Gigs - First/Worst, Best/Last, Missed/P#ssed

[nimrod]

New Model Army were a band who all my mates were into but for whatever reason I never listened to them.

Might give them a whirl to see what I was missing out on...

they must have had a tonne of albums by now but if you're going to do it make it the vengeance album.

admittedly it's the only one I have. the first two albums i think are the only ones featuring the original bass player, who is ace.

I got to see NMA once and was virtually at the front. battered in the back all gig by the shenanigans going on behind me I felt pretty bruised the next day.
all worth it of course

 

[nimrod]

Also,just to agree with Nimrod..
Im no goth but the sisters gigs were fucking brilliant back then same goes for New Model Army.

spot on. can't actually remember when goth started getting bandied about.
I mean most of us who went to see bands like sisters wore only or mainly black as a colour of choice and probably had a certain look without ever considering ourselves goths

 

[broughtonwolf]

You have heard her sing kids with Robbie Williams and seen the video? Or indeed the video for Can’t Get You Out of My Head? Both somewhat risqué!

Kids is a banging tune BTW. I was rather hoping she might be there to do the duet live at Knebworth as it was the last night of the Robbie Williams tour but sadly no dice.

Coincidentally on the subject of Kylie from the Popbitch mailout today

KL writes:
"Have a listen to Kylie's song Shocked. I was told at the time by a producer that Kylie refused to sing anything other than 'Fucked to my very foundations' in the 3rd line of the chorus, which they subsequently masked with some backing vocals and some clever cuts in the video for the song.

"You can't unhear it once you know this information."

[Take a listen @ 1'13]

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

That was Kylie's Michael Hutchence period, and I bet he did.

 

[Pablowolf]

Could you imagine how amazing their kids would've looked? Hutchence and Minogue? She's gorgeous and he was a total sex God.

 

[Newbridge Wolf]

He managed to kill himself whilst knocking one out, when danger wanking goes wrong.

 

[The Bear]

Coincidentally on the subject of Kylie from the Popbitch mailout today

KL writes:
"Have a listen to Kylie's song Shocked. I was told at the time by a producer that Kylie refused to sing anything other than 'Fucked to my very foundations' in the 3rd line of the chorus, which they subsequently masked with some backing vocals and some clever cuts in the video for the song.

"You can't unhear it once you know this information."

[Take a listen @ 1'13]

Had a quick look and you're probably right. Shame it's such a crap song.

I looked at her singing it live (related video), and she sings "shocked".

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Normally you have to be an MP to master that trick

 

[pacamac]

Aye, 90s Civic was great.

Tell you where else I miss, the Varsity. Upstairs in there was great for a wee gig with a local band. They might get nowhere in the end (in fact pretty sure none of them did) but always had a good time. Shame the service went to shite and the uni hoovered it up for no reason.

Yeah miss the Varsity great venue, was especially good if they had bands on Thursday nights, with downstairs being pound a pint night get tanked up downstairs first on the cheaper drinks then pop upstairs.

Miss the proper Little Civic too. Wolvo's lost most its smaller venues now (ie less than 200) shame.

 

[lemonjelly]

Surprised I forgot to mention Public Enemy, the first time I saw them at the custard factory. they were just epic! Phenomenal live band.

 

[pacamac]

Glasvegas. I wouldn't have chosen to see them and only went as it was a mate who I hadn't seen in ages and he had a spare. I didn't mind them before but they were a bit "whatever" for me. They were excellent.

Agree with that, I was the same about them when they appeared to be honest but saw them at that free festival in Coventry (had gone to see The Enemy mostly) and they were really good.

 

[pacamac]

Yeah, I've played at the Varsity quite a few times. Never to an audience of more than about 20 people though!

We got an album out

Great venue to play though, I loved doing gigs there. Never watched one though...

Go on then lads (or lasses) name ya band depending on when reckon there's a good chance I saw you live.

 

[Keef]

Been through my old gig tickets,2 I missed were Andy williams and Barry White,the gigs got cancelled due to illness,and they both died shortly after.
Seen the damned over 200 times!
Terrorvision 17 times
Therapy? 11 times
One gig I'd forgotten about,James brown at the Barbican in London,took a 33 seater coach down with 20 odd people on it,and they'd bought an extra ticket just in case the driver wanted it,how nice of them to do that,I took the ticket,and his age was against him a bit,but hey free ticket for James brown

 

[machin05]

Go on then lads (or lasses) name ya band depending on when reckon there's a good chance I saw you live.

We played a fair few times from about 2006ish. We were called Zelig.

 

[Paul]

What did happen to Zelig in the end, you just stopped talking about them and I was afraid to ask ?

 

[lemonjelly]

had a scan through the old gig tickets. in addition to the gigs previously mentioned, bodycount at the civic (twice, first time was in december 93), were memorable.
march 94 I had 5 gigs - therapy?, clawfinger, wonderstuff, soul asylum, and the wildhearts! Ace month!
Saw toby and the whole truth at the wulfrun. memorable for the fact there were only 4 people there!
beck at the aston villa arena in may 97 was awesome. as was spiritualized at the que club in 98 on the LAGWAFIS tour.
finally, Mika in 2011. shite venue (brum academy) but a superb show.

 

[lemonjelly]

Also, support bands that have blown me away:
Atom Seed (supporting Love/Hate)
Josh Ritter (supporting Joan Baez)

Had never heard of either before seeing them, and they were both phenomenal.

Also, not exactly a gig, but went to see the Blue Man Group, and fucking hell, what a show that is!

 

[SLA]

First: Iron Maiden, Southampton Gaumont, October 5th 1984. World Slavery Tour. Supported by Waysted. Not bad as first gigs go!

Worst: Bon Jovi, Hammy Odeon 1990.I'd passed through my teenage metal phase and went along as a favour to a mate. Having gone through thrash and now grunge, this just seemed piss weak. I sat down and read a magazine after the first few songs.

Best: Bongwater, Newcastle Riverside, March 18 1991. According to setlist.fm this was one of only ten gigs they ever played, five of which were in the UK. It was just a random trip up with the uni (ok, poly!) gig society. None of us really had any knowledge of the band beyond vague familiarity with Kramer and the Shimmy Disc label. But everyone I kept in touch with afterwards agreed it was pretty extraordinary. I've never had so much fun at a gig. Support was Th' Faith Healers and Dogbowl. Both awesome. And Ann Magnuson was the lead singer, who is awesome and has since turned up in a huge number of TV shows and films.

Support band: These days, I'm generally far too cool to watch support bands, preferring to stay in the pub till the last minute and then saunter in nonchalantly while everyone gasps at my cavalier attitude. (In my head.) The reality is I'm too old and don't like standing up for a long time. But back in the day I was blown away by Babes in Toyland supporting Sonic Youth in September 1990. That started a lifelong love affair BiT. Sonic Youth were also awesome. And according to setlist.fm, Teenage Fanclub were also on the bill that night but I have no memory of them at all.

 

[Pablowolf]

had a scan through the old gig tickets. in addition to the gigs previously mentioned, bodycount at the civic (twice, first time was in december 93), were memorable.
march 94 I had 5 gigs - therapy?, clawfinger, wonderstuff, soul asylum, and the wildhearts! Ace month!
Saw toby and the whole truth at the wulfrun. memorable for the fact there were only 4 people there!
beck at the aston villa arena in may 97 was awesome. as was spiritualized at the que club in 98 on the LAGWAFIS tour.
finally, Mika in 2011. shite venue (brum academy) but a superb show.

I look at you and I think 'there's a guy who watches Bodycount'. I hope you know all the lyrics to Cop Killer.


Fun fact, I bought their first album with Cop Killer on it, before the final track was changed to 'Freedom of Speech'.

 

[Dublin Drummer Wolf]

First: Michael Jackson, Dangerous Tour, Lansdowne Road 1992. I was a huge Jacko fan as a kid and it was a dream come true when my Mum scored tickets. Kriss-Kross were the support act. We stood at the very back of the stadium on the terrace behind the goal so I couldnt see much. I remember he did a medley of Jackson 5 songs and some of his early Off The Wall stuff and I was bored as I wanted to hear songs off Thriller and Bad. At the end 'Michael Jackson' put on a rocket-man suit and literally flew up out of the stadium over the stand. Totally blew away 8yr old me.


Worst: A toss up between MIA, Sonic Youth and The Killers. MIA charged €50 and played 50 mins, and many of her songs were extended where she left the stage and had awful dancers onstage filling the time. No imagination or interaction..... awful. Sonic Youth were bad as the sound was dreadful and they didnt seem bothered at all. The Killers were headlining a festival and were so cringe.... it was the Sunday and as they were in Ireland they thought it would be a good idea to do a small Sunday church service.... totally misreading the vibe of 30,000 people on a massive come-down after a weekend of stimulation. Also Brendan Flowers voice was horrendous. He's probably up there with Ian Brown as the worst singer I've heard live.

Best: Led Zeppelin, The o2 London, 2007. My ex managed to score tickets and it was an incredibly exciting long weekend in London. On the day before the gig you had to arrive at the o2 and swap your ticket for a wristband, and on the tube over to Canary Wharf, there were American's offering us $10,000 for the 2 wristbands. The buzz in London was huge and the gig was incredible. Such an event full of musical legends. Foreigner, Paolo Nutini were the support acts. We saw Dave Grohl in the crowd, Lisa Marie Presley, stood beside Ferne Cotton at the bar. And Led Zep were incredible. Over 2hrs of their classic hits along with deeper cuts too. I cant bring myself to watch the full Celebration Day DVD because it stirs up this weird feeling of sadness in me. Not too sure why.
The only other gig that came close to being as good was Roger Water's doing The Wall at the Aviva in 2013.
Special mention to Faith No More in 2009 at The Olympia. They all wore pink tuxedoes and were the epitome of class. Mike Patton's voice was note perfect and the band were so tight.... they even played Stripsearch which is one of my favourite songs.


Support band: Another toss-up - Alice in Chains supporting Metallica in 2006 was epic. AIC had just reformed with William Duvall on vocals and they absolutely destroyed the RDS in a 1hr set that just flew. The other was Mastodon supporting Tool also in 2006. Mastodon are a drummers band full of weird time signatures and pounding beats. I really enjoyed them.

Last: Supergrass back in Feb of this year. A tremendous gig as part of the reunion tour. Unfortunately I dont remember the last half hour as we dabbed some MDMA in the pub beforehand and it kicked in around then. The first 90 mins were absolutely top notch though, high-energy and very tight, they didnt miss a beat.