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and Burning Love

mumford and sons - meh, I went having heard one song, they were ok but nothing special
jenniferever - brilliant band but slightly embarrassed to be in a crowd of about 10 people, they deserved so much better
mew - one of my favouritistist bands eva but the first time I'd seen them live, they didn't dissapoint :)

last - Danananaykroyd w/ Dino Pile-up and Super Adventure Club

Dananana were fun as expected but not the 10.0 everyone always talks about. Dino were alright but a bit Nirvana without the passion for my liking. SAC were a bit shit until they made epic proggy math noise when they were fantastic

second last - HEALTH w/ Pictureplane and Cold Hands

weren't too impressed with HEALTH when I saw them at Pure Groove back in April but they were super good and LOUD. Die Slow into We Are Water was one of my favourite musical moments of the year, but they could have perhaps played for 10 minutes longer. Pplane ain't as bad as DiS Music Board made out but still could've done more to make his set interesting than just play on the floor. Cold Hands were one of the worst bands I've ever seen.

third last - Acoustic Ladyland w/ The Fuzz

AL were the best live band I've ever seen this evening. Just came on, looking cool as fuck, and rocked it nearly solidly for 75 minutes. they reminded me of warlocks or something, all stood there wigging out playing crushing jazz rock, mindblowing stuff. couldn't think about anything else for like a week after. The Fuzz were fuzzin' shit.

Fennesz, Grouper and Natural Snow Buildings
Grizzly Bear w/LSO
Los Campensinos

Grizzly Bear supported by St Vincent
The Specials

beniot pioulard or however you spell it @ lexington (Cancelled!)
grouper/fennesz @ st giles (thought I had a ticket but turns out I did not)

not the best of weeks

Danana - awesome as ever. enjoyed seeing them in the oran mor instead of sleazys (bizarrely)

Johnny Foreigner - bit shit, honestly. everything kept breaking as well, which was funny for about five minutes. i wasn't really in the mood though - it was probably just me having a lame time. also i hate tuts.

Girls - FUCKING GREAT. Their support Swanton Bombs were pretty fantastic too. They're not really my kind of thing but the drummer was pretty captivating.

only got monotonix and pains of being pure at heart to look forward to now for the remainder of the year... will both be surely awesome though.

Loads of fun, with his little boogie box.

JoFo
Again loads of fun despite problems with the power fuckin up or something.

DMZ
Ramadanman & Ben UFO played a killer set that spanned dub>hip-hop>Skweee>Garage>Funky>Dubstep>Grime. Silkie played some amazing Joker/Silkie Colabs and tons of gangsta boogie. Mala opened with Steve Reich before loads of bass pressure with Loefah & Coki. Then I was fucked so went home...

If that doesn't count as a gig as it was a club... I saw HEALTH/Pictureplane/Chops
I was a bit disapointed, it was alright like but I'm not that fussed either way about the new HEALTH stuff to be honest.

both good. Tubelord were good, but for some reason only played four songs. The new bassist is a nice man. The drummer isn't. TTNG were amazing, and Chris is probably the nicest guy in any band ever. He got me a free beverage and then came to jesters (Southampton) with my friends and I. Terrible crowd for both bands. 8.5/10

Delphic & Two Door Cinema club
Dephic were really, really good. Good atmosphere and a really good crowd. Its nice to see a band put a lot of effort into their lights show. Good songs. Wasn't that impressed with the other band but I wasn't concentrating very hard so they could well have been good. 8/10

The Rebs
One of Southampton’s "up and coming" unsigned bands. Nothing special but enjoyable nevertheless. The bassist has very funky moves. The keyboard girl is very hawt. They were supported by what seemed like a beach boys tribute band of 15 year olds. They bought along a load of mental 14 year old girls, who all left, leaving the Rebs to play to about 5 people. Shame. 6/10

Great voice, half a band, captivating. Very tight trousers.

The Kiara Elles/My Sad Captains
Friend's gig, not many there. Kiaras uber-energetic in their new wave, MSC better than I thought they'd be.

Jeremy Warmsley
Solo. Covered Five Years and Girl Inform Me. Brilliant booking work by the promoter, whoever he was.

>>> Dinosaur Jr. - 7.5/10 - Lack of stage presence is kind of endearing but gets old after about an hour. Everyone should see J Mascis go to work on his Jazzmaster at least once in their lifetime. Guitar solos arent my favorite thing in the world, but I could watch him slay for hours.

>>> Brand New - 7/10 - Got free tickets. Started out REAL shaky, sound was bad and band sounded lazy. Then about halfway they played Vices http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mc6JKM_YkQ which was one of my least favorite songs on the album. But it sounded fantastic and got the juices flowing. From then on, the sounds guy got it nailed in, and they slayed the rest. Unfortunately it ended weak and they didnt come back out for an encore.

3. Bon Iver - 8/10 - Really good, the wife joined in for this one. Added just enough to his songs to give it a fresh twist. The sound was the great and Vernon's falsetto really played the star throughout, as it should be. Very touching, very beautiful and intimate. The crowd ate it up as well, it was deathly silent throughout the whole set.

Next up: Baroness

andrew bird/st vincent
grizzly bear/beach house

Yo La Tengo @ Manchester Academy
Grizzly Bear w/ St Vincent @ Manchester Cathedral
No Age w/ The Drums @ Deaf Institute

All jolly good fun. Not happy about missing APTBS/Japandroids on Saturday.

Johnny Foreigner @ Exeter Cavern 8.0
Los Campesinos! @ Exeter Phoenix 8.5
Camera Obscura @ Exeter Phoenix 7.6

Next: Lightning Bolt @ The Fleece.

Peter Doherty @ Southampton Joiners - 0/10
The Cribs @ Southampton Guildhall 8/10
Los Campesinos! @ Southampton Joiners 9/10

guess which act no-showed?

great but not as good as the last time i saw them in hoxton. i dont think i like the scala....
really good, great new stuff/brilliant but a bit underwhelming at times...
not as good as i hoped, once again not happy with the scala....
amazing, one of the best gigs ever, beautuflul sound, beautiful set, beautiful stage. i love the barbican....

Mew - Last night at Shepherd's Bush Empire
im not sure but either Deerhunter, Animal Collective or The Walkmen at Concorde 2 quite a while ago.

oxbow with light trap and transitional
woods/espers/cave singers
damien jurado with health & efficiency

Do Make Say Think
Efterklang
The Flaming Lips

In the next week I've got 2 in Brighton: The Paper Chase and Blue Roses.

(I think. They're the ones that stand out anyway.) All three shows were totally great. I think they were the most subdued Danan' and LC! shows I'd been to - standing off to the side and dancing, instead of leaping around like a fool - and I think I enjoyed them more as a result. I actually know what the band did at those gigs, while the past ones have just been a blur of bodies.

Efterklang - Concert Hall, Reading.
Astounding.

This Town Needs Guns/Tubelord - Oakford Social Club, Reading.
Brilliant brilliant, brilliant/Not bad, wasn't too familiar with them, getting the crowd to sit and listen to poetry didn't really do much for me.

Jeremy Warmsley - Boileroom, Guildford.
Pretty good.

Mew, Choir of Young Believers - I had seen neither band before. Mew sound better to me live than on record, but I always think the acoustics of Academy 2 are very good, and I was right in the centre. Choir of Young Believers were excellent I thought. The singer cuts a very fine and dramatic profile particularly when viewed from the side, a bit like some of my Quaker ancestors.

Yo La Tengo, Euros Child - I had seen both before, and their performance was again very good and enjoyable. I was put of by this group of clowns in front of me, but I somehow managed to exclude them from my thoughts most of the time.

A Mountain of One, Plank! - Plank! are absolutely my favourite live local band at the moment. I've seen them three times in the past few weeks, and I'm going to them again very soon. Krautrock just does it for me, or at least in this form. A Mountain Of One I had never heard of before 16.00 that day when I gave their album Collected Works a listen on Spotify. I was fascinated by the mix of parts they use in their songs. I bought their latest album, which I'll be listening to over the few days.

vessels (ages ago) can't remember much about it other than they started like 25 minutes late due to problems with the bass guitar, still decent from what i can remember 7/10

twilight sad - really very good, they seemed really sincere and appreciative of all the people that turned up, surprised they played in such a small place to be honest. really very loud, and their frontman is quite an ominous presence
and airship were the support which was a very nice surprise
8.5/10

grouper - probably the one i was most looking forward to, and while she wasn't bad most of the stuff was either new or she'd just reworked for a live setting (the only 'song' i recognized was poison tree) she was still pretty captivating to watch though. plus i managed to get dragging a dead deer on gold vinyl for like £15. bargain.

Mew - Excellent, great visuals, good atmos, top gig!
Biffy Clyro - Pretty good, but played too much off Puzzle for me.
Morrissey - Great, he seemed in a good mood and did a whole set!

Got The Night Marchers and APTBS/Japandroids at the weekend, bring 'em on!

Yo La Tango (ABC Glasgow) - Very much enjoyed although i missed the first 1 hour!!!!! due to the abc having to have every fucker on early, man i hate the abc.
Grizzley Bear & St Vincent (ABC Glasgow) - Really enjoyed st vincent, she's just great. Grizzly bear for me were a bit meh!
Phoenix (Arches Glasgow) - Really good gig, great fun and full of energy.

Tonight i am off to see Japandroids and A Place to Bury Strangers at the Captaisn Rest.
:)

Danananaykroyd @ The Scala: 8/10
Loads of stuff @ Swn: 381/10

Scarce at the Luminaire: 9/10
Okkervil River at the Scala: 8/10
Brendan Benson at the Electric Ballroom: 7/10

Tim Ten Yen was good.
Tindersticks were amazing.
Some other band were enjoyable.

Cheers.

Dinosaur pile up @ KOKO - The support Invasion smashed them. Dinosaur pile-up are a bit drab if you ask me.

Clutch @ KOKO - Loved it, been waiting years to see them. I had my lips pouted and my head was nodding.

Dead prez @ KOKO - KOKO sound let them down I think. Way to bassy but the band were good. Very enjoyable!

Pixies (Doolittle Gig) - Brixton Academy. 8/10. Hearing Mr Grieves / Crackity Jones was amazing enough, the finish of Where Is My Mind just topped it all off.
Daniel Johnston / Laura Marling / Wave Pictures. Union Chapel. 9/10. Amazing venue, DJ was superb, half brilliant half saddening, Laura Marling was also ace. A special mention for the cute lady who sung with Wave Pictures on a couple of songs.
Flaming Lips. Troxy. 10/10. So good. Words still fail me after two days, everything I thought they would be like live and then some!

in reverse order.
Los Campesinos/Copy Haho - Zodiac, Oxford.
Had to go from Reading after work so missed out on Sparky Deathcap which was annoying but the other bands were really good.
Ludovico Einaudi - The Anvil, Basingstoke
Again had to get there from Reading post work so missed out on the first piece, but a lovely venue and really interesting, could've done with perhaps a couple more old pieces but the encore was magnificent and they played Agaetis Byrjun afterwards which was nice.
Slow Club/The Heebie Jeebies/Love.Stop.Repeat - South Street, Reading
Really enjoyed the Heebie Jeebies but they were a league below Slow Club who are just wonderfully charismatic people with excellent stage banter. They began by walking through the crowd from the back and stopping in the middle to play Wild Blue Milk unamplified which was lovely.

last: Los Campesinos!/Copy Haho, King Tuts - enjoyed LC! a lot more than I thought I would, whole show was lots of fun. As good an audience response as I've seen in Tuts in literally years. Copy Haho are turning into a really fantastic band.

2nd last: Part Chimp/Divorce, Stereo - pretty, pretty, pretty good. great to see PC out doing shows again.
3rd last: Lemonheads, ABC - a bit shambolic, still entertaining though as they played all the "hits" and a fair amount more.

Next show I really want to go to is The Pogues, though can think of better places to see them than the o2 academy.

which were all in Birmingham

The Dead Weather @ Academy - enjoyable enough, but I think I like the people who make up the band other bands more

Japandroids/APTBS @ The Flapper - Japandroids were shit hot, really enjoyed, believe they are due back in the uk in Feb, so gonna be looking out to get to see them again. APTBS were rather good too, though I still think the claims of being one of the loudest bands in the world is one i'd question, Dinosaur Jr deafened me to a point I couldn't hear anything in my left ear the day after, both times i've seen these they just gave it a litle ringing.

Jay Reatard/Swanton Bombs @ Academy 3 - Was maybe abput 20 people there, which was a shame, but thought Swanton Bombs were alright, i'd agree about the drummer, he was good to watch. Jay Reatard, they plowed through the set without hardly a break between songs, really enjoyed, but like I said with there being hardly anyone there the atmosphere was non existent.

The Airborne Toxic Event - Shite
Meursault - Fantastic
Idlewild - Average

Before that, Therapy? - blast from the 90s past, and better than I remembered.
Before that, The Brains, whilst on holiday.

11/11 flaming lips for the first time
6/11 frightened rabbit for the second time
2/11 daniel johnston for the first time.

all thoroughly enjoyable. would see again.

Yo La Tengo @Roundhouse, highly enjoyable 2 hours 8/10
Japandroids @Hoxton Bar n' Kit, were awesome, I had the best time 9/10
This Town Needs Guns @Hoxton Bar n' Kit really really good I love this band and the drummer is the mutts nuts. 9/10

Mumford & Sons @ Talking Heads, Soton: 7/10
Johnny Flynn @ Hamptons, Soton: 8/10
Frank Turner @ Guildhall, Winchester: 8/10

tonight i see Hundred Reasons at the Wedgewood Rooms. I expect it to be a solid 9/10.

Sunset Rubdown 9/10
Peatbog Faeries 10/10

Last - Foot Village/Silk Flowers/Klaus Kinski: incredible fun/self-sabotaging rubbish/self-sabotaging brilliance
2nd last - No Age/The Drums/Teeth!/E+E: shit and boring/shit and shit/brilliant/hilarious and occasionally great
3rd last - Sincabeza/Souvaris/FTSE 100: not as good as I remembered/surprisingly impressive/still the best band in Manchester

APTBS/Japandroids this Saturday and maybe Tickley Feather at Retro Bar on Sunday too.

Mine were:
Biffy Clyro/Manchester Orchestra/Pulled Apart By Horses: Last night at the UEA in Norwich. Amazing show!

Before that it were Billy Talent/Cancer Bats/Canterbury: Also brilliant!

And before that, I think the last one was This Town Needs Guns/Tubelord/Darwin & The Dinosaur/Pennines: Brilliant! 4 brilliant bands - go see them / put them on ;)

Biffy Clyro w/ Pulled Apart By Horses & Manchester Orchestra, Leeds Academy.

Lostprophets, Sheffield Academy.

And So I Watch You From Afar, Liverpool Barfly.

Fleetwood Mac - 9/10 (-1 for no Christine, otherwise amazing)
ZZ Top - 8/10 think they might have mimed some songs

Tower Records 16th birthday bash (Talulah Does The Hula, Valerie Francis, Heathers and many more)
A Place To Bury Strangers with Japandroids
Marina & The Diamonds

last night: the pAper chAse - very good indeed, especially the singer's exaggerated facial expressions.
tuesday night: castanets - i prefer him solo rather than a full band, but still a fine gig in a half-empty venue (plus ending the set with 'i'm so lonesome i could cry' is also a bonus.)
monday night: maher shalal hash baz - hmm, mostly boring/frustrating with very brief flashes of brilliance.

i'll include Woods as well, they were very enjoyable on sunday night.

Brainwash festival @ Brudenell - PABH, HCDP, TTNG, Tubelord 11/10
HEALTH in Chicago - Far too drunk/10
Starfucker in Chicago - 8/10 (glad they changed their name now)
Mike Watt in New York if the festival doesn't count

....just the most recent.
Andrew Bird @ Union chapel last night - lovely
Mew @ Shepherds Bush Empire Tuesday - not bad, good atmos
Miserable Rich/Left with Pictures @ Slaughtered Lamb last week - wonderful

Daniel Johnston @ Brudenell, Leeds - 7/10
Brainwash Festival (Saturday) @ Brudenell + RPC, Leeds - 9/10
Pixies @ SECC Hall, Glasgow - 8/10

Next: Woods, Cave Singers and Espers @ Brudenell, Leeds on Monday.

Mew
This Town Needs Guns /Tubelord
Slow club

there may have been some others in between?

Fuck Buttons
Efterklang
Brute Chorus

Yo La Tengo @ Roundhouse, I was actually going to sell my ticket and go to Jack rose instead but in the end I didn't and I think i had a very enjoyable evening watching YLT.
Steffan Basho-Junghans @ Cafe Oto - criminally underratted, now that fahey has gone (a while ago i know) he must be the best guitarist out there, James Blackshaw ain't got nothing on him. Absolutely spellbinding gig.
Fennesz, Grouper, NSB @ St Giles - total ace as well. NSB were just everything I ever wanted them to be, just too short. Grouper was nice but too long. Fennesz was immense until the fuse blew, oh.

Frightened Rabbit @ Lexington - London 8.5/10
Damien Jurardo @ Freebutt - Brighton 9.5/10
Great Lake Swimmers @ Komedia - Brighton 8/10

NEXT THREE:

We Were Promised Jetpacks @ Freetbutt - Brighton
Espers ~ Freetbutt - Brighton
Decemberists - The Coronet - London

Grizzly Bear & LSO (9/10).
Idlewild (8/10)
Ash (8/10)

jeniferever @ classic grand, glasgow. great band, should've been busier though.
catsx3 @ classic grand, glasgow (again). didn't get to play very long, a good night though, as the support acts were good.
this will destroy you @ ivory blacks, glasgow. very tight, wished it was louder so i could FEEL the post rockiness.

recently i should've seen yo la tengo, but couldn't go because of a bday party, and tonight i was going to see japandroids/aptbs but it's sold out.

Los Campesinos! - Newcastle Uni Basement 2
Enter Shikari - :D:D:D:D:D:D
Jeff Lewis & Junkyard - Sunderland Independent

Dananananaykroyd @ Oran Mor
Mew @ ABC

All of the above were stunning. Skunk Anansie and The Mars Volta are the only two left of the year.

So have to go to Newcastle!

Maccabees, Biffy Clyro, Maps

Muse, Frank Turner and Cancer Bats, from worst to best.

I've never seen a band have so many mishaps during a gig (Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks)... you could see their enthusiasm dropping more and more as the gig went on. Still there were a few nice moments + it was great to see him live <3

wild beasts, aa bondy, sketches

Dananananaykroyd @ Oran Mor
Young Aviators @ ABC2

Mew
Big Joan, Hacksaw etc.
Mark Eitzel (bloody brilliant)

Good Shoes @ Guildford, Boileroom.
The Twilight Sad @ Brighton, Freebutt.
Camera Obscura @ Brighton, Komedia.

Tonight...We Were Promised Jetpacks back at the Freebutt.

Pixies @ Brixton - ok, though getting the distinct impression Frank "Black Francis" Black is going through the motions and not really enjoying it
Grizzly Bear and LSO @ Barbican - excellent, but no Marla which would have been fab with a full orchestra
Mew @ Shepherds Bush Empire - wonderful, superb, amazing, as posted elsewhere

HEALTH @ The Garage - Blew my mind. Still smile everytime I think about it.
Japandroids @ Barfly - Having had their album on high rotation it was great to see them after they canceled a show in Vancouver.
Cymbals Eat Guitars @ The Lexington - Still on a high after their show last night. Very tight with so much energy and a great sound and a good crowd.

in reverse order:
Flaming Lips @ Troxy Ace, as were the crazy supports :D
Dan Michaelson and The Coastguards @ Luminaire
Efterklang + Jaga Jazzist @ Barbican
wooo, whats next?!
Tortoise yeh!

The Pixies at Brixton Academy

King Khan and the Shrines at the Brudenell Leeds

All awesome !!!!

The Never Say Die! tour, only went to catch HORSE the Band (awesome) also saw Despised Icon (terrible sub-Terror/ Throwdown hardcore) and As Blood Runs Black (also rubbish)

Clutch w/ Kylesa and Kamchatka - excellent gig, Kamchatka were rifftastic, mix of 70s sounding rock and more modern metal, proper headbanging stuff. Kylesa were awesome, couldn't take my eyes of the two drummers really going for it, rest was pretty good with sludgy meatal and boy/ girl vocals. Clutch were excellent, end of. Possibly played a bit long for me, but I'm not the most familiar with their older stuff, Electric Parade rocks tho.

Green Day - awesome, and anyone who thinks they weren't doesn't enjoy live music.

Next two - Fall of Troy and Slayer.

Fennesz, NSB, Grouper @ St. Giles - Stunning, despite the power cut. That said, I'm amazed I can still hear. Fennesz was punishing.

Grizzly Bear w/ LSO - As others compained, they didn't actually put the orchestra to much use, and it's probably fair to say that it sounded much like a normal Grizzly Bear set, but it was great nevertheless. They're one of my favourite bands, and seeing them in such a setting was incredible, as expected.

Sonic Youth @ The Forum - Massive dissapointment compared to their set at Scala earlier in the year. They must have played every track off the Eternal. Still, hearing Tom Violence (again) and Stereo Sanctity was pretty special. Hush Arbors were decent.

Next up: Rhys Chatham @ ICA.

1> Other people are the flying duck for the Define Pop Festival
2>Detour podcast launch with Bronto Skylife, Graeme MacDonald and Rod Jones
3>Meursault, barn owl, brother louis collective and olympic swimmers at the 13th note - this one was fucking great.

bromheads jacket @ club 60. sheffield 9/10
lovely band. lovely venue. say no more
arctic monkeys @ sheffield arena 7/10
great band. shit venue. good lights. good confetti.
wet nuns @ green room. sheffield N/A
missed them.

Fionn Regan @ Jam Brighton - New album material = so wonderful, kind of Bob Dylan Bringing It All Back Home-esque, old material fleshed out with the backing band - so great. 9/10

Nat Jenkins, the Musical Differences @ Audio Brighton - pretty good, nothing special to write home about

The Growlers @ Bootleg Theatre Los Angeles - FUCKING AMAZING 10/10 most promising band that I'm aware of. So great.

dirtbombs
sloan
kraftwerk

Midget and giant
Dinosaur Jr
Lemonheads

Automatic - Central Station, Wrexham
Mitchell Museum - Telfords, Chester
Slow Club - Swn Festival, Cardiff or just Swn festival if that counts as one.

The nightmarchers with support from Dan Sartain and Blood red shoes.
Grizzly bear and LSO at barbican
Spirtualized at RFH.

All pretty amazing. Meeting Speedo after The night marchers kind of made that evening a bit special. Great guy.