24 replies to this topic

[GTG]

Chronological Order-ish

Americana Road Trip (Wilders/Martin Stephenson/Danny Wilson) - (Cluny2/Central Hotel/Cluny)
Betsey Trotwood Winterlude (Danny ATCOTW, Rockingbirds, Otway, Treetop Flyers, Benjamin Folke Thomas) - (Conway Hall, that London)
Imelda May (O2 Academy, Newcastle)
Decemberists (O2 Academy, Leeds) ***
John Grant (Sage 2)
Simone Felice (Cluny 2)
Women In Punk (Pauline Murray/Viv Albertine/Gina Birch/Helen McCookerybook) - (Central Hotel, Gateshead)
Vin Garbutt (Georgian Theatre, Stockton)
Jim White (Little Theatre, Gateshead)
Villagers (Riverside, Newcastle) ***
Billy Bragg/Smoke Faeries/C W Stoneking (Evolution, Newcastle)
Imploding Inevitable Festival (Felltop Wood, Lake Windermere)
Unthanks/Brighouse & Rastrick Brass Band (Durham Cathedral)
Bright Eyes/Jenny & Johnny (Sage) ***
Sophie Ellis-Bextor! (Bents Park, South Shields)

*** - if forced to choose the top 3

[shoebox]

Well, this is what I've done in 2011, in chronological order, thus far:

Smoke Fairies - Tunbridge Wells Forum
Joe Pug - Upstairs at The Garage, Highbury
Iron & Wine - The Roundhouse
Decemberists - Hammersmith Apollo
Singing Adams - Lexington
Suede - Brixton Academy
Smoke Fairies - Royal Function Rooms, Rochester
Belle & Sebastian - The Roundhouse
Dan Mangan - St Pancras Old Church
Destroyer - Heaven
Hop Farm Festival (Saturday) - Paddock Wood

So, only 11. If I had to pick a top 3, I'd go with Destroyer, Suede and Dan Mangan. But none of them were in any way disappointing. Good returns so far.

[GTG]

koike, on 19 July 2011 - 08:47 AM, said:

Good choice

Never seen Dan Mangan live but I'm confident that, after EOTR, he will be in my end of year Top 10! Just as long as he doesn't play 'Basket' too early in the set as I'll probably be reduced to blubbering me way through the rest of it.

[shoebox]

GTG, on 19 July 2011 - 11:53 AM, said:

Never seen Dan Mangan live but I'm confident that, after EOTR, he will be in my end of year Top 10! Just as long as he doesn't play 'Basket' too early in the set as I'll probably be reduced to blubbering me way through the rest of it.

Hehe, that one gets me pretty misty eyed as well. A bit of a voice cracker when singing along in the car though.

Thankfully he's very unlikely to play Move Pen Move from the Roboteering EP. That produces proper tears.

[Wiggum]

15 already? And the best 15? I'd be struggling but, it has been a pretty good year for gigs so far:

Jeffrey Lewis @ Mono (Glasgow)
Dean Wareham plays Galaxie 500 (AND RINGO DEATHSTARR!!) @ Stereo (Glasgow)
Caitlin Rose @ Stereo (Glasgow)
The Babies @ Stereo (Glasgow)
Dum Dum Girls @ Stereo (Glasgow)
Johnny Reb @ Nice'n'Sleazys (Glasgow)
Explosions in the Sku @ HMV Picture House (Edinburgh)
Warpaint/Clinic @ Stag and Dagger (Glasgow)
Sparrow and the Workshop @ King Tuts (Glasgow)
The Mountain Goats @ King Tuts (Glasgow)
Manic Street Preachers/The Strokes/Primal Scream @ T in the Park.

Not bad so far!

[Sipperana]

2011 thus far - plus notable supports...

The Duke Spirit - Boileroom, Guildford
The Phantom Band - The Railway, Winchester
Les Savy Fav + Pulled Apart By Horses - Heaven, Charing Cross
Emily Barker - St Giles in the Fields, Holborn
The Decemberists + Blind Pilot - Vicar Street, Dublin
David Devant and his Spirit Wife - The Lexington, Islington
The Boxer Rebellion - Heaven, Charing Cross
Elbow + Villagers - Brighton Centre
Simone Felice - The Railway, Winchester
Puressence - The Borderline
The Blockheads - Robin 2, Bilston
Vintage Trouble - The Wheelbarrow, Camden
David Ford - The Borderline
Emily and the Woods - North London Tavern, Kilburn
Erland and the Carnival - The Garage, Islington
Frank Turner + Faranz Nicolay + Ben Marwood - The Railway, Winchester
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - The Garage, Islington
Hot Rats - The Boileroom, Guildford
Vetiver + Marques Toliver - South Street Arts Centre, Reading
Grouplove - West End Centre, Aldershot
They Might Be Giants + Treefight For Sunlight - KOKO, Camden

Hard to single out gigs, but five that stick out for me are:

Les Savy Fav - a wonderfully exuberant show, plus excellent support from PABH
Decemberists - so much more fun than I'd expected them to be
Vintage Trouble - the week they appeared on Later, and the sweatiest gig of the year
Frank Turner - triumphant homecoming gig, with very strong support acts
They Might Be Giants - first time in 14 years and they're better than ever, Treefight were excellent too

[Joe_the_Great]

So far this year:

Sufjan Stevens/DM Stith - Royal Festival Hall x 2
Okkervil River/Singing Adams - Heaven
Ra Ra Riot/Airship - Relentless Garage
Explosions in the Sky/Lichens - Roundhouse
Frontier Ruckus/My First Tooth/Deer Park - The Windmill Brixton
Fleet Foxes/The Bees - HMV Hammersmith
The Leisure Society/Ray Davis etc - Purcell room
Wye Oak/Waters - Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen
Weezer/Male Bonding - O2 Academy Brixton
Washed Out - Rough Trade East

Top 3 would be: Sufjan/Weezer/Wye Oak

[wackojackohighcliffe]

My top 3:
Sufjan Stevens - Brighton Dome
Decemberists/Blind Pilot - Hammersmith Appollo
Hold Steady w/Wintersleep - Southampton Uni

(Tough choices and Bright Eyes I'm sure would've got in if I hadn't ended up in the seating )

[MrSimonW]

So far this year, top 15 in bold.

British Sea Power - Camden Barfly
Kings Go Forth - Jazz Cafe
Jefferey Lewis and Peter Stampfel - Brixton Windmill
Shhh Festival (Stuart Braithwaite, Still Corners, Conquering Animal Sound, Fuzzy Lights) - Cecil Sharp House
Benni Hemm Hemm (Ja Ja Ja night) - The Lexington
Freelance Whales and Broken Records - XOYO
The Langley Sisters, Ed Harcourt and Kristina Train - The Lexington
Aidan Moffatt with Aidan Moffatt (And Bill Wells) and Aidan Moffatt (and the best-ofs) - Bush Hall
Lia Ices - Brixton Windmill
Mogwai - Brixton Academy
Efterklang - Scala
The Phantom Band, Found - Dingwalls
The Decemberists - Hammersmith Apollo
Read and Shout (Jens Lekman, Darren Hayman) - Nettleford Hall
Will Sheff - St Pancras Old Church
Team Me, When Saints Go Machine (Ja Ja Ja night) - The Lexington
Architecture in Helsinki - XOYO
Martin Carr - The Slaughtered Lamb
Lone Wolf - The Cricketers Kingston
Candi Staton - Jazz Cafe
Obits - The Lexington
Thee Single Spies - Tamesis Dock
Sufjan Stevens - Royal Festival Hall
Dark Dark Dark - Bandstand Busking, Hampstead Heath
Okkervil River, Singing Adams - Heaven
Explosions in the Sky - Roundhouse
Mercury Rev - Roundhouse
Mountain Goats - Koko
Thurston Moore, Michael Chapman - Union Chapel
Leigh Folk Festival (Tidow and O'Hooley) - Leigh On Sea
Dan Mangan, Singing Adams - St Pancras Old Church
Flaming Lips, Dinosaur Jr, Deerhoof - Alexander Palace
The Langley Sisters - St Pancras Old Church
Latitude Festival (They Might Be Giants, The Duke and the King, OMD, My Morning Jacket)

[baroquepop]

Living in the remote north of Scotland, I don't get to many noteworthy gigs, but I made the trip to Newcastle (sorry, I mean Gateshead!) for Sufjan Stevens and it was definitely worth the journey. A spectacular show.

Mr SimonW, I'm impressed by your gig-going and interested to note your top picks. I assume you'd recommend Lia Ices at EOTR.

Edited by baroquepop, 20 July 2011 - 10:56 PM.

[Sipperana]

MrSimonW - you need to get out less

[Sipperana]

I'd forgotten to mention Bandstand Busking, which covers Thousands, Copy Haho, Leisure Society and Jesca Hoop.  All good, but 10-20 mins of one band isn't enough to qualify as a gig as such.

[Infinite Jest]

These are in reverse order because that's how Songkick records them...best gigs are in bold

The 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch Festival 2011
The Flaming Lips with Dinosaur Jr. and Deerhoof at Alexandra Palace
The Hop Farm Festival 2011 (Morrissey, Stooges, Lou Reed, Patti Smith)
Arcade Fire with Mumford & Sons and Beirut
Big Boi with Yasmin at Heaven
George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic at HMV Forum
Civil Civic with Ungdomskulen at The Shacklewell Arms
The Phoenix Foundation and The Title Sequence at Scala
Primavera Sound Festival 2011 (Pulp etc)
Okkervil River with The Singing Adams at Heaven
Everything Everything with Post War Years at O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
Glasvegas with Still Corners and Ren Harvieu at HMV Forum
The Low Anthem with The Head and the Heart at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre
Primal Scream doing Screamadelicaat O2 Academy Brixton
The Decemberists with Blind Pilot at HMV Hammersmith Apollo
Surfer Blood with No Joy and Blind Pilot at Scala
The Phoenix Foundation with The Dallas Guild at The Borderline
Kellermensch with Årabrot and Deathcrush at The Lexington
Crocodiles with Cloud Nothings and Paris Suit Yourself at Barfly Camden
Chameleons Vox with This Is Radio Silence and Adoration at O2 Academy Islington
The Vaselines at XOYO
Joe Pug, upstairs at the Garage

Edited by Infinite Jest, 21 July 2011 - 01:17 PM.

[perfectpassion]

Sipperana, on 21 July 2011 - 12:33 PM, said:

MrSimonW - you need to get out less

LOL I thought this thread was called "I've been to more gigs than you" nahnah.
Am just jealous as I am not let out very often anymore, but they will relent for EoTR as long as I check in with security every 2 hrs and keep to the 7pm curfew

[Yokel Again]

Similarly abit jealous. Don't get to nearly enough gigs at all at the minute. Still, got tickets for Bon Iver! Hurrah!

[GTG]

Infinite Jest, on 21 July 2011 - 01:16 PM, said:

The Hop Farm Festival 2011 (Morrissey, Stooges, Lou Reed, Patti Smith)

Was that day as outstanding as it looked on paper?  Were you just there for the day or did you see Prince?

[MrSimonW]

baroquepop, on 20 July 2011 - 10:50 PM, said:

Mr SimonW, I'm impressed by your gig-going and interested to note your top picks. I assume you'd recommend Lia Ices at EOTR.

Well I love the album, and although she didn't do anything dramatically different live to the recorded versions, that was fine by me.

[Infinite Jest]

GTG, on 21 July 2011 - 11:43 PM, said:

Was that day as outstanding as it looked on paper?  Were you just there for the day or did you see Prince?

Went for that one day (wish I'd stayed on for Prince, now...).

It had the potential to be great, or suck (could have been grumpy old men in a field). It was pretty great. I went last year and didn't have a great time, but the organisation was much better this year. Patti Smith was reliably wonderful (though she only played half an hour, acoustic). Magazine were a bit disappointing. Lou was grumpy and played obscure stuff at first, but mellowed out, played a few classics, and everyone was happy by the end. Stooges were excellent, Iggy was his usual maniac self but the band were better than last two times I saw them. I was in the pit and had a great time. Morrissey was better than the other two times I've seen him, as was his band. Good mix of songs, he was in a good mood and paid very generous tribute to the other acts ("how the hell do you follow Iggy and the Stooges? How the hell do you do that?"; etc).

[Sipperana]

perfectpassion, on 21 July 2011 - 01:47 PM, said:

LOL I thought this thread was called "I've been to more gigs than you" nahnah.

I think it's more like the "Who lives nearest to all the London venues" thread...

Anyway I can now add Soldier at the Monarch to the list and, come Saturday, Mogwai at the Roundhouse.

[wackojackohighcliffe]

Sipperana, on 22 July 2011 - 11:51 AM, said:

I think it's more like the "Who lives nearest to all the London venues" thread...

Anyway I can now add Soldier at the Monarch to the list and, come Saturday, Mogwai at the Roundhouse.

Someone was lucky enough to get those tickets then...