About two years ago, I decided that I would start going to
see more live music. When I say more, I mean some.
My experience up to that point had been limited to
·
1 x smash hit poll winners party (1990/91)
I went with my sister who was far too cool to even be there
and spent the whole time going out for a cigarette! And she wouldn’t let me
stand up! She made me feel quite paranoid when I did. Oh, the teenage years…
·
2 x Take That (1992 & 1998)
When I went to see them in 1992, it was all last minute
because someone had dropped out, I persuaded my mother to lie to the school
about my absence, queued outside the venue (the very small Cambridge corn
exchange) all day, was at the front, endured
watching Cicero!, then in the second song I was nearly strangled with a T-shirt
that they threw into the crowd, missed the second half through fear of
hyperventilating and death, was permanently scarred with the sent of Tribe
perfume (the sponsors – does anyone remember that?) and when I got home was
told by my mother that she had seen me on the local news!! Fortunately the
school never said anything J
Then in 1998, I was a chaperone to three young’uns and saw
them at Wembley just before they broke up. I can still remember it and to give
them their dues, they really put on a show!
Anyway!
Since the first walkman came out I have been listening to
music on the go. I have many a time had it said to me that I must really love
music, and I do. Friends often ask me to recommend music to them because they
know that I will give them a good mix of artists and they are bound to find
something that they like. So, I find it quite extraordinary that two years ago the
above 3 gigs were all that I had been to. I can’t play an instrument, sing or
write songs but I am great at listening to it. If I knew me I would have
expected me to have seen more.
Anyway, in anticipation of this new found gig attending
lifestyle, I booked tickets to go and see Corinne Bailey Rae with friends and
Vampire Weekend at a time when they weren’t as well known and no-one would go
with me L I was really looking forward to it but then…
OUCH!
I took my nieces to the park and ended up breaking my ankle
when I tried to catch one of them as they fell out of a pirate ship! This meant 8 weeks on crutches and 6 months
recovery, with it being a whole year before I was back to normal, and no longer
limping. Suffice to say I sold my tickets to Corinne Bailey Rae and Vampire
Weekend.
Then some friends invited me to go with them to the Glee
Live tour…my GLEE relationship may well be documented in another post but not
here. Its complicated!
So my gigs went up to 4!!
In the New year, I listened to an album by a then lesser
known band called Foster the People, after one listen I booked tickets to see
them in Brixton Academy ,
London , with a
friend. After a few listens of the album I was starting to have my doubts about
them. Whilst the tracks were good, I wasn’t happy to listen to the album
continuously, preferring a track here and there.
They were supported by We are barbarians and Mini-mansions.
I listened to both bands on Spotify before we went, actually the day before we
went. We are barbarians had a very U2
sound to them, and I like U2 and I liked them a bit. Mini mansions had a
beatles sound to their music and I liked them a little less. My friend was of
the opposite opinion.
Well, on the day we went to London , we attended the Accomplice London
Tour beforehand and had to rush to get to the gig in time. We decided to have a
drink first and ended up arriving at our seats just as We are barbarians
finished. So I didn’t get to see them. Mini mansions came on and it was just
noise – I vaguely recollected a couple of the songs but the vocals could not be
heard over the instruments and there was terrible feedback. Hilariously, being
a little tipsy, I tweeted the band mini-mansions between them going off stage
and Foster the People coming on:
I nearly wet myself laughing at the reply! I am so glad they
realised this. Must be frustrating for support acts if they don’t get a chance
to soundcheck, especially when before Foster the People came on the techs re
soundchecked. I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt (how gracious of
me!lol) and would like to see them again.
I have a bad habit of tweeting because I know I don’t have
any followers and also because I don’t expect a reply – it makes me cheekier
and a bit over confident. You can tweet me at @Dekeboo if you are so inclined!
On the day of the gig, I had my fingers crossed that Foster
the People were going to be better live than recorded. I am happy to say that
they were absolutely brilliant live! They really were, I would even recommend
seeing them live and then buying the album or just see them live. They sounded
great, the light show was great and they had the weirdest bubbles ever falling
from the ceiling. They were on for about an hour, so not really that long (not
compared with GnR), it was an interesting performance as I had absolutely no
idea what to expect, from the venue and from them. I forgot to google the band to find out how
many there were and what they looked like etc. and as long as they sounded like
Foster the People they could have been anyone. The main singer, Mark Foster
wore all black, black trousers and a black lacoste T-shirt – I was distracted
by the fact that he looked like a character from a British TV show called Skins
– who wore that outfit all the time. But I was impressed by the instrumental
sections and with all the band members playing different percussion. I also
like it when an artist actually looks like they are enjoying it as much as the
crowd. If you have the chance to they are performing at pretty much every
European festival this summer, so there are plenty of opportunities to catch
them. Do it! I am going to try and get tickets to Reading Festival just to see
them again, and all the other brilliant bands that will be performing.
But this review is supposed to be about Guns n Roses!
For the last three weeks I have had the misfortune to be
waking up at 4am every day regardless of when I go to sleep – last Saturday I
received a text message about 4.30am from my friend – she had got complimentary
tickets to see Guns n Roses in Birmingham LG Arena for that night and would I
like to go.
Ironically, a few days before we had been discussing how we
would like to go and see a big rock concert, after I listened to a starred
track of mine..
Iron Maiden and The Number of the Beast. So I jumped at the
chance and replied
YESSSSSS!!!!!!!!
I never listened to GnR when I was younger but was familiar
with a few of their songs, I found out they were supported by Thin Lizzy and
who doesn’t know ‘The Boys are Back in Town’. Now, this is where I have to explain what I
expected…regular readers know me well enough by now to know that I ALWAYS have
expectations, and more often of the rose tinted kind. So in typical Suddenly
Kate Show Style….
What I expected.
I expected the place to smell of Patchouli, the universal scent
of rock gods. I expected a lot of leather – although with it being so warm, I
had changed this to jeans and black, a lot of black. I expected rock chick
make-up, with lots of long lashes, eyeliner and guyliner. I expected some long
haired dudes. I expected a high energy crowd all headbanging and jumping
around. Actually, I expected a lot from the fans of GnR and on that note I was
disappointed. I expected nothing from GnR and was impressed. What does that
tell you? Is there a lesson to be learnt? Maybe something about going with no
expectations and then you can’t be disappointed – well, forget that, half the
fun (I had always imagined) was feeding off the energy of the crowd!
What actually happened.
There were a lot of people in the bands T-shirts and my
friend said that it was probably the most merchandise clad crowd she had seen. There was a mix of ages but the majority were
in there late 30s to early 50s. Some had brought their familys with them! Plenty came with a teen child or two.
There was no Patchouli!
The crowd sat down a lot, and even when they stood up it was
like they were watching the golf! On a few songs they jigged a little. I think
I was more into it than them. I wonder if this is because they had seen the old
lineup and did have expectations.
Thin Lizzy were good, but it was disappointing that they
never had full sound system, so they were slightly muted at the back where we
were. I fell in love with their merchandise before I even got in to see them. The
classic Thin Lizzy T-shirt just spoke to me, it said….
Buy me, buy me..you know you want to, look how beautiful I
am..how timeless..a true classic…come on…buy meeeeeeee
I fought temptation and then kicked myself relentlessly when
I had to watch DJ Ashby rock out in his Thin Lizzy T for the 3 hours that GnR
were on! Grrr. By the time the concert was over the concessions were closed. L
I am welling up just thinking about it.
Anyway, like I said, Thin Lizzy were great and people woke
up a bit when they played their final track ‘The Boys are Back in Town’. We had read that GnR had been starting late on
the tour and people had been complaining and I only have this to say about
that..
RANT TO FOLLOW
If you are worried about having to stay over, and having to
arrange childcare, and work in the morning then PLEASE DO NOT go to a gig on a
weeknight, otherwise make appropriate arrangements. I want my rock gods to
stick two fingers up at conformity and be demanding and misbehave (as long as
its legal!) because I am not going to get to and I want them to be wild! Pipe
and slippers are no place for a rock concert! And to all those journalists who
complained about it, really?!, come on, all the fans who went to see GnR back
in the day would have thought themselves pretty kick ass and wild back then, they
need to revert and get back to their young carefree selves – leave the shackles
of maturity and responsibility behind for 3 hours!
END RANT
After Thin Lizzy performed for an hour, everyone settled
down for a long wait…it was 10.20pm when they came on and no-one was expecting
them so early, and everyone was shocked they had started!
The sound was better, the lights were as good as any other
gig, and I cant believe Axl sings like that night after night on tour - and that he has any energy or a voice left
afterwards.
Yes, some of the video was dodgy!
But I ignored it! It was old school GnR video apparently. There
were large screens too for us at the back, the show was endless. Each member of
the lineup was giving a song to showcase their talents – some journalist said
that this was unnecessary – but I disagree, I love guitar solo’s and I loved
theirs. I thought it was a great way to introduce the line-up, I know what to
expect from each of them. The only person who didn’t have a moment in the
spotlight was the drummer but he accompanied almost all of them. There were no
long gaps and it was constant barrage of track after track. It finished at 1.40am, 3hrs 20minutes after
they first came on. We had lights, we had music, we had fireworks and
tickertape and at one point the smoke machine made the crowd seem to disappear
in a cloud. By far my favourite song of the night – the one that makes me want
to head bang along with every beat – was Night Train.
It was a great night! And it won’t be the last…coming up
this year will be;
·
Olympic Torch Relay Party - in Birmingham
with Loick Essien – 30th June
·
LIGHTS – I only like the latest album Siberia –
in Birmingham –
2nd July
·
Swedish House Mafia – they are playing a nearby
outdoor arena on 14th July and so I will be able to hear them, if
its sunny – will be hanging out with a picnic by the nearby lakes – they are
doing a 8-10 hour recorded show!
·
Mutineers – fingers crossed I work out a way to
get tickets, as far as I can tell you have to buy them by going to the venue in
person L,
which means buying them on the day – so leaving work at 4.30, catching the train
(takes 2hrs15mins direct) to Manchester by 6.45 and getting tickets for a
7.30pm start will be a close run thing. Worth a try? And will still be a
weekend in Manchester ,
a place I have never been to before. – 10th August Manchester Academy 3.
·
Reading Festival – 24th August – mix of
artists including; THE
CURE, PARAMORE, BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB, YOU ME AT SIX, CRYSTAL CASTLES, ANGELS AND AIRWAVES, COHEED AND CAMBRIA, CANCER BATS, DEAF HAVANA, THE MACCABEES, FOSTER THE PEOPLE, THE COURTEENERS, GRAHAM COXON, PASSION PIT, THE BLACKOUT, THE HIVES, SPECTOR
FRIENDS, CHIDDY BANG, HERE WE GO MAGIC.
·
Fun. – Shepherds Bush Empire, London on 2nd October
·
Skunk Anansie – Brixton
Academy , London on 1st December
WOW! I am really pushing the boat out, and there are still
so many bands I want to see – it’s a good job a lot of them aren’t playing
Europe again till next year or how would I cope?
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