Gig Going Thread.

[QualityChimp]

So I did the WV1Fest over the weekend and it was bloody brilliant!
Basically, two days of some of my fave bands playing*!
*Tribute

Iron Maiden, Metallica, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Beastie Boys etc. it was bliss and because it wasn't the real deal, each band seemed genuinely pleased with the responses from the crowds and you could get close to the stage - for Download, I felt like I was a kilometre away from the stage for the real Maiden.

Some bands just played the tunes (Radiohead, QotSA), others did a little bit to look like the bands (RHCP, Biffy, The Smiths, Faith No More, Audioslave, Greenday) and a few were full on looks and sound (Judas Priest, Kate Bush, Jimi Hendrix, Motley Crue).

A couple of bands weren't my thing (The Cure, Pink Floyd), but all the others I saw were brilliant.

Highlights for me were The Smashing Pumpkins, who rarely tour here and they always seem to play obscure stuff, but this was a particularly heavy setlist and Radiohead, whom I've never seen live and again would never play a "greatest hits" set and I was proper singing myself hoarse to them and would definitely see these two again on their own.

To be fair, The Prodigy and Beastie Boys were a proper party, the latter got the "Pumpkins" guitarist onstage to finish with "..Brooklyn", "Fight For Your Right" and "Sabotage". Would deffo check them out again.

However, I did a mini review of every band and how much they were like their inspiration.
"Jimi Hendrix" was spot-on even the upside-down guitar and curly lead but if "Kate Bush" hadn't referenced Kate in the 3rd person, I'd have thought it was her, she had the voice and mannerisms down.

Brilliant weekend and I'm hoping the wife will let me out to play again next year!

https://twitter.com/QualityChimp/status/1568574492804251651

[QualityChimp]

I've been messaging the bands with photos and footage I took and they've all been really appreciative, which has been really nice of them.

[CMcK]

That WV1Fest does sound like it would be great. I’m going to keep an eye out for it next year.

[QualityChimp]

That WV1Fest does sound like it would be great. I’m going to keep an eye out for it next year.

I've genuinely been buzzing all week, I had such a blast.
Been playing some mixes of the bands all week like Metallica, Radiohead, Biffy, Pumpkins and so on.
Deffo planning on seeing some of them again with longer sets - Metal Militia in Jan and Just Radiohead in Feb.

https://uktributefestivals.com/

"Back in 2012, UK Tribute Festivals decided that paying an average of £56 (plus booking fee) per person to attend a tribute festival, was pretty ridiculous! So, we decided to make our festival cheaper than all the rest!
With a lot of heart and soul, we have created our festivals so that they appeal to everyone and are affordable to families. Our festivals are purely put on so that festival goers can have fun, let go, be safe and enjoy what really matters…the music!!"

They tour around so it's in a few locations:
Rockstock - Stockport
MKF - Milton Keynes
Rockprest - Preston
Festwich - Prestwich
WV1 - Wolverhampton
Soundwave - London

Looks like there's nothing up your neck of the woods, but I know you're fine to travel as a Download regular.

I took a camping chair and regretted it as I only used it when I ate. I pictured me chilled by the main stage drinking in the bands, sunshine and beer, but ended up zigzagging between each stage as every band was fun to watch.
Packed looooads lighter the next day and would possibly just wear shorts with extra pockets. You can't take food/drink in, so you only really need a few bits.

The drink system is brilliant because you pay a £3 deposit on the cup, which gets refunded afterwards, so there's practically no litter and there were litter pickers always circling.
The other benefit was that I picked up a couple of cups as I walked out at the end of the Saturday, which paid for my pint on the Sunday!

I've got Ash on Saturday (back to actual bands now!), playing Free All Angels with Charlotte Hatherley back.
I really like Ash. Tim Wheeler has smashed some anthems out over the years and I feel like he's living a parallel life to me where he's a famous rockstar and I'm not!

[CMcK]

Ash were great when I saw them a few weeks ago so I’d imagine it’ll be really good on Saturday with the classic lineup. Off to see Mono tonight at St.Luke’s in Glasgow. I was hoping to see Godspeed You! Black Emperor this weekend but I can’t get the time off work.

[QualityChimp]

Ash were great. 'Free All Angels' is such a strong album, so it was great to hear it all live. "Shining Light" and "Burn, Baby, Burn" are back-to-back, for chuff's sake!

Sound was okaaaay, but I forgot my fancy earplugs, so it was a bit muddy.
However, it was still a real treat to hear Charlotte again. She adds so much to the sound both with guitars and those harmonies.

They finished off with an encore of some classics, but also skipped a few to play some less-aired tracks like "Clones" and their cover of Weezer's "Only In Dreams", which is great.

In a bizarre twist of fate, my friend is their tour manager.
Caught up with him after the gig after a few years (he's moved down South, plus the Pandemic, obvs) and he took us backstage where I chatted with Mark (Bass) and Rick (Drums).

Rick is particularly lovely. He's been doing some stuff with my tour manager friend and another mate there, so we had a good laugh about that and some other stuff. He also tweets a lot of political stuff I totally agree with, so it's nice he's not a worryingly right-wing douche (glances nervously at Billy Corgan).

So yeah, check me out. QC, friend of the stars!

Mark joined the crowd for "Kung Fu"!

[QualityChimp]

Me again.

I saw The Lemonheads last night in Birmingham, again at the O2 Institute.
At Ash, I was a bit envious of the people on the balcony as it looked a great view, and I was one of those people last night!
Amazing view of the stage!

For me, The Lemonheads are a cornerstone band to my musical tastes. I was into dance stuff and UK hip hop as I started getting into music, mainly from my sister or other kids, but hearing Evan Dando's jangly American Indie Rock just clicked with me and I've loved them ever since, even though my guitar tastes have gotten heavier over the years.

Now, the show itself was all sorts of rough, though.
The opening band were unreasonably loud (yay for remembering my earplugs) and seemed to go on forever.

Then the show started. Kinda.
Dando came on to cheers and some strange entrance music (weird dancey song), then tuned his guitar up for a couple of minutes.
Time hasn't been kind (just say "no", m'kay?) and he looked a bit like Jesse's Tips from The Fast Show and you'd possibly spare him a coin or two.

He then opened with a series of acoustic songs, which are all brilliant, but it was all such a low-key way to start a gig.

Then he brought the band on. The bassist seemed really young and the drummer had this mad combover that was transfixing, but they were really tight, musically, especially combover drummer, who didn't miss a beat.

Dando dumped his hat and jacket and things moved up a notch, but blimey, you'd think after all these years he'd have a bit of stagecraft, but he didn't have a pedal board, just a line of pedals, swapping between 3 distortion/overdrive pedals one being too loud and the clean sound was comparatively quiet. As the gig went on, they were drifting away as he stomped on them.

At one point, the drum monitor fell off and it must've been about 3 songs later when the sound guy ran from the back, up to the stage, picked up the drummer's mic, then ran all the way back.

Dando incoherently mumbled once in a while between songs, then shambled off with no encore.

AND YET, despite a ridiculously sloppy show, I really enjoyed it.
Dando is, to me, a master songwriter, with a load of beautiful, breezy and rocking songs in his catalogue.
His vocals are still superb, with a great range and some rumbly low notes that sound so smooth.
His guitar playing, despite the pedal tap dancing, just looks so effortless. He never looks at the fretboard, his guitar feels like an extension of himself.

Hearing "Shame About Ray" in its entirety is something I've done about 3 times and still don't tire of it, plus it's only 28 minutes long, so you always get loads of other tracks! It's 100% got a nostalgia factor and made me think about loads of friends over the years whom I've talked about them with and shared the love of that album.

[CMcK]

Went to see Anthrax last night with support from Municipal Waste. Hours of thrash goodness. Anthrax were having a great time on stage feeding off the lively crowd smashing out loads of classics. Shame they’ve had to can the rest of the tour.

[fuse]

Few weeks back now I saw Mono again, who were great. I picked up this signed tour poster too, which I've just had framed and is now up in my favourite little nook of the living room. I like it a lot.



Week before last I saw Deafheaven at EartH. They're a band who change a lot with new releases - not just sonically but in terms of moods, presentation, and general vibe. So yeah, while I wish I'd have caught them when they toured Sunbather, and now they're embracing their lighter side, all cheery and polished, they're still incredible live. Album/everything closer 'Mombasa' is a force of nature. Check this excellent video someone grabbed a few nights later in Brum.



Last week I saw Hatchie, a dream-pop-y singer-songwriter type from Australia. Wasn't really sure what to expect, but she (and her band) were great fun; charmingly excited by the size of the crowd they'd drawn, enthusiastic, and tight. Played a cover of Jennifer Paige's "Crush"

Then last Friday saw Holy Fawn, who I've been itching to see now for a couple of years. This was their first show in London and despite it getting cut a little short on account of gear issues, it was absolutely ****ing brilliant. They're this heady mix of styles (Mary Anne Hobbes recently introduced them as "if David Lynch put together a black metal band") and actually making these kind of soundscapes sound this good live is really something. Amazing band chemistry too. Was also confirmed that they're back supporting Rolo Tomassi in Feb, which I've just booked for now.

Think I left it too late to grab a ticket for Liturgy with support from Pupil Slicer this weekend, but I've joined a wait list in the hope some might come up, a strategy that's just secured me a ticket for Lingua Ignota. A week or so after that I've also booked for Amenra and Let's Eat Grandma. Last time I saw Amenra play it was an acoustic set, so I'm stoked to get them back at full power. I also picked two rhyming acts for that week to further convince QC that I'm making up band names.

[CMcK]

I bought same poster at the Mono gig and it’s looking good up in my dining room now.

[QualityChimp]

Think I left it too late to grab a ticket for Liturgy with support from Pupil Slicer this weekend, but I've joined a wait list in the hope some might come up, a strategy that's just secured me a ticket for Lingua Ignota. A week or so after that I've also booked for Amenra and Let's Eat Grandma. Last time I saw Amenra play it was an acoustic set, so I'm stoked to get them back at full power. I also picked two rhyming acts for that week to further convince QC that I'm making up band names.

You're definitely at a point where I'm unsure if you're trolling me like Chris Morris trying to buy "Triple Sod", "Yellow Bentines" and "Clarky Cat".

Went to see Anthrax last night with support from Municipal Waste. Hours of thrash goodness. Anthrax were having a great time on stage feeding off the lively crowd smashing out loads of classics. Shame they’ve had to can the rest of the tour.

I saw Municipal Waste at Download (one of the years with the 2nd stage on a car park) and the singer was delighted when two guys in the crowd, mid-song, did a high-five because they were enjoying it. After the song, he got the whole crowd to high-five people next to them - such a brilliant, spontaneously funny moment!

[QualityChimp]

Here's a list of all the bands [MENTION=3822]fuse[/MENTION] has tickets to see:

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[fuse]

My favourite version of this bit is when the Adam & Joe Show did a send-up of the MTV 'Brand:New' program that was presented by Zane Lowe in the late 90s. It pains me that it's not easily found on YouTube, but it's probably worth digging through old episodes on 4oD just to find.

[CMcK]

Went to see Dinosaur Jr last night at QMU. It’s only been 29 years since I last saw them. Really good set and they were musically tight which I suppose is to be expected after all those years playing together.

[QualityChimp]

When the intro to "Start Choppin'" plays, I always have to listen - banger!