The great gig in the sky
Jun. 1st, 2009 04:26 pmThought I'd do my first dreamwidth blog (my first real blog in 6 months actually) about something important.
On Friday I took the first annual leave I've had since December 2007 (time flies), on account of the fact me and Nic got the train to London on Thursday night, to spend 3 days with my Sister in Clapham (and to see the Manics in Camden on Saturday night).
Did you know the video for A Design For Life was filmed in Camden Roundhouse? I didn't either until Saturday. But anyway.
After two days of walking round London in sweltering heat, I was grateful for the seating tickets. I think I might have died or my feet fallen off if we'd been standing. There were of course a few moments we both wanted to be jumping about with the rest of them, but for the most art we were happy.
Support band: something called the answering machine. Not bad, but I'll probably not be buying. Sounded a bit like bloc party, and seemed to really enjoy playing. Actually on further reflection I might look them up on itunes.
Support bands always get a raw deal though, as nobody pays to see them.
anyway, Cue the Manics, and Peeled Apples. Immediately I could tell something had changed. The music they were playing, and the lyrics James was singing...it seemed...meaningful, for the first time in years. And they played with such energy. That was the main impact - unbelievable energy, which (amazing as it is) didn't come through in the record. Such is live music though.
Jackie Collins and Me & Stephen Hawking were brilliant, but This Joke Sport Severed was the first highlight; the band were joined by a string quartet.
Meantime Nick is pretty quiet, not obviously in pain, but keeping his back militarily straight; James is bouncing around enough for the two of them. I was irked that I couldn't actually see Nick very well during Journal for Plague Lovers, as I wanted to assess whether or not his bass skills had improved (the bassline on that track is so good I'm convinced James played it on the album, and although I couldn't hear the bass with enough clarity to judge, I might have been better informed had I been able to see Nick's hands. Nevermind.
Facing Page: Top Left was done solo by James, while Sean seemed top fall asleep and Nicky hid on an orthopedic chair behind a speaker stack. Doors slowly closing seemed to miss the delicate piano in the intro (there were no extra band personnel for the first 12 tracks, save for the string quartet) but was otherwise majestic.
And then it's All is Vanity, and time to phone![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
askygoneonfire . As always when you call people at gigs , I wasn't sure whether the call was answered, or whether I'd end up leaving a musical voicemail. Seemed to work though.
Williams Last Words was, strangely, the pinnacle of the gig. I'm not really a fan of the album track, basically because Nicky can't sing, and I think it's a bit of a sentimental damp squib compared with the power of the rest of the album.
But anyway. Nick steps up and explains that "this is the part where I ritually embarrass myself"
-----------------------------------
(LJ autosaves what you type, so you can pick up where you leave off, months later. Right? Well this is the part where, after reviewing the rest of the gig once, and navigating away to change settings, and losing it; then getting halfway through re-typing it, only to accidentally hit backspace and firefox to skip back so I lose it all AGAIN...this is the part where I get totally fucked off and leave it there.)
Second half set list was as follows though
Motorcycle Emptiness
Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
No Surface All Feeling
You Love Us
Tsunami
La Tristesse Durera
Faster
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
Little Baby Nothing
Australia
You Stole The Sun From My Heart
Ocean Spray
Stop In the Name of Love into Motown Junk
Everything Must Go
A Design For Life
On Friday I took the first annual leave I've had since December 2007 (time flies), on account of the fact me and Nic got the train to London on Thursday night, to spend 3 days with my Sister in Clapham (and to see the Manics in Camden on Saturday night).
Did you know the video for A Design For Life was filmed in Camden Roundhouse? I didn't either until Saturday. But anyway.
After two days of walking round London in sweltering heat, I was grateful for the seating tickets. I think I might have died or my feet fallen off if we'd been standing. There were of course a few moments we both wanted to be jumping about with the rest of them, but for the most art we were happy.
Support band: something called the answering machine. Not bad, but I'll probably not be buying. Sounded a bit like bloc party, and seemed to really enjoy playing. Actually on further reflection I might look them up on itunes.
Support bands always get a raw deal though, as nobody pays to see them.
anyway, Cue the Manics, and Peeled Apples. Immediately I could tell something had changed. The music they were playing, and the lyrics James was singing...it seemed...meaningful, for the first time in years. And they played with such energy. That was the main impact - unbelievable energy, which (amazing as it is) didn't come through in the record. Such is live music though.
Jackie Collins and Me & Stephen Hawking were brilliant, but This Joke Sport Severed was the first highlight; the band were joined by a string quartet.
Meantime Nick is pretty quiet, not obviously in pain, but keeping his back militarily straight; James is bouncing around enough for the two of them. I was irked that I couldn't actually see Nick very well during Journal for Plague Lovers, as I wanted to assess whether or not his bass skills had improved (the bassline on that track is so good I'm convinced James played it on the album, and although I couldn't hear the bass with enough clarity to judge, I might have been better informed had I been able to see Nick's hands. Nevermind.
Facing Page: Top Left was done solo by James, while Sean seemed top fall asleep and Nicky hid on an orthopedic chair behind a speaker stack. Doors slowly closing seemed to miss the delicate piano in the intro (there were no extra band personnel for the first 12 tracks, save for the string quartet) but was otherwise majestic.
And then it's All is Vanity, and time to phone
askygoneonfire . As always when you call people at gigs , I wasn't sure whether the call was answered, or whether I'd end up leaving a musical voicemail. Seemed to work though.Williams Last Words was, strangely, the pinnacle of the gig. I'm not really a fan of the album track, basically because Nicky can't sing, and I think it's a bit of a sentimental damp squib compared with the power of the rest of the album.
But anyway. Nick steps up and explains that "this is the part where I ritually embarrass myself"
-----------------------------------
(LJ autosaves what you type, so you can pick up where you leave off, months later. Right? Well this is the part where, after reviewing the rest of the gig once, and navigating away to change settings, and losing it; then getting halfway through re-typing it, only to accidentally hit backspace and firefox to skip back so I lose it all AGAIN...this is the part where I get totally fucked off and leave it there.)
Second half set list was as follows though
Motorcycle Emptiness
Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
No Surface All Feeling
You Love Us
Tsunami
La Tristesse Durera
Faster
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
Little Baby Nothing
Australia
You Stole The Sun From My Heart
Ocean Spray
Stop In the Name of Love into Motown Junk
Everything Must Go
A Design For Life
