Gigs

I think in the spirit of freddie's rule in the film thread we now need to disclose how much the tickets cost with each review.

First gig of 2025 booked, off to see stoner / doom act Green Lung in February, with goth rock act Unto Others supporting. (And Satan's Satyrs, who I know nothing about)

Cost 28 quid including booking, at the Marble Factory Bristol, so about 4k capacity

Much more my price and crowd size, keep your stadium acts thanks.

So half the fans at the new gigs will be paying half the price of the ones going to the old gigs in the same venue on the same tour for the same seats?

Cool

Thanks to a friend in Bristol via presale for July 4th opening night in Cardiff I actually have a ticket for a Uni best friends celebration gig. Costing me about £150. Typical peer pressure @ 46 means I will have to go and pretend like it’s the greatest gig I’ve ever been to while wincing internally at the price and thinking Noel looked marginally happier at a NGHFB gig and sounded better on any songs not from Definitely Maybe.

Must remember to also take my p*ss and beer rain jacket along with me. Still July in Cardiff… should be dry…

I'm pretty sure Oasis will add some more tickets later too, rumour was they have the option for 10 days at Wembley. Adding extra dates after a show is sold out is common practice, but doing it after dynamic pricing is really taking the piss.

Went to End of the Road last weekend and had an amazing time. It was our 3rd time there (having been in 2022 and 2018) and whilst it's grown slightly, it still has an intimate feel. It's very easy to get around with very little crowding, so easy to jump from stage to stage and the bars and food stalls (which are all excellent) are never a chore.

Highlight of the first day (when it hasn't really started) was Gustaf, a 5 piece from Brooklyn with a very energetic sound. Had seen them before but to see them in a small tent was great. NewDad also put on a great show.

Second day started with Holiday Ghosts playing dreamy jangly surf, followed by Mary Lattimore who plays a harp, through a synth and creates some fantastic soundscapes. HotWax came next and (having never heard them before) blew us away - will definitely be seeing them again. Caught half each of Chanel Beads and Paranoid London who were both on form (though no guests with PL) then over to Sleater-Kinney who played an absolute blinder (probably set of the day). Headliner was Idles. I think they are a pantomime act, and find Joe very disingenuous, but they do play well and put on a great show. Into the late night tent we started with Heartworms who were amazing, a second surprise act who I can't remember, then Sprints.

Saturday opened with Brown Horse, Cat Clyde and Poweplant - OK but not setting the world alight. Things picked up massively with Curtis Harding belting out classic soul in the sun, followed with an absolutely mesmerising solo set from Palehound (a real highlight of the festival, we were right up close). Master Peace followed then after a few others (Jockstrap, billy woods, Flamingods) and was time for the headliner, Richard Hawley. I knew a few of his tracks and in my head associate him more with the crooning, but live he (and his band) had much more energy and it was a blinding set. The rest of the night was CASSIDEAD and a couple of surprise shows I (again) can't quite remember who.

Final day started with Boony Doon, OTG and Deary (excellent) before Jalen Ngonda stole the afternoon with an amazing set - another classic soul singer with amazing range. I'd missed Nation of Language at previous events (and their own recent local gig) and they didn't disappoint, setting us up nicely for Water From Your Eyes. Not a band easy to classify, but stoner indie rock full of punk energy would maybe describe them. The Tubs was a band I was really looking forward too, but they were a bit flat. Unlike Floating Points who sounded amazing as a stand-in headliner (Fever Ray unfortunately cancelled).

And then came the highlight of the festival, Lambrini Girls. I'd had tickets to see them before and always had something come up, but they were more than worth the wait. We were fairly far forward and I had guessed where the edge of the pit would be. Second track in and the singers in the crowd, right in front of us leading the charge. They played with such passion and energy they had the entire tent jumping. Unforgettable.

Atlin Gun rounded off the night, and whilst they couldn't quite follow Lambrini Girls, they did a very good job of it.

All in all a fantastic three and half days. The weather held for the most part, the crowd all excellent, the bands varied but all class, sound fantastic, setting amazing (it's a country estate with peacocks roaming about) topped off with great food and drink (and acceptable toilets). Over 30 bands (many of whom I will see again) all for less than the price of a couple of (face value) Oasis tickets.

Did anyone see any of Sting last night? He sounded rough.

The BBC seem to have had a but of a poor summer when it comes to the audio mix on their own roadshow shows but this croaky mumbling might’ve been the worst. And the band weren’t even that tight either.

Yep, a ballot to possibly get in the ballot.

Cheers lads! 🤣

Missus and the boy will try. My sister didn't even get an invite and she was in the queue before them.

To be honest a ballot is much fairer than the system whereby all the desk jockeys (moreso the wfh ones now) get all the tickets because everyone else wasn't able to log on at 9am pronto.

Tempted by that. Got a lot of memories tied with that album. My problem is that my favourite song turns out is a bonus track, Forgive and Forget, which while later also released on a b-side collection, won’t be played as part of the record no doubt. Only found that out when I got the vinyl years later.

Just looked on setlist fm and it looks like they’re playing it in the bunch of other songs they’re playing as an ‘encore’

Sounds like Perry shouldn't be on tour.

Prodigy at Manchester Warehouse Project in December, and then Slipknot at the new Coop Arena 2 days later, ho ho ho!

Saw The Dangerous Summer and Broadside this week. I can't say I know much about Broadside bar the odd song, but they were pretty impressive especially vocally. Dangerous Summer were equally as impressive even though it took a few songs for AJ to get going.

I wonder if that knowledge is built up from TV show soundtracks?  These days a lot of the shows I watch tend to have all the classics embedded in them.