zzzfest

There’s a photographic trick working. When I arrived at the venue around 8:25 pm, only 5 minutes before AF’s proposed opening time, there were still hordes of people standing outside in the long queue, slowly moving towards the entrance for the ground floor. I upload a photo. This is when they opened the show on the centre stage around 9 o’clock, playing Rebellion. The sound mixing desk is situated quite close to the centre tier, leaving not much space behind, although the two photos upthread give quite an opposite impression. Also see the large the large part of the tiers occupied, both lower and upper, except the back corners. As to the standing tickets being exchanged for free…it’s anecdotal, isn’t it? The majority of the punters, thousands of them, on the floor must have paid their hard earned money and bought the tickets, I guess.

I was there (Birmingham). Lower tier, left side. It was eighty percent full, if not a full house. Definitely not a poor sale. I feel John Authers deliberately pinpointing poorly attended sections, mainly the back areas, making a false impression. Musically and performance-wise, Arcade Fire were brilliant as ever. And the crowd was nothing short of enthusiastic. Mixed feelings notwithstanding, I don’t regret attending the show.

Back to a Friday topic — I was a bit miffed The National was given 1 hr 30 mins slot (9:20 pm - 10:50 pm) but they ended up finishing the show at eleven, 1 hr and 40 mins with no interval for encore. That made my day. Cave & the Bad Seeds are given 2 hrs 15 mins slot (8:10 pm - 10:25 pm), presumably a full set not a truncated festive set, which is a treat.

Sent you a DM.

I managed a weekend ticket on Fanticks and the seller already sent it to me. This is my first GM and it has been on my bucket list for a long time. Good to feel I will finally make it! I used to love Festival No.6 but it’s sadly gone, GM is a good substitute I assume.

Hi thanks to you both. I’m afraid I’m not in the situation I can check DM all the time so it’s okay.

Thanks. Indeed there are a few on Fanticks but at the moment there is no single adult weekend ticket.

I’m looking for one adult weekend ticket, but a spare on Fanticks and Twickets is snatched up as soon as it surfaces. Are they turning up more and in sufficiently number on these trading sites near the dates? Does anybody know the situation etc previous years?

I was in London last week and saw Confidence Man@Kentish Town Forum. Thoroughly enjoyed the show. Hugely entertaining, an eye-opening performance. I noticed there was a video shooting going on during the show. One of the camera crew told me afterwords that Team ConMan were planning to release the London show in DVD/BR.

I mean, worse. WHP over sold, yes, definitely. As regards how terrible the situation of New Order at the WHP — click the link below. http://forums.neworderonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=3220#post21834

My only experience of Edinburgh Corn Exchange is none other than Arcade Fire 2017. Decent venue, nothing remarkable but nothing problematic, either. Maybe the ceiling a bit too low, as somebody pointed out here. Other than that, it’s okay for me. Victoria Warehouse Manchester is indeed horrible — saw PJ Harvey 2017 there, never been back since. Even worse was Warehouse Project near Piccadilly Station where I attended a New Order gig in 2015. A literally ‘disaster waiting to happen’ situation arising there, a miracle no one was reported dead. Oh Manchester so much to answer for...as compared with these two shitholes, believe me, Edinburgh Corn Exchange is Heaven.

Agreed. Definitely above EN (their worst IMHO) though. Funeral is the greatest rock album released in the 21st Century, but it has been all downhill thereafter for me.

Sadly Mark Lanegan passed away. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was COVID-related. https://consequence.net/2021/11/mark-lanegan-covid-new-book/ https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/mark-lanegan-book-devil-coma-160855892.html

I saw them in Edinburgh on Monday. Another hot performance, a cracking night. Abi the violinist being absent for whatever reason, the music was less colourful than it was — but it didn’t detract from the quality at all. The only complaint is that they didn’t play Keep On Trying (Sechs Freunde), despite the crowd constantly shouted, “Sechs Freunde!” — the most requested title on the night, apparently. Seems that they dropped the song on the current tour. Long live Sea Power! Support act was Hector Gannet from North Shields. Like Sea Power, they are an environmentally conscious, wildlife-friendly band. Good performance and I liked them, bought the CD album and EP from the merchandising. https://hectorgannet.com

The Arena — I saw opera Aida there in Summer 2001, during the Italian holiday with my then girlfriend (now wife). Visited the box office in the morning of show day and managed great seats in the second row on the ground floor. In the evening, we changed into posh clothes, went to the venue, standing haloed against the beautiful twilight. A recurring memory. Within a few weeks afterwards, 911 happened. We were shocked — shocked as Hell. The moment the World changed. Twenty years have passed since then. The World has been going worse. Sad.

I looked at the European tour schedule, 04/06-26/08. There is a big gap between 09/07 and 02/08. Any hope to see them playing in the UK during these three weeks?

I’m not going to see the Bad Seeds in their Summer tour in Europe next year so I hope Nick & Co. will add the UK dates, especially considering they postponed and then canceled this leg.

Whenever he came to “balcony man” in the singing, it caused a lot of commotion around me. That made the day for us in the nosebleed. You should have been there lol.

As I posted upthread, I bought a nosebleed seat for Edinburgh Playhouse, but due to some circumstances I had to sit out. As I was going to New Order Halifax and Manchester (Heaton Park) gigs, I added Cave & Ellis Stoke-On-Trent, the day before NO’s Piece Hall date. I was blown away. It was so good that I decided to catch them in Glasgow. Again, I was blown away. Honestly this matches the best of the Bad Seeds shows I have ever been to. I was a “balcony man” both times and the benefit is, both venues are 1500-seaters while Playhouse Theatre houses about 3000 so the stages were relatively close even from nosebleed seats. And in Glasgow Nick dedicated the song to those in the balcony lol.

So...has anybody survived, escaped and gone back home alright LOL? Many thanks to those who suggested going to Prestwich on the way back, which nicely worked. It was good the rain held off. Heaton Park was...well, Heaton Park, i.e. an enormous flat field. The ground didn’t go muddy, at least. As for New Order’s performance, I think Halifax was the winner IMHO. Despite this being the group’s biggest gig on the home turf and their second and more important public appearance in the last eighteen months, it felt more like a “business as usual” than an emotional comeback to the live scene. The two support acts, Working Men’s Club and Hot Chip were good — but that made New Order’s set rather anticlimactic for me.

I was also in Halifax. A top-notch performance and certainly doesn’t deserve a title of “warm up”. The venue was fantastic, too. So was the weather. An almost perfect event in every sense. The only possible snag is whether Heaton Park can rival it, let alone surpass it...

Then no problem. Thank you.

From the linked page: “Heaton Park tram stop will be closed for the remainder of the evening from 9pm the night. Metrolink services back into the city centre will run from Bowker Vale” Does it mean you can’t get the tram at Prestwich?

@dotdash79 & efcfanwirral Cheers!

Hi, thank you. On my way, I will get off the tram at Prestwich and ask the staff of the operation of the evening, making sure if I can catch the return tram there after the gig.