2018 Gigs League Table!

[Bogatan]

Jun 20, 2018 11:44:13 GMT browny87 said:

well that's a fun night! on a more positive note were the foos good???

.. Yes.. mostly. Er its a bit of an odd show to be honest.

I fully admit its in part due to comparison to the previous time I saw them. As Ive said before 2011 Milton Keynes supported by Supergrass guy doing covers, Jimmy Eat World and Biffy was an insane line up at a venue that on a bright summers day is hard to beat.

In comparison neither support act is someone I know or was eager to see and the Etihad is, well its nice by football stadium standards, but...

But yeah thats not about the Foos performance which was good, great really. But..... So there is a theory that Grohls voice is going so recent concerts have been structured to give him a break. He actually mentioned the rumour to mock it. Right before effectively taking a 30-40 break from singing. So yeah. They "hide" it with the let me introduce the band routine, but one that is expanded to every member doing there own thing for a few minutes each while Grohl mostly just plays. He does sing once to do a slow version of jump, which is exactly the song Id sing if I wanted to give the impression I wasn't taking a break, but still resting my voice.

On the plus side its wrapped up with a brilliant performance of Under Pressure by Taylor Hawkins.

And then to give more credence to the rumour they do Monkey Wrench which is definitely the song to get out of the way after having had a long break to rest up your voice.

Nothing they do in this period is bad, but in one block becomes a bit of a slog and really breaks up the show.
As my friend pointed out on the way home the next day, they were on stage for 2 hours 45 and the set list was only 21 songs. Thats a lot of guitar and drum solos.

If this sounds like I hated it and everyting else in the world. Ever! Not true it really was fantastic, The setlist was great (if too spread out, the show could easily have been half an hour shorte without losing anything)) the sound was spot on from the start and the band were putting on a proper show. I found myself (alone, but)in a great spot near the front so had a great view. Made even better by having the shortest audience in front of me ever. They started about a head shorter than me and by the end had somehow shrunk down to about 2 heads shorter.

[browny87]

yeah ive been reading bout that rumour, that is a very clever way to hide it, 21 songs in 2 hours 45 is abysmally low tho really! we are spoilt tho with Bruce's epic 30+ shows

[Bogatan]

It is and if I hadnt heard the rumour before hand I wouldn't have noticed, I just would have had the feeling the show had slowed a bit in the middle.

Not going to complain about a long show too much, but yes the comparison to Springsteen isn't good, in an extra 30 minutes you get about a dozen more songs and its not like they dont extend their stuff too.

[Bogatan]

Flight of the Conchords - This trip thankfully went much more smoothly. Somehow I have completely bypassed the Conchords. Never seen the TV series, never hard the radio series, never heard any of their music. Im not sure how that happened and its annoying because this was a blast.

[browny87]

did u see them at leeds arena? i went to leeds lol ,was fantastic night

[Bogatan]

I knew we were both going to the same show at some point.

Got tickets for Frank Turner??, in Leeds next January, last night entirely because Jimmy Eat World are supporting.

Now I just need Good Charlotte to do another show and Im back on track.

[browny87]

yeah I was considering frank turner to see JEW but I cant stand them so wouldn't really pay £40 for jimmy!

[Pinwig]

Festival day!

Pinwig will be slow cooking from now until the sun goes down while listening to old bands. Go West, ABC, Midge Ure and Adam Ant coming up later.

[Benn]

Adam Ant? Consider me very jealous!

[Pinwig]

Fan gene playing up. People dressed up. The fifth doctor is currently talking to a tenth planet cyberman and the fourth to an earthshock version. Mrs P does not understand this isn't right.

Gah! Now Orson Krennic and two of Urko's guards have joined in. I can't cope with this. Someone play some music!

[Philip Ayres]

Jul 7, 2018 10:02:32 GMT Pinwig said:

Festival day!

Pinwig will be slow cooking from now until the sun goes down while listening to old bands. Go West, ABC, Midge Ure and Adam Ant coming up later.

Best of 1982 is still on the iPlauer with the fantastic Adam Ant Goody Twoshoes performance

[Pinwig]

Ralph tribute!

Go West playing Hungry Like the Wolf!

[browny87]

I have got free tickets to see Steve Van Zandt in London on 27th july teacher appreciation tour, free tickets for teachers!

[Pinwig]

We have strayed into Ralph's music collection. Snap! Would like everyone to know they've got the powah!

[Bogatan]

Jul 7, 2018 11:37:30 GMT browny87 said:

I have got free tickets to see Steve Van Zandt in London on 27th july teacher appreciation tour, free tickets for teachers!

Ive put in for time off for the show.

[Pinwig]

Surreal. I look one way and England are playing on a giant screen, the other, Black Lace are doing the conga while the stage is reset for The Blockheads.

[browny87]

u heading down to London for it mate? drop us a text and we can meet for a beer (ill be with me dad like haha)

[Benn]

I have seen a band called Evil Blizzard, Five bassists, a drummer and a keyboard player (?).

My head hurts. Jeager migt have been a thing tonight.

[Bogatan]

Muppets take the o2.

Oh so close to being utterly amazing. Instead Im feeling a bit of frustration over the whole thing.

Cons
Audio was borked. Especially in the first half there were entire skits utterly unintelligable thanks to to an echo or speakers at the rear lagging behind those from the front.

Ive been to the o2 a lot people of stage always look tiny, but most of the muppets are tiny compared to people. If you end up watching that much of a show via the screens is there really a point in being there. Surely a broadcast version will show up eventually.

The Saturday guest list was not as bad as first feared compard to Fridays (which I assume is the version that will eventually be available for home viewing). But it was still inferior.

- Peter Davidson playing the Dctor was clearly playing Tenants Doctor. Given the target audience I get it, and honestly I havent seen enough of Davidsons Doctor to know what his Doctor should be like, but this was clearly Tenants.

- Steps. Fucking Steps. I honestly felt embarrased for them.

Pros

When you could hear clearly it was very funny. The songs were great too.

Second half sounded far better.

While watching the stage was virtually impossible to follow the show, it was absolutely amazing to see the performers (all dressed in black) under the muppets working as they moved and switched muppets and they came and went. Its its own art form.

Hey I got to see The Doctor live. And with the muppets! Davidson was great despite performing someone elses script.

Steps were on stage for barely any time at all. Long enough to try and ruin Mah Na Mah Na, but they failed a they fail at all things. Given the difference in run times I wonder if Kylie got given more to do as Friday wa supposed to be 5 minutes longer.

Turned out Anthony Head was Charles Dances replacement. As a Buffy fan this was more than acceptable. Though Ive seen Head live before so it would have been nice to see Dance. It was also one of the best sketchs of the afternoon as it also starred Pepe.

The best sketch of the afternoon though belonged to Adam Hills and The Swedish Chef. Hills was the one Saturday guest that I wanted to see over the Friday option and he delivered big time.

[browny87]

Fantastic night at little Steven last night great gig and not bad company eh boga

[Bogatan]

Yeah great night. Except this strange bloke in front of me seemed to be obsessed with the people on the balconies.

So many musicians making so much noise. Venue was also amazing, glad I finally got to it.

Too top the night off, the hotel room had air conditioning. Best nights sleep for months.

[browny87]

yay that does top it off! there are some weirdos at gigs lol

[browny87]

Iron Maiden and Killswitch Engage last night, great night and more appropriately it was the missus first time seeing Maiden and she loved it!! (it was my 12th time!)

Truly wonderful set, called The Legacy of the Beast tour where they played the hits from that era, awesome outings for some very rarely played songs such as The Clansmen, Revelations and Flight of Icarus!!!

[Pinwig]

I'm up the O2 for this on Friday :) Never miss Maiden on tour.

[browny87]

I wont say anymore then but a cracking set and stage setup (as always to be fair)

[Dezzeh]

Damn KSE are still playing too?

[Pinwig]

On Friday? Yes. They're supporting on all the UK dates.

[Dezzeh]

In general, I last saw them.. well over 10 years ago. Damn I'm old.

[browny87]

howard no longer sings for them their original vocalist Jesse is back, but they were brill

[Dezzeh]

Shame, both were great so would have been nice if they shared it, I remember the original guy had to quit because he wrecked his voice.