I went to quite a few gigs this year, a lot of them were very good. Here are my top five.
1. Crowded House, Manchester Apollo
I was reviewing this for the MEN, so I took Brother John as my plus one. We had incredible seats, we were on the front row. John and I are big fans of the Crowdies, you can't argue with songs like theirs, and they're such damn nice guys. Admitting a penchant for the House will get you about as many cool points as being a Nazi sympathiser in most quarters, but sod it, they're brilliant (Crowded House, that is, not the Nazis).
Highlights included saying hello to Neil Finn's dad in New Zealand via Skype, the entire crowd holding the final note of Better Be Home Soon for what felt like a full five minutes, and the most middle-aged, middle class middle of the road moshpit you've ever seen for Weather With You.
And this was all before Johnny Marr came on for the encore and they did Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want and There Is A Light That Never Goes Out. Everybody left grinning from ear to ear, it was an incredible gig, one of the best I've ever been to.
http://www.citylife.co.uk/news_and_reviews/reviews/10018314_review__crowded_house___manchester_apollo
2. Jonsi - Latitude
Latitude was rubbish this year, make no mistake. It was full of dicks, the line up was rubbish and there was a gang rape on the first night. I'm never going back. However, Jonsi on the final night was all kinds of amazing.
I'm not a Sigur Ros fan and I'd never heard any of his solo stuff before, so I wasn't expecting much. However, me and Bob (who I was there with) just stood there with our mouths open for a full hour and a bit. I remember at the time thinking, “If I was writing a review of this I'd say it was like a rave in a sonic cathedral.”
It was epic post-rock pop on a grand scale, culminating in a brain-exploding brilliant white noise crescendo. And he was wearing a very impressive feathery headpiece.
Needless to say, I bought his album as soon as I got back and it was shit.
3. LCD Soundsystem/Hot Chip – Magna, Rotherham
Two of the best bands at Glastonbury (more of which in a bit) coming together for a joint headline tour was the stuff of geeky electro rock fan's dreams. LCD are a brilliant live band, even if James Murphy is far too cool for school and does tend to shout a bit too much.
Hot Chip made one of the best albums of the year and are absolutely shit hot live, dismantling all of their songs and putting them back together in a different order just for a giggle. They've got properly amazing songs that make you dance and make you cry all at the same time. You just want to hug them all. And then dance some more.
Other highlights of this gig include the longest bar queue I've ever been in, during which I was recognised as a Plague Doctor by a man who tried to start a bar queue sing along of We Killed Everyone at Radio One. He didn't get very far, as no one else knew the song and just thought he was mental, but full marks for trying.
4. Scissor Sisters – Glastonbury
This year's Glastonbury was the best one I've ever been to. And I've been to LOADS, so there. The best non-musical act was the sun, which was so damn hot everyone almost died of heat exhaustion. As mentioned, LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip were pretty damn ace and Pet Shop Boys and the Flaming Lips both played absolute blinders headlining the Other Stage.
Ash were as reliably fun as ever, and have some surprisingly good new songs as well, fully justifying our decision to see them over Stevie Wonder. Judy Collins in the Avalon tent was the biggest namedropper and owner of the loveliest voice on site. Avi Buffalo made me realise that I didn't hate all new guitar music, which was surprising. And where else can you go from Snoop Dogg to Kevin Eldon to Shakira?
But Scissor Sisters were probably best, because it was Saturday night, there was a glorious sunset, we danced like loons and then Kylie turned up. What more do you actually want?
5. Wu Tang Clan – Manchester Academy
Another review for the MEN with Brother John in tow, this was hilarious. They were an absolute shambles, no stage set, just eight mikes, a set of decks and a group of incoherent shouting men. But they were incredible. The whole place stank of weed and the predominantly male, white, middle class audience bellowed back every word. It was weird. But it was brilliant.
They plugged the film they're allegedly making. They brought the motherfucking ruckus. They urged all the ladies to get naked, which one of them did. They ain't nothing to fuck with. They urged us to check out their gravel pit, which we did, and we saw that it was good.
Thursday, 23 December 2010
Monday, 20 December 2010
Another Year Of The Plague
The Plague Doctors have had a strange old year. I can't remember everything we did, especially not the stuff we did back in January, so I'll just pick out some of the highlights.
PRESTON
We played at a festival in Preston in the summer to an audience of precisely no one. It was in the upstairs room of a pub at 5pm on a Saturday afternoon some time at the arse end of summer. The crowd consisted of the soundman, the promoter and our entourage of one.
Inspired by the complete lack of interest, I decided to go all out Freddie Mercury at Wembley, leading our entourage to describe it as one of our best ever gigs, despite no one being there.
SOWERBY BRIDGE
We fulfilled a long held dream of mine to play the Puzzle Hall Inn in Sowerby Bridge. It was a Tuesday night in early June, and virtually no one was there. Most of my so-called friends who live in Halifax didn't bother to turn up. THANKS GUYS. However, Party Andrei and his Afghan friend Ravi from the Nestle factory were there, which more than made up for it. They both enjoyed it, as did blog legend Claire Smith and her friend Lora.
We played a storming set, the highlight of which was the angry folded arms people on the table next to the stage getting up and leaving half way through.
Afterwards, we were paid £64 for our efforts, which remains the highest fee we have ever commanded. The last I heard, the Puzzle Hall was due to shut down because the owners couldn't afford to keep it open. I think it is entirely unfair to link these two events.
Other highlights included a decidedly perilous drive home through fog so thick you could top a shepherd's pie with it.
CHESTER
After a well coordinated but somewhat undignified Facebook campaign, we found ourselves on the bill at one of the heats of the Standon Calling battle of the bands contests. To the winner, a slot on the bill at one of the country's hippest music festivals. We went on second to last, after three bands so bad you actually felt sorry for them. Some of them had come down from Scotland to play in Chester, as it was the only heat that took place outside London.
There was literally no one there (again) in a cavernous trendy food pub bang in the middle of Hollyoaksville. But we had Brother Paul Thompson back on board for one night only and we gave it everything to try and impress the judging panel. We all thought we'd done pretty well, we were clearly the best band there so far and we started allowing ourselves to believe that we might just sneak it.
Then a band called The Feud came on. They were all dressed in white and they sounded slick, like Muse crossed with Editors. They had banter like “This is our new single, it's available on iTunes” and “We've just come off a European tour, it was great.” They had precisely no songs or tunes, just a collection of bits that sounded like they might be songs if you weren't really paying attention. They were the most godawful offensive pile of shite I've ever heard. And yes, I am bitter.
Within three seconds of The Feud starting, we knew the judging panel (a grade A behatted Shoreditch dick) was going to pick them and there was no point in any of us turning up. Sure enough, that happened. We drove back along the M56 in an angry mood, just glad that we we weren't going back to Scotland.
WALES
We played in Wales at the Workhouse Festival in early July. Somehow, some friendly Welsh hippies had got hold of Wasting My Time and decided they liked it, especially the dance routine. We tipped up in the middle of the Welsh Valleys late on a Friday night and set up camp, ready for our festival-slaying set the next day.
We didn't have long to wait, as our set took place at 11am on the Saturday morning. Again, not very many people turned up, but it was the premiere of my white suit jacket and sunglasses combo, and we had a very nice time. Apart from when some children wandered into the tent and John got the fear about playing Snipping Off Your Face in front of them. But it was all fine.
Later we wandered into the town I can't remember the name of and found out Raoul Moat had been cornered in Rothbury. Then we had fish and chips and went back on site, spending the evening discussing the plainly unworkable Freeman on the Land concept with a friendly Welsh hippy who might have been called Barry.
On the way home we visited a lovely waterfall, which was nice.
Other highlights of the year include a storming gig upstairs at Fuel in Withington where we threw flowers all over the stage and were cajoled into doing an encore, so we had to do our Christmas song, as we literally had no other songs to do.
We've not done any gigs for AGES, but normal Plague service will be resumed at some point in the New Year.
PRESTON
We played at a festival in Preston in the summer to an audience of precisely no one. It was in the upstairs room of a pub at 5pm on a Saturday afternoon some time at the arse end of summer. The crowd consisted of the soundman, the promoter and our entourage of one.
Inspired by the complete lack of interest, I decided to go all out Freddie Mercury at Wembley, leading our entourage to describe it as one of our best ever gigs, despite no one being there.
SOWERBY BRIDGE
We fulfilled a long held dream of mine to play the Puzzle Hall Inn in Sowerby Bridge. It was a Tuesday night in early June, and virtually no one was there. Most of my so-called friends who live in Halifax didn't bother to turn up. THANKS GUYS. However, Party Andrei and his Afghan friend Ravi from the Nestle factory were there, which more than made up for it. They both enjoyed it, as did blog legend Claire Smith and her friend Lora.
We played a storming set, the highlight of which was the angry folded arms people on the table next to the stage getting up and leaving half way through.
Afterwards, we were paid £64 for our efforts, which remains the highest fee we have ever commanded. The last I heard, the Puzzle Hall was due to shut down because the owners couldn't afford to keep it open. I think it is entirely unfair to link these two events.
Other highlights included a decidedly perilous drive home through fog so thick you could top a shepherd's pie with it.
CHESTER
After a well coordinated but somewhat undignified Facebook campaign, we found ourselves on the bill at one of the heats of the Standon Calling battle of the bands contests. To the winner, a slot on the bill at one of the country's hippest music festivals. We went on second to last, after three bands so bad you actually felt sorry for them. Some of them had come down from Scotland to play in Chester, as it was the only heat that took place outside London.
There was literally no one there (again) in a cavernous trendy food pub bang in the middle of Hollyoaksville. But we had Brother Paul Thompson back on board for one night only and we gave it everything to try and impress the judging panel. We all thought we'd done pretty well, we were clearly the best band there so far and we started allowing ourselves to believe that we might just sneak it.
Then a band called The Feud came on. They were all dressed in white and they sounded slick, like Muse crossed with Editors. They had banter like “This is our new single, it's available on iTunes” and “We've just come off a European tour, it was great.” They had precisely no songs or tunes, just a collection of bits that sounded like they might be songs if you weren't really paying attention. They were the most godawful offensive pile of shite I've ever heard. And yes, I am bitter.
Within three seconds of The Feud starting, we knew the judging panel (a grade A behatted Shoreditch dick) was going to pick them and there was no point in any of us turning up. Sure enough, that happened. We drove back along the M56 in an angry mood, just glad that we we weren't going back to Scotland.
WALES
We played in Wales at the Workhouse Festival in early July. Somehow, some friendly Welsh hippies had got hold of Wasting My Time and decided they liked it, especially the dance routine. We tipped up in the middle of the Welsh Valleys late on a Friday night and set up camp, ready for our festival-slaying set the next day.
We didn't have long to wait, as our set took place at 11am on the Saturday morning. Again, not very many people turned up, but it was the premiere of my white suit jacket and sunglasses combo, and we had a very nice time. Apart from when some children wandered into the tent and John got the fear about playing Snipping Off Your Face in front of them. But it was all fine.
Later we wandered into the town I can't remember the name of and found out Raoul Moat had been cornered in Rothbury. Then we had fish and chips and went back on site, spending the evening discussing the plainly unworkable Freeman on the Land concept with a friendly Welsh hippy who might have been called Barry.
On the way home we visited a lovely waterfall, which was nice.
Other highlights of the year include a storming gig upstairs at Fuel in Withington where we threw flowers all over the stage and were cajoled into doing an encore, so we had to do our Christmas song, as we literally had no other songs to do.
We've not done any gigs for AGES, but normal Plague service will be resumed at some point in the New Year.
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Brother Paul's Review of the Year - Albums of the Year
Album of the year by an embarrassingly large distance...
Kanye West- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Totes amazo...
Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
Hot Chip - One Life Stand
The Divine Comedy - Bang Goes The Knighthood
Bubbling under...
Avi Buffalo - Avi Buffalo
Belle & Sebastian - Write About Love
Robyn - Body Talk
Janelle Monae - The Archandroid
Ash - A-Z Vol 1
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
Take That - Progress
Best Coast - Crazy For You
Well, it's okay...
The Futureheads - The Chaos
Field Music - Measure
Manic Street Preachers - Postcards From a Young Man
Approach with caution...
Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
The Magnetic Fields - Realism
Not bothered listening to yet...
The Walkmen - Lisbon
Jonsi - Go
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
I think it's been a good year, better than most. Well done to everybody involved.
I wrote a massive long thing about how amazing the Kanye West album is, but all you really need to know is that it's amazing. Well done Kanye!
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