they were running late, so I had to put up with some god awful dubstep DJs for half an hour. All the hip, young 18 year olds appeared to be enjoying themselves, whereas I was bored to tears. They ended soon enough and then it was time for the main act.

It was the band’s first headline gig in about 8 months but they were playing with a renewed vigour. Losing members and going on a break didn’t make them rusty, it only made them stronger. The set was very new album heavy, with some of the tracks seeming almost familiar already as they have been previewing them for the best part of a year. The standout track was definitely the new single ‘The Monkeys Are Coming’ with its catchy chorus and pounding basslines, but there was plenty of room in the setlist for older favourites as well. As the band trooped off stage after the last song, the deafening roars and screams of the audience continued until they were coaxed back out to play an unplanned encore. We bounced around gleefully one more time and then it was finally time to leave, sweaty and sated.

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1017th
Dec

More gigs this week! December has been a pretty busy month for me.

Tuesday was Tim Minchin at the O2 Arena. Having seen him on his last tour a stupid number of times, I had gotten a bit weary of seeing the same show over and over, so this was a welcome change. It was mostly new material, beefed out with a 40 piece orchestra and theatrics that can only come with touring arena-sized venues. Tim seemed to make it work, although I do miss the days when I used to see him in tiny 200 capacity rooms. The new stuff was very funny, and I especially enjoyed his religion-based rants and songs about taking things out of context. No doubt some of the dates on the tour have been filmed for a new DVD, so everyone will be able to enjoy it.

On Wednesday I went to Brixton Academy with my mum for the XFM Winter Wonderland. Due to tube fuckups we arrived late and missed all of Mona (not a great loss) and all but one song by The Drums. We slotted into our favourite position (front right, just by the middle barriers) in time to see Two Door Cinema Club. I hadn’t realised before just how many singles they had released, so it came as a surprise to me when all but one of their 6 song setlist was a single. The crowd seemed to enjoy it though and bounced around gleefully. The music may not be a work of genius, but it is very catchy and fun.

Next up was White Lies, who surprised everyone else by not playing many singles at all. It was mostly tracks from their new album, which as it is released in January they are obviously very keen to promote. I’m not sure how well it went down with the XFM crowd though, as the audience seemed to thin out towards the end as people headed for the bar. I liked it and I’m definitely going to be getting a copy of their new album.

The penultimate act was Suede, who unfortunately had to do a quick acoustic set as their drummer was off sick. It was a bit of a disappointment for me as I had been looking forward to seeing them, but it was still pretty good. They played ‘Trash’, ‘Animal Nitrate’ and ‘Beautiful Ones’.

Lastly it was time for the Manic Street Preachers who chose the right route and played a set consisting of their greatest hits, rather than tracks from their new album. There were clearly a lot of die-hard Manics fans in the audience and everyone had a great time. It really got me excited for their rescheduled Brixton gigs next month.


Two Door Cinema Club


Suede


Manic Street Preachers

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