Gig Going Thread.

[QualityChimp]

Ha, yeah that's a bit confusing!
Decent price, though.

Convinced the family to come too on Sunday. It's Father's Day, so I call the shots!

About to set off but it's raining, so I'm swapping suncream for my umbrella. Boo.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Saw Shrimp Eyes headline a free show in Shoreditch on Wednesday night. Something of a comeback for them after a short hiatus.

Have now added an irritating female lead singer to their ranks. Wasn't really feeling their new material much either, tbh.

Meh.

[Brad]

Saw The Utopia Strong at Smokey Joe's in Cheltenham last night. Excellent session. The 2 support acts, Jerboah and Schnauser were also great if you like prog stuff. We had great fun picking out the unusual time signatures!

[Nu-Eclipse]

Saw Chinese Football play @ MOTH Club yesterday evening. Really enjoyable gig and surprisingly entertaining emo-style from a band touring the UK and Europe for the very first time. Will be looking out for them again.

Honourable mention to itoldyouiwouldeatyou for being a quality support act.

Fun gig all round.

[fuse]

Made it out to see Wiegedood supporting Russian Circles at Heaven on Monday night. Such a great, intimate venue that works so well for people who prefer to stand back a bit and soak things up rather than throwing themselves into the fray. RC are up there as one of my favourite bands going, and they played a great set that went through some classics but picked out some of the tastiest morsels from the new material too. Lovely.

Sadly passed on two other shows I had tickets for - Chat Pile at The Dome, and then Holy Fawn / Callous Daoboys at Oslo. Can imagine both were excellent, but I did not have enough in the tank this week. Sad that I missed my chance to "make this place look like Mortal Kombat" (some rude words in the link).

Did however recharge sufficiently to make it out for Field Day yesterday though. Arrived a few minutes into the Fever Ray set, which was excellent, but slightly incongruous to a bright sunny Saturday afternoon. Really though, I was there for the Aphex Twin headliner, which was exactly what I expected, and by that I mean I expected a surprising, bewildering, 90 minute mix of sights and sounds, and very much got that. RDJ has not gotten bored of sticking his face on other people's bodies, and there was a great 5 minutes of visuals that ran somewhat like a blend of send-ups and tributes which elicited cheers and laughters in good measure.

Field Day did very much flare up my "crowds are the worst" sense, though. I'm generally fine with people enjoying themselves at gigs however suits them - dancing, screaming, moshing, singing, convulsing, head bopping, whatever, man - but coming out to these things to just ****ing loudly chat about other bollocks in the middle of the crowd? These people, man.

[fuse]

Made it out to see Swans this week. I've wanted to see them now for a long old while, and the last show of theirs I had tickets for got cancelled, so this was a pretty exciting prospect. It absolutely lived up to expectations; I've not spent a huge amount of time with the newest album, but this was a focus in the set list and from the get go it drew out exactly the kind of dense, loud, continually morphing and almost hypnotic sound that I was wanting. On the verge of being uncomfortably loud, they also played a set over 2 hours in length. Awesome.

Sadly transport links were a complete shambles on my journey home, meaning it took me 3 hours to get home from the Troxy. This left me feeling pretty wiped out and killed my enthusiasm to go see Deafheaven the following night.

Now this really was something unlike anything else I've seen. It's very hard trying to pin down exactly what her music is, but it is very intense and clearly has the ear of a lot of people who're typically more on the extreme fringes of genre labels. The whole thing felt more like a collective religious experience, and tellingly, the entire crowd were utterly silent throughout the whole 90-minute set. Only at the very end did the whole audience erupt into rapturous applause. Not one I'll forget.

Above was me coming away from a Lingua Ignota show last October, suitably impressed. Kristin Hayter's since decided that this is the year to wrap this project up and move on to something else, as the toll of reliving trauma in this way is too much, and I can absolutely understand that. Two of the last shows she's doing are happening in London which I'm planning to catch, but until then I also saw this excellently captured video from a New York venue that I think is brilliant, and fancied sharing as a good intro to what the music about.

[Nu-Eclipse]

I saw Dylan Sinclair @ Village Underground in Shoreditch (first visit back there since before the pandemic) last night. Apparently his first European/UK tour.

Talented young slow-jam RnB singer-songwriter with that early 2000s style/vibe. Not normally my jam but was curious to see him. Not sure if I'd go to see him again but it was fun all the same.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Was at the Jazz Cafe in Camden last night to see LA hip-hop duo (rapper and DJ/producer) Blu & Exile for the London pitstop of their European Tour.

Been a fan of Blu's work for a while so it was a no-brainer to go. A lot of fun seeing Blu kick his raps live and great to see Exile really do his thing with a turntable and MPC to entertain the crowd. Enjoyable stuff!

[dataDave]

That's the first two concerts my son will be going to. I hope I don't piss people off with him on my shoulders too much. At least I won't have a ****ing phone out!

[CMcK]

Got a punk thing in Dundee tonight (11 bands) and then through to Glasgow on Saturday for Lords of the Land - Thrash Nation. Two venues and a lot of thrash metal! So looking forward to Lawnmower Deth and Acid Reign.

[endo]

That sounds rad! I was a big fan of Lawnmower Deth and Acid Reign bitd.

[CMcK]

That sounds rad! I was a big fan of Lawnmower Deth and Acid Reign bitd.

Xentrix and Slammer are on in between those two. It’s going to be a fairly middle aged crowd I reckon.

[endo]

I think you're right. I can smell the real ale farts from here!

[Brad]

That's the first two concerts my son will be going to. I hope I don't piss people off with him on my shoulders too much. At least I won't have a ****ing phone out!

Quality!!

Saw Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Fatback band and Billy Ocean last weekend. Excellent day in the sunshine.

[gunrock]

Q. What have you found?
A. I found love!