206 replies to this topic

[iamnotahero]

killyourtv, on 02 May 2012 - 08:31 PM, said:

Patrick Watson & Barr Brothers @ Komedia, Brighton

Following Mr Mangan, more Canadians with boisterous ex-pat support.  Both new to me, but well worth the £12.50 even if it did put an end to the tour of Brighton's real ale pubs which was real purpose of my trip dangerously south.  I enjoyed the Barr's low-key set enough to buy the LP.

Patrick's set was an odd mixture of gorgeous piano and vocals ballads ("To Build a Home" the stand-out), and very discordant ramblings from the five piece ("Adventures in your own backyard") which also seemed to go down well. Don't know how much the set leaned toward the new record.  Patrick's interaction with the crowd was the highpoint, particularly the campfire songs he sangs a capella in the middle of the crowd, balanced on a bar stool.

Komedia is pleasant but not great for viewing more than four rows back, and the video screens seem a bit incongruous.  Sound was pretty good, certainly on the solo material.

I was also at the Komedia gig. And what a gig it was! Probably one of the best gigs I've been to all year, and the Komedia has become my new favourite venue. I've been a long time fan of Mr Watson and his 'Wooden Arms' band so I was pleased to hear performances of 'Big Bird in a Small Cage', 'To Build a Home' and 'Luscious Life' as well as the superb 'Sit Down Beside Me' which he performed with the Barrs. The set was pretty focused on the new album with pretty much every song played, including the instrumental 'Things You Do'.

And yes, Patrick's audience interaction was excellent, and I would say he's up there with Dan Mangan (Bristol Lousiana 2/5/12) for the Best Onstage Banter of the Year award.

Edited by iamnotahero, 07 May 2012 - 04:13 PM.

[perfectpassion]

The Understudies - Everyone Deserves One Summer of Love World Tour - 5th May - Hertfordshire

This was probably the only time I will ever get the chance to ask the band to play loud enough to drown out the rest of the audience.

The bride was wearing a charity shop dress and the groom for once was not wearing shorts and a t-shirt. The venue was decked out in bunting and funny record sleeves. Afternoon tea was served on miss-matched china and included scones with clotted cream and cakes.

The Understudies have been around for a while, they are the kind of band I love and the kind of people who play for the love of it. Indie pop with wry lyrics.



   " More superior indiepop, here one week away from the gathering of the cardiganed clans at Indietracks. The Understudies have been ploughing a furrow of Edwyn Collins-flavoured melodic heartache for a little while now but this 7" on Odd Box might be their most fulfilled, and hence most fulfilling, exultation. Romantic and heartaching while positive in a way only young Morrissey and fey Scotsmen (see also Roddy Frame) can seemingly otherwise pull off. It's not cynical in the slightest, really, it's open minded to the possibilities and pull of the season." Sweeping the Nation

Thank you everyone you meet the best people on this forum xx

ps I forgot to say that The Understudies are playing this saturday 19th May at the George Tavern Whitechapel E1 0LA

Edited by perfectpassion, 14 May 2012 - 07:53 PM.

[killyourtv]

Willis Earl Beal & Pins @ Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Brum

Driving back from the Etihad with nerves shredded last night, I thought about giving this a miss having been bemused by Willis's LP, but would have missed one of my great musical nights.

I don't know if I get the message, but the range of delivery was mesmerising, and he does have a wonderful voice.  The set sounded nothing like the record, being largely driven by a backing tape that could come off a Cocteau Twins outtake, but I was transfixed.  A bit glad it was only 45 minutes mind.  No idea how it will go down at EOTR, but hopefully audience chatter won't require Willis to tell us to "shut the xxxx up" as last night.

Honorable mention to the Pins whose regulation post-punk ™ sounded superb, which was also a tribute to great sound at the Hare & Hounds, with no bleed from Ozric Tentacles (!) next door.

Oh what a day.

[Infinite Jest]

Slow Down, Molasses - Brixton Windmill

We arrive near the end of Heath!'s set. He plays solo with a guitar sound that reminds me of early Billy Bragg. All big and echo-y.

Half Moon Run are billed as folk, indie and pop with warm electronica, and that will do me. Kinda like if Caribou were playing one of their more chilled songs, and then midway through half the band decided they'd rather be a folk band. I heard hints of Lemon Jelly too, as well as some 70s soul/rock (think what Primal Scream were doing on Give Out...). I enjoyed this set a lot, and bought a CD - which, I have to say hasn't quite lived up to the live set yet, but I'll give it time.

The only problem with this gig was the miserably small attendance. I kept expecting more people to turn up, and they didn't.

It's kind of weird reviewing a band when one of 'em is a member of this forum, but I'll try. Slow Down, Molasses played a good set of their shoegazy/indie/folk goodness, in spite of the sparse crowd. They opened with several songs off Walk Into the Sea then played a couple of tracks from their next album that had a harder sound to my ears. The singer was wearing an EoTR t-shirt, which made him the second-coolest person in the room* and they seemed to be having fun. No My Bloody Valentine covers or playing in the crowd this time, though**.

I enjoyed the night a lot - all three acts were well worth listening to, it's just a shame about the size of the crowd.

*I was wearing an EoTR t-shirt from an earlier festival, so clearly I was the coolest person there .
** Video from previous Windmill show (I was standing about three feet to the left of the camera)

[Infinite Jest]

Crunchy Club IV, with The Tremelo Beer Gut + Lars and the Hands of Light + Snake and Jet's Amazing Bullitt Band

This is a free Scandanavian band night in a pub in Camden.

Lars ATHOL were a pleasant enough indie band, but I was already struggling to remember what they sound like by the time the second band were on.

Snake and Jet are a duo who play rockier stuff - I was convinced that one song was going to turn into a Stooges cover, but it didn't, it just kept sounding vaguely like the Stooges. Not bad but not earth-shattering. They did a shout-out to my friend, who was apparently the only Londoner in the venue (or the only one willing to admit it).

I was tired and getting ready to leave when the Tremelo Beer Gut came on, and made me glad I hadn't. They play surf, and not only that but good surf. (All surf is good, but some is better, you know what I mean). They had a decent stage presence and banter, and managed to make their surf cover of 'The Model' sound not only logical, but inevitable. A lot of fun.

[Dixiedown]

Ooh Hare and Hounds, I live down the road from there haha. Haven't actually got a review because I haven't been to a gig since Bon Iver in Birmingham, last november. Which was brilliant by the way but I don't think the O2 Academy is a very good venue for Justin Vernon and the gang. But its almost a year to the day I saw Sufjan Stevens in Manchester 02 Apollo which was probably the best gig of my life and I've Brian Wilson a few times which is quite an achievement being only 19. Sufjan was such a good show, just mental and so entertaining, Age of Adz worked so good on tour. Wearing swan wings and a plastic rocket on his head, astonding, I adore Sufjan.

But i'm going to see the Horrors on friday, Philip Glass and Kronos Quartet later in May, Field Day, Best Coast, Lucy Rose (at the H and H actually) in June. Maybe Sharon Van Etten in July and the ones I really can't wait for in August, Blur and Grandaddy in Wolverhampton and Manchester. Ahhh so excited I'm going to explode.

[riverlodge]

perfectpassion, on 14 May 2012 - 06:54 PM, said:

This was probably the only time I will ever get the chance to ask the band to play loud enough to drown out the rest of the audience.

glad you had a fabby time, hope it all went really well and that you both enjoyed yourselves - wish we could have come along but hope to catch up soon. congrats again and best wishes to you and P too.