I’ve been packing to move and realised just how much stuff I own and how much of it I don’t use. Cds, Books and DVDs seem to breed in my flat. I’ve packed boxes and there’s more?!
I think I need to listen to more of the cds I own, read the books that sparked my imagination enough to buy them and gain some kind of attention span long enough to watch the DVDs that will broaden my mind.
The new house is wonderful. Hopefully it will be inspiring.
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Monday, 26 January 2009
2008 Gig round-up
Laura’s 2008 gig list.
January
Plain White T’s
Dashboard Confessional
Stars
Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit
A Wilhelm Scream
February
Paramore/New Found Glory
New Found Glory
MxPx
Manchester Orchestra (Birmingham)
Manchester Orchestra (Manchester)
Gallows
Jimmy Eat World (Birmingham)
Jimmy Eat World (Manchester)
The Audition
Editors
March
Anti-Flag
The Matches
Panic at the Disc
April
City and Colour
Envy and Other Sins
May
Give It A Name Festival
Kevin Devine
All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival
Give It A Name Introduces
Boys Like Girls / Cute is What We Aim For
June
The Weakerthans
Say Anything
Santana
John Mayer
July
Jason Mraz
A.J. Roach
August
Moseley Folk Festival
September
Micky Greaney
October
Fall Out Boy
November
Michal P Hinson
Sharon Lewis
Rancid
New Found Glory
December
Bayside
TV on the Radio
Ben Kweller
Cancer Bats
Well, I failed at reviewing all those didn’t I?! Will try better this year. I’m also going to try and go to less gigs, but more quality ones. There were ones last year I went to because I kinda thought I should find out more about what the bands sounded like rather than actually knowing enough about the band to go. Don’t get me wrong, going to see a band you know nothing about and experiencing them first off is an incredible treat. But a lot of these I self-consciously went to because I felt I ought to. This year I imagine not having so much spare cash to do that. So I’ll go to ones I know I want to see, others want me to see or I’m genuinely curious not because I feel I should see them.
January
Plain White T’s
Dashboard Confessional
Stars
Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit
A Wilhelm Scream
February
Paramore/New Found Glory
New Found Glory
MxPx
Manchester Orchestra (Birmingham)
Manchester Orchestra (Manchester)
Gallows
Jimmy Eat World (Birmingham)
Jimmy Eat World (Manchester)
The Audition
Editors
March
Anti-Flag
The Matches
Panic at the Disc
April
City and Colour
Envy and Other Sins
May
Give It A Name Festival
Kevin Devine
All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival
Give It A Name Introduces
Boys Like Girls / Cute is What We Aim For
June
The Weakerthans
Say Anything
Santana
John Mayer
July
Jason Mraz
A.J. Roach
August
Moseley Folk Festival
September
Micky Greaney
October
Fall Out Boy
November
Michal P Hinson
Sharon Lewis
Rancid
New Found Glory
December
Bayside
TV on the Radio
Ben Kweller
Cancer Bats
Well, I failed at reviewing all those didn’t I?! Will try better this year. I’m also going to try and go to less gigs, but more quality ones. There were ones last year I went to because I kinda thought I should find out more about what the bands sounded like rather than actually knowing enough about the band to go. Don’t get me wrong, going to see a band you know nothing about and experiencing them first off is an incredible treat. But a lot of these I self-consciously went to because I felt I ought to. This year I imagine not having so much spare cash to do that. So I’ll go to ones I know I want to see, others want me to see or I’m genuinely curious not because I feel I should see them.
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
John Mayer
24th June 2008
Birmingham Carling Academy
John Mayer is relatively unknown in this country, or was before his love-life became the interest of tabloids. His bluesy acoustic-rock is effortlessly accessible and coupled with the Santana gig; it was great to see two legends in one week.
British singer-songwriter Jack McManus is an inspired choice for support act. His pleasant piano-centric songs are light and breezy and highlight the pop elements of Mayer’s own guitar driven back-catalogue, providing a good set up for the main act.
Mayer’s set opens with ‘Belief’ extended with a Bluesy ending tainted by misplaced clapping. Like Santana, Mayer descends into jamming on various songs, but adds to the end of his songs rather than a series of instrumentals. The best example of which is on ‘Slow Dancing in a Burning Room’ which improves the lamenting sadness of the song more so than the original.
The biggest cheers are for his earlier works, where Mayer is most honest about its contents explaining he wrote Room for Squares when he didn’t know what was going on and how he distanced himself from his older music in order to turn around, look at it and realise how much he enjoyed it – relating to ‘Welcome to the Real World’, ‘Why Georgia’ and ‘Great Indoors’. Yet notably missing was the teenage favourite ‘Your Body Is A Wonderland’.
Mayer’s performance is real, honest and entirely a pleasure to watch. His accessibility as a person as well as a musician make his show more than a guy and his guitar, but rather an understanding of what makes his music.
Birmingham Carling Academy
John Mayer is relatively unknown in this country, or was before his love-life became the interest of tabloids. His bluesy acoustic-rock is effortlessly accessible and coupled with the Santana gig; it was great to see two legends in one week.
British singer-songwriter Jack McManus is an inspired choice for support act. His pleasant piano-centric songs are light and breezy and highlight the pop elements of Mayer’s own guitar driven back-catalogue, providing a good set up for the main act.
Mayer’s set opens with ‘Belief’ extended with a Bluesy ending tainted by misplaced clapping. Like Santana, Mayer descends into jamming on various songs, but adds to the end of his songs rather than a series of instrumentals. The best example of which is on ‘Slow Dancing in a Burning Room’ which improves the lamenting sadness of the song more so than the original.
The biggest cheers are for his earlier works, where Mayer is most honest about its contents explaining he wrote Room for Squares when he didn’t know what was going on and how he distanced himself from his older music in order to turn around, look at it and realise how much he enjoyed it – relating to ‘Welcome to the Real World’, ‘Why Georgia’ and ‘Great Indoors’. Yet notably missing was the teenage favourite ‘Your Body Is A Wonderland’.
Mayer’s performance is real, honest and entirely a pleasure to watch. His accessibility as a person as well as a musician make his show more than a guy and his guitar, but rather an understanding of what makes his music.
Monday, 9 June 2008
Say Anything
Birmingham Barfly
9th June 2008
Real life often gets in the way of going to gigs and when it does it’s annoying. What’s more annoying is when you spend more time travelling to and from a show than the band plays on stage. Unfortunately for me, tonight was one of those nights. I spent close to two hours travelling to and from the Say Anything show, thanks to funny train timetables and Say Anything, well they played seven songs.
I walked in as they were beginning “i can’t get laid in this town...” and the sound seemed spot on. Front-man Max Bemis’s unique singing voice seemed on fine form, but I found out afterwards that he was sick. The crowd were definitely enthused and intense and sung along, cheering loudly for “buy your own flowers, you make me feel the worlds not dead”, which Bemis sung solo.
Still when the rest of the tour saw shows that lasted at least an hour, short even for most sets, hearing under 45-minutes of music felt like a bit of a slap in the face. The six and a half songs I heard by Say Anything were a fine reflection of the music they produce in a studio, but for such a short time on stage I have to wonder whether it was worth it at all.
9th June 2008
Real life often gets in the way of going to gigs and when it does it’s annoying. What’s more annoying is when you spend more time travelling to and from a show than the band plays on stage. Unfortunately for me, tonight was one of those nights. I spent close to two hours travelling to and from the Say Anything show, thanks to funny train timetables and Say Anything, well they played seven songs.
I walked in as they were beginning “i can’t get laid in this town...” and the sound seemed spot on. Front-man Max Bemis’s unique singing voice seemed on fine form, but I found out afterwards that he was sick. The crowd were definitely enthused and intense and sung along, cheering loudly for “buy your own flowers, you make me feel the worlds not dead”, which Bemis sung solo.
Still when the rest of the tour saw shows that lasted at least an hour, short even for most sets, hearing under 45-minutes of music felt like a bit of a slap in the face. The six and a half songs I heard by Say Anything were a fine reflection of the music they produce in a studio, but for such a short time on stage I have to wonder whether it was worth it at all.
Sunday, 1 June 2008
The Weakerthans
1st June 2008
Birmingham Barfly
Since attending the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in Minehead I have a new found understanding and confidence to go watch a band I’ve never heard much of before and not feel like a complete fraud for being there. Luckily this lesson was learnt in time for The Weakerthan’s Birmingham show. Not having enough time to fully digest the acquired albums, I was able to stand and just listen to the set and appreciate the musical aesthetic, without worrying that I didn’t know the words of the songs.
This does however make writing a review of the show difficult, as my ability to remember any of the names of the songs near impossible. However the accessible and well crafted Weakerthan’s sound isn’t intimidating and genuinely enthused me to give their studio efforts more time.
Birmingham Barfly
Since attending the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in Minehead I have a new found understanding and confidence to go watch a band I’ve never heard much of before and not feel like a complete fraud for being there. Luckily this lesson was learnt in time for The Weakerthan’s Birmingham show. Not having enough time to fully digest the acquired albums, I was able to stand and just listen to the set and appreciate the musical aesthetic, without worrying that I didn’t know the words of the songs.
This does however make writing a review of the show difficult, as my ability to remember any of the names of the songs near impossible. However the accessible and well crafted Weakerthan’s sound isn’t intimidating and genuinely enthused me to give their studio efforts more time.
Saturday, 31 May 2008
Boys Like Girls and Cute Is What We Aim For
31st March 2008
Birmingham Carling Academy 2
Originally billed as a Cute Is What We Aim For show, headliners Boys Like Girls are back four months after supporting Plain White T’s. We The Kings complete the trio of bands which typify the emo sound storming pubescent ears everywhere. WTK play a tight set and clearly know what they’re doing, even if their sound isn’t new–‘Stay Young’ sounds very much like Yellowcard and The Ataris.
It’s an odd choice to relegate Cute Is What We Aim For to main support, considering they release an album soon. Late to the tour due to a mislaid passport, lead singer Shaant is on fine form tonight with boundless energy. The set itself integrates new songs with old, almost match-for-match. Ending with “i may be ugly...” Shaant informs the crowd he lost his voice last time he sung it here, and the crowd helped him out – which they’re more than happy to do again.
Boys Like Girls seem to garner less enthusiasm than CIWWAF, and play several songs from their set in January. The front-man is confident to the point of cocky and spitting into the crowd, he seems to lose some favour. However his amazement that he’s five thousand miles from home and still has people singing his songs does garner some of the favour back. Though the beginning of the set is relatively upbeat ‘Soundtrack to my Summer’ a Dashboard Confessional-esque song tones down the pace, but not the quality.
With both Cute Is What We Aim For and Boys Like Girls back in the autumn, it’s good to know both bands have a solid fan base and a solid sound. It’s not a show that broke any boundaries musically, but with three solid bands it suggests a continuation of the genre for a while yet.
Birmingham Carling Academy 2
Originally billed as a Cute Is What We Aim For show, headliners Boys Like Girls are back four months after supporting Plain White T’s. We The Kings complete the trio of bands which typify the emo sound storming pubescent ears everywhere. WTK play a tight set and clearly know what they’re doing, even if their sound isn’t new–‘Stay Young’ sounds very much like Yellowcard and The Ataris.
It’s an odd choice to relegate Cute Is What We Aim For to main support, considering they release an album soon. Late to the tour due to a mislaid passport, lead singer Shaant is on fine form tonight with boundless energy. The set itself integrates new songs with old, almost match-for-match. Ending with “i may be ugly...” Shaant informs the crowd he lost his voice last time he sung it here, and the crowd helped him out – which they’re more than happy to do again.
Boys Like Girls seem to garner less enthusiasm than CIWWAF, and play several songs from their set in January. The front-man is confident to the point of cocky and spitting into the crowd, he seems to lose some favour. However his amazement that he’s five thousand miles from home and still has people singing his songs does garner some of the favour back. Though the beginning of the set is relatively upbeat ‘Soundtrack to my Summer’ a Dashboard Confessional-esque song tones down the pace, but not the quality.
With both Cute Is What We Aim For and Boys Like Girls back in the autumn, it’s good to know both bands have a solid fan base and a solid sound. It’s not a show that broke any boundaries musically, but with three solid bands it suggests a continuation of the genre for a while yet.
Monday, 19 May 2008
Give It A Name Introduces
19th May 2008
Birmingham Carling Academy 2
Fresh off the back of the Give It A Name festival, Four Year Strong, Meg and Dia, The Colour Fred and Mayday Parade were on a mission to gain further fans on a string of revolving-headliner tour dates.
Birmingham saw Four Year Strong opening the show with headline being granted to Mayday Parade. It’s a disappointing decision as Four Year Strong’s fantastic blend of pop-punk and hardcore was well received at GIAN and the majority of the crowd seem to be here for them. Despite sound difficulties, which saw mics being pitched at three different volumes, the crowd fully integrated into the sound as back vocalists. Frenetic and fast-paced, they’re a fantastic opener and their confirmation as support to a tour in December is welcomed news.
Contrasting the energy of FYS was Meg and Dia, a two piece clearly out of place amongst the line-up. The strong female vocals are powerful, but nestled amongst three other bands that rely heavily on volume, their sound is easily ignored. Next up was The Colour Fred, fronted unsurprisingly by Fred Masc who seemed to spend more time talking about how he had been on this very stage with his old band, Taking Back Sunday. TCF’s sound was better fitted to the Academy’s stage than an arena, but still didn’t quite pack the punch of the first band. The lengthy tales of his former band and relatively weak sound bored the remaining crowd, many of whom had left after Four Year Strong.
I left towards the end of The Colour Fred’s set, bored and tired from a weekend spent at All Tomorrow’s Parties, but safe in the knowledge that if the GIAN festival was anything to go by, I’d already seen the band of the night – Four Year Strong.
Birmingham Carling Academy 2
Fresh off the back of the Give It A Name festival, Four Year Strong, Meg and Dia, The Colour Fred and Mayday Parade were on a mission to gain further fans on a string of revolving-headliner tour dates.
Birmingham saw Four Year Strong opening the show with headline being granted to Mayday Parade. It’s a disappointing decision as Four Year Strong’s fantastic blend of pop-punk and hardcore was well received at GIAN and the majority of the crowd seem to be here for them. Despite sound difficulties, which saw mics being pitched at three different volumes, the crowd fully integrated into the sound as back vocalists. Frenetic and fast-paced, they’re a fantastic opener and their confirmation as support to a tour in December is welcomed news.
Contrasting the energy of FYS was Meg and Dia, a two piece clearly out of place amongst the line-up. The strong female vocals are powerful, but nestled amongst three other bands that rely heavily on volume, their sound is easily ignored. Next up was The Colour Fred, fronted unsurprisingly by Fred Masc who seemed to spend more time talking about how he had been on this very stage with his old band, Taking Back Sunday. TCF’s sound was better fitted to the Academy’s stage than an arena, but still didn’t quite pack the punch of the first band. The lengthy tales of his former band and relatively weak sound bored the remaining crowd, many of whom had left after Four Year Strong.
I left towards the end of The Colour Fred’s set, bored and tired from a weekend spent at All Tomorrow’s Parties, but safe in the knowledge that if the GIAN festival was anything to go by, I’d already seen the band of the night – Four Year Strong.
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