It started without any fanfare. The band members had been wandering on and off finishing setting up the stage. Michael was in his usual good spirits, blowing a hooter at the audience and giving a cheery smile and wave. He was in good humour throughout the show too, joking at one point about how nice it was to see so many lovely young ladies in the ( Read more... )

I was a bit disappointed by the 30th anniversary show from Einstürzende Neubauten last night. To be fair I wasn't feeling very well and had given some consideration to not going, but their 25th anniversary show was absolutely awesome, and they played loads of my favourite older songs, so I was sure it would be alright in the end ( Read more... )

My first proper festival! I was a bit nervous, even though I was staying in the four star Holiday Inn in Stevenage rather than camping, but I had a really good time, although it was pretty tiring being in a field with 50,000 people for three days. The festival was very well organised, even the chemical toilets were ok and never ran out of toilet ( Read more... )

Last night Simon and I went to see Rammstein, which could be nicely summed up as pantomime for pyros and perverts. They were even better than the last time I saw them in 2002, although the best songs and the ones that really got the crowd going are still the ones from that era. The new album is very good too though ( Read more... )

Snow! In Frankfurt, on Monday. Sorry to raise any hopes in London. :) As long as it doesn't stop me getting home again (I don't care if I don't make it there) it will be an unexpected bonus. If it's pretty enough it might even make up for the 6am start ( Read more... )

AiC were absolutely awesome. The larger venue really suited them compared to the Scala back in August. It's not often I think a band is better in a larger venue. They opened with "Them Bones" and it was uphill all the way from there, including a short acoustic set, towards the end of the main set they did a stunning "Angry Chair" where the sinuous ( Read more... )

Last night Simon and I went to see Mastodon at the Islington Academy.

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On Friday I went to see Magazine. ( I accord them all due respect )

Any real music fan will know what I mean when I talk about gigs that are so intense that you feel for a long time afterwards like there are two types of people in the world - the ones who've just shared this incredible experience with you, and everyone else. Last night was like that. I could write screeds (and I probably will) but I could never ( Read more... )

Last night I went to the Water Rats for the first time in February, to see godlike genius Michael Gira doing one of his acoustic sets that have reduced me to jelly twice. Fortunately I've been to the Water Rats before so I had low expectations.

(  Now some of us are weak, and some endure )