Discovering (great) new music is one of joys in life. I came across Los Campesinos! through Wichicta Records mailing list which I joined because of my favourite band, Bloc Party.
I was immediately intrigued by their very normal appearance which introduced me to their insane, crazy and brilliant sort of music.
I’ve been living in London for almost 3 years now, but I only discovered them sometime during the middle of 2009. I will forever beat myself with a stick for not hearing about them earlier.
Last Thursday, I had the chance to finally see them on stage and it was one of the best experiences of my life and I am in no way exaggerating.
The venue was once again Koko in Camden. It was another rainy evening in London, so 10 minutes till the doors opened, there was still no queue. At this point, I was 4th in the queue but the place quickly filled up as the evening moved forward.
Two support acts offered a mix bag of surprises prior to Los Campesinos!.
The first was Islet which as mentioned by LC! on their twitter page is the best band you’ve never heard about. This is very much true. At first, their sound seemed a bit too crazy (there is such a thing) but it quickly grew on me and I soon found myself really enjoying what they were doing on stage. They are a four-person band and for each song they seem to swap all their instruments around. My memory is a bit hazy now but I am pretty sure no one member used the same instrument on more than 2 songs. They were that great! Sadly,they hardly have an online presence at the moment but there is a BBC recording on one of their fan sites.
They were followed up by Swanton Bombs which were a two-person act quite similar to The White Stripes except their both men. An ok band but I felt they were trying to sound too much like The White Stripes.
And then, it was time for Los Campesinos! Before we go into the details, I’ll bore you with a short story (not that anyone really reads this).
At work, it was known that I was going to a gig and a colleague of mine asked if there was going to be any mosh pits. I reply by saying probably not.
Boy was I wrong. As soon as LC! came up on stage, the crowd went crazy and everyone started dancing around and moshing.That is, everyone from where I was. This was of course different from the hurtful circle pits at hardcore rock events and this was so much more enjoyable with everyone singing and dancing around. I never thought I could sweat so much here in February before this gig.
The energy levels never settled down and the band kept the crowd on their feet from start to finish.
Since this was the tour for their latest LP, Romance Is Boring, most of the songs came from this album which is actually quite goo since it is a great record.
Hightlights of the evening would be You! Me! Dancing! which was absolutely insane and The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future when everyone was singing the song. Also, Straight in at 101 with the most genuis bit of lyrics ever:
“I think we need more post-coital and less post-rock. Feels like the build-up takes forever but you never get me off.”
Oh, and of course, This Is How You Spell, “HAHAHA, We Destroyed the Hopes and Dreams of a Generation of Faux-Romantics” which along with Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks were part of their “encore”.
Here’s what I remember of the playlist;
The 8-piece band was absolutely amazing. They played each song with the same intensity as the last song. As you watched them on stage, you could clearly see they were really enjoying themselves.
This was the most fun gig I have been to in quite sometime. I would have loved to take more pictures or a video even, but I was having too much fun and decided to pocket the camera and just sing and dance along with everyone.
I say this a lot, but this is another band I will definitely be seeing again. And again. I can’t wait for them to play in London again. They currently wrapped up their UK tour and now have a long US tour lined-up. I thought about it but may just wait until they are back.
It is a real shame that I have not had the chance to see them before.
“It’s you! It’s me! We’re dancing!”
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.
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.
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!
I almost skipped watching !!! (chk chk chk) back in the middle part of 2009 and even though their set was pretty disappointing, I discovered an amazing support act from Australia called The Temper Trap.
Having never heard of them, I was genuinely impressed by their performance and their fun kind of guitar rock. Catchy beats and interesting riffs. Then there’s this song you may have heard of called Sweet Disposition which is simply brilliant. It was featured n the movie (500) Days Of Summer.
As soon as I noticed they were playing a show in Koko in December, and on a Monday as well, I bought tickets right away.
The day itself was pretty horrible.
As it was my day off, I decided to purchase advance tickets for Avatar at Odeon in Camden as it would finish a few minutes before the doors opened for the gig at Koko which was just down the road. It would be perfect.
Unfortunately, the moment I stepped out of the door, huge amounts of snow started falling. As such, the bus I needed was late by an hour which was real puzzling as other buses, including the same route going in the opposite direction, were all running. Just the one bus I needed. The world was out again to screw me over.
As a result, I arrived in Camden an hour late for the screening I already paid for and had to sit in a coffee shop alone for almost an hour and a half waiting for doors to open at Koko.
Due to the “snow storm”, there was hardly any queue really. A few minutes before 7, there were less than 10 people waiting to get in. Thankfully, they didn’t let us wait to long.
People eventually started coming in around 8 in the evening.
There was a support band whom I can’t remember at the moment and can’t be bothered looking them up now. I don’t think they didn’t mention who they were on stage and I don’t care as there was nothing special about them. The only thing they had going was the fact that they had a female bassist.
The wait was excruciatingly long especially when there is an obnoxious group of people in front of you. They started out as 3 people. Then 5 of their friends came an hour later, squeezing into the already packed front area. Later on, 7 more friends squeezed in and made things pretty damn annoying. Oh, they were from Australia.
Temper Trap probably came up on stage around 9:30. At this point, the venue was really packed up to the rafters. When I watched Jack’s Mannequin here, I was at the back so didn’t see how many levels Koko had. From the front, you could see how many levels there were. Unlike Shepherd’s Bush Empire, tickets allowed access into all areas.
They played the entirety of their album Conditions plus a new song and a cover of Bruce Springstein’s Dancing In The Dark. Highlights of the night were Sweet Disposition, Science of Fear and Drum Song which was amazing.
It was a solid show and the crowd was really into the band. Still, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I expected.
The magic and awe which I experienced when I saw them the first time at Electric Ballroom was lost. This could have been caused by my frustration with the obnoxious group in front of me but it was simply different.
Don’t get me wrong, the show was still pretty tight and was a great performance from the band. There was simply something missing which was present the first time and really caught my interest.
In some way, this could be attested to their sudden shot to fame which is all good for them and they were loving the cheers from the crowd and their performance was fueled by them.
They already had a 3-day show at O2 Empire set prior to the Koko gig. Two days have already sold out and my decision to purchase tickets for the last day lay on my experience on this day. Sadly, it wasn’t a brilliant one.
In my case, I still love them and would continue listening to them. As for their shows, I think I’ll take a break from them for awhile.
It has been awhile since I last watched a gig from the seating area (balcony). As much as possible, I try to get standing tickets since the experience is so much better albeit the sometimes restricted view. It is so much better to dance to a band than to sit down and be still.
Sadly, the moment I noticed Modest Mouse was going to be in town, it was already too late and all standing tickets were sold-out. The same with Level 1 seats and I had to settle for Level 2 seats. It was on a Monday which is my day off so I went for it.
By the way, there is yet another level to the seats.
A few weeks later, they announced another gig at the Electric Ballroom. I didn’t bother since I needed to be a bit more careful with my spending and it also falls on a Tuesday, a working day, which means booking the day off.
Back to the gig. When I got in, I did have to climb quite a few flights of stairs to get to my seat. It was quite high up but gave you a very clear view of the whole stage which was pretty cool. You can easily see everyone on stage without the need of moving your head from side to side.
Frightened Rabbit was support for the evening. In most cases, support bands are just thrown in with another band regardless of the type of music they play. Rarely are they in the same genre as the headlining band. In this case, Frightened Rabbit complimented Modest Mouse quite a lot and they set up the evening for an excellent evening. They were quite incredible and much fun to watch.
To quote one of their songs, Keep Yourself Warm, “It takes more than fucking someone to keep yourself warm.” How can you not like them? A definite addition to my playlist.
Now for Modest Mouse. First of, I had no idea how many they were in the band and seeing everyone up on stage made them quite the crowd. The number of instruments they use was even more. Despite Isaac mentioning he had a throat infection, he still did an excellent job on the vocals.
It was real fun watching all the members on the stage from where I was sitting. The most enjoyable part was watching the two drummers play in unison.
They played a mix of songs mostly from their 3 latest albums with a few songs from the old ones thrown in for good measure. Below is the complete setlist as posted by Simon_FM and JosephRoys on the Last.fm Event’s page.
I have only been listening to Modest Mouse since 2003 (I think) and due to this, I am more familiar with their newer stuff and enjoyed this setlist very much.
I was a little disappointed when they didn’t play Float On, but a part of me was glad they didn’t cave in despite most people in the crowd chanting it.
They capped off the night with The Whale Song instead which was quite epic and made the lack of Float On very much worth it.
It was another brilliant gig at Shepherd’s Bush Empire from a different viewpoint. Another surprise support band which has already been added to my playlist.
The first time I heard of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart was when Luna mentioned it on Plurk. Having an overall shoegaze feel, I immediately liked them and started to listen to them quite a bit.
Due to all the irregularities in my shift for the past few weeks, I had Tuesday off and had the chance to see them live at Relentless Garage in Islington.
There were two supports that evening, Veronica Falls and Hatcham Social.
First up was Veronica Falls from London and as per their MySpace page are Pop/Goth/Shoegaze. I would have to say they are more shoegaze than anything else. I love this band to bits and not only because of the lovely lead vocalist with awesome bangs. Of the bands I saw this evening, they sounded the best in that every instrument can be heard clearly with no one overpowering. The vocals were also very clear. It is a real shame though that they don’t have a record out yet and only one song is available on their MySpace page.
As for Hatcham Social, I was not too impressed. For the most part, I thought they played too loudly for a small venue and it was not the sound techs fault as they set up their own instruments and indicated they were ok with the levels. Their performance and songs were pretty much ok, nothing too special. The loudness clearly ruined it for me. It was entertaining though when they started their set by reading a piece from Lewis Caroll’s works.
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart was supposed to start at 10 in the evening but did not come up on stage until 10 minutes after. However, this did not mean they started their set right away. Kip (lead) spent a few more minutes tuning his guitar which he continued to do every 3 or 4 songs.
As soon as they started playing, it was clear they had their act together. They started out with a song most likely from one of their EPs as I only have the one album. It was good though. I will not go into set details as I do not remember anything at all especially with the songs from the EP thrown in the mix.
It was a great gig though and the crowd really loved it. Most of the songs from their self-titled album were on the setlist with a few old ones from the EP and new songs as well.
Unfortunately, the instruments didn’t sound perfect. They had an additional guitarist on stage but you can barely here it.
I mentioned previously when I watched Bloc Party at this venue that I totally love it. Well, I now take this back because of one minor issue, overcrowding. The venue was packed. I know it’s a tiny venue but it is not a very good idea to pack so many people into such a small venue as it sort of spoils the whole atmosphere of having a small venue. The poor ventilation did not help either. I am pretty sure this is the hottest venue in London once filled up and I mean this literally.
This was another great evening of indie and shoegaze music which I really enjoyed quite a lot. Sadly, I am quickly disliking this venue.
Last Thursday, I was soaking wet after watching a gig in an open air venue coming straight from a 12-hour shift at work. This after high praise of open air venues as I pretty much enjoyed Blur at Hyde Park and The Mars Volta at Somerset House.
It was well worth it though as I got a chance to watch the lovely Natasha Khan, more popularly known as Bat for Lashes.
The weather actually played nice until the support’s, DM Stith, last few songs. He even exclaimed at the start of his set, “I don’t think it’s going to rain.” Maybe he jinxed it, but then again this is London which is famously known for it’s freakish weather.
While waiting for Bat for Lashes to start, I spent most of the time at the back near the toilets as this was the only shelter from the rain one could find. I am not a big fan of umbrellas and only had a barely waterproof jacket on.
When Bat for Lashes started, I decided to brave the pissing rain and tried watching her performance which was quite hard considering all the umbrellas up. It was real difficuly to squeeze in a view through the small cracks in between umbrellas.
Thankfully, the sound was quite brilliant and listening to her live was quite the experience.
With a little determination, and I do mean a little, I was able to push towards the front barrier albeit slightly toward off centre. This gave me a great view though of Natasha as she played on the paino, strings and as she danced on stage.
Right after her set, the rain stopped which was perfect for her encore. With all the umbrellas down, everyone had a chance to watch her properly performing Two Planets and Daniel.
Despite the rain, the gig was quite enjoyable. The sound was pretty solid despite the falling rain and occassional thunder. Natasha was quite charming, nice and friendly on stage in between songs and quite powerful and lively while performing songs which consisted of a good mix between her two albums, Fur and Gold and Two Suns.
Here’s a video of her performing Daniel.
Here’s the setlist again from Setlist.fm.
This is one performer I’d love to watch again though in a closed venue.
There are bands which are so completely different and unique that it is both crazy and totally weird but surprisingly refreshing. of Montreal is one of those bands especially with Skeletal Lamping which is the first album I downloaded after hearing about them.
Due to the concept of the album Skeletal Lamping, it took quite a few listens before I started getting it into my system. When I purchased tickets for this gig, I was still not sure I made the right choice. Eventually, I started loving it which made me excited about the gig.
I downloaded their whole discography which had a whopping 9 studio albums plus several EPs and compilations. Scary really as it stayed untouched on my computer for months until only a few weeks before the gig.
Then I decided to listen to their 4 latest albums which included Skeletal Lamping, Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, The Sunlandic Twins and Satanic Panic in the Attic.
Excellent choice which really built up the anticipation for the gig.
On Tuesday, I finally had the chance to see them at O2 Academy’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire which is remarkably one of the more popular venues in London which I’ve never been to.
Support for the evening was Local Natives, a band where 4 of the 5 members have mustaches. They sounded pretty good and quite melodic even though almost everyone took lead vocals at some point. Definitely worth checking out again when they release their first full-length album.
After the long wait, a guy with a tiger mask plus a few other masked guys came up on stage and started to cheer up the crowd, building up the anticipation for the band. A few moments later the band came in followed by Kevin Barnes being carried on the shoulders of two masked guys.
Most of the band were dressed quite normally but Kevin Barnes and Bryan Poole had interesting costumes.
Then the familiar and very recognizable intro of Nonpareil of Favor started which is the first track off Skeletal Lamping, and immediately the crowd started going crazy. This was followed by Bunny Ain’t No Kind of Rider from Hissing Fauna, a great song with a tremendously catchy chorus.
Every other song, a group of performers would play out skits on stage which ranged from the normal to the odd and bizarre which is to be expected if you have seen some of their music videos. The masks they wore involved gas masks, pigs, tigers, and ninjas.
With all the dancing, it was hard to keep up with everything going on stage as there was the band to watch, the performers doing their bizarre skits, and a screen which showed pretty graphics similar to their music videos.
They played one catchy song after the other with most of the crowd going crazy for each. The setlist was a good mix of songs mainly from Skeletal Lamping and Hissing Fauna with a few thrown in from The Sunlandic Twins and Satanic Panic Attack.
A cover of Bat for Lashes’ Daniel was also performed in it’s entirety. I was only able to get a video of the second half.
I’ll be honest since the gig has been almost a week ago, I can hardly remember any specific details about each and every song they played. So I’ll be grabbing the setlist from Last.fm as posted by schmeep.
There was only one song for their encore but it was a 12 minute song, The Past Is A Grotesque Animal and it was pretty epic. Other highlights of the evening would be Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse, An Eluardian Instance, and She’s A Rejecter.
It was quite an enjoyable evening in almost every possible way. Most people on the Last.fm event page complained about the sound, but I found it quite adequate being right in the front. Or I could still have been partly deaf due to The Mars Volta’s gig the evening before. It was also a visual threat with all the antics the band and the performers were up to.
The setlist was also a good mix of songs but could have used less Skeletel Lamping. I would have gone absolutely manic if they included Suffer for Fashion and Disconnect The Dots.
Nonetheless, it was absolutely one enjoyable evening for almost every sense.
This is one band I cannot wait to see again and I am eagerly anticipating their return to London.
When you are about to see one of your favourite bands for the 4th time, you tend to know pretty much what to expect. However, in no way does this degrade the experience but deep inside, you are hoping there would be some sort of surprise, something to spice things up a bit.
A couple of things made this gig different, unique and special.
First, The venue.
The venue was in the courtyard of the lovely Somerset House along the Victoria Embankment. It was an open air venue, a first for me since I’ve always seen The Mars Volta indoors. When I think about it, this is only the second open air venue I’ve been to after Hyde Park as London has several awesome venues. Then, there’s the flaky weather.
The Mars Volta has always been known to be pretty loud and this gig was not an exception even whilst outdoors. I guess the setup of the speakers and how they bounce off the four sides of the courtyard was quite optimal. Actually, I I really try to think back on previous gigs, this may have been the best they have sounded live. The vocals were very good as well.
Second, Cedric talking to the crowd.
Yes, Cedric actually talked to the crowd through much of their set and was introducing almost every song before playing it. The past three gigs I’ve been to, the most you’d hear from him was “Thank you.” while they’re walking off the stage. Highly unusual but the change was pleasantly welcome as it gave a different and friendlier feel which tremendously helped the atmosphere in the venue and of the crowd.
Also, due to the size of the stage compared to ICA, Omar and Cedric had more space to move and this meant more crazy dancing from Cedric.
I didn’t push forward to the front as much as I could since I’ve already seen them up close at ICA and The Roundhouse so I decided to close to the sides.
Here’s the setlist viat Last.fm.
I really enjoyed this open air gig and sort of a departure from the norm for the band with Cedric talking and no obscenely long jams to bridge one song to the other. I guess the main reason I enjoyed this gig quite a lot was lowering my expectations and not expecting a performance like they did at Brixton.
Last week was pretty much a blur for me. For most of the week, I was sick with the flu (the “common” one) and missed out on two days of work. On the two days in which I did work, I hardly did anything which is quite typical these days.
In between the week, I got well enough to head over to Hyde Park on Thursday and catch one of Blur’s comeback shows after being away for so many years. Mind you, this was a date I booked the day off for weeks before I got sick.
I’ve never been the biggest Blur fan but I am so glad I managed to grab some tickets when they announced the second date of their Hyde Park shows. With my health not being a 100%, I spent a lot of time on the day itself deciding whether to go or not, right up to the moment I stepped out the door. It was the responsible thing to do as long as I still showed up for work the next day.
Even though I left pretty late, I arrived at just the right time when the massive queues to get in have disappeared and 30-45 minutes before the first support band was to start.
Four support bands were up that day, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Golden Silvers, Crystal Castles and Foals. Friendly Fires was earlier mentioned to play on the Thursday date but sadly were missing from the official timetable for the show.
I’ve never heard of Hypnotic Brass Ensemble nor Golden Silvers prior to this event and I don’t think I am missing out on much. They are ok, but not impressive enough especially with the wide open area.
Crystal Castles however was fun. Alice, the female singer, is freaking crazy though and could hardly stand up straight. She was properly wasted. I started listening to Crystal Castles when I found out they’d be supporting Blur. Somehow, the electronic samples using an Atari 5200 sound chip, immediately drew me in. They sound pretty ok live but not as forceful as I hoped. This can be attributed to the wide open space again. I’d pay to see them again at smaller venues.
Next up was Foals, a band I quite like and made me somewhat happy of scoring Thursday tickets instead of Friday ones. Their set was longer than when they supported Bloc Party in April. I enjoyed the songs they decided to play but the wide open space sort of distorted their sound. I’m still waiting for the day I’d see them headlining their own show at a much smaller venue.
The support acts made me think about the second date which had Florence and the Machine, Deerhoof, and Vampire Weekend.
Still, the 50,000+ people did not come for the support acts and neither did I. We were all their for one band which finally came up onstage a few minutes after 8 in the evening.
Blur played a very well constructed set which was a mirror of their headlining show at Glastonbury. Screencap is from their Glastonbury page where you could also watch 30 minutes of their performance (if you are in the UK).
Unlike all the support bands, Blur sounded amazing outdoors with Damon asking if everything was adequate and it sure was.
Being less of a fan than 60% of the other people in the event did not hinder me from enjoying the show in huge amounts. Most songs are very catchy and after a few lines you’d be singing along with the crowd. That’s britpop for you.
One of the best parts of the evening was Tender. It was pretty much epic. The crowd was still singing bits and pieces of it on the way home.
You can also see how much fun the band was having being back in London playing such a massive show after being away for so long.
The crowd was quite fun as well with everyone being big fans, dancing and singing along. A large percentage was around my age which was totally cool. Gone are the emo teeny boppers.
Blur at Hyde Park was one of the better gigs I’ve been to this year and I am thankful I decided to grab tickets right away when they announced the second (Thursday) date of their show.
My biggest regret was not listening to Blur as much as I could have when I was in highschool and college. One could easily say that Blur (and Oasis) were the definitive (brit) bands of my generation. Damn, that just made sound quite old.
