Wall of Mouths

Manic Street Preachers in Birmingham on Saturday night. The performance itself was OK - Bradders was in the best voice I think I have heard at any of their gigs I’ve been to, and the playing was markedly better too (the second guitarist who also added backing vocals may well be unwelcome to certain parts of the fanbase, given the Richey issue, but for my ears the guy’s a welcome addition) BUT..

(and you knew there was going to be a “but”!)

A few niggles:

a) The crowd was without a doubt the most lacklustre sorry bunch of “oh I know THIS one!” types I have ever had the misfortune to stand amongst at a gig. I imagine Amy Winehouse would get a warmer reception from them.

b) The setlist. Always going to be contentious with a band with such a varied back catalogue but there really is no need for the appaling “The Everlasting”. And an acoustic version just adds to the misery!

c) The volume. Too quiet for me to feel “involved”, if you know what I mean. I am the last person to say that high volume = decent sound but the band seemed detached from the audience and there’s something about a nice meaty sound that sucks you in, isn’t there?

d) The lights - Again, didn’t seem to capture the mood at all. Very pretty and that but seemed at odds with the music.

e) The films on the screens. Seemed half-hearted and a but pointless. Very annoying too to see a whole crowd watching a screen instead of the band - just doesn’t work, does it?

The Slackers on Saturday night.

Enjoyable night with a rowdy crowd , ending with a pretty chaotic encore - fans invading the stage en masse , band off stage in among the crowd , stagedivers , crowd surfers… the lot.

Yes, good point, but then even before the band came on I commented on how subdued the crowd were. I think the day’s xmas shopping had taken it out of them. That and the fact that they were family-saloon driving types who have probably only bought the Kate Nash album since Keane last released a CD.

I’m glad I wasn’t standing behind him. Can you imagine what the people nearby must have thought? “Listen to that whingeing old bastard, moaning about the crowd before the band has even come on … “

@ Dennis: i am seeing the manics tomorrow in brixton and i am sure already that i will come away with the same kind of story. of course i will not blame this on the band because i physically can’t make myself do it. i shall just blame everybody else and be safe in the knowledge that i am correct and the other thousands of people are wrong.

but yes, the everlasting acoustic just is in no way necessary at all. and everything must go, again, every fucking time. why why why.

hi there,

I recently just went to see And Also The Trees playing. They were amazing on stage. They were great with the audience and people around them after the show. Very disposable. I’m very delighted in advance to go back to see them again.

interzone wrote:

Very disposable.

Available,he may have meant

In English, if someone is ‘at your disposal’ it means they are available. It’s quite formal though.

The last gig I went to was Pull My Finger in Keighley, jolly good stuff.

Interzone, I only mentioned it because it sounded so cute - I hope you know that :)

And now I know what ‘disponible’ means, so that’s one word of french I can speak :)

Chr1s, mate! OCS THREE NIGHTS ON THE TROT?!

my deepest sympathy is with you :(

Just got back from seeing The Damned. Performance they were great. But the gig itself depended on how much you liked them. I only have heard two albums Damned Damned Damned and Machine Gun Etiqutte and only about 5 or 6 of the songs they played were off them and they were the classics.

But ive heard that there changing the set at every gig so it depends what stuff of theres you like and if your lucky I suppose. And if you love it all then great.

Oh and the stripshow support thingy was a laff.

Los Bastardos Finlandeses, Hanoi Rocks and Motörhead in Hellsinki, Tampere and Oulu on Tue, Wed & Thu this week. It was kinda “No sleep til your deaf” journey for me:)
Now recovering from this over 1000 km trip around Finland and waiting for the Köln T? trip.
No surprises from Motörhead, they were as always, louder than hell:) Hanoi Rocks didn´t dissapoint either, best lineup from them I´ve seen so far and almost all the “golden oldies” came filled with sum new stuff.
“We are MH and were gonna make you finnish bastards deaf”:)

I finally saw The Twilight Sad in Venlo. They’re so impressive, the singer is a maniac on stage.

Next up T? in Cologne.

I saw Terrorvision, Manics and Wildhearts in Manchester.

Don’t know how many more times it will be worth opening my wallet for Terrorvision, I enjoyed the manics in a sort of “oh good I know this one” way :D

The Wildhearts were good, played Nurse Maximum, and I don’t think I have ever seen that before.

Support were Wolfsbane, who are absolutely brilliant and I wish someone had mentioned how good they were before now.

Best thing out of Tamworth since the A42

Paradise Lost last night at Pakkahuone here in Tampere. The new songs, I didn´t know them at all but thank god they played “As I die”, “Requiem” and “Gothic”. A good night!