1126th
Oct

My October gig extravaganza came to an end last night with an excellent performance by Miles Kane at the Electric Ballroom.

Before that however, was Bombay Bicycle Club at Brixton Academy last week. I am pleased to announce that the stage is back to normal, so the weird flattened out thing they had going on when I saw DFA1979 must have been temporary. Bombay Bicycle Club were supported by Dry The River, a band whom I have heard much about, but have never heard their music. They were fairly pleasant folky indie, and although I won’t be clamouring to buy their latest album they still helped the warm up the crowd and pass the time before the main act. Bombay Bicycle Club took to the stage shortly after 9pm and managed to play a staggering 20-song setlist. Considering there were only two tracks on offering from their acoustic ‘Flaws’ album, they managed to get through most of the material from their other two albums, which surely left even the most die-hard fan feeling as though they had gotten their moneys worth. Not only do they play well live, but they also really get into the music and engage with the fans, something that a lot of indie-folk bands tend not to do. It adds an extra dimension to the songs and the crowd seemed to be absolutely loving it. I was extremely pleased with the selection of songs and the closer of ‘What If’ had everyone dancing and cheering long after they had left the stage.

The setlist was:

Shuffle
Your Eyes
Dust On The Ground
Bad Timing
Open House
Leave It
Lights Out, Words Gone
Rinse Me Down
Ivy & Gold
Evening/Morning
Beggars
Cancel On Me
Lamplight
How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep
Magnet
What You Want
Always Like This
The Giantess/Emergency Contraception Blues
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Still
What If

Miles Kane was performing two sold out nights at the Electric Ballroom, in support of his debut album ‘The Colour of the Trap’. The audience was largely made up of older people and so it didn’t really start to fill up until after 9pm, which meant we could get a nice spot close to the front before the support act, Folks, came on. Folks were largely forgettable and after a few tracks we found ourselves waiting impatiently for Miles Kane to take to the stage. It was a good performance, although fairly short as he only had his album and a few covers to rely on. The two covers (Jaques Dutronc and a more obscure Beatles track) mostly went over my head, but the rest of the set was more memorable. The highlights of course were ‘Come Closer’ and ‘Inhaler’ which got the biggest crowd reactions of the night and Miles proved that he is a solid performer and well worthy of all his praise.

Setlist:

Better Left Invisible
Counting Down The Days
Rearrange
Before It’s Midnight
Kingcrawler
Happenstance
Take The Night From Me
Quicksand
The Responsible (Jaques Dutronc cover)
My Fantasy
Colour Of The Trap
Telepathy
Woman’s Touch
Hey Bulldog (The Beatles cover)
Come Closer
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Inhaler

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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!

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1116th
Jun

First matter of the day, as always, is gigs. I actually had a break from gigging last week when I went to see a musical instead! It was the national touring production of Spring Awakening at the Greenwich Theatre, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I missed out on the west end version a few years back as I had stupidly assumed it would be there for a while, so I’m glad I managed to catch this version. I took a friend who had never seen a musical before and it was pretty amusing to watch her reactions.

Even more must-see gig tickets have been released this week and last, and I’ve had to put a fair few on my to-buy list as I’m currently saving my spare change for Glastonbury. The list includes Amanda Palmer, Patrick Wolf, Yuck, Bombay Bicycle Club, Combichrist and possibly Arctic Monkeys at the O2 Arena.

Of course there was a gig last night as well; We Are Scientists at Koko. It was a sell-out show and by the time I arrived around 8pm, the floor was already packed with eager fans. I only caught the second support act, Tall Ships, but I was very impressed by them. They were a bit like Biffy Clyro crossed with Radiohead using loops to intricately layer their guitars, definitely one to watch in the future. We Are Scientists managed to pack a surprising number of hits into their hour and 15 min set, so much so that the teenagers around me barely stopping pogoing in excitement. It was a lovely mix of tracks, with each album getting a pretty equal representation. Their trademark stage banter added to the entertainment and I was particularly amused by their tales of how they claim to be a band from London now that drummer Andy Burrows has joined their ranks. I’m pretty sad that they aren’t at any of my festivals this year. I’ll be needing some form of Autumn gig to keep me going until the next album.

Nice Guys
Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt
I Don’t Bite
This Scene Is Dead
Impatience
Rules Don’t Stop
Break It Up
Inaction
Pittsburgh
Chick Lit
Dinosaurs
It’s A Hit
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The Great Escape
Can’t Lose
Jack & Ginger
Foreign Kicks
After Hours

It’s all busy on the jewellery etc. front, as I have some exciting new ideas for designs and canvas bags. I may be selling at a Craft Market in Brick Lane in July too, so look out for more information on that.

Next week I will be MIA for a while as I’m off to Glastonbury Festival. I’m pretty excited as it’s my first time going, and not even the predictions of rain have put a dampener on my spirits. Although I’ve bought some new wellies as a precaution.. I’ve been working out my timetable of bands to see, although I’m still not sure how many of them I will get to. It’s easy at Reading as nothing is more than 5 minutes away, so you can watch half the set of one band and then sprint to another stage for half of another. At Glasto I’ve been told it can take up 30 mins between stages, and that’s in good weather! I think I’ll just have to take it easy and go with the flow, and as long as I see Queens of the Stone Age I don’t really care!

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