| Author | Message | ||
     Austin Member Username: Bruegelpie Post Number: 210 Registered: 09-2004 |
Combined a trip to visit my niece in Texas with 2 Nada Surf shows, one in Austin and one in Dallas. Exuberant crowd was hanging on every song. They have such a spectacular catalog to draw a set list. The show was a greatest hits show of all their non-hits (but great songs). The 3 new songs from their new album "Never Not Together" fit in well with their older songs. They played the most songs from "Let Go," their 2003 masterpiece album which proved they were the real deal. (In my view, "Let Go" is the greatest record of the 21st Century (thus far)). If they come to your town, I highly recommend seeing them. Saw Temples in Detroit this week in a 350 person venue supporting their 3rd and most recent album "Hot Motion." They have matured a great deal since I saw them last, touring their first album "Sun Structures" back in 2014 (I think). Excellent guitar-based rock songs, with hooks galore. As with most bands I like, I can't figure out why they aren't playing the local Enormodome instead of say, Tame Impala. (Although I must say I'm glad to see them in a relatively small venue.) | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9150 Registered: 05-2005 |
I saw my first gig of the year on Thursday night. It was by an Irish musician called Blindboy, but he was not playing music, he was recording an edition of his podcast. It was held in a cinema I hadn't been to for 28 years in Sydney's east (I used to live down the street from it in the next suburb). There were 800 people there, the great majority of whom were Irish. It was very entertaining, and informative, but we left before the end as we had a long trip back to the other side of the city. Hopefully we'll hear the bit we missed on his next podcast anyway. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 615 Registered: 08-2005 |
Half Man, Half Biscuit last night at SWX, Bristol. This is an old-school nightclub with sticky carpets, but somehow the ideal venue for the Wirral's finest musical export. A thousand people singing 'F***in' 'ell, it's Fred Titmus' gives me some hope for the future of mankind. Plus: 'Six weeks to live but at least I’m not in Journey' from the sublime Lilac Harry Quinn. Pip pip, people, hope you're all well. (And for the first time ever, this forum tried to censor me – apparently it doesn't like the unexpurgated version of the F word! Who knew? Not me.) | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9199 Registered: 05-2005 |
Simon, I’m envious you saw HMHB. I’d love to see them live. The chances of them ever making it to Australia are pretty remote though. And btw, the f word ban has been there all along. Your natural reserve and politeness has just, until now, given you no reason to try to use it. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1983 Registered: 08-2006 |
No gigs for me (or anyone else) for a while. I was scheduled to go to Boston this last weekend to see Archers of Loaf and Wire. Both the shows and the trip were cancelled. Not music related, but I was set to go sailing with a few friends in the British Virgin Islands in two weeks and that, too, is on ice. I recognize both these things are first-world problems and we're in the midst of a terrifying pandemic but I don't travel much, was really looking forward to some time away, and it stings a bit. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 617 Registered: 08-2005 |
The very wonderful Emily Barker from Western Australia at a small venue in Wiltshire, UK. Great songs and musicianship from her and her husband. This will be my last gig for a while - I've already booked The Hollies, Lloyd Cole and Belle and Sebastian but, frankly, I'll be surprised if they go ahead. And I'm holding off buying tickets for Robert Forster and the Undertones, as I'm guessing the UK will be in lockdown pretty soon. My company is already trying to get as many people as possible working from home, which is doable for part of my job – writing, riding bikes – but I don't have the storage space at home for the bikes and kit I test. As somebody who has the flu jab every year at my doctor's suggestion after a winter of chest infections a few years ago, I'm dreading this. And my parents are 85 and 86 with serious underlying health issues. Worrying times. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4343 Registered: 03-2005 |
Half Man Half Biscuit, for me, is like peering through a microscope into a parallel universe. I still get a kick out of them when an occasional track comes up on the iPod, while knowing that virtually everything goes straight by my head. I did look up who is Fred Titmus way back, but of course, I've already forgotten. Simon, unless something magical happened I wouldn't feel bad about missing the Hollies. Their trademark lead singer Allan Clarke had to drop out of the band years ago after his voice did the disappearing act. No Allan Clarke, no Hollies. I hope your company figures out a solution to your bike storage issue. Maybe they can rent a storage space that is accessible to you for the purpose? Do you have a back garden where maybe you could erect a temporary shelter? Sorry to hear about your trip Rob. A sailing trip would be a really nice holiday for you. At least Chicago is known for its wonderful springtime so try to get the most out of that. It's pure luck that I hadn't planned a trip for the first half of this year because of another project I am doing. My mom--who I might not be able to visit this spring as I normally do--told me that my sister and brother-in-law were going to Spain! They are the Trump voters in my family. Yes!! So maybe they were clueless enough to not see the early stories of the lockdown in Tenerife or think about how close Italia is to Espana. I haven't had the heart to talk to my sister and find out the gory details because . . . well . . . she's a Trump voter so I keep our communications limited to discussions of family issues. I can relate to your worries about your parents Simon. About visiting my mom: she's 94 and lives alone. She has no known health issues other than being really old. My assumption is that she'd survive Covid 19 for about 10 minutes tops but has little risk of exposure. I don't want to be the vector for exposure. But I've been thinking about how I might manage it. If I can work out a reliable way of keeping to myself for 14 day stretches then I can jump in the car at the 14 day point and drive the 240 miles to her place and visit without worry. I don't even have to fill the tank for that trip until after I've left her and started my return. At 94 there is a legitimate question as to which would kill her first: Covid 19 or total isolation. Worrying times indeed. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 618 Registered: 08-2005 |
Randy, thanks for the positive comments. My company is already working on a local storage solution and I can store one or two bikes in my parents' garden shed (my parents live just down the road, which is handy/stressful depending on the circumstances!). And, most importantly, hope all goes well with you and your mum. Stay safe, people, and keep on listening to the Go-Betweens and your music of choice during any enforced periods of quarantine. Luckily I've got 600-700 CDs, 200 or so albums on vinyl (and a new turntable that needs setting up) and 8,000+ songs on my iPod. And YouTube has treats galore, until the 'Net goes down and the Zombies start a-prowling! I used to work on a science fiction magazine and know a thing or two about zombies! Gotta be true, no fake news here, no sirree!! I feel that a bit of Glenn Gould, Narcisso Yepes, Miles Davis, Chet Baker, the Beatles, Kate Bush, Go-Betweens, House of Love, Laura Veirs, Portishead, Emily Barker, Vashti Bunyan might just be in order while I drink my white wine... Pip pip!! | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1697 Registered: 10-2006 |
And stock up on masks before they vanish! | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 667 Registered: 08-2005 |
Thought I'd bump this up to the top and then somebody can create a new thread for 2021. Haven't been to any yet for some reason, but today I bought tickets for Robert Forster and Laura Veirs. And over the next few days will probably buy tickets for the Psychedelic Furs, the Stranglers, Jethro Tull and Graham Gouldman, or at least some of those. Theoretically I'm due to see Belle and Sebastian in July, though I've got my doubts about that one! |