Cobra Starship is a guilty pleasure of mine (pun not intended). They have quite a different brand of music that I typically listen to.

I first heard of them prior to seeing them at GIAN 2008 as they were listed as one of the bands on the bill. Saw them again in 2009 at King’s College in London which is the best show of theirs which I’ve been to.

This was way before a Gossip Girl joined then for a song after which, they shot up in popularity.

This popularity was quite evident when I arrived at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, just a few minutes before the doors opened. I was greeted to a massive queue which is pretty much non-existent for previous gigs I’ve been to at O2 Empire.

Luckily, I am with O2 and was able to jump the queue by using the O2 customer’s priority entrance. This marked the first time I used this perk and was glad I had it as it was freezing cold outside.

The first support band was Plastiscines which is an all female band from France. By female, I mean girls as in teens. One could swear that they were plucked right out of Gossip Girl being pretty, slim, sexy and all. It was fun watching them especially this moment when the bassist tripped on stage. As for their music, their wasn’t anything real special about it.

Family Force 5 was the second support band and they came up on stage wearing the same shirts. Their music belongs to genre called Crunkcore (screamo+crunk) which I had no idea ever existed. Most of the crowd loved them. Their stage presence and energy was pretty remarkable. Not my cup of tea though.

It eventually came to Cobra Starship’s turn. They were mostly their usual selves except for Gabe being way too chatty. He talked so much between songs. Some of it were stories he already told in previous gigs which made the experience even more painful. As a result, their setlist was only 14 songs. With less talking, they could have squeezed in 2-3 more.

• The City Is At War
• Pete Wentz Is The Only Reason We’re Famous
• Nice Guys Finish Last
• Kiss My Sass
• My Moves Are White (White Hot ,That Is)
• Wet Hot American Summer
• The Church of Hot Addiction
• Send My Love to the Dancefloor, I’ll See You in Hell (Hey Mister DJ)
• Smile For The Paparazzi
• Snakes On A Plane (Bring It)
• Hot Mess
• Guilty Pleasure
• The Scene Is Dead; Long Live The Scene
• Good Girls Go Bad

An interesting moment was during Snakes On A Plane’s rap portion where they asked two members of the crowd to come up on stage and rap the stanza out. It was pretty cool.

Like at King’s College, I was hoping they would play “The World Has Its Shine (But I would Drop It on A Dime)” but they didn’t My guess is it’s too slow a song for their usual uptempo sets.

To sum up, although it was really good, it was not the best Cobra Starship show I’ve been to. This honour still goes to King’s College. Everything was simply better there including the support bands. Also, King’s College was a much smaller venue.

At the moment, I think after seeing Cobra Starship thrice, I’ve had my fix and it is quite unlikely I’ll be seeing them again lest be subjected to the same stories Gabe will eventually blabber on about. Still, they are a guilty pleasure of mine, and if the stars do align, I may just see them again.

I liked Brand New but was not the biggest fan in the past and sort of missed out on tickets when this gig was announced. Then I heard Glassjaw was supporting and felt quite gutted. Back then, standing tickets were already sold out and only seats were available. Since Glassjaw was only supporting and sitting down is no way to watch them, I thought I was not missing out much.

Less than a month before the gig, they released more standing tickets and I immediately jumped in and ordered my ticket. This impulsive nature has equated to me being quite broke at the moment but I have no regrets as this gig was one of the best this year.

Oh wait, 2010 just started.

The venue was Wembley Arena which is completely different from Wembley Stadium but is right next to each other. This is were I saw The Cure back in 2008 with a bunch of old people. Yes, The Cure.

Braved the chilly weather and the lack of the Jubilee Line (it was a Saturday) to get in the queue pretty early. From what I remember, I didn’t buy anything to drink and went straight to the front and sat down.

There were two support bands, Glassjaw and Thrice. Having two support bands instead of one makes the wait, from entering the venue to the first band and in between acts, more bearable. As you know, I go to concerts alone and barely talk to anyone.

Thrice was the first support band on stage. They were alright but I could never get into them even though I’ve given their albums Artist In The Ambulance and Vheissu several listens to.

I was here mainly for Glassjaw and was really excited when they got up on stage. Daryll was his usual crazy and insane self. Justin Beck had his trademark look on, hoodie and cap all throughout their set. Their intensity at the start was not so great though but it built up midway. This marked the 3rd time I’ve seen Glassjaw live and I have to say this had the best performance of Ape Dos Mil ever. Plus, this was the closest I have been watching them without getting crushed as most of the crowd had no idea what was going on.

As for their set, they played 7 songs : Tip Your Bartender, Mu Empire, (You Think You’re) John Fucking Lennon, El Mark, Gillette Cavalcade of Sports, Ape Dos Mil and Siberian Kiss.

Now Brand New. As mentioned, I’ve listened to them and liked them in the past but never the biggest fan. This changed in the weeks leading up to the gig as I was playing Brand New over and over again while at home, at work and driving to the office. Now, I can’t get enough of them.

Back to the gig. After Glassjaw, the front got crowded and packed as hell. It got so bad that when Brand New started, you could barely move. Instead, you would move with the crowd. This was not enjoyable so I managed to back away from the front just a bit into an area where you could actually move and dance by yourself.

As you can gather, Brand New was pretty intense and started out as such. Their setlist was a great mix of songs from their four albums and really had the crowd in the best mood all throughout the evening.

I was particularly impressed with the bits where Jesse would do guitar solos and sing by himself. I’m not a musician so I am easily impressed.

Here’s the setlist from the ever reliable Setlist.fm.

• Welcome To Bangkok
• Sink
• Degausser
• You Won’t Know
• Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don’t
• Sic Transit Gloria… Glory Fades
• The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows
• Limousine
• Vices
• Gasoline
• Sowing Season
• You Stole
• The Archers Bows Have Broken
• Jesus Christ
• Jude Law And A Semester Abroad
• Seventy Times 7
• At The Bottom
• Play Crack The Sky

It has been a few weeks since the gig (Note to self: write these reviews a few days after and not weeks) and I’m playing still playing the songs back in my head. It was a great show and among the craziest I have been which is always great. This is not because of Glassjaw alone but Brand New as well.

Personally, I think I (try to) listen to too much music and due to this, drowned out bands and acts I would have really loved. Brand New is a victim of this and I am glad I got standing tickets to this gig at the last minute.

Here’s a video of Brand New performing Jesus Christ.

What a way to kick off 2010!