Frog in a cage

Placebo @ Shepherds Bush Empire

2009-05-13T03:25:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start my review of last night's gig with a rant: What the hell was that bloody 'no pictures' policy???? The security staff was really harsh with that, they wouldn't even let me take pictures of the supporting act with my crap mobile phone. Brian Molko did declare a 'photo amnesty' half way through his set, which is nice (even him was irritated by the security trying to pin on people), but still...

Anyway, the supporting act was Little Fish, which consists of a girl on guitar and vocals, and a drummer. I found them really good, the singer's voice sounded a lot like PJ Harvey and musically they were quite dark and heavy. The songs were basic but catchy, and had interesting lyrics as well (I caught some words in french I believe...). A good one.

Placebo's set started slowly with a few songs from the latest album, and some older songs as well but, the atmosphere wasn't great and even 'Every You, Every Me' sounded flat. But things started to pick up slowly, as the show progressed. Worth noting is the new single 'For What It's Worth', which sounds way better live; and also the played a new, more gothic version of MEDS. There were 2 encores, clearly the best moments of the gig (they played 'Special K', 'Song To Say Goodbye', 'Bitter End' and 'Taste in Men'...).

I should also mention that one of the songs that sounded best from the new album was a song named Julien: From what I caught in the lyrics, it's about a guy named Julien, who has no friends. Sounds familiar.

Here's my recording of the intro for MEDS (2009 version):

Franz Ferdinand Live

2009-05-09T08:41:00.000-07:00

Franz Ferdinand's gig at the Apollo Hammersmith took place a while ago now, so I wont say too much about it. In any case, it was pretty much identical to their gig at the O2 a few days before: Really good, but 1h15 (including encore) is not enough for the main act.

One thing I really found interesting is the fact that the audience had the opportunity to buy a recording of the gig afterwards. Now that's something I have been wanting for a while now, as I knew the technology was there (and bootleggers have been offering that for years). Well obviously it's not quite ready yet, as I tried to find the place where to buy the recording after the gig but couldn't find it.... But at least the idea is around now, and hopefully it will become standard in the future to have the recording available after the show. In the meanwhile, it can be downloaded here.

And that's how bands should make money even though nobody's buying records any more...

Here's my recording of the song Outsiders:

Is Billy Corgan the meanest guy in Rock'n'Roll?

2009-03-21T07:58:00.001-07:00

The official Smashing Pumpkins website just released a statement saying that Jimmy Chamberlain, long-standing drummer and original member, had left the band. Obviously, everybody's wondering why that is, with the most likely explanation being that Billy Corgan is a pain in the bum.

That being said, Chamberlain had stuck with Billy during Swan, and then for the Pumpkins reformation, so it was generally thought he could take pretty much any crap Billy could pull, but maybe this time he went over the top, who knows...

Anyway, the answer is probably yes, Billy seems like the meanest guy in Rock'n'roll. He's one musical genius though...

Look at this video here where he takes the piss out of his audience:

U2 tour

2009-03-20T06:41:00.000-07:00

U2 are the only band that I really like but have never seen live. This is mostly because since the eighties they have only played stadiums which I used to hate (and couldn't afford), and haven't been playing at festivals.

So I really wanted to go see them this time, if only to check their box in my list of bands I've seen live. Sadly, pre-sales were reserved to subscribers of their fan club, and I'm afraid I'm a bit old now to belong to a 'Fan Club', so I had to spend half an hour this morning when the tickets went on sale.

Apparently there were no standing tickets for sale, so I only managed to snitch two seated tickets, most likely at the far back.

That'll do...

Get your Wacko Jacko!

2009-03-05T15:05:00.000-08:00

It is now official: Michael Jackson will take a residency at the O2 this summer for his big live come-back. You can register here to get access to the pre-sales here (and probably also to receive ads for his complete discography and merchandising....)

I just registered, because you never know, I may want go. That being said, the rumor is that the tickets will cost £75; this may be too much for me. I guess I'll decide on the spur of the moment.

Oh well, who am I kidding... Of course I'll buy tickets if I can!

NME Big Gig

2009-03-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

Thursday's gig was supposed to be a celebration for The Cure's Godlike Genius Award at the Shockwave NME Awards - which they fully deserve. In truth, it was just a shorter-than-usual Cure gig, with a particularly attractive support line-up.

It started with White Lies; I missed most of their set, only entering the arena during their last song. They seemed OK live, and as I quite like their album I will definitely go see them in a smaller venue when they next play in London.

That is not going to be the case for Crystal Castle, though. These guys are hyper-hype, and I must say that Iwas quite intrigued by them, having heard that they play some 'crazy electro stuff', which sounds like my kind of music. To be honest, their music is indeed quite good, but god-damned that singer is terrible! Either we couldn't hear her vocals at all, or she was just yelling incoherent phrases in her microphone. Bad, really bad.....

Franz Ferdinand were at their usual standards, extremely tight sound and really good performance. Plus, I really like their latest album, much more than the two previous ones, so I'm really looking forward to seeing them in a decent-size venue in two weeks.

Finally, The Cure's gig was very much like last year's show at Wembley: A bit boring during the main act, with the few highlights of 3 Imaginary Boys, Shake Dog Shake, A Forest, 100 Years and Want. But things really took off during the Encore, when they played most of the Boys Don't Cry album. Overall, the gig lasted 2 hours, which is a bit short for The Cure's standards, but I'm not sure they're worth a 3 hours show any more.
So, to summarize, The Cure deserve their Godlike award, even if in truth the supporting acts stole the show. As it should be for a band that started in the late 70's....

My poor recording of The Cure playing 100 Years:

Ra Ra Riot @ KCLSU

2009-02-22T12:52:00.000-08:00

It's sad that my first real gig in 2009 was in mid-February. It's just as sad that I had never been to King's College Student Union before, even though I have been working at King's for four years... It is a very nice venue, small and cosy, but still with a decent bar and pretty good sound. I especially recommend stopping at the Waterfront bar two floors below, for a drink at student prices and an amazing view on the Thames!

The first supporting act (whose name I failed to catch) was OK, they sounded a bit like Sigur Ros except in English. And more boring. Nothing worth noticing.
The second band was called The Answering Machine. Pretty lame name if you ask me (but then again, so is Ra Ra Riot). They were very uneven: Some songs had obvious punk influences, and these were rubbish. But they also had a couple of songs that were darker and more reflective, which didn't sound bad at all. Their stage performance wasn't amazing though, so they may end up like The Cure (i.e. from Punk losers to Goth geniuses) but I doubt it.

Finally, Ra Ra Riot; I had discovered them supporting Editors at Brixton Academy, and had enjoyed their show enough to remember their name. The strings section definitely make their music sound unique, think the bounciness of Franz Ferdinand with the arrangements of Arcade Fire. The singer has a sweet voice but is full of energy, and in the end it makes a really good show. Some of the songs can really stand by themselves, I will definitely get the album.

There are better pictures of the gig here; and my crappy recording of one song below:

Ron Asheton, R.I.P.

2009-01-07T16:56:00.000-08:00

It was all over the news today: Ron Asheton was found dead at his home on Monday.

For those who don't know, Ron was with his brother Scott in a band called the Stooges, in the late 60's. They were not particularly successful, and broke up after 3 albums, loads of drugs and abysmal gigs. However, the singer of that band was a guy named Iggy Pop, who later became successful and over the years The Stooges became a cult pre-punk band. So they reformed in 2000 and started touring in order to cash-in on their 'cult' status.
OK, maybe this is a bit harsh a description, and I actually love The Stooges' 3 original albums (which I must say aged spectacularly well for music that old!).

Anyway, what I wanted to say about that is that Ron was 60 yo and died of a heart attack, at his home. Now, this is something worth noting! He was part of a generation of musicians (including Iggy Pop, Bowie, Lou Reed, ...) who did pretty much all the drugs they could, and still managed to avoid OD'ing or AIDS over all those years. And that's one massive achievement! So, if only for that, R.I.P, Ron!

Remix!

2009-01-05T15:09:00.000-08:00

The internet in general, and MySpace in particular, is a great way for people with good ideas to come up with genius music, for cheap, and get an audience for it. But it's also a great way for people with ridiculous ideas to come up with crazy music, and get an audience for it.

Now, this is especially true for a 'technophile' band such as Radiohead, always keen on online releases, collaborations and so on. But this led to a myriad of people who wanted to twist their songs as they please. I'm not talking of the usual Ibiza remixes here, every Top-10 hit goes through that.
No, I'm talking about some much more absurd stuff, such as mixing a few Radiohead songs into one Country-music song titled Rodeohead, as performed by the band Hard'n'Phrim (you can download the song here). That's a few years old, now.
More recently, I stumbled across this Hip-Hop producer who had the great idea to mix Radiohead music with Jay-Z vocals!!!! There's a complete album, appropriately named Jaydiohead, to be downloaded here.

To be honest, I'm not a fan of Jay-Z, and the mixes don't always work that well. But just just for the principle this is pure genius. And the song Dreaming Up (from Up on the Ladder, an In Rainbows B-side), is actually pretty terrific. It's almost making me like Hip-Hop ;-)

Late @ Tate

2009-01-03T11:41:00.000-08:00

2009 is starting rather well, with my first gig last night. Well, it wasn't a real gig , but there was a band playing live so in my view it still qualifies.

Actually I went to Late @ Tate, a well-established event occurring every last Friday of the month. It is located at the Tate Britain between 6pm and 10pm, and joins art, music, performances, and of course, a bar.

I originally went to catch the Bacon exhibition before it closes (amazing exhibition, BTW...) but also ended up seeing some rather curious Romanian short movies, and catching the band Petit Mal who were playing there.

They are an electro-pop duo from London. As I am quite into electro at the moment I was curious to see them; their music is not bad, maybe a bit too 80's for me, but quite dark and hypnotic. That being said, their live performance was not exactly impressive: The guy seemed rather bored behind his keyboard, the female singer being a bit more lively but not much. I left after 3 songs.

They reminded me of Ladytron in that: Good music, but no stage presence. I'm wondering if there's a reason why all these electro bands won't move onstage?

Here's a recording of the song Possessed:

Gig update

2008-12-22T04:04:00.000-08:00

I haven't updated this for ages... OK so here is an ultra-fast review of the gigs I went to since the summer:

- Radiohead @ Victoria Park: Predictably amazing, but Victoria Park is lame for gigs.

- O2 Wireless festival: I only went for one day, when Morrissey played. That was really good, even though I'm not too familiar with his music. Also I discovered Siouxsie who blew me away, I had only heard from her because The Cure's Robert Smith played in her band years ago, but I really loved her show.

- The Mars Volta @ Roundhouse: Totally forgettable gig, these guys may have incredible musical skills but they're unable to make songs out of it.

- R.E.M @ Twickenham Stadium: Superb. Grand. Fantastic. If only for that acoustic version of Let Me In. Guillemots and Editors in support, not bad either! Worst audience I have seen ever, though.

- Ash @ Roundhouse: Worst gig ever. I really don't like their music, I should always download the album before buying the tickets ;-). I left before the encore, I think for the first time in my life.

- Xavier Rudd @ Forum: He was with a drummer this time, that was nice. I still think his music fits better in a festival, with wasted people dancing around. For the Encore he played a couple of songs on a regular guitar outside of his 'box', and that was lame. He's all about the Didgeridoo and slide guitar, really.

- Calexico @ Forum: As always with Calexico, nice but forgettable. Get Well Soon were supporting, and that was the best bit.

- Foals @ Brixton Academy: Really good, actually! I like them. A bit too upbeat for me maybe, but they have darker songs as well, like Electric Bloom, which was superb live, with the musicians from the supporting band (I forgot how they were I'm afraid) joining on stage to play some drums.

- Aimee Mann @ Indigo2: OK, I guess. Apart from the Magnolia soundtrack, she doesn't really have any songs standing out of the crowd...

- Sigur Ros @ Alexandra Palace: Ally Pally is still the worst venue in London. The show was really good, but a bit tame compared to Latitude: No String or Brass bands. So maybe a bit disappointing.

That's it for 2008!

Latitude Festival

2008-07-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

Latitude was my first British festival (excluding the O2 Wireless, which doesn't really count). I was really intrigued, as I've been told many times that British festivals are "much less corporate" than the European ones. Considering that the British are by far the most corporate-friendly people I've seen, I was really puzzled at what this could mean.

Well, I now understand. Although the word "corporate" is not appropriate in my view, there is indeed a massive difference between Latitude and any continental festival I've been to.
- In Europe, a festival is a series of gigs, on various stages, through the day. That's it. The doors open 30 min before the first gig, and close 30 min after the last one. There are a few shops selling food and booze but nothing else.
- By contrast, in Latitude (and as far as I understand, in Glasto as well), the festival is open 24h, with clubs going on after the gigs, shops selling stuff from children toys to clothes.
In addition, but that may be specific to Latitude, there were a lot of things going on: Theatre, poetry, comedy....

That was, I must say, very fortunate, as the music wasn't really up to my expectations.
The headlines were really good: Franz Ferdinand are always fun and their new material, keyboard-loaded, sounds great; Interpol were much better than at Alexandra Palace, the singer was perceptibly moving; and Sigur Ros literally blew my mind, with a breath-taking show.

But apart from that, nothing to report really: The Go Team are a disgrace, Elbow is boring, Deus and British Sea Power a disappointment; so were most of the small bands I saw. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Grinderman was actually Nick Cave's band, and Foals were good too.

So without the theatre and literary tent, I would really had gotten bored at times!

Radiohead. Tonight.

2008-06-24T05:48:00.000-07:00

Tonight I'm going to see Radiohead!

The first big question is, how will Victoria Park be? Well it's already clear that the weather will be good, that's one big relief. As for the park itself, I don't know exactly how big it is and how many people it fits, but I'll try to get there around 6 so that I'm not stuck far back.

The second question is, what will the setlist be? Just to get an idea, here is what they played in Paris a few days ago:

01. All I Need
02. There There
03. Lucky
04. Bangers and Mash
05. 15 Step
06. Nude
07. Pyramid Song
08. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
09. The Gloaming
10. My Iron Lung
11. Faust Arp
12. Videotape
13. Morning Bell
14. Where I End and You Begin
15. Reckoner
16. Everything In Its Right Place
17. Bodysnatchers
18. Exit Music (For A Film)
19. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
20. House of Cards
21. Paranoid Android
22. Street Spirit (Fade Out)
23. Like Spinning Plates
24. You And Whose Army?
25. Idioteque

The word you're looking for is 'Wow!'...

Nada Surf Vs Ze Germans

2008-06-24T05:05:00.000-07:00

I discovered Get Well Soon a few weeks ago, when I went to see Nada Surf at Koko. They were the supporting band, and they absolutely stole the show (well, to be honest, Nada Surf didn't help: Their 40-year-old-rebel attitude is a bit pathetic, with the guitarist lighting up a cig on stage.... And they didn't even play popular!)

So I went to see them again a few days later, at Bush Hall this time. Bush Hall is a slightly awkward venue, small enough but it lacks the atmosphere of other places like Scala or Koko.
Get Well Soon were great, as before, but the audience was just terrible. They were all sat!! I must say I have been to a lot of gigs, I have seen bad audience, but that was a first! So it completely ruined the gig, and their music felt flat even though it's gorgeous, with superb Arcade Fire-esque arrangements.
But the worse was, they were followed by Wallis Bird, who in a nutshell is Lilly Allen without the famous father: same insipid music, same pretty face. But for that, people stood up of course! I left after 3 songs and went to the bar to chat with the bassist of Get Well Soon instead, far more interesting.

Here's one of their songs I recorded that night:

Album review: R.E.M - Accelerate

2008-03-31T15:08:00.000-07:00

I have recently noticed a recurring pattern regarding the latest album of ageing band. Every time, in interviews, they say that the previous album (that, inevitably, had failed to sale properly) was poor, but that the new one is them back at the Top. Of course, it is never the case, and what is now the latest album will be trashed in two or three years. This year's R.E.M. does exactly that: Claiming that Around the Sun was very bad, but Accelerate is amongst their finest.

One thing for sure is that the album uses full-on guitars, and is therefore closer to albums such as Monster and New Adventures in Hi-Fi than to their latest records. Yet, it nowhere near as good as these two masterpieces either. The only truly good song on it is the eponymous 'Accelerate', which past the quite ugly intro riff turns into an excellent, dark and fast song. The lyrics, with lines like "Uncertainty is suffocating" , perfectly reflect that mood. In addition, the harmonies brought by Mills vocals during the chorus have an eerie feeling makes the song really standing out (It reminds me of the suffocating siren sound of 'Leave', one of their masterpieces).
Other than that, the vocals of 'Man-sized Wreath' clearly calls back to the I.R.S albums, and Houston starts as a nice acoustic ballad, but quickly turns in an almost-religious sermon against Bush and the like ("If the storm doesn't kill me the government will" is the opening line), with a broken rhythm brought by the organ. Also worth noting the new single, 'Supernatural Superserious', very radio-friendly with its typycal (and slightly over-used) four-chord riff.
However, Stipe's lyrics are not exactly his best: 'Sing for the Submarine' would be a very good song bar the poor title and chorus lines. And frankly, what is 'I'm gonna DJ' about? It probably is a very fun song to sing live, but it's atrocious to listen to.

To conclude, a decent album, but no better nor worse than the two previous albums really. And probably about as good as the next one.

R.E.M. @ Royal Albert Hall

2008-03-30T10:55:00.000-07:00

It was my first gig at the Royal Albert Hall, and I must say, what a dodgy venue! This gig was definitely awkward for everyone, from the sat audience, to the bands playing without any atmosphere, via the journalists-only stalls.

The fist supporting act was Foals. Live, they were fantastic. Too bad the atmosphere was so poor, because they have very dance-y music , but I'll definitely go see them in Brixton in October.

Then they were followed by The Duke Spirit. Not bad at all, definitely older so there is less energy than Foals, but their songwriting is way more subtle as well. An other one to follow. Plus, they are fronted by a very hot blond singer, which never hurts... (or at least she seemed hot from my seat, but I was so far from the stage,she could be a dog one closer view...)

Then Robyn and John Paul Jones played. No idea who this Robyn is, but John Paul Jones was Led Zep's bassist. Nevertheless, their act was absurdly bad: Robyn's voice is quite disagreeable, and their folk stuff was OK at best, simply ridiculous at worst. I was wondering what they were doing there, until Robyn called 'The Boys', and Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey walked on stage to play 2 songs with them. Aaaah, that explains it all...

Finally, R.E.M walked in. Obviously they weren't that excited to be playing, and considering the surrounding I can't blame them. Their set was very short, about 1h20. They played most of their new album, Accelerate, and only a handful of old songs (Drive, Final Straw, Losing my religion, The Great Beyond, Electrolite, Imitation of Life and Man on the Moon). Anyway I wasn't enjoying that much either because I was too far, so it didn't really matter. I just hope that the Twickenham gig will be more consistent.

Here's my recording of Final Straw: Good audio even if the video is rubbish.

The Cure @ Wembley Arena

2008-03-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

To be honest, all I was expecting from last Thursday's gig was an ageing goth band playing their old goth antems to an ageing goth audience. But I saw something quite different.

The gig started exactly as I thought, with songs from Disintegration that fell flat. Similarly, 'A Strange Day' lacked the energy and gloominess of the usual live performances.
Things started to get better as more poppy songs were played: 'The Walk', 'A Night Like This' started to sound like The Cure. But this is not the part of the Cure I like, and their best songs ('Shake Dog Shake', '100 Years') were not actually so good. Only 'From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea', with a slight punk twist, was really amazing.
A few new songs were played, such as 'The Boy I Never Knew', which actually sounds good.

The main set ended after 2 hours, and the Encores started. And that's when the gig really took off. First, we got a bunch of rarely-played, totally-revamped songs such as 'Why Can't I Be You', that sent the crowd dancing like mad, it felt like a club in the 80's, no longer like a gig. Then, they played a bunch of songs from 17 seconds: 'M', 'A Forest' and 'Play for Today', that again send the crowd mad. And finally, they ended with almost the entire Boys Don't Cry album, played in less that 25 minutes: 'Three Imaginary Boys' (with the Foxy Lady intro), 'Boys Don't Cry', 'Jumping Someone Else's Train', 'Grinding Halt', 'Fire in Cairo', '10:15 Saturday Night' and finally, 'Killing an Arab'.

My interpretation is that as a quartet, Robert Smith wanted to go back towards the Punk early days of the Cure. So he plays the hits in the main set, for the average audience, but saves the real stuff for the encores. Which leads to a set of more than 3 hours, but who would complain? That's two gigs for the price of one...

Here's my recording of 'A Forest':

Editors @ Alexandra Palace

2008-03-07T09:41:00.001-08:00

Last Wednesday evening was a disgrace.

Not because of the music really. The supporting act was Sons and Daughters, an interesting band. Even if I think their songwriting could be improved really, they have a groovy rhythm that makes their music very dance-y.
As for Editors, well the gig was definitely not as good as their Brixton Academy one, as the atmosphere only really took off at about two-third of the show. But I believe that's mostly due that the crowd that wasn't as good as in Brixton really, not so much the musicians themselves.
And the cover of the Cure's Lullaby was also worth noting.
During the encore, their PA broke down, and most bands would have just stopped. But they tried their hardest to get things sorted so they could play one last song, which turned out to be Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors - A song I personally relate to very much, working in a hospital myself. So That was great.

No, the problems on Wednesday were:
- Alexandra Palace is by far the shitiest venue in London. Sound is crap, it's impossible to get there. And what's with the drinks vouchers???
- During the show, I lost my mobile phone (which is why I have no pics/videos today). Or so I thought. But at the end, there were about 15 people looking for their phone in the middle of the venue, which very much hints of pick-pockets.
- As I finally got home, after about 1h30 of commute, i found that my boiler had just broken down: No hot water, no heat...

What a rubbish night indeed!

Korn @ Brixton Academy

2008-03-05T07:54:00.000-08:00

This is typically the kind of gig I wouldn't have been to, had it been anywhere else than Brixton Academy.
I do enjoy Korn's music, on small doses: They are too heavy, non stop, for my taste really.
So Brixton, with its barrier in the middle of the stalls, was the perfect place for it.

The supporting act, Flyleaf, was actually very good: Metal with a female singer, but not Evanescence....
Korn itself was good, although to be honest I got a bit bored at some point, as to me most songs sound the same. I did enjoy the Bagpipes though, and they also played Fagget, one of their old songs that happen to be my favourite of their songs.
Other than that, the band is good to see live, the drummer is truly amazing and I also really liked the guitarist's Pirate-of-the-Caribbeans-style looks...

Here's my recording of Fagget; as usual, it was recorded on my phone so the quality isn't very good...

Smashing Pumpkins @ O2 arena

2008-03-03T06:24:00.000-08:00

I was a bit worried reading the reviews for the Nottingham gig, but wow I was blown away! Billy was in great spirit, ans quite talkative (for his standards anyway), making jokes and all. The crowd was good, singing along to a fantastic acoustic version of 1979, or during the quiet part of the BWBW chorus.
Great setlist too, Porcelina for a starter was great, an Mayonnaise was just... so good! And on the encore song, that I had never heard of before (It's an Echo and the Bunnymen cover apparently), Billy wasn't playing the guitar, he was dancing on stage instead. Very cool!
OK, the set was very naked, no fancy lights of decorum of any kind. And yes, Zero or Cherub Rock would have been nice, but that's just being fussy.

Here's my recording of Perfect; The image is crap I know, but the sound isn't too bad:

How I did not see Radiohead last night

2008-01-17T16:50:00.000-08:00

At around noon yesterday, a friend sent me a message saying, in substance: "Secret free Radiohead gig tonight, record store, East London. You're coming?"
To which I replied, "Hell yeah!!!"

After verification, the Radiohead website had indeed posted a message announcing a gig at Rough Trade East in Brick Lane. Of course I couldn't get out of work like that, so I knew very well there was no way I could get in there early enough to actually get into the shop; however, the message was saying there would be a screen outside to watch the gig live. Better than nothing, i thought.

Well, it turned out to be nothing: I arrived there around 7, and there was a few hundred people waiting outside. The rumor was that the gig was in fact at 93 Feet East, across the street, and that the police had ordered the band not to put a screen outside. So we waited, in the cold, for two hours, hoping to get in. At nine, they opened the doors but only people with red arm wrists were allowed in (something they could have told us much earlier...) so I waited for nothing...

As it turned out the gig was just splendid, you can watch it there and download mp3s there.

What a disappointment! They better make up for it in June at Victoria Park!

Bloc Party @ Alexandra Palace

2007-12-23T09:43:00.000-08:00

Back to Ally Pally, still a rubbish venue. It took me forever to get there, which made me miss the first supporting act, FOALS. That is a real shame as I was told that they are really cool live, even though I haven't been massively impressed by what I heard from them on the radio.

I did catch a few songs of The Rakes. Well, not much to say really: Typical UK indie, they reminded me a bit of Editors, but less dark - i.e. not as good. Their performance was neither good nor bad, either: They're fine musicians but nothing caught my attention.

As for Bloc Party, they were on fire! Kele was quite chatty, telling us about his mum being in the audience, as a sex toy was thrown on the stage... The crowd was really young; as soon as the drums kicked in, half way through the first song, 'Song for Clay', they went nuts. And they didn't stop till the end, as the band played a good 1h45, including 2 encores.
The highlight was clearly Flux, their latest single. That song is pure genius, the more I hear it the more I love it - and it was much better live! The last song, The Pioneers, was also fantastic, and it is a song I had kind of missed in their first album, so I re-discovered it at the gig. That's always a great feeling.

The precise set-list was (courtesy of Tom):

Song For Clay (Disappear Here)
Positive Tension
Hunting For Witches
Waiting For the 7.18
Banquet
This Modern Love
The Prayer
Two More Years
Little Thoughts
Uniform
So Here We Are
Like Eating Glass
————
Flux
Sunday
She’s Hearing Voices
Helicopter
————
The Pioneers

Marilyn Manson @ Wembley Arena

2007-12-15T09:28:00.000-08:00

I was late. I was even very late. To be honest, I was not convinced that a band supporting Manson would be of any interest, as in all probabilities it would have been some Trash-Metal band. So I didn't really care, as long as I didn't miss Manson's entrance. And I didn't.

As I walked in the arena, the lights were already down; a veil was covering the stage, and I could see shadows of musicians moving behind, while the eerie sound that introduces "Eat Me, Drink Me" was getting louder. And suddenly, it started: "6am" said Manson, as he began "If I was your Vampire", the veil fell, the guitar played this amazing three-note riff, and the show was on.

And what a show it was! The old classics like "Rock is Dead", "Responsible Teen" and the amazing "Sweet Dreams" drove the crowd mad, while songs that I like less ("Are you the Rabbit", "The Reflecting God") were alway played while something cool was happening on the stage, such as a lap-dance on a giant chair, a raising platform, or press releases from a school shooting appearing in the back... Not to mention the female robot that Manson decapitated during "Heart-Shaped Glasses". Pretty cool!!!

I do regret that he didn't play some of his quieter songs from his previous albums, "Coma White", "Great Big White World" or "The Nobodies". But considering the gig was so short (only 1h 20), he could very well just add these without changing anything. And that, I think, would have turned a great show into one of the best gigs of my life.
Ah well...

The complete setlist is was (courtesy of Lyingonthecovers):
-If I Was Your Vampire
-Disposable Teens
-mOBSCENE
-Tourniquet
-The Irresponsible Hate Anthem
-Are You The Rabbit?
-Sweet Dreams
-Lunchbox
-The Fight Song
-Putting Holes In Happiness
-Heart Shapped Glasses
-Rock Is Dead
-The Dope Show
-The Reflecting God
-Antichrist Superstar
-The Beautiful People

Interpol @ Alexandra Palace

2007-12-05T06:44:00.000-08:00

God this was frustrating!

Interpol is one of the few bands that I really, really like at the moment; the song "pioneers to the fall" is one definitely in my top 10 favorite songs ever.

But there is no denying it: Live, interpol is boring!

The evening had started well, the opening act being Blonde Redhead. They're a NY-based 3-piece band that have been around for a long time. Their songs are always very dense and quite cool; they do lack a proper singer and that's probably why they never got mainstream success, but they are great songwriters.
In addition, they were joined on stage by the Interpol drummer for one song, and the Paul, the Interpol singer, joined in to play guitar on the last song. That was really cool.

As for Interpol, well. I can't say I was disappointed really, i had seen them in ferstivals before so I knew what to expect. I guess that somehow for a proper gig it would be different. So yes I was disappointed in the end.
The problem, in a nutshell, is that Paul, the singer, completely lacks charisma and energy. As a result he really looks like a guy doing lip-synch on the stage (and rearranging his hair every now and then). That's not mentioning the keyboardist, whose presence on stage I didn't notice until the end of the set when he actually left!
The guitarist is the only guy that brings some life into the show, humping around and showing some empathy with the music.

As a consequence, all the songs, even the more danceable ones like Slow Hands, left the crowd stone-cold; I have hardly seen less enthusiasm for an encore, that's how bad it was...

If you want an example of their lack of stage presence, watch this video for their latest single, Mammoth (brilliant song btw!!!):

Frustrating, really it's the right word.

Biffy Clyro @ Brixton Academy

2007-11-29T09:14:00.001-08:00

Let's be honest 3 seconds: I am not a big fan of Biffy Cyro. I saw them support Muse in Paris last summer, and I wasn't impressed. That being said, they have a couple of great songs in their latest album, Puzzle. And Brixton Academy being at walking distance from my house, I had no excuse not to go...

The two supporting bands were The Matches and Oceansize. Both are very noisy, without any coherent songs or anything to grab my attention. Not very good.

As for Biffy, well, I did enjoy a lot the few songs where they had a full string section backing them, such as "Living is a problem because everything dies" and the amazing "9/15th". Also worth noting some interesting lights on stage.
For the last two songs I think, notably the finish of "semi-mental", there was a guest guitarist playing with them. No idea who he was though..
But other than that, it kind of all sounds the same... They are reasonably good performers, but I don't think their average song is really worth listening to.

I'm not really disappointed to be honest, I wasn't expecting too much of this gig anyway. And mind you, if they play here again, I'll probably go...

Arcade Fire @ Alexandra Palace

2007-11-21T17:27:00.000-08:00

What a great gig!

What a shitty venue!!!

Surely, Alexandra Palace is one of the worst places in London, gig-wise. The transport there is terrible, and the fact that it was Sunday probably didn't help. Also, there were coupons to buy in order to get drinks - that's fine at festivals, but at gigs it just ridiculous!

The first supporting act I missed, and the second one was Clinic. That's a band I have known for a LONG time: I discovered them when the supported Radiohead in the pre-Kid A tour in Paris. That's 7 years ago. They're still supporting big acts, and it's not really surprising: Musically they're pretty good, but in term of show they're baaad. I mean, the surgical mask is OK for a beginner's band, but for a band that's been around for almost 10 years it doesn't look very serious.

Arcade Fire, on the other hand, are one hell of a band. There are 10 people on stage, and they really make the music sound... different from anything else. They all swap instruments from one song to the other, and have very cool visual effects as well. I particularly enjoyed the faster songs, when the guitarists/keyboardists go nuts on their drums.
There was a sound problem at some point, and that led to "My body is a cage" being played instrumentally, because the mikes were down. But other than that, pretty much a flawless gig. Definitely my favorite new band of the year.

It's really a shame that it took me almost 2 hours to get home afterwards. Definitely, I hate this venue.

Audition

2007-10-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, I went for an audition.

The band The Fluids, who I know through the friend of a friend, have recently lost their guitarist and were looking for a replacement; I thought it was worth giving it a shot, even though I am well aware that my credibility as a guitarist is close to zero.

What I didn't expect, though, is that the band didn't even pretend.

So the audition was at Transmission Studios, near Belsize Park. Which is about 1h 15 from my house. I got there precisely at 4:30, as I was asked to. So I start to install my gear, on my own in the rehearsal room. When I'm set, the band walked in. We play 3 songs. 15 minutes overall.
And then they tell me thanks a lot for coming, see you later, we need to hurry for the rest of the people that are coming. Translate: OK we let you play but now it's time for the real candidates.

Of course, I haven't heard from them since.

Archive @ Scala

2007-10-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

Two days before the gig, I got a message from the Archive Myspace saying that I could watch the band sound-check before the actual gig. Since that was going to be the third time this year I see them, this sounded like a good idea.

It was a complete waste of time.

I showed up at 5pm sharp (as requested in the registration e-mail), only to be told to wait in the Scala entrance. With 6 other guys, just as smitten as myself. We waited. For half an hour. Eventually, a woman showed up, and told us to follow her to the actual venue. There, we just sat while the band played three songs. I did get to exchange 3 words with one of the singers while he checked the sound from the outside (apparently all he could hear was the drums...). And then that was it, we were asked to leave the premises while the band doing The Interview (???) and come back when the doors open, at 7:00. It was 5:50...

To be honest the gig itself was really good, the set-list included two new songs that were simply brilliant. They didn't play Fuck U, but I guess they may be tiered of playing that one over and over...
The thing is, I was so pissed of by that ridiculous sound-check thing I didn't really enjoy the gig as much as I should have. Next time I'll know better...

Editors @ Brixton Academy

2007-10-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

To be honest, I hadn't heard any song from Editors before a friend asked me if I wanted to go. I replied, why not?
So I got their two albums, I found them quite good, dark and gloomy just like I enjoy. But I had no idea of what to expect from them live...

Unfortunately I missed the first supporting band, but hey were followed by Ra Ra Riot, who were astonishingly good! I really loved the fact that they have a cello and a violin, it really makes their music stand out. Stage-wise, the six of them were perfectly comfortable in such a large venue. They may improve their songwriting a bit (I would think that a move towards a more electro sound would be a good idea, but that's just my opinion...).

And then Editors, who were I must say a very good surprise! They are brilliant live, the singer is completely into his stuff, and yet still acknowledge the (very good) audience. The most amazing thing I found is that their songs were as gloomy as on the album, but somehow the drums was brought forward and made them good to dance on as well! On the low point, I think the guitarist lacks a bit of imagination, he always plays the same kind of stuff with the same sound. Last night it wasn't too annoying as the singer made up for it, changing style as he switched between guitar and piano, but on the long run that might cause everything to sound the same... Time will tell!!

Monto Water Rats, 29-09-2007

2007-10-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

Even though I hadn't liked the venue at all last time I had been here, I came back to the Monto Water Rats last Saturday, to see The Fluids, for the reason I'll explain later.

The first band playing wasn't on the program so I have no idea what their name is, but it was rather interesting: Female-fronted three-piece metal band, with the bassist also playing keyboards. I only saw one song and a half, but it was intriguing. If I ever find out who they are I'll definitely go see them properly.

Then The Fluids were playing. And they were the reason I was here: Their guitarist is leaving (to go leave in France ... I wonder...) and it was their last gig with him. Since I have offered my services to replace him, I wanted to see exactly how he plays to check I can fill his shoes.
Even though I know well that I have zero credibility as a guitarist, being French and a scientist. Obviously, the reason why they agreed to audition me is because I know the bassist's cousin quite well.
But anyhow, It's funny to watch a guitarist play in the perspective of replacing him. He is a bit faster in solos than I am, but apart from that not significantly better. He does use octaves quite a lot though, which I hardly ever do. Something to think about..

After them, Pope was playing. Kind of typical Oasis-inspired Brit-pop but quite good in the genre. For some reason they really made me think of the Full Monty: 3 guys, unemployed and deciding to make music for the hell of it. The singer looks strikingly like Robert Carlyle which probably had something to do with it. But also, the lyrics were about middle England, watching football matches and going to the pub. Strangely enough, I could totally relate to those lyrics which means either that they were good, or that I have been in this country for too long. Probably a bit of both.

And finally, Jackie Breaks closed the bill. Very good band, the singer has an amazing voice (that makes you forget the comb-over - OMG what is that!). It seems the members are from all over the world which is something I always like; the singer sounds Russian, I think..
Anyhow, their music was quite good, they definitely had stage presence (even though the 5 of them looked a bit squashed on the small stage), so it was a great show overall. One to watch again, for sure.

NEW RADIOHEAD ALBUM: IN RAINBOWS

2007-10-02T07:13:00.000-07:00

Amazing news yesterday: It was announced on the Radiohead blog that their new album is finished and is named In Rainbows.
Not only that, but it will be available for download in exactly... 8 days!!!!
And to top it up, the downloading will be available for the price you choose to pay (here).

These guys blow me away...

There is also the possibility to buy a disc-box, of unclear content (but that should contain a CD with songs that didn't get to be on the record, hopefully). That costs £40 and will be shipped around December. And of course buying that also goes with free downloading of the album next week.

I can't wait...

SLACKER!

2007-09-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

Yes I know! I haven't posted at all this month, I'm terrible. But it's not my fault I swear: First my computer broke down (they don't say in the Mac adverts that these computers have a rubbish Hard Drive that dies after 3 months...), then I went on holidays, and then I was lazy.

OK it's a little bit my fault...

But I promise I'll try to do better this month. I have quite a lot to talk about actually: Yesterday's gig at the Monto Water Rats, audition to play in an up-and-coming band, and eventually the review of the Prince show. I know it's been weeks already but hey, I'll write it anyway, just for the record.

It's not like this blog had any readers anyway... ;-)

The Prince Aftershow, Indigo2

2007-08-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

I can't say I am a big fan of Prince. I guess I was too young at the peak of his career, so I never really got into his music. It is therefore by sheer curiosity that I bought tickets for Friday's gig; I was thinking that seeing a such a legend in a small venue couldn't be bad, without being aware that he may not show up.

Well, he DID show up! Not only that, but he stayed for almost two hours, hardly leaving the stage at all! He was either singing (he even bothered to do back-up vocals for some songs!!!), playing guitar, keyboards, bass or simply dancing on the stage while the other musicians were playing.

Music-wise, we were treated with Hip-Hop, RnB, Soul, Funk, Rock, Jazz and Disco as the musicians came and went on and off stage as they felt. There were a couple of Prince songs, a few covers (CHIC's Le Freak.... Amazing...) and loads of impros.

As he left the stage, he even gave his guitar to someone in the crowd, which I find an amazing gesture. And it was a Telecaster '52 as well, not some cheap Squier!!! He then went to salute the fans, and I managed to touch his guitar-playing left hand... Never washing hands again ;-)

I'm so glad there was not a movie premiere or something more interesting to do that night. And I'm definitely going to the main show now! Review of that next week...

Trail of Dead @ Islington Academy

2007-08-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

It seems that I never miss TOD when they play in London; not that they are my favorite band ever, but because they never sell out here, I think....

Anyhow, the support act was The Manhattan Love Suicides. Cool name, rubbish band; they undoubtedly have the award of the crappiest band I saw this year. A complete I-don't-give-a-fuck attitude on stage, not the slightest acknowledgment of the presence of an audience, songs that all sounded the same (actually they could have played the same one over and over, for the difference it made...), and a guitarist that couldn't play his two chords properly... Berk!

TOD were good as usual, slightly better even than last time. They have a new drummer who is quite skilled, and jammed along with Conrad's impros a few time. The set list was brilliant, Jason didn't sing too many songs (although he did sing the first two), and a few songs from the latest album were played as well. I even self-indulged with a bit of crowd-surfing on Will You Smile Again For Me, but the security staff wasn't impressed ;-)

At the end of the gig, after most of the crowd had left the venue, I managed to get a pick from one of the roadies, but sadly it wasn't a TOD pick, just a regular Dunlop one... Too bad...

Silverchair @ Brixton Academy

2007-08-16T02:52:00.000-07:00

First, I would like to dedicate this post to Nik, who couldn't make it to the gig. Curses on Tina the evil twin!

The crowd was surprisely young I think, for a band whose first album was released in 1995. And it was not Aussies only either, as I would have expected considering the closeness to Clapham (aka Sidney central). Not that I have anything against Australians... Obviously..

So, the opening band was Forever Like Red. Not bad at all, the singer has a brilliant voice, that reminds of Jeff Buckley when he pushes it. The songs tended to be a little too middle-of-the-road pop/rock for me though. Kind of like U2 in the All That You Can't Leave Behind period. This should allow them to get some radio airplay though so I guess it's not too bad, just not really what I like.

Then Silverchair entered the stage and started playing Young Modern Station, the first (and best) song of their new album, Young Modern. And I must say there that the sound was really, really messy! I don't know what was wrong but for at least 30 minutes the sound was just awful, I could hardly hear any vocals. That's a shame because that's when they played some of my favourite 'chairs songs, most notably Emotion Sickness.
It's only when they started to play Straight Lines, the new single, that the sound got better and the crowd bouncier (incidentally, that's also when Daniel Johns, the singer, dropped his shirt... Still not sure if there's a link though...)
They then swiched to some of their earlier, grunge material that I (and many other I hear) prefer, but no songs from their first album. What a shame...
In the encore, If You Keep Losing Sleep was just brilliant, getting the crowd shout at the drumkick, and repead the tuut tut tut tut tuut, tudut tudut (if you know the song you know what I'm talking about). That song is becoming one of my 'chairs favourites, even though I had massively overlooked it the first time I had heard it...
And then they finished with a brilliant rendition of Freak that you can watch below (if you look closely, about half way through you can see me crowd-surfing ;-))

So a great gig definitely, they are a brilliant band live. I still regret the lack of first album's songs, and also the shortness of the set (1h20)...

Aimee Mann + Jenny Owen Youngs @ Indigo2

2007-07-28T16:20:00.000-07:00

To say the truth, I had not big hopes for Friday's gig. I only went because a friend of mine is a big fan of Aimee Mann's soundtrack for the movie Magnolia, but I had never heard any of her records. For some reason, I thought that it would be just her singing while playing the guitar or the piano; add to that the fact that Indigo2 is not exactly the most exciting venue in London, and that doesn't make it a very promising evening.

The supporting act, Jenny Owen Youngs, was exactly as expected: She certainly has a great voice, but after three songs of her alone with an acoustic guitar I started to get bored, as all her songs pretty much sounded identical. It is worth noting though that on her myspace page there are 9 songs online, and they all have a backing band, so she might be touring with a full line-up some other time, which should be better.

Also, I should mention that her last song, Hot in here (a cover from Nelly) was much better than the rest. And very sexy too...

In any case, she sounds far too upbeat for my liking...

Aimee Mann followed, and I was pleased to see that she was joined by a proper band: a bassist and two keyboardists, and two songs later a drummer as well. Herself was on acoustic guitar, switching to the base for a couple of songs.

Musically, she is very folk-inspired, so it can be a bit dull, and her most powerful songs are the nostalgic balads taken from the Magnolia soundtrack without any doubt; the rest of her material sounds definitely weaker.

She seemed to be enjoying the evening though, as she frequently joked with the public (notably about Posh and Beck going to L.A.) and by the end of the set, she decided that it had been too short and therefore took the audience suggestions for a couple of extra songs, which I found very nice of her.

So, it might not quite be my type of music, but she is a good musician and singer, and performer as well.

Not too bad an evening, then...

Cake + Ruarri Joseph @ Indigo2

2007-07-13T07:39:00.001-07:00

Indigo2 is part of the new O2 center in Greenwich that just opened, so obviously I was quite intrigued to find out how it was. Well, the center itself is frankly quite gloomy, with only chain restaurants and bars (Slug and Lettuce, Pizza Express and so on) with a blank light that gave it the sterile atmosphere one expects in a hospital...
There was an exhibition of Gibson guitars customized by celebrities though (Jeff Beck, Skin, The Editors ...) which was more like the kind of things I wanted to see...

As for the venue itself, Indigo2 is not bad, although I found the fancy bar a bit discouraging (not to mention the price...). I was standing, but it seemed to me that the upstairs balcony was so high that those upstairs surely couldn't see the stage! Maybe not though...

The opening act was Ruarri Joseph, and as usual when I see a guy on his own with a guitar, I was a bit defiant at first. I must say though that he managed to keep me interested pretty much through his whole set, as unlike what I expected all the songs did not sound alike. He even sang one A Capella, which was objectively not a good idea as it sounded like bad hip-hop, but show-wise that was pretty cool.
His biggest flaw in my mind were his lyrics; maybe it is just me but I find it difficult to relate to songs about having kids, being married or loving one's mum...
He mentioned that he usually plays with a band, which I am sure makes him sound much more exciting.
Oh, and good sense of humor, too! For that he reminded me quite a bit of Hawksley Workman (without the amazing voice though).

And then, Cake. Strange band. They had a hit about ten years ago with a song called "The Distance", and have stayed very low-key since. The bearded singer is both very quiet and extremely charismatic, which I find a curious combination.
They started with a song about being a rich kid wanting to be Rock'n'Roll, that they dedicated to Rod Steward... Then Frank Sinatra, my favorite song of theirs, was a delight.
They kept on for about an hour and a half of songs, mixing wisely dark songs with trumpets and brighter ones were the singer quite expertly made the crowd sing.
He was also very funny , cracking jokes between songs, and I found his second-degree humor brilliant, although it might not be everyone's taste... As in when he split the crowd in two to sing in turns, saying to the right side things like "you hate those lefties, they don't read the bible, show them and sing louder" and so on...

There was nothing mind-blowing musically, but it was definitely a good evening of music. No wonder they have managed to keep through the years a small but faithful group of fans!

Rock Werchter (2)

2007-07-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

The second day started under the rain. That, plus the fact that Enter Shikari are an annoyingly noisy band, pushed me towards the tent.

And there I made the best discovery of the festival: Oi Va Voi. They play a very peculiar mix of gypsy, african, jewish and south american music with a definite indie twist. Very cool!
The contrast was therefore striking with the band that followed them, Joan as Police Woman. Who are supposed to be currently very hype, but are actually a complete fraud. The songs are absolutely average, and the singer's voice is not particularly good.
So even with the rain I left to see the end of Kings Of Leon's gig. It was OK but not amazing; The singer's good looks made me quite suspicious of his artistic integrity... Although Eddie Vedder joined the band for the last song, so only for that it was worth standing in the rain!

Kaiser Chiefs followed on the main stage, and as much as I don't like their music, I must acknowledge that they are damn good on stage. Typically the kind of band I wouldn't go see in London, but that I do enjoy at festivals.
It was then Bloc Party's turn, and they even managed to bring the sun! Granted, the guitarist and bassist aren't the most active people on a stage, but Kele Okereke is amazingly charismatic, and the drummer's "computer geek" looks is definitely interresting. I am so looking forward to the Alexandra Palace gig!

I then managed to catch the last song of Lily Allen's set, and in all fairness it wasn't bad at all. The fact that a guy from the crowd managed to climb on stage and play with his didgeridoo was really hilarious!
After that, QOTSA were as usual, nice gig but musically not so good I think. Since I had seen them at Hyde Park a few weeks before, I wasn't that interested...
As for the Arctic Monkeys, well that was a massive disappointment! Their kind of dance rock is not my cup of tea, but I always assumed that just like Franz Ferdinand they would be awesome live! Well, they are NOT! It really looks like they are doing an office job, playing their 9 to 5! Really strange...

And finally, Pearl Jam, definitely the best gig of the festival! Fantastic setlist with many of my favorites like Smile and Do the Evolution, loads of oldies from 10 and Vs, and they even managed not to bore us too much with politics (which they apparently tend to do a lot!). Vedder might be in his 40's, he is still as bouncy as ever!
I hope the bootleg of that gig gets released, as they used to do for previous tours...

Rock Werchter 2007

2007-07-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

I know, I have been back from Werchter for almost a week now, but my computer is broken so I am struggling to keep up with posting at the moment.

To sumarize, a brilliant festival with amazing line-up, big surprises, discoveries, and also disapointments...

So, without further ado, the reviews: Day one

My Chemical Romance didn't look very serious, with their goth teenage girl-dedicated show. In the same vein, the belgian band Zornik was more interresting. If only because they are Belgian...
On the small stage, Air Trafic is one of these UK bands that are fairly anonymous at home but has taken up on the continent. Hints of Keane, Coldplay and the like. Absolutely nothing original, but nice music.
They were followed by Air, who confirmed that apart from the "Virgin Suicides" soundtrack, all they make is elevator music. Yerk!

The real stuff started on the main stage with Marilyn Manson, who seemed really pissed off (he took a good 5 minutes between each songs, ann kept changing T-shirts), and had sound problems. That being said, great show! Visually a treat, with his knife-shaped mic, candles and all that. I even touched the guy as he joined the crowd for Beautiful People!
Bjork followed, and I must say I was impressed! In a golden costume, she was acompagned on stage by dancers with brass instruments, a drummer and two guys makling weird electronic sounds. And it works! I never really like her music, mostly because of her voice that makes me cringe, but there the massive bass and techno rythms took me. A must see!
And then, Muse. A great show, as usual, but because it was nothing compared to the Park des Princes gig I ended up a little disapointed. Ah well...

Muse in the Parc des Princes

2007-06-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

One word: Wow!

As the name of the venue suggests (the Parc des Princes is a slightly smaller stadium than the better-known Stade de France), Muse have now definitely reached the level of legends. What a night, what a show!

The evening started with the slightly disapointing Biffy Clyro, who are supposed to be legends alive but I wasn't impressed by their Nirvana-style power pop. They only played 4 songs though...

Then Archive followed, and that was interresting as I compare their show with last fortnight's gig in an intimate venue in London. They had more space on stage and were obviously more confortable with that, but I do think their sound got lost a little bit in the open air. The setlist being exactly the same as the london gig, there were no big surprises for me, but the crowd seemed to enjoy their weird, repetitive music, even though most of them obviously had no clue of who these guys were.

And finally, Muse. They are definitely the best and most ambitious band alive. Matt Bellamy is out of his mind, and at the same time he is by far the best guitarist and pianist I have ever seen. they played for 2 hours and a half, even including some songs from their first album (Sunburn and an incredible acoustic rendition of Unintended). Almost every song had some visual effect added, either giand satellite dishes for City of Delusion or the usual balloons on Bliss. The only mistake there was the dancers hanging from helium balloons on Ruled by Secrecy, that looked a little bit ridiculous and drove the attention away from the stage. But other than that, the perfect night...

Watch the video of Unintended (credits to TomTom for the video and pictures) below:

Back from Paris

2007-06-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a few days in paris, that were extremely busy. As my computer died (again) last week, things are getting complicated both at work and to maintain my blog. But I'll do my best.
And to make things even worse, I'm leaving on Thursday morning for Belgium. Damn these holidays are exhausting, I need to get back to work soon ;-)

My program in Paris was the following:

- Music Day on thursday. This is an old tradition in France to have on the 21st of June a day where anybody who can hold a musical instrument (or think he can) goes outside on the street and plays. This is usually very fun, as long as the weather is OK (which was fortunately the case this year). My old high-school band was playing, so I sneaked in for a couple of guitar solos, and then ended up in a bar with an English female vocalist whose name I forgot to take. (Note for my girlfriend: I wasn't in the bar with her; she was singing there and I was having drinks with my friends...)

- On Saturday I went to the Parc des Princes to see Muse. I will post the review tomorrow along with pictures and videos. But I can allready say it was mental!

Tom McRae @ Shepherd's Bush Empire

2007-06-17T15:58:00.000-07:00

Tom McRae is a musician I have been following for a long time, and even though his first album is clearly his best, he has always managed to stick one or two great songs in each of his following albums.
The last time i had seen him live was quite a while ago, probably around 2003, in the very same venue. I remember being slightly disappointed because he had played a solo acoustic set.

So, the evening started with Steve Reynolds. He is a very talented singer and songwriter, undoubtedly. However, I must say that I am rarely impressed by guys playing stuff on their own. To be honest, they always end up sounding pretty much the same, and must have something above talent to catch my attention.
Also that the fact that he was seated through the whole set did not help, although I cannot hold that against him as this was due to a broken collar bone, so the fact that he was playing at all was already astounding...
I really need to see him after his complete recovery to judge this guy fairly.

And after was Tom McRae. He was playing with two other guys, one on piano and one on cello. As always, the music was as dark as it gets but he managed to please the crowd between songs with his witty, self-depreciating humor (mentioning that the Sun said he was "dumbing down", or his comments on people shouting song titles to prove they had bought the record).

He started with two new songs he was playing on his own, and that didn't sound very impressive to be honest, but he said they were only to warm-up his voice as he had flu. Then the other two instruments entered as he moved on to his classics, such as A&B sSng, Dose me up and Walking to Hawaii. The two other instruments did give his music a further dimension, and even played the Boy with the Bubble Gun without amplification at all, something really amazing (and that I have never seen in a gig before!)

Still, I can't help wondering why he dropped playing with a drummer entirely. I believe that this would give his music much more impact, and he used to do that, when I discovered him at a festival in France years ago.
Also (but that might be related), I was slightly disappointed that he didn't play Karaoke Soul, one of his songs I like most...

O2 Wireless festival, day 1

2007-06-15T09:14:00.001-07:00

I had been worrying about the weather all day, but in the end yesterday's festival in Hyde Park wasn't too bad, weather-wise. Just a few droplets here and there...

Because of work commitment, I couldn't be there before 5pm, so I missed the first few bands. Unfortunately, that included Last Man Standing, a band I have seen before (actually I opened for them with one of my former bands a few months ago) and that I think is very good.

So the first band I saw was Alberta Cross, in the XFM tent. Their music is fairly nice, a bit Country-ish. So as a background music it's OK, but nothing really exciting. The singer does have a curious voice though, reminds me of Brian Molko to some extend.
After a few songs I moved to The Lea Shores, and that was the discovery of the day. Their music is very dark, with well-built songs and subtle vocal harmonies. The violin does add the bit that make them sound different from the average band. Their only problem as far as I can tell was that they obviously are not used to large stages, as they seemed a bit awkward in their movements sometimes. But obviously that should improve with experience. I just find out they will be playing at the Ben and Jerry's festival, well I'll probably go just to see them (and also because it's about 5mn away from my house...)

After that I went to get some cash, and 30mn later I was back (Festival lesson number 4!!! Always have cash!!!) to see The Scare, a Punk band of the worst kind. fortunately I only caught the last song, when the (hem hem) singer went into the "crowd" (understand about 30 people)...
I then moved to the main stage to catch Modest Mouse, a band that seems very hype at the moment. Well, all I can tell is that it was a real show: Back-up dancers in bikini and all that. Musically and visually, they reminded me too much of the Guns & Roses to be really interesting, but It was surely fun.
Still I got bored after a few songs so moved to the tent where The Thrills were playing. I couldn't get in though, as security wouldn't let people in, saying it was overcrowded! I have never seen that in festival, that was completely absurd. From what I could hear from outside, it sounded like cheesy pop though so no big loss...
Finally, I went to see Ghosts. Their music is fairly good, quite similar to Starsailor I think. Nothing mind-blowing, but nice songs. I especially remember one they introduced as "the last song of [their] forthcoming album", that did reach a momentum when it truly became beautiful.

After that, I stuck to the main stage. Queen Of The Stone Age were in their usual form, excellent stage presence and very efficient songs, even though to be honest I find them too upbeat for my taste. I wouldn't listen to their albums at home, but I always happily see them in festivals. I must also credit the two girls who kept flashing their boobs about 5 meters away from me; that did make the show even better ;-)

And of course, the highlight, the White Stripes. I must confess that I don't actually like many of their songs, but Jack White is undoubtedly an amazingly gifted guitarist and singer. My favorite moments were the quiet songs such as the heart-breaking Jolene, when his voice can he heard best. And of course, Seven Nation Army, whose riff the crowd was singing during the encore.
Visually that was just sublime, all in white, red and black including the suits of the roadies installing the stage before the show!
The only low point was the teenager-ridden crowd. I have nothing against teenagers, but they obviously didn't know how to behave in moshpits, and were trying to crowd-surf at the wrong times, which made the life in the front rows slightly difficult...

Good News

2007-06-13T15:29:00.001-07:00

I have missed Arcade Fire when they played at Brixon Academy a few month ago; I was therefore very pleased to find that they will be playing Alexandra Palace in November.

I thought my only chance to see them for this tour was to go to Rock En Seine, a festival in Paris that is usually not very exciting. And indeed, apart from Arcade Fire there is no one there I really want to see that I haven't seen already this year, or will see this summer.
So the good news is, I don't have to go now... yey...

Tickets will go on sale on Friday morning (keep an eye here), there is just no way will miss these!

Archive @ Dingwalls

2007-06-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

Archive will be supporting Muse at the Stade de France next week. That alone should tell you how much respect they get in France. And that's why I was very eager to see them live: Their last two albums are surely interesting, but there are in now way masterpieces (and also they are not radio-friendly at all).

The venue itself, Dingwalls, was quite nice, right in the middle of the Stables market in Camden. The supporting act was Metsuo, which in short consist of two guys playing samples on their Mac laptops while chewing gum. They obviously didn't give a rat's ass about their music, so neither did I. Fair play.

And then came Archive. Their set was short, but it was quite amazing to be standing literally 1 meter away from them.
They started with just the two original members playing piano and samples, and then the rest of the band entered the stage as the song Lights built up. This song, already the latest album's centerpiece, takes an other dimension live. The looping riff is completely hypnotizing, and when all the instruments have added up it becomes really deep and intense.
The rest of the gig was in the same vein, dark and repetitive, in a good way. One of the highlights was the song Fuck you, clearly a brilliant song.

On the bad side, the band badly needs a frontman. Currently they have two singers: The first one looks like Richard Ashcroft, and isn't bad even if he lacks charisma; The second one has charisma, but whith his stylish haircut and self-conscious moves, he seems too focused on his appearance to sing with true honesty.

To conclude, I think that with the sort of music they are making, and their lack of frontman, it seems quite logical that they don't reach mainstream audience. I would even say that it is deserved.
However, that they remain completely unknown in the UK, without their albums being released, is beyond me...

Is Manson getting Mellow?

2007-06-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

The new Marilyn Manson album, "Eat Me, Drink Me", was released today. But actually the complete album was available on the band's MySpace page (and on about any peer-to-peer network) since last week.

And this is definitely Manson's quietest album to date. They have always showed both a Indie side as well as a Metal side, but here the only trace of Metal left is Manson's rough voice. All the rest flirts with proper Goth (If I Was your Vampire), or with Prog-Rock (the last song, Eat Me, Drink Me). Even the guitar sound (especially the riff in the single, Heart-Shaped glasses) could be out of a Bloc Party album.

To be honest I am not a big fan of Metal, and have always preferred the more Indie side of Manson, in songs like The Nobodies or Coma White. So this direction in the new album doesn't bother me at all.

What is slightly irritating though is that as you listen to the album, every songs sounds vaguely familiar. Here the bass sounds like Big White World, there the vocal melody reminds of Tourniquet...
It seems that when in previous albums Manson was looking for influences in many directions (Burlesque Germany, electronica...) here he simply tries to make some Manson. So sure it works, songs are catchy and well-written, so a Manson's fan will be happy. But there is nothing new there, and I doubt that he will reach a new audience with such an album...

Watch the video for Heart-Shaped Glasses (It is supposed to be over-18 only, but I can't really see why to be honest):

Archive is a strange band

2007-05-28T04:56:00.000-07:00

Originally classified as a Trip-Hop band in the like of Massive Attack or Portishead, Archive started as a typical UK band. Like so many others, they failed to make it big there, being confined to small venues around Camden.

One factor that might have gotten in the way is the fact that they never managed to keep a singer for two albums in a row, which does not help.

What is strange though is that they started to get a name for themselves on the continent, and they are now quite well-known in France, Belgium and so on. And still fairly unknown over here (as a matter of fact, most of their albums are not even released in the UK). As a consequence they tour mainly in Europe, but they will be playing at Dingwall next monday.

I will definitely go there! It's still not sold out, and will be the first time I see them live. Interestingly, I almost saw them in Paris some time ago, where they were playing a 7000 capacity venue (a live album of that very gig has been released) , but couldn't make it in the end. This intimate gig promises to be much better...

Watch an amateur clip of one of my favourite songs, the subtly-titled Fuck U:

The Smashing Pumpkins, Paris

2007-05-26T10:48:00.001-07:00

The Smashing Pumpkins are back, that's for sure!

Wow that gig was amazing! Almost 3 hours, loads of old stuff including a few obscure b-sides, two encores, an acoustic bit in the middle (the complete setlist is here), in other words the perfect gig!

Billy Corgan might be 40 but he still plays guitar like a semi-god, and Jimmy Chamberlin is the hell of a drummer, undoubtedly. The other three musicians were good enough, nothing impressive but they were not the ones we came to see really...
The only downfall I can find is that Billy only said like three words, announcing a tour in big venues but that was about it. Eh well...

As far as the new album is concerned, from what I heard it seems like it is what Machina should have been: A proper Smashing Pumpkins album, maybe not their best but definitely worth listening to. Full-on guitars, kick-ass solos and all that. There seem to be only one quiet song, God and Country. And it sounds really good actually, very catchy chorus riff on acoustic guitar. The new single, Tarantula (download here - I'm not sure this is legal but what the heck), is really good, and is not the best new song they played.

Also worth mentioning, the band had announced that there was a free-taping policy for bootleggers so you can find videos of most of the gig on YouTube and DailyMotion. Watch Billy play 33 solo here...

The Fluids, Monto Water Rats Theatre, 19-05-07

2007-05-20T10:54:00.001-07:00

First things first, the venue.

Let's say it straight away: the Mono Water Rats Theatre is probably the worst place for gigs I have ever been to. And I have been to a lot.
From the outside, it looks like the average Clapham club, with its fair share of bouncers and miniskirts. Inside it is nothing like a theatre either: just a pretencious bar with velvet curtains to justify the expensive pints.
Also worth mentioning: Entrance to the gig was £8, a lot even to London standards. Not that I have a problem with that per se, but I would be curious to know how much did the bands actually see of that money. It felt more like a "No Student" fee than anything else.

Things got worse when I entered the back of the bar, where the stage is: The band playing (sorry I didn't catch the name and couldn't find listings afterward) was plain dull. Think the Beach Boys bored like hell. Ehr!
I left after two songs, It was really that bad. If someone recognise them from that picture, please let me know who they are, so that I do not see them again by mistake.
Strangely enough, they had a lot of people cheering them, and they all left right after the band finished. You see the spirit...

Fortunately, The Fluids rescued the night. I happen to know the bassist's cousin so I may not be 100% honest about them, but if they were rubbish I would say it. And rubbish they are not. My god what a singer!
To get an idea of what they are like, think Skunk Anansie (They did play a fantastic cover of Hedonism...) but with a hot blonde instead of Skin. Not bad, hey? Ness, the singer, really has one of the strongest voice I have heard in a while. All they lack to really get somewere, in my opinion, are the fantastic riffs Anansie were precisely known for...

In bonus, here is a video of the last song they played, Falling Away. Sorry for the crappy sound...

Patti Smith, The Roundhouse

2007-05-19T05:02:00.000-07:00

Patti Smith don't have much for herself these days. The is 60 years old, and haven't written a good song for about 30 years. She was recently inducted at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is never a good sign (see the dreadful video here). And the last time I saw her, she was playing with R.E.M. in Hyde park, failing miserably to sing her part in the exquisite E-Bow the letter.

So overall, I wasn't expecting much of Wednesday's gig at the Roundhouse. I almost didn't go, only the venue herself convinced me. That legendary venue recently reopened, and as it is the place where Patti first played in London, so I thought, why not...

Well, that was a smart move. She may be old, but damn she rocks! She may have not written anything good in 30 years, but her laterst album, Twelve, contain only covers, amongst which Are You Experienced? and Smells Like Teen Spirit, that are just sublime. And she plays the old songs (Gloria, Pissing in the River, Because the Night, Rock'n'Roll Nigger) like she still cares.

And that's the most important really - and where the difference with Arctic Monkey-style bands lies. She puts her guts in her songs, not just energy. Still a lot to learn boys...

Arcade Fire

2007-05-13T10:02:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of days, I have been listening to Neon Bible, the latest album of Arcade fire. (Thanks to the Silver-footed Gig slut for the advice)

It is brilliant. the lyrics are really, really dark, and the music is completely different from one song to another.

"Been working for the Church while my family dies
Your little baby sister's gonna lose her mind
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home"

How much darker than that can you do, really...

So here's a video of them playing Intervention. It is great, apart from the guitar-trashing at the end. Come on, you guys are too old for that...

Drummer, it's a bummer

2007-05-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

Q: How does a drummer practice his instrument in London these days?

A: He doesn't.

Because well, unless you really hate your neighbours, or have the income of a Chelsea FC player, it is truly impossible to owe a drumkit in London.

That's why I recently bought an electronic one (you can see the model here). It feels and sounds nothing like the real thing, and actually is quite noisy just hitting the plastic pads (But that's fine. I don't like my neighbours very much). I am about that close from saying it is rubbish, but I won't. Because it did cost me a fortune so let's pretend it's amazing.

Not that I actually can play the drums, but it seems nobody in London is interested in playing with a Frenchman (we are notoriously crap at indie rock), so I have no other choice but learn it, and record my demos all by myself.

Yann Tiersen

2007-05-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

Three facts about Yann Tiersen:

- He is undoubtedly the most talented French composer/songwriter since Gainsbourg.

- He is mostly known for writing the soundtrack for the movie Amelie. At last on this side of the Channel sea.

- He cannot sing.

And that was the biggest disappointment of the evening, really. I mean, he used to know not to sing, and that's why in his previous albums he always had loads of guest singers. But for some reason he decided to put his poor vocals forward in his latest album, and inevitably on his live shows as well. A big mistake, in my mind.
I mean, the instrumental songs were still excellent (especially when he plays the violin), both dark and subtle, but every time he started singing (and that was almost half of the set) it became a bit, well... boring.

Also, there wasn't a supporting band which I think is not a very good think, don't tell me it's hard to find a band to play in London.
And to make things worse, the public was just too... intellectual I think, I don't know. Probably only graduates or art students would go see such a gig, but as a result there was no crowd atmosphere or movement, so not much fun. It's what I call "Too posh to push"... Ah ah ah...

So I must say that compared to the other times I've seen playing (in festivals mostly), this was a big let down. Ah well, still the albums to listen to...

Back from Italy

2007-04-30T04:40:00.000-07:00

I'm hardly back from Rome, and already with a busy schedule...

On Saturday I was at a party near Caledonian Road, for a friend who only just submitted his thesis. And as it happens, his cousin plays in a band named The Fluids. They sound pretty good, I will go see them play when I have a chance.

And then, yesterday I went to Scala to see Yann Tiersen. I will post the review soon.

Now I am back to work, and knackered even though I just went on holidays. Life is crazy.

All the way (to Rome)

2007-04-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

I am leaving to Rome tomorrow, for five days of well-deserved holidays.

I will try to go see a gig there, I am sure there are some decent bands around (Like AfterHours, see my review here). I really love listening to music from other countries, I am sure there are a lot of bands being ignored only because they are not English.

In France there are a few that I know, obviously, and they are so much better that most of what's on XFM's playlist. But it's not soon that we'll start hearing them on radios here....
I'll do a post on French bands, one of these days...

Review: Dublin Castle, 14-04-07

2007-04-18T05:13:00.000-07:00

As I was with friends around Camden Town on Saturday, I felt the urge to go to a random gig. As I had never been to the Dublin Castle before, it seemed like a good idea. And it was indeed.

It is a very nice venue, with a regular pub in the front for a quiet chat and the stage in the back. The stage is a bit small and the sound is not the best I have heard in London, but there was a good crowd (most likely because it was a Saturday...)

According to the program, the bands that night were :
- Wireless
- Escobar
- Version 88
- Revolution

We arrived late so I missed Wireless, but the guys are nice and gave me a demo CD. I haven't listened to it yet, but I must say I'm not really impressed by what I heard on their MySpace. They are playing around a lot it seems, twice in London in the next two month. Maybe the occasion to go see them...

Escobar were definitely an interesting band. They have a dark sound and interesting lyrics. The singer's voice is quite unusual as well. Their stage presence could be improved I think, although they got better for the last few songs.
They will be playing a few dates in Birmingham, where they are from, and are definitely worth checking out.

Version 88, well, I didn't see them. And I have no idea why. Did they end up playing before Escobar, so I arrived too late? Or did they cancel the gig? Or more simply, was I busy chatting with my friend in the pub part and skipped them? Who knows...
The song that they have on their MySpace is definitely not my type though, too Bluesy for me. So no regrets there.

Finally, Revolution closed the night. Now, that was an interesting band.
First of all, the singer is really ugly. And it seems he knows it, and doesn't give a frog's ball. Which is very good. I am tired of these all-looks bands.
Second of all, damn they are good on stage! The fore-mentioned frontman is totally into his music, and they are really putting on a show.
Third of all, their songs are very catchy and danceable, which is good for a Saturday night gig, even if I thought at the time that they were not really outstanding. That being said, The Resin Rain, available on their MySpace, is really, really good.
And finally, I discovered that I used to work with the guitarist's brother. How small is London, really...
They're back in London in May, so I recommend checking them out. I wouldn't be surprised if these guys actually went somewhere...

Smashing Pumpkins, Here I Come!

2007-04-17T09:58:00.000-07:00

Following the previous post, there were a few more tickets released today for the Smashing Pumpkins gig in Paris. And guess what.....

I GOT ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two words: You Hou.

And it is a category 1, even.... Which means up front...

Oh god this is gonna be amazing!

Many, many thanks to the lovely Wrath for waking up at 6am this morning to make sure I didn't miss it this time!

Excuse my french

2007-04-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

Shit. Fuck. Crap. Bollocks. Cock.

I have been robbed.

Let me explain you. Calmly.

Some time ago, I found on the Smashing Pumpkins website that their first ever gig since 2000 would be in Paris, at Le Grand Rex. Tickets would be on sale on Wednesday 11th April at 10am sharp.

Le Grand Rex is an awesome venue (I saw Radiohead there in 2000, that was wicked!), very small, so that would be a gig of a lifetime.
On Wednesday, 9am (10am French time) I am online, connecting to the website. And quite predictably, the site has crashed due to overflow. OK, nothing to worry about, it'll be back on anytime soon and I will be able to buy my tickets. So I keep trying to the website.
And I keep trying.
And I keep trying.
And I keep trying.
...

2 hours later, finally, the website is back up, saying that the gig is sold out. Now, what the fuck is that????? I was there on time, stayed in front of my computer, for that? Now I really wondered, how is that possible?

Well as it turned out, tickets were put for sale 2 hours earlier. So I was doomed. And this is fucking WRONG! Because nobody new that apart from people working in record companies, radios and so on.

I could understand that privileged access would be given to fan club members, that would be OK, that's what fan clubs are for. But not that. Now, there are hundreds of tickets on e-bay being sold for hundreds of euros.

Well sod it, it'll be without me. I could pay £100 for a ticket, but I'm just not going to because the very principle pisses me off.

Fake A Grimm On My Space

2007-04-05T06:56:00.000-07:00

For a change, I am going to talk about a unknown band today. They are called Fake Grimm, and are from New Jersey in the US. Which is a shame since it seems they are not touring in the UK.

But that's the beauty of MySpace (their page is here): they asked me as friend, so I nicely obliged and listened to their songs quickly, as I do with all the bands that spam me for MySpace friendship.

And that's how I heard this song, The Cell Phone Song (be careful: it's not the first song when the page opens!). Granted, the title is awful. But the song itself is very good, surprisingly catchy for an un-signed band. Very Muse-esque, with high-pitched arpeggios and a crazy, heavy guitar riff.

The other songs are not as good but are still quite interesting, and worth listening to. And I really appreciated this statement on their MySpace: "Fake Gimms' mission is to provide a fresh contribution to a rock genre victimized by a vicious cycle of retro-revivals and two-hit wonders". I couldn't agree more. What Fake Grimm's contribution will be exactly, well it's still to be seen, but the ambition is there, or so it seems.

Silverchair

2007-04-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

Yes I know, I have been neglecting this blog lately. It's not my fault, really, it's all because of that bloody job of mine. It's been awfully busy lately.

Stop complaining about your job, Jooles.

Right.

So, moving on: I just noticed Silverchair's new album is about to be released, at least in Australia. It has been 5 years since their previous effort...
And you can listen to the whole album on their myspace page (here). What a great idea.

From what I heard so far, the first song, Young Mondern Station, is very good but the rest is pretty much rubbish. First impression though, I haven't listened to every songs yet.

Strangely enough, Silverchair has always been underrated in my opinion, at least in Europe. That's probably because they started as a Grunge band, after the end of Grunge. Not the best situation for credibility...
Yet Daniel Johns can be an extremely good songwriter at times - especially when he goes into Muse-esque grandeur, such as in songs like Emotional Sickness.
He stinks when he tries too hard to be "arty" though. The previous album, Glamorama, was of absolutely no interest to me. From what I heard, the new album, New Modern, seems to go into that direction.

D'ough!

PJ Live Acoustic

2007-03-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

I just found out that PJ Harvey has announced a single date for a special solo gig in Manchester in June, as part of the Manchester International Festival.

For those who don't know PJ - you suck! She is awesome! Just a few facts: She used to go out with Nick Cave, and she recorded a duo with Thom York, called "This Mess We're In", which is a fantastic song. Truely.

The question is, can I go to Manchester for this gig? Well first of all the tickets will be on sale this Friday, so getting tickets will be critical. But also finding a lift might be usefull as I don't drive and don't know anybody living in Manchester.

So, if anyone is interrested in going all the way to Manchester for the evening and then comming back to London, drop me a message...

Today is ticket day

2007-03-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

I have been so bloody busy at work lately, I haven't had time even to buy tickets for gigs. So I have amended myself and bought no less than 3 tickets today. Which are the following

- Yann Tiersen, 29th April, Scala. For those who don't know him, he is mostly known for doing the "Amelie" soundtrack. An amazing musician, playing any instrument from guitar to violin. And a fantastic live performer. Highly recomended!!!

- Tom McRae, Sheperds bush Empire, 12th May. Granted, his first, eponymous album is his best. But still, seeing him perform "Karaoke Soul", "A & B song" or "The boy with the bubblegun" should be worthwhile. Hopefully...

- The White Stripes, Hyde Park, 14th June. I must confess I have never seen them live. And this is because I am not a big fan. Yet, Jack White's voice can be extremely moving (His cover of "Djoleen", as the White Stripes, as well as the version of Bang Bang played by The Raconteurs, are both amazing) so I think I had to go there. Plus, gigs at Hyde Park in the summer are just great as long as the weather is good.

Am I getting old???

2007-03-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

This week-end I went to see "Factory Girl", the movie about Andy Warhol's muse Edie Sedgwick (by the way, the movie is OK: The guy who plays Warhol is excellent, Sienna Miller is not too bad, but the bloke playing Bob Dylan is just awful)

But then, thinking about it, I realised that in the next few month I am hoping to go see Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and Patti Smith play. And that these artists started their career even before I was born!

Maybe it is because it will soon be a quarter of a century that I am around and so I am hypersensitive to the question of age, but I started thinking that maybe I shouldn't go to these and put all my efforts into trying to find the new big things. Young bands that are promissing, not living on their glorious past.

But then again, I am not going to miss Lou Reed play the Berlin album, no way; so I might as well go see the others. Plus I will probably be younger than the audience average for these gigs. It might be good for the ego.

Hail to the Jooles

2007-03-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

Something crazy happened to me today.

I was walking home from Tesco, carrying my weekly food shopping. My I-pod was playing Charlie Big Potato, from Skunk Anansie. It had been very windy all morning, and cloudy; as if a thunderstorm was about to happen.

Well, for those who don't know Charlie Big Potato, at some point near the end, it goes all quiet and Skin sings "Alone brother, alone sister, a home cover". Well, at this point the wind stopped. And a weird noise started, as if thousands of people were clapping hands. It was growing louder and louder, and at the same time in the song the drums started rolling. And then the song's amazing gitar riff kicked in, Skin starts screaming "Alone" over and over, and precisely at the same time a massive amount of hail starts falling on me, with the wind back and stronger than ever, blowing hail all over the street. It was amazing.

I just love when Nature goes crazy, especially whe I have the right soundtrack for it. And I must say London is quite a good place for that.
But today the timing was just so, so right...

That's all I have to say about that.

Celebrate the Irish

2007-03-17T17:46:00.000-07:00

Today being St Patrick's day, I think this is a good idea to talk about my favourite Irish band. No it is not U2, but the somehow less famous JJ72.

For those who don't know them, they released their first, eponymous album in 2000, and was a big critical and commercial success. It is, ideed, a very good album. They then supported Muse in their european tour, which is how I discovered them (I was still living in Paris, back then).

In 2002 they released their second album, I to sky, that didn't work very well. It is indeed a strange album, not as good as the previous one, but still contains amazing songs such as Serpent Sky.
Then, in 2005 two singles were released, the excellent She's Gone, and the less attractive Comming Home, but they both failed to sell and the band split before their third album was released. Mark Greaney, the singer, is now doing solo stuff (and he is supporting Simple Kid at Scala on 14th May - I'll be there!)

Now, what I find scary with JJ72 is that I had always assumed talented musicians might struggle to have a break through, but once this is achieved then the sky is the limit. I was convinced that only NME's latest new big thing could disappear after the second, crappy album. But it seems that I was wrong and young, talented bands can have the same fate.
Damn this world is mercyless.

James Walsh acoustic

2007-03-15T17:05:00.000-07:00

Monday night ended with an acoustic performance of James Walsh, Starsailor's singer.

I must admit I quite like Starsailor. OK, they never topped their first album, Love is Here, which itself is not an incredible album. But for some reason I always manage to see these guys play either in festivals or in London, and I am always charmed by their enthousiasm and eagerness to please the fans.

While waiting for the gig to start, it was a little bit surreal: The small crowd was packed in front of the stage, and in the middle of it was James himself, happily chatting with his mates. I must say it really made me feel special! This is what being Paris Hilton must be like. Or maybe not.

Anyway; at some point James walked across the crowd, climbed onstage, picked up his guitar and started playing "Silence is Easy". He had lead problems so it was a bit screwed up, but it doesn't matter as I don't like this song anyway.
Then followed a very short setlist (45mn only), but the guy was full of energy and has an amazing voice. The high point, his rendition of "Fever", was amazing. Also worth noticing, he finished on a new song which sounded really good, and could well be among my favourite Starsailors.

So, as usual, I was seduced by the guy, and sure enough will go see the band next time they play in london. Even if I know very well they will not revolutionize music...

A Beggar's Opera, New World Record@The Fly

2007-03-14T16:06:00.000-07:00

I was at this venue called The Fly on Monday night.
I had never been there before, and from the outside it looked quite scary: There is a massive glass window giving on the street, and sitting just in front of me were a group of NME-style over-dressed youngsters (impressive hair cuts, tight jeans and ties).

But actually the place turned out just as dodgy as the average venue, with the stage in the basment, next to the gents. There is no bar downstairs, which I found was quite a bummer. But it also got handy at some point. You'll see...

So; the night started with A Beggart's Opera. These guys are very cute, very sweet in a way. Not mind-blowing music, but their youth and freshness is seducing.
Two MASSIVE problems though:
- 1: Unless you are Bono or some other living legend, it is not possible to start a gig with the lyrics "You know I love you, You know I love you so". I am not particularly into sophisticated lyrics, but this is too much.
- 2: The drummer was wearing a T-shirt saying "Mr Happy". Please, don't.
Hopefully these guys will mature as they get older and wiser, and could give something interresting.

This, obviously, did not happen with the second band, New World Record. These guys did look like Oxford post-graduate students trying to get occupied between lectures (I am a post-grad myself, so no hard feelings there). Just plain serious and, well, dull. So that's why after 3 songs I had to go upstairs get myself a pint, one thing led to another, and I skipped the rest of the gig.

The rest of the night tomorrow.....

NIN - Finally!

2007-03-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

So here is this long overdue review of Wednesday's NIN gig (my friend Wrath, a much more experienced blogger than I am, told me there was no point posting on something that dated from 5 days ago. But what the heck, I have loads to say about this gig...)

So to start with, the good points. Well first of all, this was awesome! Trent was as full of energy as ever, jumping around and all. The guitarist and the drummer were just as excellent, which is pretty much all I am looking for in a gig.
Also worth mentioning were the lights: Those flying saucers, above the head of each musicians that they kept pushing around, are truly ingenious.

And Hurt. God I love this song. The piano version was truly, truly amazing. I think these 5 minutes only were worth the price of the ticket...

On the low points, for some reason the gig started quite abruptly, with Trent walking onstage with the l;ights still on and some technicians still around. Which is weird. Not major, but weird anyway.
One much bigger problem was the crowd. What the hell was that? The mix of 17 year old girls who had never been to a gig before, goths with spiky necklaces and mosh pit-loving punks clearly didn't work. And that did make the whole experience quite irritating. There was a lot of kicking to do, let's say...
Finally, I must stress out that there was no encore, which I find a little bit rude. Trent did say he had problems with his voice (a gig was actually cancelled a few days ago at Birmingham), which is probably the reason, but still.

I keep wondering since then, are NIN really gaining from playing small venue? I do have a better recollection of the last time I saw them, at a festival in France 2 years ago. The more I think of it, the more I believe they are more suited for bigger venues. This should come later, after the album's release...

KO Computer

2007-03-10T09:09:00.000-08:00

I was supposed to post the review for the NIN gig yesterday, but my computer has died in-between. I am currently using a friend's laptop and its keyboard is deficient - you have no idea how much of a pain it is to write this....

Fucking technology...

I'll grab a computer at work next week and the review should be online shortly. And on monday I'm going to see Starsailor's singer play acousic, so plenty coming up!

PS: french keyboards suck!!!

Ladytron

2007-03-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

Last night, Brixton Academy.

The evening started with Ladytron, a band from Liverpool. And I realised quite early on that my camera was out of batteries. So typical...

Musically, Ladytron are excellent. I will definitely get their albums asap! (It has been a while I haven't been excited by a band so much that I had to rush to get their music, I can tell you.)

They are really, really dark, think The Cure's Pornography album, but with a dance twist that I just find amazing. Some of the lyrics seemed to be in German - really chilling, German with this monotonous melody...

Actually they reminded me quite a bit of a band called The Faint, which I happen to love. Same principle, dark music with dance beats.

There was something unsatisfactory with last night’s gig though. For some reason, it really seemed that the two singers couldn’t be bothered. Hardly moving, no passion, in other word no stage presence. And that is very frustrating, especially when the music is that good. I don’t know if this is a one-off night or if they are always like that, but these two girls really need to get more into their music onstage!

Then, and only then, they might enter my top 5 favourite bands. Top 10. Top 20. Oh well….

I am back

2007-03-07T10:56:00.000-08:00

God these were well-deserved holidays!

But I’m back now, and since I have not had internet access for a while, I feel like I was in a parallel universe, and now I need to catch up with all the news…

But this is for later, as tonight, I’m going to see Nine Inch Nails! And in Brixton Academy, even! (It’s about 10 min walk from my house, and definitely my favourite “big” venue in London).

A few songs from their new album, Year Zero, have appeared on the web, and they sound excellent. But Trent is starting to get old, so we’ll see if he is still able to hold a stage and pull up a show. I'll keep you posted.

....And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead

2007-02-25T16:10:00.000-08:00

Finally, Trail of Dead.

Now, that was a very good gig. The sound was very good, the energy as strong as in the band’s early days. And the crowd was excellent as well, which with this kind of band can make the hell of a difference.

As for the set list, there was a good mix of Source, Tags and Code’s noise and World’s Apart grandeur, that mixed very well and gave a good, homogenous yet varied gig. And the first song, Ode To Isis, is truly a fantastic gig opener.

There was even, in the middle, one song from the latest album, So Divided, even though the band had said they wouldn’t play any of these (I must state here that I haven’t listened to it yet, so I have no idea what the controversy is about).

And the crowd was so eager to see the band that we were even treated with a second encore, one song played by Conrad Keely on its own.

To conclude, I think that Trail of Dead is a good band. They could be a great band, but only if:

- Jason Reece stops singing. Clearly, he is not a singer. OK, his scaffolding-climbing and crowd-surfing is entertaining, but 3 songs of him yelling are more than I can cope with. Plus he is an exceptional drummer, so why not stick to that? (Actually, it appears that there is an Anti-Reece club in England… That is maybe a little excessive!)

- They emphasize more on keyboards. My favourite songs are clearly the ones (such as The Best) where Keely plays keyboards and sings, as he is an excellent songwriter with that instrument.

With that, they should be able to fill in stadiums any time soon ;-)

Forget cassette

2007-02-22T08:36:00.000-08:00

When Forget Cassette arrived onstage, about half an hour later, I got worried. The first song started with some electronic bass only, but the singer was busy playing them and did not really sing in her mike, and it seemed she didn’t have any voice at all…

How wrong was I!!!

As that song developed, I got totally sucked into it. The hypnotic bass and vocals really took of, and by the end of the song I was completely blown away! Unfortunately, the rest of the set did not really have the same intensity, but the songs were still very dark and powerful.
And the singer does have an amazing voice after all.

The low point however was the last song, which started with just piano and vocals, and ended with drums and noise, but didn’t seem to be going anywhere, and I couldn’t really figure out what they were trying to do. Oh well the rest of the gig was so good, I easily forgive them!

I must also say that most of the musicians playing in that band were actually from trail of Dead, so obviously they are closely related.

Koko Camden (1)

2007-02-21T16:06:00.000-08:00

So, last night, Koko, Camden.

The evening started quite well with Action Plan, a decent band overall. I would say, half-way between Goth and punk, i.e. the energy of punk and the darkness of Goth.

For the first few songs that is, because after a while they kind of turned into more classic UK Indie, think Dirty Pretty Things, far less original and interesting.

I must say though that the simple but yet inventive drumming was really appreciable, and also the singer's high-pitched voice was excellent on the gloomier songs (my exact thought at the time was: that's what Justin Hawkins in rehab must sound like...), which clearly make them an above-than-average band.

Also, they will be playing another date in london on the 30th March, at The Good Ship (Never heard of...).

The rest of the night will follow shortly...

Koko

2007-02-20T10:31:00.000-08:00

Tonight I am going to Koko to see ... and you will know us by the trail of dead.

I have never been to Koko, which seems to be the new hype venue were big bands do their fan club-only gigs (Radiohead and Placebo played there sometime ago, Mika and Travis are playing soon).

Trail of Dead will be DJing later at the Rythm Factory, but I cannot go because of a %$&*^$£!! meeting tomorrow morning at 8:30.

Yes my boss is an asshole.

Rock’n’Roll Idiot

2007-02-19T16:16:00.000-08:00

Marilyn Manson has announced that he will be playing at Werchter festival, which is great news for me since I have never seen him live. I was told, though, that his latest tour was a far cry from the amazing performance of the “Guns, God and Government” DVD. We’ll see…

That reminds me of something peculiar with Manson: Ask the average person (that is, not old and/or religious) what they think of him, and you always get the same answer: “I don’t like his music, but I think he is a very intelligent man”.

The idea of Marilyn Manson being intelligent comes from the interview he gave in the movie “Bowling for Columbine”. I have seen this movie, and frankly all Manson says is that he’s not to blame for the Columbine massacre (You can watch the interview here). Which is fair play, but it’s not the most amazing piece of wisdom I’ve heard in my life either.

It seems that because he makes violent music, people always assume he is some kind of brain-dead crack-head that can only jump all over the stage and make ape screams in a microphone. Well, taa-daa! He can make sentences, too!

My opinion of Manson is: I like his music. Even though I have no doubt he is very clever, I have never seen any evidence either way. And couldn’t care less.

TicketMaster of puppets

2007-02-16T13:43:00.000-08:00

It seems that these days I never have tickets for most of the gigs I want to go to. Again this morning I missed the Placebo ones (but the gig sold out in 5 minutes, so…)
I was thinking I was getting old, too lazy to actually chase the bands I am interested in.

But the truth is elsewhere.

And the truth is, ticket-selling websites, such as TicketMaster, GigsandTours, Ticketweb or SeeTickets, are totally incompetent.
The latest example: I had bought tickets for Nine Inch Nails in November. Since then, no news, nothing. And yesterday, I received a text message saying that the tickets will be delivered today, between 8am and 6pm! I mean, what kind of service is that? Like, hello, I have a job… Even the plumber gives a narrower time frame, and with a longer notice!

Fortunately my girlfriend was home when they came by so I now have the tickets in hand, but really this is silly. I wonder why there are no shops where I can go and get the tickets printed, like there used to be: either the Tower Records in Camden or the Virgin in Picadilly, in the old days...

National Anthem

2007-02-14T09:52:00.000-08:00

I have discovered this petition, thanks to the silver-footed Thetis. The idea is to get the UK national anthem, “God Save the Queen”, replaced by the song Gold by 80’s band Spandau Ballet.

To be honest, I haven’t signed it. I have never heard that song, and didn’t know the band (they were never big in France, it seems). According their page in Wikipedia, they founded the New Romantic genre, along with Duran Duran… Yeark!

But I do find the idea quite funny. When I was still at school (it seems so far away…) I saw the Smashing Pumpkins live in Paris and for the song Tonight Tonight, Billy sang “ce soir ce soir”, the French translation.
Well, the day after I started a petition to have the French national anthem changed to the French version of Tonight Tonight… I think I only got 5 signatures…

Placebo Gig

2007-02-13T10:30:00.000-08:00

Placebo has just announced a special gig at the Coronet Theatre (never heard of this venue before!), on March 7th. Because it is such a small gig tickets will be on sale from 9am this friday, at a yet-undisclosed location, and limited to 2 per person.

I'll definitely try to get tickets for that, an intimate Placebo gig should be worth it. Let's just hope they do not repeat the Wembley Arena fiasco, when all their equipment broke down, one amp after the other...

Soundtrack of your life

2007-02-12T06:40:00.000-08:00

I have found on this blog a very funny test, called “If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?”. The principle is quite straight-forward: Put your music player (I-pod in my case, but it can be Winamp, I-tunes, Windows Media Player or anything else) on Shuffle, and for each of the questions play the next song and write it down.

Here is what it gave me:

Opening Credits: Packed Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box – Radiohead (Promissing start…)

Waking Up: Sunburn – Muse

First Day at School: Last Stop: This Town – Eels

Falling in Love: Hysteria – Muse (Yep, that’s me…)

Fight Song: Fuck the Pain Away – Peaches (Definitely!)

Breaking Up: Distant Voices – Bush

Prom Night: Tout L’Or – Noir Desir

Life Summary: 39 – The Cure (So, it’s all downhill from here, then?)

Mental Breakdown: Search And Destroy – The Stooges (Ahahahah!)

Driving: The Battle of Evermore – Led Zepplin (Those who know my driving skills know how much of a battle it is indeed)

Flashback: I Will – Radiohead

Getting Back Together: Si Nous Deposions Les Armes – Dolly

Wedding: It’s You – PJ Harvey

Birth of Child: Tu Vois Loin – Eiffel

Final Battle: The Fall of Adam – Marilyn Manson (Of course…)

Death Scene: Electrolite – R.E.M.

Funeral Song: Are We the Waiting – Green Day (I hope not!)

End Credist: Devil Inside - INXS

Hawksley Workman at the Borderline

2007-02-11T16:27:00.000-08:00

I discovered Hawksley Workman a few years ago at a festival in Paris, and I was blown away by his amazing voice and incredible stage presence (I have a vivid memory of the trousers he was wearing, with cherries printed on them..).
At the time I had bought his first two albums, “For him and the girls” and “The Delicious Wolves”, but didn’t really followed him afterwards.

So last night I jumped on the occasion to go see him at the Borderline. Actually I didn’t have a ticket but I was lucky enough to find people at the door with a spare. I did miss the supporting act though, which is a shame but seems to happen a lot to me lately.

My first surprise was to see that there was no drum kit on stage, and indeed the whole gig was only Hawksley on guitar and vocals, and Todd Lumley on piano and back-up vocals.
This acoustic set-up did allow Hawksley’s amazing voice to develop fully, and some of the old songs were turned into something completely different. For instance the version of Smoke Baby and Tarantulove were breath-taking.

On the other hand though, this small set-up did remove the craziness his shows used to have, and that is a bit of a shame. “Jealous of your cigarette” is not one of my favourite songs, but it is usually funny and danceable in a strange way; the acoustic version however was simply flat and odd.

Overall, it seems Hawksley Workman is trying to favour his music rather than his show, which is not a bad thing. I just think it must be possible to combine both…

Zeitgeist

2007-02-08T07:29:00.000-08:00

The news fell on me today, along with the snow: The new Smashing Pumpkins album will be released on the 7th of July, and will be called Zeitgeist (cool name!)

That is a great news, And I can't wait to hear their new stuff, hopefully the album will leak on the internet sometime soon ;-)

The release date is a bit strange as the 7th July is a Saturday, but it must be on purpose to be 07/07/07. Let's just hope the song does not contain only 7 songs!

Also, it is still not known who is in the band apart from frontman Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlain.

On the tour side, only four dates have been announced so far, all in Germany. Somehow, I have the feeling they will play at Werchter, which would be amazing. We'll see...

MySpace or not MySpace

2007-02-07T13:33:00.000-08:00

I have just opened a MySpace page, which you can find here. There is, I think, something odd about MySpace. For bands, I can definitely see the interest: It is an easy way to put your music online, and build a fan base. Similarly, for music aficionados like me, it makes sense as it is a great way to keep in touch with bands, however successful they are.

But for the rest of the people, I really wonder. I mean, it is supposed to be for networking, right? But “Thanks for the add” is not really the ultimate chat-up line, and I can’t see how this is going to get me to meet other people.
In addition, the blog section is really awfully designed, and it is full of single, bi-sexual girls that, surely, are not what we usually call cock-teasers.

And still, it is really popular, so I haven’t ruled out I am missing something there. It’s hard to be always up to date with technology…

Homo Festivus

2007-02-05T15:29:00.000-08:00

We are entering this time of the year when the festival tickets go on sale, with its lot of line-up rumours, struggles to reach Ticketmaster, prohibiting prices and so on. This year the Big Thing is, of course, Glastonbury. The novelty comes fro the fact that one has to register beforehand in order to even consider getting tickets. This is presumably in order to produce tickets that will contain the owner’s picture printed on them, and therefore prevent sales on e-bay.

Right. Well I don’t have a problem with pre-emptive registration per se. But frankly, going through so much trouble to - let’s be honest for a second - spend 4 days sleeping in the mud, no thanks. Since half the bands will be this year’s NME new discovery (and therefore probably forgotten as quickly as they have appeared), and that half of the time I’ll have to be wasted to be able to get some sleep, it’s definitely not value for money.

So I have discovered the perfect alternative: Werchter festival. Here is a festival with a brilliant line-up (so far Pearl Jam and Muse have already confirmed. Which UK festival has even a single band announced, I would like to know…), really cheap, close to London by Eurostar, and extremely well organised. OK it's in Belgium, but hey! Nothing's perfect!

That is, I have found, the best way to enjoy a festival. Well, if you’re going for the music, not the hype, that is.

Born to Rock

2007-02-02T10:05:00.000-08:00

Today is opening at Harrods an exhibition of electric guitars named Born to Rock. Well, that doesn’t sound very appealing to me; I can see such an exhibition in my favourite guitar shop every day. OK, there will be the first electric guitar ever built on display, and apparently a guitar drenched in Rory Gallagher’s sweat! Ark!

I’ll probably go and see it though, if only because it’s free, but really if I can’t play them I don’t see the point. But hey, we never know…

More interesting: on the 18th February there will be an attempt to beat the world record for the most guitarists playing simultaneously. That could be fun!
Let’s just hope that they’ll make people stick to G, C and Em chords or the whole thing might sound really, really terrible.

Pearl Jam, finally

2007-02-01T07:24:00.000-08:00

Pearl Jam just announced a European tour to support their latest album, the originally titled Pearl Jam. They will play at the Wembley Arena on the 18th of June. And very interestingly, according to their website, standing tickets are only available to the fan club members!

Considering I do not go to gigs with seated tickets (I have been 3 times, and every time I was so frustrated I actually considered jumping over the balcony to go crowd-surfing ;-)), what exactly am I supposed to do?

The last time they played in London was last June at the Astoria (I didn’t even think of trying to get these tickets), and before that it goes back to their 2000 European tour, when I had to skip the gig because of a Physics test the next day!!!!

So please, please next time put up two days in London. Thank you!

Sold out!

2007-01-31T05:49:00.000-08:00

It seems that these days, every single important gig (by important I mean that the band has some airplay on XFM…) is selling out so fast I don’t see it coming. So unless I’m ready to be online at 9am on a Sunday morning when the tickets go on sale (not many bands will make me do that!), I almost always miss them.
Of course, there is the possibility to pay 3 times the ticket value on e-bay but I am quite reluctant to give any money to these guys who exploit the misery of ~~lazy~~ unfortunate fans. Plus, to be honest, it would start to be really expensive.
My latest experience is for Bloc Party: they are playing at the Astoria tonight, tomorrow and Friday, but I couldn’t get tickets. Question: Since they sold out so fast, why did they not play in a bigger venue???

However, I have found a strategy to get tickets at face value! Yes! And so far, it has always worked (ehr, that is twice…): the day before the gig, I look up these two websites: Gumtree and Scarlet Mist. They are always full of people who had to cancel at the last moment and it is too late for e-bay so they are more than happy to get their money back!

Italy Rocks!

2007-01-30T07:08:00.000-08:00

I was at the Camden Barfly last night where I had been dragged by Italian friends to go see “the bestest Italian band ever”…

I missed the opening band, Indigo Joe, and entered the room as Indi Forde was playing. And that was a very good surprise! The singer has a very strong voice, catchy tunes that do NOT sound all the same (this is actually quite rare these days), and a tendency to masturbatory guitar solos (we all have that, don’t we?) that were actually good (that, we don’t all have…). The rest of the band was doing its job perfectly, and I must say the drumming was particularly inventive. This is a band I will definitely go see again!

Then Electric City walked on stage, and as I saw them with their tight jeans and sophisticated haircuts, I got very worried. And I was right. These Franz Ferdinand would-be did entertain the crowd, but their music lacked any depth or feelings, especially with that annoying two-time drum beat. To be honest, there was one song in the middle of their set, called “Medicine for the people” or something like that, that did show some promises, but overall nothing impressive. Looks isn’t everything.
Note to the singer: Making monkey faces and pointing to the roof doesn’t make your music any better…

Finally, AfterHours came onstage. Now, this is a band! Too much of it actually, as their noisiest songs got a bit lost sometimes in such a small venue. But a great gig overall, both the songs in Italian and the ones in English of equal strength. I particularly appreciated the way they rescued the show when their keyboard died in the middle of one song, and they ended up dancing amongst the crowd. That was cool!
These guys definitely deserve a bigger venue, where I am sure their sound would fully develop. Some people surely are sorry they weren’t born, say, english….