Let's hear about them. WITH SMALL EXPLANATIONS TO AVOID THIS BECOMING ANOTHER SHITE LIST THREAD.
Meat Puppets last week: Just incredible. There were points when the Kirkwood brothers were into it so much that they just started hitting their guitars instead of playing them. And it still sounded amazing!
Melvins 2003: Blew my mind because they were soundtracking an amazing film in a cinema! Not to mention it was arsequakingly loud and heavy. Also they ran really fast down the stairs to their gear and Kevin downed a can of red bull and threw it across the room mid song. You remember the little things sometimes like.
Chris Corsano solo show in Manchester, 2006: Sitting right in front of an absolute master making the most incredible music with a drum kit, various sticks etc and a tiny distorted casio. Playing them all at once. A couple of times the cymbals he was taking on and off the drums to make different sounds were thrown against the wall. He drums for Bjork now and you can barely hear him as part of her band.
Weezer at Leeds in 2002: Maybe not music-wise but it was the biggest crowd i've ever been part of that were all bouncing up and down as one. Like a sea of people! Come to think of it a similar thing happened at the Pixies with a smaller crowd and the music was actually really good then.
The Ex at Roskilde 2006: If only for the energy! Oh and their ability to make an entire tent full of previously half-asleep festivalgoers go dance crazy using only using drums and scraping noises.
I hope that was a little bit interesting.
ALSO
IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE BRAGGING THAT YOU SAW WHOEVERITIS unless they were actually really good. As Zach De La Rocha said 'No More Lies'
ALSO NO RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
I wanna see the Ex so bad
The recent tour they did with Rupture was meant to be the greatest thing ever.
Are they fucking allergic to our little island or what? I know they used to do tours of English villages in the 80s. Apparantly they played Great Whelnetham Village Hall, Suffolkians. More of this please, Dutch weirdos.
I reckon
the last time was five years ago
http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/8599
With Deerhoof too. Which would have been good. At Roskilde Why? was on after them. Those Danish types and their hilarious alphabet humour.
these were mindblowing
Sonic youth -Performing Daydream Nation (Roundhouse
Sigur Ros- Hammersmith Apollo
Bright Eyes - Somerset House
Bjork - Atlanta (GA)
Patti Smith - Williamsburg Music Hall
and for luck..
Johann Johannsson -Frikirkjan church (reykjavik)
My Dad's automobile
broke down en route to that SY gig :-(
earthtone9
last gig april 2002, the garage, london
fucking mint... me mate did the clingfilm around the bollocks area, and had a beard wig!
tool
brixton academy (was it may 2001)?
sat up in the circle.
karma to burn
underworld... maybe end of 2001?
isis & 27
the old angel, notts. march 2003 i think. goddam beautiful performance of 'weight'.
ennio morricone
conducting a 30?-piece orchestra summer 2004 in a derelict amphitheatre in the lisbon hills, over-looking the river/ christ statue. like heaven.
bright eyes doing digital ash 2005 eurockeennes beach stage. heart-wrenching.
bjork 2003 fuji rock. clean air. mesmeric.
underworld 2003 sonar. massive warehouse-type space, reaching for the lazers, cheesy 'back in the day rave' cliches.
Thass what i'm talkin bout
that Morricone one sounds incredible!
Also the Fuji Rock festival is in a really beautiful place. The lineup always looks crap though. Although Flower Travellin Band are playing it this year which could be good.
the lineup was good in 2003
dj kentaro, yo la tengo, sun ra arkestra (minus a dead sun ra), massive attack, royksopp, the orb, asian dub foundation. was ages ago, can't remember everything.
oh yeah
the morricone one was in the woods, too and free entry, pity we had to get the last bus back into town after 40 minutes.
Well this is a good thread idea
1. NIN at Reading last year.
Just incredible, incredible use of lighting and technology, incredible music, incredible.
2. 65daysofstatic at the Southampton Joiners 2005
My first ever 65days gig, literally blew my mind, I wanted to cry with happiness afterwards.
3. Biffy Clyro at the Astoria 2005
Perhaps not my favourite Biffy gig but 2 days after my grandma died - I unashamedly cried when they played the atrocity.
4. Oceansize at The Garage 2004
The first time I've ever thought "I want your babies" - I love Mike Vennart. I love Oceansize. Effloresce is one of the best albums of all times.
5. Hope of the states at Frog. 2004
Again first time I'd seen them, they had those amazing visual projections at that point as well. I think had an eargasm during that set.
The Big Show
with all the pyro etc can be amazing. I really enjoyed Wrinkly Roger Waters doing Dark Side Of The Moon with projections and fire cannons. The jets of fire gave out loads of heat and we were standing miles away.
I would like to see Kiss at Download but it's a lot of money to pay just for them.
my list, in no order
mogwai at southampton uni 2006 - i cried and got the shit kicked out of me with sound.
black lips at KCL union 2008 - so much energy, knew every song, good mosh pit but with no punches, just smiles. came out covered in sweat and beer.
camera obscura at southampton joiners 2007 - something about it made it amazing. their songs took on a brand new energy on stage.
death from above 1979 london mean fiddler 2006 - their last london show. high octane big bass riffs and huge amounts of soul. and i kissed a pretty girl.
that's all for now.
Black Lips
i've seen them a couple of times now but haven't been that impressed. Both at big stages at festivals though. I guess they'd be better in a smaller venue.
yeh
we pulled the bassist into the crowd and everyone went mental. they had an awesome french band supporting though, which added to it.
They were great in Bristol too.
Though I thought No Age outshone them. Just for the sheets of noise they created. And the guitarist jumping off anything an everything and into the crowd.
Cool. I want to see Meat Puppets actually
My tuppence:
1) Mogwai at Somerset House.
I rave and rave about this show, purely because it was SO good. The atmosphere, the setting, the sound- all perfect. The mixture of quiet and loud songs. And they played Ex Cowboy and opened with Superheroes of BMX. OMGZ
Queens of the Stone Age, 2003 Tour.
Queens, still with Nick, and with Mark Lanegan on tour with them. Hangin' Tree was blistering, as was Feel Good Hit and Millionaire.
!!! at Leeds last year
Brilliant. Why the tent wasn't full is still completely criminal to my mind. Double drummers, horns, two vocalists and the funkiest and most danceable set I've ever heard.
GZA at Portishead ATP.
Absolutely unexpected brilliance. I like Liquid Swords a whole lot, but I wouldn't call it my favourite hip hop album. And I didn't expect the guy to be able to get a whole crowd really going and to be that good. Pretty amazing, all told.
There's a few contenders for 5)- Cursive, Trail of Dead, Blonde Redhead, but I'm gonna leave it, cause those were the only gigs that have really left me with my jaw well and truly dropped.
Shit, I should really mention NIN and Massive Attack here
fuck it.
GZA
I was really surprised how good that was, but they kept turning up the bass until a limiter thing kicked in over and over so the sound was a bit weird and uneven where I was standing. I still remember Killah Priest going straight into the hotdog queue as soon at the set finished :)
The whole room was pretty much vibrating.
It was ace.
GZA
were so awful at Nightmare Before Christmas
No. Are you confusing him with Madlib?
Madlib WAS terrible.
fugazi@ leeds met halloween 2002
they did 2hours, 27songs and ruled. so good i bought the live bootleg and listen to it practically all the time
Fugaziii
were amazing (and Sweet and Low live would up there in my favourite bits of gig if there was such a list) but there were douchebags in the crowd!
I hated the douchebags, even though they prompted Ian Mackaye to say 'throw that can of beer at yourself!' which was very funny indeed.
I think both Evens gigs I went to should really be on my list too.
I've seen The Evens once
I don't think I was musically mature enough to appreciate it fully. It was sitting down in this tiny venue, and I'd only gone because I was all GWARRRR IAN MACKAYE GWARRR FUGAZI GWAAARRRR MINOR THREAT...
One of those gigs I wish I could go back and see again at this age :(
saw them at the notts boathouse
2yrs ago. they were very understated and quiet but i still loved it. you had lots of knobs shouting for repeater too, which was stupid
...did I ever tell you about
seeing;
Sonic Youth - 1989 - Kilburn National
I was stunned by the sheer power at that scale, it made the big venue feel like it was a tiny room, an intense and beautiful experience - SY had long changeovers between some songs (a couple of minutes sometimes) and during these changeovers they played The Carpenters at the same volume SY played at, it was perfect.
Plus Mudhoney supported and joined SY for the encore.
The Pale Saints at Town & Country (now Forum) - particularly mindblowing as well.
Buttholes at Brixton - full on heavy wierdness.
Spacemen 3 - Oxford Poly
more recently
Trans Am - Oxford - Wheatsheaf 2004
Fuck Buttons - Oxford - Cellar last year
that fuck buttons show was amazing
supporting damo suzuki/ youthmovies?
first time they played bright tomorrow i think.
Trans Am
were reasonably mindblowing last year. The DJs were playing some really weird noisy track and they just went straight into a stupidly loud 'Conspiracy Of The Gods' over the top of it without even counting in. And everyone went 'yeahhhhhhh!'
:(
I thought it was all about the simplicity for them really. I think my gran probably would've enjoyed the gig in Gateshead!
Cool.
1) Dub Narcotic Sound System @ someones flat, Stoke Newington, Late 90's.
You really don't get gigs like this very often. Calvin Johnson has always stuck to his DIY principles, so when they played London on, possibly, their only ever UK tour, it was in someones loft space. Barely advertised, you had to walk in the front door, and head up the stairs. I seem to remember bunk beds, a tiny crowd, apparantly Steve Albini was there. Calvin seemed to get a bit pissed off as the crowd weren't dancing maniacally enough, but we were just in awe. I mean its Calvin Johnson, in someones bedroom, you don't get much better than that.
2) Hot Snakes - Islington Forum (is that the venue? Can't quite remember. It was in a shopping centre), 2005. One of John Reis' live mottos is to just bludgeon you sledgehammer style, with no rest. Here Hot Snakes did just that, playing loud, fast, heavy song after song with barely a second to catch breath in between. Stood head and shoulders over their last club show in London later that year.
3) Sunn 0))) & Boris present Altar - Kentish Town Forum, 2007
This was on my 30th birthday so it was a celebration. Boris played a good set. I was mesmerised by Sunn 0))). But Altar was incredible. I was standing still near the speaker and it still felt like I was moving across the floor. Epic, loud, noisey, it was staggering, and difficult to really put into words.
4) Stephen Malkmus - Shepherds Bush Empire, 2003. You know when you see a band at exactly your peak of appreciating their music? Well this was it. Myself and one of my best mates were in such love with Malky at the time. We'd done the Pavement thing, and it was on the Pig Lib tour after his first 2 exceptional solo albums. Consequently, its the only gig I've ever been emotional at. It was beautiful. He ended with Range Life. I nearly cried.
5) The Bees - Headlining Friday Night Mainstage at the first Bestival, 2003. This was easily one of the best weekends of my life. We just rocked it! The Bees are friends of mine, so I was slighlty biased towards them at the time. When they came on, we happened to be on just about every drug under the sun, at the same time. On my home of Isle Of Wight, watching my friends, seeing mosaics, as the sun went down. They will never be the same again.
Nice.
1. ^^^Buzzard55 - I was at that Malkmus gig in 2003 - he did a wicked version of '1% of 1' which was totally indulgent yet fantastic. 'Range Life' was a great unexpected closer. I too was obsessed with the Malky at the time so I went and saw him in Brighton the very next night. It was a John Peel curated gig with the Black Keys and Themselves playing too. Both were excellent (particularly Themselves), the venue was called 'the market' or sum like that, it had very clean white walls like an art gallery. We were right at the front and I think because the gig was going out over the radio (and Peel was curating) the standard of Malk's playing and the Jicks was seriously tight to the point of being amazing. And he played 'Church on White' - possibly my favourite solo jam of his. Also my wife loved it as she was down the front and could actually see the gig!!
2) Radiohead - Birmingham NEC, touring 'OK Computer'. My brother got 2 tickets from his girlfriend for his birthday for both of them to go. I was crrazily jealous as I so loved that record. Fortunately for me she was ill that day so my bro drove 200 miles to pick me up and then 200 miles to take us both to Birmingham. We were right down the front in front of Ed O'Brien and fuck me it was amazing. I couldn't get over just how good it sounded for such a large gig. Oh and DJ Shadow was supporting. Awesome.
3). The Mars Volta - Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms - touring 'De-loused'. I feel like they've kinda lost their way now for me and become too self indulgent and boring. At the time though I thought they were the dogs bollocks. This was their first UK show (if not the first show) after the death of Jeremy Ward. They played all of 'De-loused' in order and it was like watching Hendrix playing with Zepplin or something. Blew my socks off. They encored with some of the 'Tremulant' ep which for me is their best work. Tiny little fellas too that Omar & Cedric. Great great show.
4). Les Savy Fav - the Garage (the pre ATP gig where the shit Weird War weirdly were headlining). Harrington - that man is so entertaining!
5). Pixies - Kentish Town Forum - cheeky little extra reunion show before V Festival I think? I'd never thought I'd see the Pixies ever since I got into them massively at the age of 13 about 1 year or so before they split. The re-union was a dream come true. I had seen them the previous month during the 5 night Brixton run but the sound there is so shit (although I got the disc live cd of the gig). The Forum show was perfect - perfect sound, perfect view, perfect songs. I tracked down a bottleg dvd of the gig. Possibly the best gig of my life.
Pixies ist krieg
the gig I saw at Manchester Apollo was similar to your Forum one I think! Bang on! I also saw them at the cricket ground which wasn't as good but notable for the mass exodus after they finished. Stereophonics were on next!
That gig at the cricket ground...
was funny.
As soon as The Pixies finished people were literally running out of the venue to avoid catching even a single second of the Stereophonics set.
Whoever put that bill together should have been shot.
Did you hear the people chanting
"fuck the Stereophonics"? Classy.
Goldfrapp beforehand too! ARGHHH
Hot Snakes?
The only time I went into that one in the shopping centre it was called the Marquee. But apparently the Marquee has moved around a bit. Took us ages to find the damn place!
Yeah you're right
I couldn't remember the name. It was the Marquee.
Don't hear about that place anymore. What happened to it?
I don't know!
My friend said it had moved somewhere else again, but I know not where.
daft punk
at the O2 wireless festival last year.
There was nothing before. There has been nothing since.
the boredoms in birmingham last year
an hour of light-bulb feedback, screaming and non-stop pounding and guitar twatting, ending with yoshimi leading everyone in a betty boop-eqsue tribal pop stomp. the most fun i've ever had whilst sober.
the melvins at primavera last year. ending with that 20 minute vietnam war singalong from hell that i thought was going to make the forum collapse into the sea.
acid mothers temple at nottingham social a few years ago. because i'd had a crap day at work, it took four hours to make a train journey that normally takes 50 minutes, i was cold and wet and then amt came on stage and shoved all the depressing shit out of my skull.
The Melvins ending
was superb! I would like to think all of the people running away were disgusted by the horrible noise and Jared's singing but I think they were just running over to the other stage to catch Slint.
Was that AMT gig with Bologna Pony supporting? If so I saw that! They were really good. Hiroshi Higashi was dancing around the floor at the end when they did the 'na na na hey hey goodbye' thing. That was also a miraculous night because my friend actually enjoyed the thirty minute songs. I thought he was going to be really angry.
bolgna pony, yeah!
didn't make it in time to see 'em though. the 'na na na na' encore was hilarious, i think that more bands should just start chanting "give us your money" at the end of their gigs if they want to boost merchandise sales instead of just mumbling about having some tapes available on the back table.
Give us your Monehhh
They are a bit harsh with the merchandise. I'm sure I saw them selling broken drumsticks for a fiver each. I suppose you don't *have* to buy them...
not really mindblowing but my favourites
bright eyes at the barfly, due to them only handing out flyers the day before and the venue denying the shows existence until the afternoon there were only a handful of people there. They opened with a song to pass the time (probably my favourite ever song) first with a really extended almost post rock intro with lots of harp, he seemed in a really funny jovial mood was the best performance of his i've seen.
Joanna newsom at the royal albert hall, she is pretty much the best person ever and it was great to see her at what will probably be the peak of her career in such a grand setting.
Godspeed you! black emperor, they were playing when I was on holiday in munich, the venue was a mission, had to walk for about an hour int the real outskirts, the venue seemed like an abandoned building it didn't even have doors just sheets of plastic. It was before yanqui so they were still good, they looked so cool all dressed in black and all smoking.
Cable at the dingwalls last show, it was sad they were stuck down in their prime
Statistics at the the underworld. Seriously.
Joanna Newsom
there was a really tense moment or two in Gateshead when she couldn't stop coughing in the middle of one of the songs. I think that's the only time i've had a funny feeling in my stomach at a gig thinking about the whole thing falling apart.
I saw a completely hammered Oberst fall off the stage in Manchester once. The girls he fell onto seemed happy about it.
Alright
Nomeansno - the first time I saw them at the Underworld a few years back. I didn't know them that well at the time, but within about 3 minutes I was part of a sweaty mass of fat men old enough to know better going completely apeshit to 'rags n bones'. I've seen them twice since, and I could have chosen either of those gigs too. For sheer, unadulterated, musical JOY, almost no one has ever come close for me. I want to cry just thinking about it.
dEUS supporting Placebo in autumn 96.
I wasn't that fussed about seeing Placebo. I'd never heard of dEUS. I was utterly, utterly transfixed by them pretty much from the start of their set. I think it was when the soaring genius of 'gimmee the heat' finally came to an end I realised I was in love again.
Chris Corsano solo at Palimpsest. What you said. But without the casio. But with a customised clarinet (?). And in a church. Lovely. Plus sunburned hand of the man played afterwards, holding some kind of golden idol (? I was pretty drunk at this point) aloft as chaotic noise enveloped us and the last rays of the sun came through the stained glass windows. I felt like I was part of a cult.
Mastodon. Playing Peterborough. DO YOU UNDERSTAND???? Mastodon. At PETERBOROUGH!!!! Peterborough being peterborough, there were only about 200 people there. Mastodon being Mastodon, they were incredible. I THINK THAT SOMEONE IS TRYING TO KILL ME! Oh very yes.
Paperchase playing the garage. I was right at the front. The bass rumble nearly ripped my guts out. Congleton looked like a mild mannered office worker. They played one of the best sets I've ever witnessed (mostly stuff off 'hide the kitchen knives'). I got neckache.
...
When was that Mastodon gig? No-one decent ever plays Peterborough. They must have brought the fenlands to it's knees.
December 2005.
To be fair, ALMOST no one decent ever plays Peterborough.
I've seen amazing gigs there from the Fall, This Aint Vegas, Electric Eel Shock, Deltahead/dogbreath and Lightyear in the past, and sadly missed Les Savy Fav when they played the Park.
<3 LIGHTYEAR!
Don't remember liking the songs
but the trumpet player had a beard on one side of his face only. Respect possibly due.
Niice
I really want to see Nomeansno but they never seem to journey north enough. Should make mo effort really.
Sunburned had some tree branches and a sheet and it formed a mystical scarecrow. Musically poor though because of some English eejit shouting nonsense over the top of them.
I know nowt about the Paper Chase. Their name does not suggest the possibility of a bangover.
The Heroine Sheiks have a new album on Amrep!1! It doesn't have that many good songs on it though (for the first time ever) even though the Hammerhead guitarist is in the band now. I'm a bit outraged.
****When I saw Sunburned last
you get the idea
They played Huddersfield
last year. And Derby. Which is almost Northerly.
mid blown....lemmethinnnnk
1. Radiohead on OK Computer tour Glastonbury/Astoria/Brixton/Wembley/Brighton/RadioCity/
All perfect perfect. A band at the peak of its powers with unspeakably amazing sound giving headphone clarity in enormodomes. Amazing
2. PJ Harvey, when she was on Too Pure at Garage / London Bridge Arches and White Horse. Fuckin raw and direct and harsh and sexy
3. REM Green Tour NEC. Just mindblowing. "other"ness and mystery and grace in full effect, allied with utterly drilled stadium tricks and cleverness ad wit and fat barrages of sound. Go buy Tourfilm and marvel
4. QOTSA each gig on the Rated R tour but particularly that one with AC/motherfucking/DC at Milton Keynes. Wow. Just. Wow. I cannot imagine a better rock show.
5. Anti-pop in Harlem? Prodigy in Rekjavik? SFA at so many shows. Flaminglips in a car park in Austin. Madness at Glasto in the church? The Beat at Glasto at some godforsaken stage. Primal Scream + Shields at several places. MBV at Forum. Cure in a warehouse near London Bridge. Nirvana at the National.
..
in no order.
a.) Muse @ Wembley Stadium 2007, felt like they made the place their own within 2 songs, managed to avoid their sound getting lost in the venue and played a spellbinding set.
b) Jacob Golden @ Night n day, manchester, in january. Turned a chattering and uninterested night and day crowd into stunned silence.
c) The Music @ Northumbria Uni 2004. Fantastic crowd- almost everyone dancing, felt more like a rave and they played for 2 hours, playing most of their 2 albums. The Dance as an intro was amazing and a 10 minute version of Disco at the end was even better.
d)The Music @ Manchester Roadhouse 2008. Amazing to see them in such a small venue and purely delightful just because they'd return from a long absence. When Take The Long Road.. was played 2nd the place went up
e)too many options for this, any time I've seen 65 Days Of Static or The Cribs I guess
>_
1. Brand New @ Hammersmith Apollo 2007
Such an incredible atmosphere, everywhere I looked people were singing their hearts out. Also, the only band to move me to tears during the 'Deja Entendu' part of their set. Possibly the best gig I've ever been to.
2. Andrew Ferris (JPL) acoustic set @ STA Alldayer, 2006
Quite an intimate setting for some solo Jetplane Landing material, but it was all wonderful. The sound levels were perfect, Andrew played his heart out and everyone was smiling. Plus, he did this cover:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SINROZMfr28
3. Hot Snakes @ Camden Underworld 2005
OMG. Crushed against the stage, singing 'Suicide Invoice' whilst Speedo thrashed his guitar to bits, then some chanting for Gar Wood and a bit of 'Luau' to end. Ace.
4. Less Than Jake @ Reading Festival 2002
Fuk da haterz. This was the first time I'd ever seen them when they still sounded good. Plus, first proper circle pit, don't think I've ever danced that much in my entire life. Great sense of unity when jumping up and down, shouting "JOHNNY QUEST THINKS WE'RE WHAT???"
5. Million Dead @ Cambridge Junction 2002
I've mentioned this before. Terrific sound, energy, enthusiasm. They played nearly all of 'A Song To Ruin' ending with 'The Rise and Fall' and brought Matt Davies from FFAF on stage for the closing 10 minutes which involved him and Frank dancing around each other. A support band that I've never seen bettered. Ever.
i'll go for -