Padjeq

Def Leppard with Motley Crue at Brammal Lane, Sheffield 22.05.23 First band on was Vivas at the dinner-bothering time of 5:45pm. One of the members is the son of Leppard's bass player, so I doubt we missed anything worth seeing. We got through the turnstiles as their set was closing. Toilets and bars were rammed unless you had the foresight to walk 30 seconds to the next, empty ones. The bar at the back of the pitch provided instant beer purchasing throughout this monday night. The atmosphere in the stadium was near terminal as the crowd listened to 70's parish hall favourites such as Brand New Cadillac and Leo Sayer's 'You Make Me Feel Like Dancing'. When Motley Crue took the stage an assault of drum and bass rattled the chest, while cupping an ear allowed one to hear the squeaks of miniature frontman Vince Neil. Murky and muddy, songs unrecognisable until the chorus hit, the only thing worth paying attention to was the Crue's 2 dancers. Halfway through Tommy Lee (the absolute spitting image of modern day Fatima Whitbread) came out from behind the skins to politely ask the audience to show their breasts. A few shoulder-hoisted women obliged for the big screens, which mustered a few soft cheers, but it was more sad than raucously debauched, the awkwardness outweighing any titillation. This would oddly be the prelude to the saccharine power ballad Home Sweet Home. People used to say Motley Crue looked like girls. Now they look like nans in fancy dress. Def Leppard came out strong and were relentless. 6 songs from Hysteria punctuated with their other hits that were somehow even bigger. Sound was quality, and both lead guitars sounded wicked. Lovely to see a band of this ilk still blasting it out, even if no one was up to doing a starjump off the drum riser. A fair amount of the crowd seemed to come here just for the opportunity to sit and be quiet, but Pour Some Sugar On Me was the one to finally pull them up by the ears. No encore or anything specific to this homecoming gig - likely a condition of their co-head tour with the Crue - the set was over a neat 90 minutes after starting.

Nice one!

https://twitter.com/LizzyMcAlpine/status/1661040873961037824?s=20 Lizzy has kicked her dates a little bit down the road. She's still doing the HAIM APE date, and added shows (good for me). No mention of that festival (in cheltenham was it?) she was headlining, but that's gotta be off now, if not cancelled as a festival outright anyway.

Think they may have auctioned off a few, but the rest are in the entrance of the new venue. Never heard of Faces tho. I'm 39 fwiw

Beautiful story. I can just picture it.

Massive fan of the band when I was a kid. When I was 19 he DJ'd our local club (Snobs). I spent most of the time getting off with my girlfriend directly in front of the DJ booth. That's romance that.

Same but Portugal

Apparently there's an interval act later who's been having closed rehearsals. Would conclude Macca but who knows

I can't wait!

Went to the Eurovision Semi Final 1 afternoon show on tuesday at Liverpool Arena. Was amazed at how small the arena was compared to Brum's massive caverns. We were sitting near the back row near the back but I didn't feel that far away. Pretty quick to get served even if the queues are long. Pre-poured pints of wet labelled merely 'lager'* and 'cider' and no option of a double pint kept things moving. Walking in took my breath away. The stage and the pods resplendent in LED's were awesome. We got in with 2 minutes left on the countdown - just long enough for me to identify the three current members of ex-Bucks Fizz (it's complicated) by the back of their heads. The showrunner introduced himself, told us to be quiet for the respectful intro video and performance, and we were off. Being the afternoon run-through show the presenters dressed down, and their interview segments involved runners in place of the talent, but all the performances were exactly how they were on the broadcast show. Graham Norton took a seat in time to watch Ireland rock the room in a genuinely decent performance (between his massive camel hoof and his confused face, it fell flat on the tv). Later they interviewed former eurovis failure and Irish tv mainstay Dustin the Turkey. As he exited his scene he was clumsily bundled into a box while runners blocked sightlines to his handler - a man who was then escorted from the arena hidden under a black shroud. I think they used to do the same to Prince back in the day. Crowd was mixed between those that had been following everything and people who had come because they fancied a bit of Eurovision - something they got in the madcap Croatian entry, who blistered a cold room inside of 3 minutes. The amount of people that went for a wazz and a beer about 30 seconds before Loreen's performance gave me anxiety. A top tier performance but lacking somewhat behind Kaarija for Finland. He got a healthy amount of cheers initially but by the end it was clear who the room's winner was as the crowd came unglued. Every mention of him after, in 'call this number to vote' videos and the like, earned rapturous whooping, even when he was voted through in the mock qualifier at the end. Glad I finally got to be part of Eurovision. *I did ask what the lager was and was told San Miguel. But imagine not advertising that fact?

Succession is very enjoyable although this is the first season I can't imagine ever watching again.

Just did episode 2 of Colin from Accounts. Got a lot of empathy for the girl and what she does at the start of the episode, as I have done the exact same thing in the past.

Few gigs from this year. Priestgate at Rainbow in Brum. When we entered the venue the lead singer was asleep on a bench near the door. He roused himself come curtain and put on a right old show. Seem like nice lads and I hope they do well on the festival circuit this summer. Think the singer will be quite popular once the right people get a look at him. Support was from Bleach Lab. My mind wandered off for most of that. Pretty boring. Carly Rae Jepsen at the Institute in Brum. Must've been due to scheduling but the venue was way smaller than what it should've been. Absolutely heaving and hard to get a good sightline, but she was so lovely and the band played a lot of songs, giving us a choice between Your Type and Cry, and then just doing both anyway. Shame she's so rare over here. ABBA Voyage. Everyone says how great this is, and maybe I should've tempered my expectations. When they were 'on stage' they were just a better version of the Boy George and Tim Burgess 'holograms' at the Liverpool museum of rock and roll. Very hard for me to get absorbed. It's like an IMAX version of a gig. Voulez-Vous was banging tho. Etta Marcus at the Hare and Hounds, Brum. Dunno what to say. Couple of decent songs performed decently. Yours Truly at the Asylum in Brum. A wet thursday night, 6 days later than scheduled, following an afternoon-of cancellation the previous friday - a fact which was reflected in the lack of people in the room. Australian pop-punk of the Stand Atlantic variety. Great songs. Opener was Lizzy Farrall, who I've been waiting to see for 3 years, since the release of her EP. Confident and showy, she's something else entirely. Other support was the nondescript South Arcade. Paramore at the NIA in Brum. From the opening punch of 'You First' it was pure rapture. It was symbiotic how Hayley's energy and the audience's fed off each other. Someone in the queue for the bar behind me said the only Paramore song she knows was Decode, and that's because it was in Twilight. £68 a ticket. Support was Bloc Party, becoming the act with the longest gap between gigs for me (2004 and 2023). They were good, and Flux was very nice. 'This Modern Love' is still clearly a remake of Pretty Girls Make Graves' 'This is Our Emergency' (although now, as then, who would really notice?)

There'll be a sizeable portion doing both nights. Think they're a little gunshy in terms of venue size. Wolves Civic is academy sized and still hasn't sold out the floor despite being on sale for a while.

I got annoyed when artists played to the cameras, notably Rosalia. It was like I was watching The Brits instead of a festival.

£90 for general. That twice, plus travel down (with a risk Big Green Coach aren't gonna offer a package, meaning a hotel too), I'm gonna wait for the final lineup.

If i could be provided with the direct link I'd be absolutely cock-a-hoop

Hoping for Lizzy McAlpine for LDR support. She's around I believe.

Doing a Velvet Revolver song is probably non negotiable for Slash and Duff, so it probably will be there.

Scared of the Dark on Channel 4 is a lot of fun. Similar to the fun parts of Celebrity Big Brother. Gazza has some mad stories. It's only on for 5 nights, so it's not much of a commitment compared to every other reality show.

Typography's wrong, and the photo is terrible.

I've seen her only the once, in 2013 at Brum Academy. I loved it, but she's one of my favourites. Compared to everyone else I've seen, both people I'm big fans of and others who I merely like, I can totally see why someone less enamoured would find her boring.

Looks good

that's even better if I do get resale. The GNR and LDR dream is alive

Well I know where I'm going if I don't get resale.