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!
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.
Last December 7, 2009, I had the chance to watch Asobi Seksu again. This time it was at Cargo in Shoreditch, London.
I noticed this gig online at the last minute and was glad there were still tickets for it as I have never been to Cargo in the past and it is always good to watch a band in a new place.
There was another gig happening on the same date for The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart at The Garage, Islington. If I hadn’t seen this band in this same venue back in August, I would have purchased tickets for this instead. Sometimes it is good to wait until the very last minute.
Anyway, Cargo is a nice little venue underneath a rail bridge. Unlike other venues, it has a restaurant and a bar separate from the room where the stage is. It is a nice cozy place to meet up friends (if I had any) for a few pints and some food.
There were no queues which was a welcome change in England and since I arrived early, I had a pint and relaxed on the their comfy seats. With the previous Asobi Seksu gig at ICA, I lost out of the shirt design I wanted. They had the same design here but only in women’s shirts so I bought a different shirt instead.Airship, from Manchester, was support for the evening. They were a pretty decent and interesting band. Their EP is available on Spotify if you want to have a listen. It is pretty good.
Asobi Seksu played a familiar set as to the ICA gig back in February, give or take a few songs. I have listened to the new album quite a bit since then and have come to appreciate and love it quite a lot.
It’s a good mix from Citrus and Hush but still nothing from their self-titled first album.Thursday is still my favourite song of theirs and any gig with it is good enough for me.
All in all, it was a better gig than ICA mainly cause it was a smaller venue with less people. For once, I was at a gig standing right in front of the stage. Stadium events are an experience but nothing beats smaller intimate gigs.
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.
As I am writing this, I am watching Bloc Party’s Glastonbury 2009 performance which is the best possible way to bring back the high I was on last night (Thursday) which was the best Bloc Party I’ve ever been to.
Third time’s a charm so they say and it was definitely the case for Bloc Party.
To kick things off, let’s talk about the venue, The Garage which is right across Highbury & Islington Station. The venue had been previously closed for major renovation and officially opened on Friday. Yes, we got in a day early and together with Bloc Party, had the chance to crack open the place.
The venue was quite small which according to their website lists the capacity at 630. There is one long bar at the end, and the stage on the other with small booths for merch and the DJ. Also, it was quite pleasant to use toilets which didn’t smell like urine but instead lingering paint fumes.
Bar service was also noticeably new as the bartenders tried to get their scanners working properly. It probably took me 15 minutes to pay after getting my drink. Then again, there was an error in the scanning and I did pay a quid less which surprised me when I ordered my next pint.
As for the sound, I am not the strictest of audiophiles, but I have to say it was pretty superb. Everything can be heard just about right and at a reasonable volume for the size of the place.
Wet Paint was the support band for the evening which was something we only found out at the last minute, ie, upon entering the door. I saw Wet Paint when they supported Bloc Party during their Olympia show. They are ok, but nothing really special about them.
At past 9:20 in the evening, Bloc Party finally took the stage and fired up the crowd with One-Month Off. This really lit up the crowd and sent everyone into a frenzy. After a few words from Kele, they then played Positive Tension followed by Hunting For Witches. Personal favourite of mine from Intimacy, Halo, came next with the now popular part were the crowd copies the riffs of the guitar which was pretty damn fun.
With 4 high energy songs, it was time to slow things down which they did with Signs. With Gordon already on the gloc, it was only fit to continue with Waiting For The 7.18. Singing the chorus “Let’s drive to Brighton on the weekend” never gets old. Note to self: This is one of the first things to do when we get a car.
Then it was time for the ever popular and epic combo of Song For Clay (Disappear Here) playing straight into Banquet.
However, a highlight for the night was played next, Two More Years, a song I’ve never seen live but one which they play quite often. It was played during the second date of their Olympia gig. This almost made me tear up.
It was back to A Weekend In The City after with Uniform followed by the heavy hitting Mercury which along with Ares are two of my least liked songs.
The crowd was given some breathing room which really meant less dancing since So Here We Are is more of an anthem for fans.
They then finished off their set with a terrific trio which included The Prayer, Helicopter, and Ares.
Of course, they weren’t done yet and came back for an encore which started of with the first ever live performance of One More Chance, a song which when I first heard puzzled me a little on how it would be played live. Surprisingly, it sounded pretty superb and clear. The crowd was pretty into it as well which is always a good thing. They coupled this with another song which was not originally included in a studio album, Flux which has become quite a popular song left for encores. A personal favorite of the band perhaps.
At this point, the lights were turned on and everyone started to move away from the stage. Heck, I decided to head to the merch stand to buy a shirt when the band came out for one finaly song which had everyone rushing back to the front. From the start of Bloc Party’s set, there was one song everyone was chanting for them to play, Skeleton, which the band did and much to the delight of everyone.
To sum up, this was the best Bloc Party gig I’ve been to. The venue was top-notch with great acoustics which made every instrument clear especially with the songs which used less guitars and instead other instruments like the gloc and keyboard. The crowd was small for a Bloc Party gig and this meant the people in the crowd were real fans, singing and dancing to pretty much every song, a very intimate gig. Being included in a few “firsts” was another, such as first gig at The Garage and first to hear One More Chance live. And let’s not forget about the playlist, Two More Years and Skeleton pretty much made the evening although they could have swapped Ares and Mercury for Trojan Horse, Talons, or This Modern Love.
**Apologies for the super blurry pictures. The setlist may be a bit mixed up but this is the best I could remember it to be.
