Concert/Band Information

[Reverend Jax]

Dream Theater is damn versatille and quite unique. They go from insanely fast thrash metal to piano ballardry to ragtime to quasi-trance and everything in between without seeming awkward for doing so. Badass punks without any fear to break any musical barrier.

[King of Snake]

If you rtead this MLB, I expect the full story on Reading!! :P

[Reverend Jax]

Is MLB back already? Won't he be pissed to see KOS and Junker have surpassed him!

[The NZA]

Oh, MLB's back, he's just been scarce, outside of the bars. Im sure he'll mosey on over this way soon tho.

[King of Snake]

He popped in last Thursday (I think), he was only home from summer in the US. He posted just twice in Hondo's, then he was off again to the Reading Festival (full line-up on previous page) for the weekend.

[MyLeakyBucket]

You wanted a reaction, you've got it.

 

This was my first year at Reading, although I was at Glastonbury in 99 and 00.

 

Who was hot, who was not. I'll start with the only band I felt let down by and that was Amen. I went to see this band as I like a few of the songs and expected big pit circles. What I got instead was a tired Sunday morning crowd who couldn't really be bothered. Amen also then couldn't really be arsed and what was left was a very crap gig.

 

However, every other band I saw rocked, at least to some extent.

 

Starting with the headliners I saw. On the friday I opted for Aphex Twin over the Strokes and was not disappointed. 'Windowlicker' was of course the highlight of the set but generally the whole thing felt like rain after rain of bullets entering and exitting your head. Saturday was the Foo Fighters who too were amazing. Excellent crowd, very in to it. The whole set was basically a best of and I'd forgotten just how many great Foos songs there were. On Sunday I saw 'The Music' and then all but the first 10 minutes of The Prodigy. The Music blew my mind, much stronger live tha on record. They have many followers though as the tent was packed even though the Offspring were on the Main Stage at the same time. The Prodigy were a lot of fun, playing songs from their whole back catalog. The light show was spectacular and it was rockin'.

 

The rest of the weekend was filled with incredible live acts. The list is long but I'll give you my faves.

 

On the friday, The Vines were something special. 'Get Free' is a live monster of a track and must not be missed. The White Stripes were a lot of fun despite not playing 'Fell in love with a girl'. What was that about? Still, for a twosome they sure make a nice racket.

 

Saturday was spent mainly t the main stage. Less Than Jake were my fave punk band of the weekend, fraid NOFX don't even come close. The pit was mental with as many crowd-surfers as pogoers. Mental note: I hate people with big boots and bony elbows. However, my favourite band of the day, even ahead of the Foo Fighters was the Hives. They are very very tight live, and lead singer Pele has a hilarious arrogance that makes between-song banter as entertaining as the songs. This included comments like "This song is very hot....it is about me. Yes give me your rounds of applause." Classic! Muse were on befor ethe Foos and it began to piss down just befor ethey came on. The rain-soaked audience was unperturbed though and the set was excelent, mainly consisting of songs from 'The Origin of Symmetry'.

 

Sunday. This day started badly with the disappointing Amen, the only redeeming feature being a good set from Tetra Splendour (one of my favourite little unknown bands). Puddle of Mudd (watched from a distance) was crap, NOFX were horrifyingly mediocre, and Incubus are just kinda dull. However, the turnaround for me was my decision to fuck sane decision and get to the front for Slipknot. Unexpectedly this turned into one of my best decisions of the weekend. Understand that I am not about to buy one of their records but I enjoyed it immensely. The songs are blazing and the fact that half the band runs around doing mental stuff during the songs was cool. Recommended live act, a lot of fun.

 

Next up was probably my favourite live act of the weekend, (And you will know us by the) Trail of Dead. ABSOLUTELY FUCKING MENTALISTS! It started with Jason climbing on the lighting rig, coming down and jumping into the crowd. I had a hand on him, along with about 20 other fans. The security guard was trying to pull him bavk but it took him 5 minutes to get Jason back from our grasp just for Jason to say "fuck off" to him and jump back in. Next up, Conrad wrecked the drum kit and all the technicians ran on at once to try to put it back together. This was half way through the set. They never even finished the set because the drum kit got wrecked again and then every individual piece then thrown into the crowd. My sister and I both got knowcked over by a huge drum before I got up and grabbed it. About five guys then dragged it out of sight of the despairing security guard and who knows what became of it after that. The rest of the equipment followed, and no equipment was left intact. Oh yeah, and the songs were good.

 

Thats my round up of the weekend, great fun. Same time next year I reckon. :approve:

[Goatboys girl]

MPBs round-up is pretty much the same as mine (we saw a lot of the same bands together). Trail of Dead had the one set that is most predominantly burned in my mind, with my most rock and roll moment of getting stuck under the thrown drum and then digging my nails into the security guards hand to get him to release his grip from it (yes, I drew blood with my nails and yes he tried to take a swing at me!) Totally Natural live though was amazing and it being one of my favourite Trail of Dead songs.

 

Aphex twin was far better then I expected (though I had no idea what to expect!) and was one of the most intoxicating moment of the festival. I'm not much of a dance music fan on record and this is my first real live experience of it and it was just great. Vines were great apart from getting pulled down (and piled on) a couple of times!

 

I ended up having my first crowd-surfing experience to Capdown (one of the weirdest feelings of the weekend) and MPB very kindly put me up on his shoulders for the Electric Soft Parade, who were very good and refreshingly indie after the madness of the Vines crowd, also doing a awesome Folk Implosion cover. Being at the barrier for most of the Breeders was cool too (though no pixies was played, but a Cannonball was great).

 

Also when MPB was off seeing NOFX, Amen, Slipknot and Incubus on the Sunday, I ended up going and seeing Biffy Clyro (who were rocky as hell and just as great with it being my 2nd time seeing them), Six by Seven (pretty dull though I did run into Alex White from the Electric Soft Parade afterwards), Haven (surprisingly good, plus the singer has one hell of a voice) and Easyworld (couldn't see a bloody thing and they didn't even play '100 Weight').

 

General consensus good with some awesome moments just during the camping bit of it, including plastic lightsaber fights, the 'Yellow Lollipop' song and exploding cans of lager on the campfire.

[MyLeakyBucket]

For those confused, the "yellow lollipop" song my sister refers to was a song that was sang very loudly by a group that camped next to us. On the last night I happened to ask them about the song and they told me it is a bit of a song written by a local band, the name of which I forget. Anyway, the words were very easy nd the whole camp site was singing it by the end.

 

It went a little something like this:

 

If (insert name) was a lollipop what colour would he/she be?

Yellow Yelllloooooooowwwww

Like me Like me

 

Repeat

 

Songwriting genius!

[King of Snake]

Lead singer Pele has a hilarious arrogance that makes between-song banter as entertaining as the songs. This included comments like "This song is very hot....it is about me. Yes give me your rounds of applause."

My favorite from Witnness: "We're gonna play another of our hit records...of which there are MILLIONS!"

 

Sounds like a good time had by all, well maybe not the ToD security guard! Did you catch any of Sparta or Jetplane Landing (the main two you mightn't have heard of)?

 

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Last night me n my bro Jont went to see Dudley Corporation, a really good Irish band in Dublin, we'd seen them a few months back supporting Rocket from the Crypt. They were fantastic live, starting with an acoustic set with a cellist and the drummer playing guitar and mandolin...and saw! Then they unleashed the rock!

 

These guys are amazing live, their manual dexterity when playing is astonishing. Dudley playing guitar that sounds like two guitars and singing heartfelt songs, bassist Pip looking stoic, even dull, then you look at his hands and they're going frantic, add then to this that drummer Joss sporadically drums like he's in a thrash metal band!

 

They're a great band imho, who I'd hate to see get swept under the carpets of rock, and they're unlike any other band I know. I don't know who'll read this but if you do, and even if it doesn't sound your thing, check out some of their songs, they've some free tracks on their site:

www.The DudleyCorporation.com

...and even if you don't like em, at least post back here.

[King of Snake]

Oh and I got talking to Pip before the gig, I got a shout out at the end! Was talking to him again after with Jont, who even tried pimping his art for their album covers!

[MyLeakyBucket]

I have heard of both Sparta and JetPlaneLanding, but regrettably was elsewhere.

 

Haven't heard of the Dudley Corporation. When I have a moment I'll give that website a looksie.

[soldier of fortune]

Couple of good gigs in Dublin this winter.

 

27/11 we have the Foo Fighters at the point!! Ticket prices unknown as of yet.

 

10/12 we have the fun lovin criminals at the Olympia. Tickets about €35. They're a good band live.

 

KoS you interested? : )

[King of Snake]

Tempting, especially Foos, lemme have a think on that.

[Reverend Jax]

OCtober gonna be good. I'm gonna see Rush, Incubus and Catch 22. Sweet!

[soldier of fortune]

Foos i think are going to so i'm gonna go if i can find some poor unfortunate to come, thing is its on a wednesday night!

[MyLeakyBucket]

Haha!

 

Radio 1 are doing their one live gig in Nottingham this year, booyah!

 

You can check out the line-up on the radio 1 website but there are some great bands coming, DJ Shadow, the Vines, etc.

 

My week's highlight is definitely gonna be the Datsuns supported by McLusky, booyah!

[King of Snake]

Hey MLB, did you see Idlewild are doing a headline tour after the Coldplay (bleh) support tour, they're playing Nottingham Rock City on Dec 11th.

[MyLeakyBucket]

I did indeed! Who's a lucky boy? Me me

[Take Me To Your Lizard]

Hey MLB,

 

Will definately be there at Idlewild with you, thought they were pretty good before but the new album blew me away!

 

Also, Doves and The Coral are playing Rock City on October 28th - you up for it?

 

There are some excellent gigs in Nottingham this year, woo!

[MyLeakyBucket]

Wahay, I knew you had it in you Lizard. The new album is indeed something special. Gigs-a-plenty!

[JunkerSeed]

Bout a week ago for dinghy and Bacchuss' birthdays I took em to see the Allman Brothers Band. That was fuckin amazing. Nothing but insane solos all night, dueling guitars, piano, bass and drum solos (from 3 drummers on stage at the same time) everything but the kitchen sink. It was cool as hell. They didn't even play their biggest hits, but I didn't really notice causethey would have played the 3 minutes song then gone into a 15 minute barrage of great solos. Fuckin great concert, and that man's voice has got soul...

[Goatboys girl]

Haha, going to go see Vex Red on monday

 

(techniquely I'm not going specifically for Vex red but actually Reuben and the mightly Biffy Clyro are supporting! wahoo)

 

Also rumour has it the the Biffy will be supporting Idlewild on the december tour

[Reverend Jax]

Rush on friday. wheeeee! One of the best parts about rush going to town is that Big106 plays Rush songs way more often to plug the show.

[JunkerSeed]

I just got back from seeing Stroke 9 at the Factory today and it's one of the best shows I've ever fucking been to! Most of you know Stroke 9 as the "kick some ass" or "little black backpack" guys, but they're a hell of a band, and one of teh only new bands out there that is any good live. There were only like 15 people in the small club, but they were still in high spirits. They opened up with "fuck her gently" by tenacious D, and then went on into the popular stuff to get people warmed up, and took off from there. These guys were scheduled for like 45 min but they played for 2 straight hours! They dont even have 2 hours worth of material on cd! They played nearly their whole first cd, 4 songs or so from their second, and lots of covers. Moreover, each song was like twice the original length because of solos and improvisation. Only me and like 2 or 3 other people at the club were big fans so most of the show was the band taking requests from us 3, so the set list was perfect. Then they did all kinds of cool covers. Local H, weezer, prince, duran duran, motley crue, they covered everything under the sun just for the hell of it. This was one of the funnest shows I've ever been to, because the band was having as much (if not more) fun than the audience. About an hour and 45 min. into it, the singer was pretty buzzed and completely forgot the lyrics to a requested song, so the girl who requested it got to sing it. Just all around fun as hell. They're an absolutely amazing live band, most new bands do nothing special, they just play their songs live, and leave it at that. These guys are one of the few new bands that change up every song at least a little bit, insane amounts of improvisation, breaking out into covers in the middle of a song, just all sorts of stuff that you only see much older bands do. These guys play like they've been around for 20 years. So, if anyone out there gets a chance to see these guys live, by all means, see them, whether you know their music or not, you won't be dissapointed, especially condiering the fatc that it's a ten buck ticket. Great band, great show.

[JunkerSeed]

Saw John Mayer at Pompano beach yesterday, and here's another new act that actually knows how to put on a great live show. I know next to nothing about the guy, just went cause it was a free ticket, but I'm grabbing this cd real soon. This guy is a damned good guitarist. The solos were awesome, and just the average guitar stuff in his songs is great, veyr funky and jazzy. This concert almost had me feeling better that I missed Dave Matthews when he came down here. Mayer sounds a hell of a lot like matthews. Not a rip-off though, he's just similar in style, and has a nearly identical voice (not much he can do about that). He's different enough though. I was really happy to see another new band that understands that performing live should be a lot more than just "playing the cd." Great stuff, if you like the songs you've heard on the radio from this guy, everything else he plays is just as good, if not better. He fits nicely with bands like Dave Matthews, Ben folds five, and the Josh Joplin group. Great songwriting, clever lyrics, good attitude.