Two weeks ago, they celebrated their 10 year anniversary with 4 nights of their signed bands playing. I would have loved to be at every show but my schedule could only permit one and I choose to see Los Campesinos! since they canceled a show back in May which I was quite looking forward to.

When the event was announced, it already had a list of support bands. For this evening, one of them was Johnny Foreigner which is another new band I quite liked instantly. This made the anticipation of this evening doubly exciting. A third reason for excitement presented itself in the week before this show but we won’t go into it as this isn’t Livejournal.

The evening started early with the first support band, Johnny Foreigner, a 3-piece indie band which isn’t really signed by Witchita. I read somewhere that Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah! were supposed to play this evening but bowed out to let Johnny Foreigner. I’ve been listening to CYHASY! for a few years now and would have quite liked to see them as I haven’t seen them before and are on my checklist.

I would have been happy with either band since Johnny Foreigner is another one my new most-listened-to bands who has a very fresh, raw and powerful indie feel to their music. This translated quite well to their performance at The Garage which was full of energy was quite fun to watch. It was quite lovely to see Neil and Gareth of Los Campesions! on stage with them to jam with on a few songs.

Also, Kelly of Johnny Foreigner is quite a sight, then again, most girls who are in a band and play an instrument get loads of points in my book.

The next band was Frankie & The Heartstrings. Since I delayed this post for what seems to be like an eternity, I can barely remember how they sound like. I could check their music on Myspace or Last.fm page but I won’t. If I can’t remember them now, this simply means nothing about their set tickled my fancy. Mind you, they weren’t horrible but simply not my cup of tea.

The evening was for Los Campesinos! though who played a really nice set of songs from all their albums. On twitter, they mentioned performing songs which they don’t usually perform live. Most of the songs during their set were songs I heard during their performance in Koko. The rare songs came during their encore which made the night quite a bit special even if I was completely unfamiliar with one of those songs, International Tweecore.

Here’s the complete setlist from nirajp from the Last.fm event page.

• In Media Res
• Ways To Make It Through The Wall
• Death To Los Campesinos!
• Heart Swells/100-1
• i just sighed. i just sighed, just so you know
• Straight in at 101
• You! Me! Dancing!
• Knee Deep At ATP
• Miserabilia
• My Year In Lists
• Romance Is Boring
• There are Listed Buildings
• We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
• The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future
• Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks
• International Tweecore (encore)
• We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives (encore)

I was hoping to hear Don’t Tell Me To Do The Math(s) or Frontwards, but I was slightly disappointed yet again. The set was still great nonetheless.

As for the experience, it was a bit different since I decided to stand a bit further back and enjoy the show from there. During the Koko, I was right in the middle of the people dancing and it got really insane.

Of all the members of Los Campesinos!, I love watching Kim the most. Sadly, a huge speaker was blocking my view of her. Then again, I other reasons to enjoy this evening.

In my experience, The Garage has been one of the hottest (and sweatiest) venues I’ve been to especially when I saw Bloc Party (then again, it was Bloc Party) so I was genuinely surprised by how pleasant this venue was during this evening. I guess, this could be attested to me not being in the center of it all and the venue not being as packed as before.

Nonetheless, this evening was great. I am still a bit disappointed about LC! canceling a show back in May for no publicly announced reason but this sort of made up for it. Still, I’d see them again as soon as they decide to play in London again.

Sadly, they decided to go on an indefinite hiatus right after their Bloctober gig in October of last year.

The great news has a side-project aside from Matt Tong who took a break completely from music. Gordon Moakes has Young Legionnaire. Russell Lissack has Pin Me Down (which is excellent by the way). And Kele Okereke has his new band called Kele. I’ve been planning on writing a proper entry for them, but you know me, I’m dead lazy.

The demand for this show was quite crazy and the tickets sold out within minutes. I’m glad I grab one for myself.

After seeing his performance in Glastonbury, I was even more excited about this gig.

The venue was something new. It was Village Underground in Shoreditch. It had a steel gate for an entrance and a shipping container for a hallway. The inside was real spacious with high ceilings and bricked walls and arches. Another one of the lovely Shoreditch venues. In my opinion, I’d pick a venue in Shoreditch over one in Camden any day. The venues in Shoreditch are simply smaller, more intimate and have a better atmosphere to it. Old Street Underground Station is not the best station and seems real dodgy really.

Support for the evening was Things I Never Told You which is a fun synth-pop band from London. Their first song was really reminiscent of ’80s synth-pop but the other songs they performed had their own character and felt a bit more modern. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with ’80s synth-pop. Go to their MySpace page and have a listen for yourself.

It took what seemed like an eternity for the next band to get setup on stage with all the fancy synths and all. Eventually, they finished up and Kele, along with his band came up on stage. As confirmed in their Glastonbury set, the girl on synths is extremely hot.

They started off the night with the first track on the album The Boxer, Walk Tall which is a song I absolutely did not like at first but has somehow grown on me. Since Kele is currently working their set from one album only, there was need to dig deep and use old favourites from Bloc Party which Kele called his “Daytime job,” an indication that they have not broken up. This was then mixed in with the more upbeat songs from the new album like Tenderoni which is the first single and Rise, which is quite a great tune.

Here’s the full setlist.

• Walk Tall
• On The Lam
• The Other Side
• Everything You Wanted
• Blue Light / The Prayer / One More Chance (Bloc Party cover/medley)
• Tenderoni
• Rise
• Yesterday’s Gone
• Your Visits Are Getting Shorter (Bloc Party cover)
• Unholy Thoughts
• Flux (Bloc Party cover) (encore)

The best parts of the night were of course the parts where they performed Bloc Party songs. The medley of Blue Light, The Prayer and One More Chance, was well put together though I wish the part of The Prayer was a bit longer. Amusingly enough, if you notice, each song is from one of Bloc Party’s albums.

I’ve never seen Bloc Party perform Your Visits Are Getting Shorter live before, so hearing it that evening made the night quite special. Flux as the encore was expected but was still pretty much crazy.

Of course, the new songs also held there own and got the crowd moving with their wicked beats and synths. On The Lam and Rise in particular, were really great live.

In a way, watching their Glastonbury set may have ruined the surprise when it came to Bloc Party songs. Also, Kele said pretty much the exact same things in between songs as what he did in Glastonbury which was pretty funny.

With Bloc Party’s last album, Intimacy, we already felt things where heading and now that Kele has the freedom to push his own style, he has created something which is pretty amazing and in a way, still gives the Bloc Party feel during live shows.

1. Two Door Cinema Club is one of my favourite new bands this year.
2. The first time I saw Two Door Cinema Club was when they supported Foals at Heaven last year.
3. Most importantly, I won tickets via Two Door Cinema Club’s Twitter account.

Yes, this show was for the iTunes Festival which I pretty much loathe since the only way to win tickets is to win them or be on the band’s guestlist. I may have won tickets last year since I got an SMS telling me to check my email. Unfortunately, their systems could not interpret the underscore character properly and sent it to eyes@yahoo.com. It could have been for Bloc Party which would have made it the last time I’d see them live.

This year has not been any better since I never received an email or SMS from them. Of all the shows they had for this month, this was the one which I really wanted to go to.

Thankfully, TDCC posted a tweet about the event and drawing winners from people who re-tweeted it.

So, I got onto the guestlist which was pretty cool (Thanks to TDCC and David!) as I didn’t have to queue outside unlike all the other official iTunes winners and simply had to mention my name to get in. Since this is the Roundhouse, there was a massive queue inside since the doors were still closed. One less queue is always good anyway.

Two Door Cinema Club got the party started early with a fantastic light and sound show. I mentioned the addition of the drummer since the very first time I saw them and I have to say that their live performance is so much tighter than the last. This was the 3rd time I saw them with the drummer, and I have to say that it’s really so much better now compared to seeing them at Hoxton Square Bar and Restaurant which was not bad at all but could have been better.

They played the usual songs which included their new single, Come Back Home. The crowd really started moving though when they played Do You Want It All?, Undercover Martyn, Something Good Can Work, and the very dance-y Eat That Up, It’s Good For You.

With all that said, it is hard to deny that this evening was for Foals who recently came up with a new album, Total Life Forever, which is quite better than their first album, Antidotes, which is saying a lot since Antidotes was a spectacular album. I missed out on tickets for one of their gigs back in May, so this evening was a bit more special since it’s been almost a year since I last saw them live.

Their set was absolutely mind blowing. It was a great mix of old and new songs which kept the energy flowing from start to finish. Started out with Total Life Forever which slowly got the crowd into their set. This was then followed by Cassius which made the crowd go wild. This is one of the sweatiest but most fun gigs I’ve been to this year.

Here’s the full setlist from Setlist.fm yet again.

• Total Life Forever
• Cassius
• Olympic Airways
• Miami
• Balloons
• Blue Blood
• Alabaster
• Red Socks Pugie
• Electric Bloom
• The French Open
• Two Steps, Twice

Only 12 songs, but it surely felt longer. All in all, it was an amazing night from two favourite bands of the past few years. Let’s not forget the gig being free of course.

I did wish they played longer sets but I am seeing them in a few months, TDCC in September and Foals in October. Sometimes, life is just too good.

P.S.
Apologies for the ridiculously blurry and tiny pictures as my camera traveled to Paris without me.

On June 30, 2010, I saw them live for the second time.

The venue this time was HMV Forum in Kentish Town and was much bigger than tiny Heaven. During their set at Heaven, they mentioned doing a 3-hour set which didn’t happen since they had a support act to begin with. The night was still amazing though.

A familiar face was up on stage as the support band. It was Here We Go Magic again whom I saw perform two days after the BSS show supporting another Canadian band, The New Pornographers at Electric Ballroom.

They played a similar set as before but it just sounded quite a bit better, just a bit tighter, which is all good of course. Also, they seemed to be a bit more relaxed this time compared to Electric Ballroom.

And long-legged bassist was still looking very hot.

Broken Social Scene came up on stage with most members sans Lisa Lobsinger who didn’t show up on stage until after a few songs.

They started off the evening with World Sick yet again, followed by Stars and Sons, and then Texico Bitches. At this point, I felt they were doing the exact same set as what they did in Heaven which was great set, but everytime you see a band for the 2nd or 3rd time, you expect to hear a few songs which you haven’t heard live before.

At this point, I knew what was coming next, 7/4 (Shoreline) which is when the lovely Lisa Lobsinger strutted bare-foot on stage and Fire Eye’d Boy. Despite being on repeat, these first few songs were still real great to hear again and sing/dance along to.

Before the next song, Kevin called out a member of the audience to hold lyrics to Forced To Love on stage. Apparently, this is a staple of Broken Social Scene shows but was not done in Heaven. The audience member for the evening was Angus, and boy did he put on quite a show. Along with holding the lyrics on stage, he was dancing like crazy and mimicking each member of the band. Heck, he even danced next to Lisa which I was completely envious of. The whole band was enjoying his impromptu performance on stage which the crowd loved as well as his name was cheered on.

After this, they skipped Art House Director which was the next song on the Heaven setlist and instead followed with an old favourite, Cause = Time. Then it was Lisa’s time to shine once again with All To All. When I close my eyes, I can still imagine her on stage singing this song. She’s just so pretty with quite an amazing voice as well. Also, let’s not forget about her crazy but totally lovely hair.

Finally, they played something different, Looks Just Like The Sun, which Kevin mentioned as one of his favourite songs.

It was then time for Brian Canning on lead with Water In Hell. Another enjoyable moment followed during Ungrateful Little Father which is Kevin’s little “rap” song. Similar to Heaven, Kevin went down the stage and came closer to the stage even borrowing glasses from the girl standing next to me.

When they finished playing Superconnected, they decided to add a song which was not on the playlist. The song they added was KC Accidental which is a wicked song from You Forgot It In People.

Their set was then finished off by another extended version of their celebration song, Meet Me In The Basement which was pure instrumental fun and craziness.

Like every other act, there was an encore which started out with Kevin on keyboards singing Lover’s Spit as other members of the band started to trickle in. They capped off the night with It’s All Gonna Break which was simply perfect.

Here’s the full setlist.

• World Sick
• Stars And Sons
• Texico Bitches
• 7/4 (Shoreline)
• Fire Eye’d Boy
• Forced To Love
• Cause = Time
• All To All
• Sweetest Kill
• Looks Just Like The Sun
• Water In Hell
• Ungrateful Little Father
• Superconnected
• KC Accidental
• Meet Me in the Basement
• Lover’s Spit (encore)
• It’s All Gonna Break

Despite the setlist being almost identical to their previous show in London, this evening was still quite amazing. We are talking about Broken Social Scene here which is one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen. With the amount of members they have on stage, switching instruments around, they always sound so perfect and in some instances, better than on record.

Unlike Heaven, there weren’t any special guests performing with them on stage but this didn’t make the experience any less special. The addition of It’s All Gonna Break for their last song was truly remarkable. I was still hoping they’d play Almost Crimes or Anthems of a Seventeen Year Old Girl but I guess those are songs which Lisa doesn’t really like singing or something since both are great songs and can easily be thrown in the mix.

I’d give equal billing to both gigs. Heaven was enjoyable since it was my first time seeing them live and the guests made the evening a bit more special (Gordon Moakes!) but even though I was in front, hardly anyone was moving and was just enjoying the show. The Forum was great since the atmosphere was a bit better, a bit more dancing and jumping around was to be had, and of course, Angus.

This is one band I would be seeing everytime they play in London. Even if I would have to use my credit card to nab tickets.

I totally missed this though as a few weeks after booking a 3 week holiday in Manila, the Neverender gig was announced. In a way, I was gutted even though I already saw them a few months before in September of 2007 at the old Carling Islington Academy. This 4-night show would always be special, and I missed it.

Forward to 2010. Coheed and Cambria released a new album and along with it, a tour for their new album. Another minor dilemma with tickets came up after I got tickets to see Coheed and Cambria. Another favourite band of mine which I somehow royally missed last year was playing on the same evening at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. The band was Tegan & Sara. Since I already had tickets for Coheed and Cambria, I stuck with them and I am sure glad I did as their show at HMV Forum was pretty much epic as the songs and guitar riffs Coheed and Cambria is known for.

Support for the evening was These Monsters! who called themselves a heavy metal band onstage which was really surprising since they had a saxophone player on stage. I’m not a big fan of heavy metal and certainly not a purist, but found the addition of a saxophone amusing. Sadly, it was too weak during the entirety of their set and hardly added really significant. Nothing really special with them but a good enough support band.

After the support band, they cleared out the stage, made us wait anxiously until Coheed and Cambria. You should know the drill by now.

Since this was a new album tour for Year Of The Black Rainbow, most of the songs Coheed and Cambria played were from this album. They kicked of the evening with 3 new songs; One, The Broken, and Here We Are Juggernaut which easily set up the tempo for the evening.

Here’s a complete setlist for the evening:

• One
• The Broken
• Here We Are Juggernaut
• No World For Tomorrow
• Time Consumer
• Everything Evil
• The Camper Velorium III: Al the Killer
• The Suffering
• World of Lines
• Made Out of Nothing (All That I Am)
• Three Evils (Embodied In Love And Shadow)
• Pearl of the Stars
• Guns of Summer
• A Favor House Atlantic
• In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
• Far (encore)
• 21:13 (encore)
• Welcome Home (encore)

The new songs sounded pretty tight and amazing live and were as powerful as the old ones. Of course, the old ones made the crowd go mad and it was an absolute joy screaming “Pull the trigger and the nightmares stop” during Three Evils.

Pearl of the Stars will always be remembered as an amazing song when a couple less than a foot away from my face started making out. It burns you know.

Still, the best part of the evening was when they performed In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 which was the last song they played before the encore but played the song like it was the encore. Screaming along to “Man your own jackhammer. Man your battlestations” with all emotion and energy compares to only a few other things in life.

No Ten Speed (Of God’s Blood And Burial) nor Devil In Jersey City on their setlist but closing out the evening with Welcome Home was quite perfect already.

It was a great evening especially after not seeing them in 3 years and missing their most significant shows in December 2008 (I do have it on DVD). Not once did I think about how the Tegan & Sara gig across town went. I will catch those sisters in the future.