33 songs is a lot for the average concert. But, I was really surprised at some of the omissions. It made sense when I checked the setlist for this blog entry, and saw the following night's setlist in the same venue. They almost didn't repeat themselves. This would have been awesome for the fan attending both shows, of course. So, I missed Wave of Mutilation, Monkey Gone To Heaven, Gigantic, and some lesser gems like Is She Weird and Subacultcha. But, fortunately I got to hear U-Mass, my favourite Pixies song, to which I lost my shit over. As you do. Because they're touring in support of their new album, Head Carrier, I was expecting to hear the first single which I really like, Um Chagga Lagga. The next night's fans got that treat.
We got a good spot with a view of centre stage, and I spent much of the show letting the Pixies sound/noise wash over me. It was a slow builder, and no one in the band addressed the audience, but slowly you get swept into their sonic sea. The early songs are mostly back lit, obscuring the detail of their faces, as they seemingly take their time letting us into their world. Then the full colour hits and by the first notes of Here Comes Your Man, we are fully welcomed in, with the attendant singalong.
It was great to experience the Pixies' sound live, having loved many of their albums and tracks for years. Some bands are all about showmanship or energy or loudness, but the Pixies' live are all about the sound. And they got it right. It was special, and before a brief encore, the band took a bowing curtain call, which you don't often see at rock shows. Then, just before they came back on, the dry ice machine belched a massive wave over us. As it cleared, it was like emerging from a warzone, grey and surreal. As the Pixies played Into The White in the eerie fog, the new bassist Paz Lenchantin stood silhouetted with her low slung bass and sang almost motionlessly. Then more massive waves of dry ice buffeted us. It was by far the most I've ever experienced and then that was repeated half a dozen times. This final destination was a fittingly atmospheric representation of the enveloping aural journey we'd been taken on.
Setlist:
Where Is My Mind?
Nimrod's Son
Break My Body
Brick Is Red
Winterlong (Neil Young cover) Blown Away Mr.Grieves La La Love You Ana
All the Saints
Here Comes Your Man Motorway to Roswell
Magdalena 318
Tenement Song
Classic Masher
Head On (Jesus and Mary Chain cover)
U-Mass I've Been Tired Velouria Havalina
Snakes
Caribou
Rock Music
Baal's Back Isla de Encanta
Oona
Planet of Sound
All I Think About Now
Hey
Gouge Away
Debaser
Tame
The Specials live are all I hoped they would be: genuine and invigorating.
The set opened with their huge hit Ghost Town, and being in Reading at a little used (for music) leisure centre, it seemed fitting. Although the place was anything but a Ghost Town; it was packed with mostly 50+ Fred Perry and pork pie hat wearing blokes, a few with their girls in tow.
Terry Hall quite quickly starting chatting with the crowd and continued throughout the show. For once, I could clearly hear the stage banter. In fact, I thought the sound was really good and at the perfect volume. No ringing ears this morning!
He asked about the Town name pronounciation jokingly and there were some nods to missing band members, particularly John Bradbury who passed last December and should have been on this tour. Gary Powell from the Libertines very ably sat in on drums. At one point Terry admonished whoever threw a bottle on stage, and warned that one more and they'd walk off - they don't put up with that shit. I liked his middle-aged reasonableness: "put the empty in your pocket. Keep Britain Tidy." I imagine that the humble Mr. Hall has always been a decent bloke, and liked seeing this side of his personality.
Lynval Golding was full of energy throughout the show, and also talked to the crowd, mentioning (on this US Election eve) that he now lives in America and doesn't know if that's a good or bad thing. Horace Panter, the only other original member held down stage right with his bass. The rest of the band was guitarist, keyboardist, and at times, 2 trombonists, a violinist and backup singer.
Following Ghost Town were a handful of songs that weren't very familiar to me from my North American viewpoint, but by Blank Expression I was well into very familiar territory. This is the bouncy, driving ska band I fell in love with all those years ago.The only song I'd have like to have heard that I didn't was Pressure Drop, but that's only in retrospect as I type this.
Setlist:
Ghost Town
Do Nothing
Friday Night, Saturday Morning
Stereotype
Man At C&A
Blank Expression
Rat Race
Redemption Song (Bob Marley Cover)
Doesn't Make It Alright
Nite Klub
(Dawning of a) New Era
Do the Dog
Gangsters
Concrete Jungle
A Message to You, Rudy
Monkey Man
Little Bitch
Too Much Too Young
Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)
Guns of Navarone
All the Time In The World (dedicated to John Bradbury)
You're Wondering Now
I like lists. I like to document stuff. In the past year or so, I've used setlist.fm to double-check the setlists I post here, or add them there for others. That's led to adding all the concerts I can remember going to.
There are a couple of concerts that I can't add, because I can't (yet!) verify the actual date of the concert, but it's pretty close to complete. The different acts in festivals and as opening bands make it look like more concerts than I've been to, but by my own math, I've seen at least 61 concerts. Not bad.
If I'm not sure I saw it, I've left it off, like was I at that Tears for Fears concert in 1985 at the Lethbridge Sportsplex or am I just remembering my brother's photos? Not sure.
This weekend, I dug out an old diary that had a lot of exact dates of concerts, so I could finally add most of the early missing concerts that had been bugging me. Pleased as I am with the setlist.fm list, it struck me that losing it would be a blow, and a major pain to reproduce, so I'm reproducing it here now, as a back up...
These are (almost) all the dates that aren't listed over there < < < in the left sidebar:
d/m/y
Band
Opener
Venue
City
06/08/03
Evanescence
Mesa Amphitheatre
Mesa, AZ
30/07/98
The Crystal Method
Velvet
The Rage
Vancouver
05/07/95
Lollapalooza
Thunderbird Stadium
Vancouver
Mighty Mighty Bosstones
DDT
Sinead O'Connor
Pavement
Hole
Sonic Youth
05/12/94
Bad Religion
Samiam
Commodore Ballroom
Vancouver
06/11/94
Ween
Kyuss
Starfish Room
Vancouver
01/10/94
The Selecter
Gonch Messiah
Town Pump
Vancouver
27/09/94
Nine Inch Nails
Jim Rose Circus Sideshow
PNE Forum
Vancouver
18/06/93
Lollapalooza
Thunderbird Stadium
Vancouver
Primus
Tool
Alice in Chains
08/02/93
D.R.I.
Propain
Alternative Cabaret
Winnipeg
09/12/92
SNFU
Spectrum Cabaret
Winnipeg
20/07/92
The Levellers
Uncle Green
The Opera House
Toronto
16/07/92
Bad Religion
Helmet
The Spectrum
Toronto
03/07/92
Sons of Freedom
La Brique
Montreal
02/07/92
The Dead Milkmen
Les Foufounes Electrique
Montreal
01/07/92
Furnaceface
Alternative Canada Day
Ottawa
12/03/92
Rollins Band
God
Clapham Grand
London
29/02/92
Mega City Four
Midway Still
University of Essex
Colchester
??/??/91
The Long Tall Texans
Crash Musikkeller
Freiburg
18/05/91
GBH
Rumble Militia
Crash Musikkeller
Freiburg
05/05/91
The Sisters of Mercy
Loud
Stadthalle
Freiburg
26/10/88
Midnight Oil
Yothu Yindi
Olympic Saddledome
Calgary
(Not listed: small, local (bar) bands in Winnipeg, Vancouver, etc.)
Sometimes I go to concerts to experience a band live and get to know them a bit better. But tonight, I went to relive a piece of my past. The early '90s to be precise. Right before alternative music broke into the mainstream, Jane's was paving the way, like NIN and a few others. This music feels very personal to me; it was mine before I had to share it with the rest of the world. And when we did have to share it, in that post-Smells Like Teen Spirit world, Perry Farrell was the main curator through Lollapalooza.
I never saw Jane's Addiction live and missed the first couple of Lollapaloozas as I wasn't in the country, but I was at the 3rd one, and the 5th one. I had friends who'd followed them around on tour, inspired to be in bands themselves. I was a particular fan of Nothing's Shocking. Honestly, I found the song and video for Been Caught Stealing ridiculous and cartoonish. But this album was special as it was released after I already loved them and was eager for more. Reliving the album in full in concert was a bit like discovering it the first time, unwrapping the CD. Yeah, they're still pretty awesome, was the exact feeling of relief I felt on both occasions.
The first thing that I was impressed by was the gogo dancers on scaffolding, gyrating behind the band on the opener, Stop! How perfectly Jane's, and how perfectly Ritual. So few bands do more than just show up, stand there and play. I really should have known to expect more from these inveterate showmen!
The band looked like they were having a good time with plenty of smiles and interaction. They sounded good and looked dapper and showy with just the right dash of maturity to acknowledge the 25 years past. I don't think I could have taken Perry in braids and a sundress.
The truly jaw-dropping moment of the show came at the end of the first encore when they play Ted, Just Admit It... Two girls in bondage gear thrashed around at the end of long lines dangling from the ceiling on either side of the stage. And yes, they were hooked through the skin, in the old native american sun-ritual way. The song's phrase "Nothing's Shocking" was surreal: I was genuinely shocked, and yet I would have been less shocked in 1990. Is this a function of aging? I don't know. I saw the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow back in the day (an act that benefited from Perry's promotion), but it's been so long since I've seen a band that want to play provocateur with their art. I miss it.
The evening wrapped up with a stripped back performance of Jane Says, encouraging the sing-a-long atmosphere everyone knew was coming. The band were all at the front of the stage with bongoes and acoustic guitars, with all the go-go dancers, satyrs and suspension girls joining them, making for an intimate finale, complete with theatrical bow.
Setlist:
Stop!
No One's Leaving
Ain't No Right
Obvious
Been Caught Stealing
Three Days
Then She Did...
Of Course
Classic Girl
Encore 1:
Mountain Song
Rebel Rebel (Bowie Cover)
Just Because
Ted, Just Admit It...
This concert has been a long time coming. I was a fan from the first, back to '94's Blue album. And Island in the Sun is probably my favourite pop song....Of. All. Time. Weezer seem to play a lot of festivals, and as you may know from reading below, I avoid festivals unless they are really really packed with amazing bands I can't bring myself to miss. Then, finally, back in 2008, Weezer were playing Vancouver and I was on the verge of buying tickets when I checked out the date with my brand new (at-the-time) boyfriend, Steve. Uh-oh. Same date as his best friend's wedding, of which he was the best man, and of which I was his date. Can't really wriggle out of that one. Many swear words were invented and tested out that day. It's probably a good thing I didn't know then it would take another eight years for this to finally happen. But it has. And it was great.
It wasn't great in exactly the way I thought it would be though. Based on the many mellow songs Weezer has, I was worried it would be a more sedate show than I really like. Sure lots are poppy and make you want to move, but not in a moshing kind of way. But fans mosh to Weezer. There was a definite crush up front, not helped by some idiotically placed permanent barriers on the O2 Academy floor. Maybe I was a little less sweaty than I would be after an Against Me! gig but I jumped up and down a whole hell of a lot. Many songs live are more energetic than off the albums, Island in the Sun being a prime example. The prettiness of it got lost somewhere between the fans screaming along and the less sparse, simple arrangement of the recording. The perfection of the "hip, hip" moment, produced perfectly on the record, was just an approximation on this night, but it was enough for me.
I heard plenty of North American accents, as we wound our way from the bar towards the stage.
The crowd looked to be about 75% geeky college boy, which makes sense.
No bad asses in sight, and a few cute, if straight-laced, girls. I'd say
most in their mid to late 20s, but it's harder to tell as I get older.
But, they seemed a good deal younger than that when Weezer closed the
main set with the Sweater Song and a violent grappling of a jumper
ensued after someone held theirs aloft. They will have a good story as
to how they lost a sweater during that song at a Weezer concert, but the garment, I'm sure, is history.
So, my impression is that Weezer live are a massive and bouncy sing-a-long band, even though the band themselves are pretty low-key. I thought that the show would be more centred on the new, White album, as it only dropped 4 days ago, and the show seemed to be promoted in that light (and it's a bit of a trend to do whole albums these days), but we only got 5 out of the 10 new tracks. My favourite new track Do You Wanna Get High? was my least favourite new live song of the bunch which was weird, but there were so many other highlights it was fine.
Setlist:
California Kids
My Name Is Jonas
Hash Pipe
Back to the Shack
L.A. Girlz
El Scorcho
The British Are Coming
Pork and Beans
(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To
Do You Wanna Get High?
Cleopatra
The Waste Land (Instrumental)
Thank God for Girls
Say It Ain't So
The Good Life
You Gave Your Love to Me Softly
King of the World
Island in the Sun
Undone- The Sweater Song Encore:
Beverly Hills
Buddy Holly
Full Set recorded by fan, Vaso Proiou:
Or watch on youtube, with comments and song timing marked.
Old school British punk in a great small punk venue. So much fun.
When I heard that The Owl Sanctuary was losing it's current lease, I decided I had to check it out before it closed (it's now relocated thank goodness). My concert pal, Janey, has told me lots of great things about this place, and we decided to check out the last live show there.
I was never a big Peter and the Test Tube Babies, but remembered the awesome Banned From the Pubs from the punk complilation Punk and Disorderly.
Partial Setlist:
Moped Lads
The Jinx
Elvis Is Dead
Up Yer Bum
Transvestite
Banned From the Pubs
Keep Britain Untidy
After pouring over the line-up, Janey and I decided to just go to the Reading Fest on Sunday. I live close by which was great for a real bed and shower at the end of a long and tiring day.
We arrived pretty early in the day and managed to just catch the last song by The Skints, enough to peak my interest. We saw all of the Single Mothers set, which was a high point for me. I love discovering a new band. It's what festivals are made for, if you ask me. These guys are from Ontario and the singer is manic. Great performance. We caught bits of Frank Iero, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Jamie T, The Gaslight Anthem, and COASTS all of which failed to interest me much.
On the main stage, I did enjoy seeing The Cribs finally. One show was cancelled and then I bailed on another club gig years ago, and still regret it. I will hopefully remedy that one day. The Maccabees were pretty damn good. I really like some of their stuff, and they managed to sound good in the sonically unforgiving festival environment. Frank Turner gave a good acoustic set in one of the tents, albeit with a crowd I would not expect him to draw. The girls we were squished in next to were busier taking selfies and chatting than appreciating the music. I did not deliver any throat-punches, nor could I enjoy imagining it as both the girls and the fantasy were a distraction from really enjoying Frank's set.
The highlight of the day was Against Me! by far. Not a big surprise. Laura Jane Grace was still rocking her Gender is Over shirt and Inge Johansson was as bouncy as ever. Laura introduced some of the songs with some banter and they did their best to bring a pretty passive audience to life. It's a bit disheartening to see such a great club band have to perform to a mildly responding crowd, but the scope of a huge festival can do that to many but the biggest names in music. I enjoyed myself anyways, but it's the least favourite show I've seen of theirs. They just shine so damn hard in a small venue.
Finally, the closer of the day was The Libertines. They were a little more low key than I expected, but the crowd still loved them. I did see enough to want to see them in a much smaller venue if the opportunity comes up. It was fun hearing some favourites done live, like Can't Stand Me Now, and Boys in the Band. We didn't make the encore as we were just too exhaused by that point and headed out listening to the final songs get fainter and fainter.
Festivals are a mixed bag and not my favourite way to see live music. I've only been to a handful over the years and it takes a lot to get me to one. I'm glad I made the effort to see a Reading date but that might be it for me. We'll see.
Against Me! Setlist:
True Trans Soul Rebel
Pints of Guinness Make You Strong
Unconditional Love
Walking Is Still Honest
Cliche Guevara
White People for Peace
FuckMyLife666
Transgender Dysphoria Blues
Dead Friend
White Crosses
Spanish Moss
Thrash Unreal
Black Me Out
I Was a Teenage Anarchist
Lynval Golding was full of energy throughout the show, and also talked to the crowd, mentioning (on this US Election eve) that he now lives in America and doesn't know if that's a good or bad thing. Horace Panter, the only other original member held down stage right with his bass. The rest of the band was guitarist, keyboardist, and at times, 2 trombonists, a violinist and backup singer.
