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!

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113rd
Jun

I got paid on Tuesday, which seemed to be just in time as every gig ticket in the world appears to have gone on sale this week or last. I have spent a large portion of my wages on tickets for Friendly Fires (Brixton Nov 26th), Robots In Disguise (XOYO Jul 27th), IAMX (Heaven Oct 13th), CSS (XOYO Aug 23rd) and Death From Above 1979 (Brixton Oct 7th). Unfortunately I missed out on Incubus and Miles Kane, but that’s what ebay and Scarlet Mist are for.

I have also booked our dealer table for the London Film and Comic Con, so I need to work on building my stock back up again. I got a bit excited when I visited their site and saw all the guests they have (Karen Gillan, Christopher Lloyd, Walter Koenig, Sean Maher, Mark Sheppard, Brent Spiner to name but a few) and I have booked myself photoshoots with Karen Gillan and the TARDIS, and Christopher Lloyd and the Delorean! I may also get some things signed by a few people. How will I even have time to sell jewellery inbetween? Come over and say hi if you are planning to attend, we will have free lollipops on the Saturday.

Lastly, I went to see X-Men: First Class on Wednesday and I was so pleasantly surprised. I’m a massive X-Men nerd and X-Men: Wolverine pretty much shattered my confidence in the films. I was dubious that they would be able to pull First Class off, but they did and I’m so pleased with it. I can ignore the usual canonical issues (Some of the mutants would be the wrong age and wouldn’t even be in the first class, Moira has been bastardised and they are ignoring the fact that Havok is Scott’s brother) and focus on the tasty bromance between Erik and Charles. It has gotten me in the mood to read some more of the comics so I have ordered volumes 5 and 6 of Astonishing X-Men from Amazon. Now I just need to see Thor and I will be happy.

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