So I went to a gig last night....

mudcow007

I went to see a band called Tinariwen last night in Liverpool

my dad said "you will like it, they are different"

he wasn't wrong, different but quite good

what bands have you been to see that have surprised you?

SimonAH

Bob Dylan at the CIA in Cardiff.

I'm a massive Dylan fan but the gig was absolutely terrible - he was being deliberately obscure and it was only by listening carefully to the lyrics that you could work out which song he was playing as the tunes and arrangements were totally different to the recorded versions. Imagine the lyrics to Blowin' in the wind sung to the tune of Rule Brittania and you get the sort of picture.

roger_merriman

Ian Dury and the BlockHeads saw him in Hay on Wye one of the last he did before he died.

very impressed not sure i'd heard of him before that.

Best gigs are always small places, big concerts might as well be at home frankly.

gtvlusso

Me at the Fleece in Bristol a few weeks back - I sucked!!!! I have never played guitar that badly, honest guv!!!!

I don't get out much now, but I have to say that for a big Gig - Springsteen is immense, for a small gig Little Barrie rock.

Been a while since I last went out.

rjsterry

mudcow007 wrote:

I went to see a band called Tinariwen last night in Liverpool

my dad said "you will like it, they are different"

he wasn't wrong, different but quite good

what bands have you been to see that have surprised you?

I'm a bit of a fan myself - seen them a couple of times. You might also want to try Ali Farka Touré if you like the whole desert blues thing.

veronese68

roger merriman wrote:

Ian Dury and the BlockHeads saw him in Hay on Wye one of the last he did before he died.

very impressed not sure i'd heard of him before that.

Best gigs are always small places, big concerts might as well be at home frankly.

Blockheads still play now. Not quite the same without ID. Very good band though and play fairly small venues. Vocals are now mostly by a chap known as Derek the Draw, I also know him by various other names. He was a supplier to Ian Dury for a while and wound up generally looking after him as they became firm friends. He used to take him up to Richmond Park where the singing bench is now located.

Sailorchick

Took my other half to see Presidents of USA play in Bristol last month (was his Xmas pressie). I'd seen them live before (actually took my Mum to see them about 10 years ago) whilst he he had never seen them live. His reaction was fantastic as he couldn't believe just how good live they are. His words - they're better live than on CD, how???!!!!!!!

mudcow007

Sailorchick wrote:

Took my other half to see Presidents of USA play in Bristol last month (was his Xmas pressie). I'd seen them live before (actually took my Mum to see them about 10 years ago) whilst he he had never seen them live. His reaction was fantastic as he couldn't believe just how good live they are. His words - they're better live than on CD, how???!!!!!!!

Ive wanted to see them for years!

what tunes did they do?

personal favourite is "Boll Weavil"

BigJimmyB

Veronese68 wrote:

roger merriman wrote:

Ian Dury and the BlockHeads saw him in Hay on Wye one of the last he did before he died.

very impressed not sure i'd heard of him before that.

Best gigs are always small places, big concerts might as well be at home frankly.

Blockheads still play now. Not quite the same without ID. Very good band though and play fairly small venues. Vocals are now mostly by a chap known as Derek the Draw, I also know him by various other names. He was a supplier to Ian Dury for a while and wound up generally looking after him as they became firm friends. He used to take him up to Richmond Park where the singing bench is now located.

You should look up ID's son, Baxter Dury. He's good.

Norman Watt Roy is one of my bassist idols. Listen to him on Rhythm Stick - awesome.

Sailorchick

They did a few oldies to start and then did their debut album from start to finish. Then did a few more recent ones from the Love Everybody and These are the good times people albums.

They truly are awesome live!

notsoblue

Er, I was dragged to a Fightstar gig once. The metal band that one of the guys from Busted started up after they disbanded. Most of the audience were Busted fans, and a load of emo kids. The warmup acts were pretty awful, and I was thinking of ways to make my excuses and leave. But when Fightstar came on they were actually very very good... I was pretty shocked. Their own stuff was pretty good, but the icing on the cake was when they covered "Be Quiet and Drive" and "Head Up" by the Deftones. There was actually a pretty decent mosh pit by the end. Very surprised...

Yukirin

I used to work in a venue 3-4 nights a week (coincidentally frequented by Micky G of blockheads fame) so have had quite buffy nice surprises;
biffy clyro pre blackened sky
New Zealand band called Jakob
Sikth
Focus (prog tastic!)
jump straight to mind.
Also alec empire (loudest gig ever!)
and been to a few atp festivals which are always full of jems- eye from boredoms with c Spencer yeh (burning star core), Jandek and Chris corsano...

MRLEON83

QOUTE !
New Zealand band called Jakob OH MY GOD -SO JEALOUS!!! - I would love to see Jakob live,.... possibly the most amazing band ever !

Sikth - saw them at download, gave me a headache but then I listened to the CD and found they were technically awesome and pretty fun ! ./...


most recent gig for me was Hatebreed, which is a great training soundtrack band IMO

Yukirin

MRLEON83 wrote:

QOUTE !
New Zealand band called Jakob OH MY GOD -SO JEALOUS!!! - I would love to see Jakob live,.... possibly the most amazing band ever !

I keep asking them back but they dont have the money. The venue had a awesome EV PA rig, their gear was spot on and it was so good. Only about 30 people there and everyone in the room stopped talking for the entire set. Really blew everyone away and have never heard a sound like it again.

Sikth was before the album release, so everything was done a bit faster then and not so... Artsy... Less mike patton, but yeah, amazing musicians.

Seen hatebreed a few times with 5 knuckle, stamping ground, 50 calibre etc. Never really got into the UK hardcore though, I was delving into black metal around then.

Jez mon

The Darkness at download festival last year. Went to see them as there weren't any bands I really wanted to see and they were a band I used to like as a teenager, were one of the bands of the weekend for me! Went to see them on their own tour in the winter, just a really fun live band.

Then one of the warm up bands at that Darkness gig, Foxy Shazam, frontman was incredibly gamp/gay and was getting a lot of abuse, but really won 99% of the crowd over by the end of the set, was really good!

kevess

Took my son along to Ally Pally in Feb to see the Black Keys (he's 28!), decent gig although I prefer their "dirty" early stuff. The only downside was getting to & from the Palace.

If you want a nostalgia fest: Led Zeppelin in '72 at Glasgow and '75 at Earls Court, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young supported by the Band & Joni Mitchell at Wembley Stadium '74, the Who (with Keith Moon) Wembley '75, Neil Young Hammersmith '75...sigh, those were the days.

Santa cruzing

The Skints were amazing, late 2010 or early last year, my old band were on the support - hadn't heard them before and I was totally blown away - they have really been taking off over the last 12 months or so.

mtb-idle

I saw the Blockheads sans Ian Dury a couple of years ago and ended up speaking to Norman Watt Roy in the bar afterwards. Great guy.

The Hamsters are also very good.

Both seen at the Boom Boom Club in Sutton which also isn't anything like you might be expecting.

Also saw David Byrne at the Barbican a few years back. Very good gig even though he forgot the words to a chorus of one song and even admitted to it.

Lou Reed was also great.

I fell asleep during Leonard Cohen at the O2. Never liked him anyway and only went cos a mate had a spare (free) ticket. God it was interminably dull.

My first ever gig was the Heavy Metal Mayhem Brain Damage Party at Bingley Hall in Stafford circa 1978. Original line up of Lemmy, 'Fast' Eddie Clarke and Philthy 'Animal' Taylor. Alos featured Saxon, Girl's School, Angel Witch and some other bands that i forget. that was an experience.

veronese68

MTB-Idle wrote:

Lou Reed was also great.

Indeed, saw him at the Brixton Academy. One of the best gigs I've ever been to. Didn't mention it as I was expecting it to be good.

stuaff

Tinariwen are indeed splendid, saw them at the Forum a couple of years back.
Alec Empire I've seen a couple of times solo, great shows...but better now he's got ATR back together.

Probably the most surprising show I've ever seen was a support, Moby backing RHCP at Brixton back in '95. Didn't expect much, frankly...but he & band won me over with the first track and I've been a fan ever since.
Most recent gigs were Primus's two-night stint at the Albert Hall last week...brilliant.

mudcow007

Going to see Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) tonight in Liverpool, fingers crossed it should be a decent gig then it would be rude not to have a pint afterwards....

secretsam

Went to my first gig in years the other night - saw Low supported by Lanterns on the Lake

Both excellent, Low particularly were fantastic

kevess

mudcow007 wrote:

Going to see Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) tonight in Liverpool, fingers crossed it should be a decent gig then it would be rude not to have a pint afterwards....

I'll be interested to know how it goes, Tull were one of my "bands of the 70's" saw them in Glasgow in '73 and London in '77. I drifted away after Heavy Horses.

I wonder if he can still play the flute standing on one leg?

....and enjoy the beer!

eyko

Went to go see The Levellers, didn't really know them but went with a friend who was a big fan.

Before them they had someone called Seth Lakeman come on to do the support. Mind blown! I have never been so impressed by someone I've never heard of, let alone a support act. It still ranks in my top 3 gigs of all time, and I've been to see him many times since.

The Levellers? Can't really remember them, wasn't that impressed, and not seem them since.

byke68

Best gig for me was Napalm Death at one the uni's in Newcastle, ears hurt the next day!
Gary Numan does some good'uns.

ketsbaia

The Boredoms. Knew nothing about them beforehand and was totally blown away.

Likewise Man Or Astroman.

E2a: And Terry Edwards and the Scapegoats. Jaw-droppingly good.

Long_Time_Lurker

A few years ago I went to see At The Drive In (before they broke up and reformed).
Looking forward to a great night in the mosh pit, but was spoiled by over-zealous security and the fact that the lead singer is an absolute knob.

prawny

Some right blast from the past names on this thread! My old band did a gig with stampin ground they were great live.

Most surprisingly great band I ever saw were Nickel Creek, saw their video on the end of top of the pops 2 once and a few weeks later found out they were playing in woverhampton went down and was blown away, they played for 3 hours straight and despite the fact I'd only heard 2 of their songs (plus a nirvana cover) they held my attention the whole night. It was the only time I'd sat on the floor deliberately during a gig at the Wulfrun too.