Alright I haven’t done a gig review in months (well since RSJ in February) so this one post is to make up for that. I haven’t been as prolific this year for various reasons so there isnt as many as maybe this time last year but it’ll pick up soon hopefully. Anyway on to the reviews:
Nine Inch Nails 4th, 7th, 8th 10th March:
Birmingham Academy and then Brixton Academy X3. I’ve never seen Trent and pals live so this was sure to be a treat and also why I went to 4 dates. I was lucky as Tom off the RSH board was going to the Birmingham date too so met up with him. The gig was great and heavy on The Downward Spiral material. Only one new song Survivalism. The only problem was I had miscalculated the return journey home. It was a Sunday, I eventually got into bed at 5am, via Stansted. The three London dates were great and I was able to get some quite good shots. Sam also came over for the Saturday night gig so got a chance to hang out with him, was tempted to go to the Sunday night gig (Touts seemed to have loads so I’m sure I coulda got a cheap one) but I was way too wrecked.
Mastodon 15th March 2007:
Moved from The Mean Fiddler to The Kentish town forum. Skipped the support acts and still got down the front. I’d only just gotten the new album but the setlist was a good mix of new and old and crushingly heavy. Sound was a bit muddy to start but it improved quickly and was perfect for their sound. Sadly they didn’t play Emerald like they did at the Slayer gigs, but it was still a great show.
Three Inches Of Blood 23rd March 2007:
METAL!!!!! I love Advance & Vanquish, 3IoB’s 2nd album. I’ve been waiting ages to see them live and The Underworld was the perfect venue. It wasn’t the greatest gig I’ve seen though, there just didn’t seem to be the energy needed but it was the end of the tour. They played a few songs off the new album, which wasn’t out but I have it now and it rocks which occasionally drag down the tempo. It being the Underworld I was able to get plenty of pictures though :-D.
Caffeine 27th of March:
As you may or may not know these guys are actually mates of mine. Some of you may have even seen them live when they supported The Offspring in 1999. I’d sort of grown out of their recorded output so I was quite surprised at how much this actually rocked. I have all of their stuff so knew the songs and they had quite the following there. I got some photos of the gig and the aftershow drinks.
Charger 26th and 27th of May:
Another multi date extravanganza, this time to see those grindy feckers Charger. The first date was a long overdue return to The Harlequin in Redhill out in Surrey. As with Speedhorn, Sikth, Skindred et al this was an all ages set up with us only being interested in one band (headliners that night were [spunge]). The crowd for this night were apathetic, to say the least, which didn’t help but the sound was quite good and the boys shook off the cobwebs and gave us a good nights entertainment. It was a half hour/45 mins set but as it was a big bill and they were only the main support that was quite good. Martin also flogged us the new album afterwards, boy is it hot get it now. I of course got some photos and they are here. Don’t worry Martin only looks like he’s going to die ;-). The next day was basically the same set up but up in The Dome in Tufnell park, in North London. Gurdy and Ian came to this (as they did the night before) so we found an Irish bar nearby and started drinking as Martin had told us when they’d be on so we waited till then. When we did get in a) the admission charge was more than expected as we were there to see Charger (!) and b) they were bumped by a band who’s fans needed to go home so they had to go home early(everyone but us there to see Charger were well underage). When they eventually got on stage though it was a better performance than the night before and sound was way better. They also had full merch stand so I got two t-shirts, a bag for Sarah(she loves it) and a keyring/bottle opener. Guess what is here. Yeah photos from the show :-D.
Imperial Leisure 3rd of June:
Sarah was meant to be over by the time this was on but she couldn’t make it so I had to fly solo. They played the ‘headline’ slot at The Camden Green fair, which was a free event in Regent’s Park with lots of eco friendly things and people (and nice beer). The event was pretty cool and the music was quite good Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip who you may know from that “Thou Shalt Always Kill” song which was popular on the intertubes recently played it and was very impressive but I was there to see The Leisure. And they didn’t disappoint as usual, they played all the hits and even a power cut to the stacks couldn’t stop them. They had the whole field eating out of their hands, how are they not bigger? As one reviewer noted “you can only pity those who come in late”, very true. Anyway, yes you’ve guessed it, shots here.
Tori Amos 3rd and 4th of July:
OK I’m not Tori’s biggest fan, Sarah loves her so off we went to her two nights in the Hammersmith Apollo. I’ve been here before for Maiden, Tool and Tenacious D and it is a nice venue, like a really, really big Ambassador in Dublin. It was almost all seated and we were on the floor and 15/8 rows from the front respectively. You can’t fault her talent and commitment, the show was 2+ hours both nights. To be honest I was glad it was seated, the sets were too long for me, Sarah loved all of it so it was worth it. We had planned to try and make her Slovenian show but it had been moved from an Uber cool church courtyard to a hockey arena so we decided against it. I have a few OKish shots from both nights together here. Lighting wasn’t great for sneaking shots but I think that wa son purpose.
Well that’s my catch up post, there should be more but I’ve been a bit lazy regarding gigs this year.
Later days,
Halo.