Why no gig threads ever here? Do all you folk live out in the sticks where bands don't go to play?

Anyway, belatedly, here is a gig thread for this year. Maybe I'll come back later and write about my favourite gigs from this year so far, although maybe I'll be too lazy.

Last night I saw a Bella Union organised gig:

My Latest Novel
Sleeping States
Here We Go Magic
Chimes & Bells


Chimes & Bells were first on, and have the two main folk from Choirs Of Young Believers in it (not that that will mean anything to anyone here, but they're a great Danish band), and are quite cool, but not as good as COYB.

Here We Go Magic were next (a name that more folk will recognise), but like their album, I found them hit and miss. They didn't do any of the more pointless tracks from their album, but they did a couple of new (?) songs which weren't that exciting for me. But I did enjoy the last few songs they played, which I liked from the album.

Sleeping States I hadn't heard of before, but they were okay. They had potential, but some boring moments.

and then finally, My Latest Novel. They seem to be getting ignored here, with their second album Deaths & Entrances, but it's excellent, and their live performance was great fun. Kinda like Arcade Fire, but Scottish. and like The Phantom Band, but better. Great stuff.

Upcoming gigs:

Múm on the 13th.
DM Stith on the 20th
Dear Reader on the 21st
Hjaltalín on the 23rd.

A busy run of gigs!

and then in August is The National with Broken Records, and then seeing Port O'Brien again. Both should be good.

hmmm, maybe I can now see why there hasn't been any gig threads before, hmmm....

Anyway. Regardless!

Last night I saw two gigs. Firstly, The Duckworth Lewis Method play an instore at Rough Trade East. Was good boppy fun, and I'm growing on this Divine Comedy-spin-off band, despite the songs being about cricket.

After that, we went to the opposite side of London to see Múm. They were superb. Would very much like to see them again. They focussed on songs from Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy and their upcoming album, but it was all very good. Great live band. Gosh I love Iceland.

Ooh, sounds like some good gigs! Wish I was there!

On Monday night I saw the excellent DM Stith again. Just love his voice and his live band, it seems to add to the greatness of his album.

and last night was Hjaltalín (I had my dates mixed up with Dear Reader)- good ol' Icelandic indie poppy stuff with a big giant oboe type thing and violin and cool music. Can't get enough of seeing these guys live. Especially their interesting cover of mister jackson's don't stop til you get enough.

There's a "live music" thread elsewhere, and everytime I see a show, I post there, though not many other people do.

I just bought myself tickets to both Fleet Foxes with Dungen and The Decemberists with Heartless Bastards.

The shows are within a few days of each, and they are apparently going to be the last shows I see at The Royal Oak Music Theatre, as I'm moving out to California at the end of August.

quote:

Originally posted by Lawrence_Of_Suburbia:
I just bought myself tickets to both Fleet Foxes with Dungen and The Decemberists with Heartless Bastards.

The shows are within a few days of each, and they are apparently going to be the last shows I see at The Royal Oak Music Theatre, as I'm moving out to California at the end of August.

Sounds like a great way to make some final, lasting memories before you leave our beautiful state. Where you headed to?

quote:

Originally posted by crob3888:

quote:

Originally posted by Lawrence_Of_Suburbia:
I just bought myself tickets to both Fleet Foxes with Dungen and The Decemberists with Heartless Bastards.

The shows are within a few days of each, and they are apparently going to be the last shows I see at The Royal Oak Music Theatre, as I'm moving out to California at the end of August.

Sounds like a great way to make some final, lasting memories before you leave our beautiful state. Where you headed to?

San Francisco.

quote:

Originally posted by Lawrence_Of_Suburbia:

quote:

Originally posted by crob3888:

quote:

Originally posted by Lawrence_Of_Suburbia:
I just bought myself tickets to both Fleet Foxes with Dungen and The Decemberists with Heartless Bastards.

The shows are within a few days of each, and they are apparently going to be the last shows I see at The Royal Oak Music Theatre, as I'm moving out to California at the end of August.

Sounds like a great way to make some final, lasting memories before you leave our beautiful state. Where you headed to?

San Francisco.

Ah, I completely misread that the first time; I thought you were leaving California.

It'll be nice to have you in our awesome state, LoS. San Francisco is incredible.

quote:

Originally posted by airboy paul:
Ooh, sounds like some good gigs! Wish I was there!

On Monday night I saw the excellent DM Stith again. Just love his voice and his live band, it seems to add to the greatness of his album.

I really want to see DM Stith live.

Next week I'm planning on seeing Bowerbirds + Megafaun and perhaps Blitzen Trapper. We'll see.

I've barely gone to any shows this year. So far: [Grade]
Sam Roberts [A-]...(Openers: The Stills [D])
Grizzly Bear [B+]...(Openers: Foreign Born [B])
Juana Molina [B]

I was INCREDIBLY excited to hear Sin Fang Bous was coming to Vancouver (supporting Mum) only to realize I'll already been out of Vancouver when they come. Boo.

I am enjoying Bowerbirds' new album, and they're coming back here in October, but I think I overdid seeing them last year, seeing them maybe four or so times I think.

Definitely try and catch DM Stith live if you can- excellent stuff. Big shame that you can't catch Sin Fang Bous and Múm- would be an awesome gig.

Dear Reader were superb on Thursday. As well as having made my favourite album of the year so far, they're just such a top notch live band also.

The National and Broken Records were last night at the Royal Festival Hall.
BR did a perfectly formed half-hour set, which just added to my love of them/their album.
And then The National did a stunning gig which the whole crowd got in to (honestly, what's wrong with sitting down at a seated gig!). Loved Matt's run all the way up the stairs of the audience during one of the songs- super super long microphone cable- right by me, and then singing amongst every one. Very Boxer-heavy set, but they played Ada, About Today and Secret Meeting so I was quite chuffed.

In the last 4 months I've been able to see:

The Shins
Arctic Monkeys
Of Montreal
Thievery Corporation
Mastodon
Silversun Pickups
Band of Horses
MIA
Matt & Kim
Conor Oberst w/Jenny Lewis
Death Cab for Cutie
Passion Pit


Best in show : Of Montreal
Runner Up : Passion Pit


AND, going to see Vampire Weekend in November...

Sunset Rubdown last night was MASSIVE.

Dragonslayer is pretty awesome recorded, but live it's something else. I was disappointed because they played every song except "Nightingale" which is my favorite, but I can deal because everything else was incredible. "The Mending of the Gown" and "The Taming of the Hands..." from RSL were phenomenal, and "The Men Are Called Horsemen There" from SUIAD was a surprise and was beyond belief and a giant singalong. These guys are even better live. If you get the chance go see them.

And the show came complete with some awesome stage banter and a sweetass t-shirt! WIN.

quote:

Sunset Rubdown last night was MASSIVE.

Dragonslayer is pretty awesome recorded, but live it's something else. I was disappointed because they played every song except "Nightingale" which is my favorite, but I can deal because everything else was incredible. "The Mending of the Gown" and "The Taming of the Hands..." from RSL were phenomenal, and "The Men Are Called Horsemen There" from SUIAD was a surprise and was beyond belief and a giant singalong. These guys are even better live. If you get the chance go see them.

I have tickets for next Monday in San Francisco for them. You have made me even more pumped up for it...

Seen in 2009...

Andrew Bird (X2)
Animal Collective
Band of Horses
Bon Iver (X2)
David Byrne
The Decemberists
The Dirty Projectors (X2)
The Dodos
Feist
Grizzly Bear
The Handsome Furs
Islands
MGMT
My Brightest Diamond
The National
of Montreal
Paul McCartney
Passion Pit (X3)
Phoenix
Public Enemy
The Rural Alberta Advantage (X3)
The Spinto Band
Tobacco
TV On the Radio
Wild Beasts
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeasayer

Last week Thursday was the "secret" show by the Flaming Lips in Hollywood, with a Q&A, short setlist of songs from the new album, and the announcement of the cover of Dark Side of the Moon. Excellent show.

So, Monday night was the Decemberists at Royce Hall here at UCLA, which was a lot of fun. They premiered that animated video collaboration with Hazards of Love, which was psychedelic and interesting, but not thoroughly engaging. The absolute highlight for me was the preview of a new song, which was played solo by Colin Meloy on acoustic guitar. I'm going to guess the name of the song was "Oh January," but no promises.

Last night was Grizzly Bear at the Palladium, which was actually pretty great. The sound quality was spectacular and frankly surprised me; all of the individual voices and instruments were crystal clear and blended seamlessly. They also had one of the best light shows I've ever seen, and it perfectly captured the mood of the music. Add to that the fact that I had some great company at the show, and you've got an awesome night on your hands.

Since my last post I have seen:

August:
Port O'Brien- great gig again, with songs from their upcoming (and now released) new album. wasn't as much fun as the first time I saw them where I got to dance on stage to I Woke Up Today though.

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros- crazy lead singer, and great 10+ member madness. Was a great gig.

I'm From Barcelona- was a surprise bonus gig only announced a week in advance, and was them on top bouncey form.

September:
The Antlers-Solid performance for their first show in London (and outside USA/Canada).

My Latest Novel- these guys are just great. Just seem to get better and better. Had support from The Kissaway Trail and Chimes & Bells.

The Acorn, Ohbijou, and Fanfarlo- Fanfarlo were a last minute addition to this gig, and were great fun. Twas my first time of seeing Ohbijou, and they were as stunning as her album. She has the loveliest voice I know. The Acorn were good, but I've gone off them a bit- only really liking a handful of their songs. Was a great gig line-up though.

Loney Dear- a kind of strange gig from Emil, but I can never pass up a chance of seeing him/them.

Laura Gibson- Just an instore half-hour acoustic set, but was very sweet.

Bodebrixen- they were like a mini version of I'm From Barcelona. Hope they come back soon, and get a bit more popular, as it will be even more fun with the audience jumping about as well.

Noah & The Whale- won tickets to see them at a freebie tv filming gig, possibly for myspace. Was good, but the main chap looked as unhappy as his new songs!

October
Ramona Falls and Dear Reader- Lovely whammy. Ramona Falls were on first- the Menomena chap, with Dear Reader as his band. & it was great. He just seemed to come across as a super nice guy, and made me realise how many of the songs I liked from the album. Then Dear Reader came on next (with Brent playing bass for them- he had also produced their album), and were as great as the last two times I had seen them.

Soap&Skin- superb. I first saw her in April, but this gig was probably slightly better. She seems so quiet/shy, not talking at all, but then she has these cool freak-out/scary moments/songs which are excellent theatrics. Still love her album so much.

quote:

Originally posted by airboy paul:
Twas my first time of seeing Ohbijou, and they were as stunning as her album. She has the loveliest voice I know.

No kidding, I saw them last week solely because I loved the opening act (Olenka and the Autumn Lovers) and was pretty blown away by her voice. Her head could be about 5 feet away from the microphone and her voice would still fill the hall.

I'd love to see Ohbijou do a fully acoustic set, as it would just make her voice stand out even more I think.
Am listening to Olenka now, and they sound quite good so far!

I saw Efterklang earlier this week, along with orchestra, playing their Parades album. Was stunning.

and I'm strongly contemplating getting a plane from London to Sweden to see Loney Dear play two gigs in his hometown with an orchestra. Sounds amazing. If I wasn't so petrified of flying, I would have booked everything for it by now, but still need to build up some courage. Boy, it'll surely be freezing in Sweden in February.

I have recently seen:

Japandroids - Do not lump these guys in with the current lo-fi trend. This is fist-pumping arena rock, and in a 200-capacity club it's exhilarating. They are also just so much fun to watch.

Girls - They have an album full of great tunes, but they seemed oddly depressed the entire time. How could anyone look glum performing "Lust for Life"? Opening act Swanton Bombs were more exciting.

No Age - Similar dynamic to Japandroids, but No Age live like to build walls of shoegazey noise which suddenly explode into perfect punk songs like "Teen Creeps" and "You're a Target". They do what they do very well, and the kids respond with plenty of crowd surfing.

Neon Indian - I don't know if they were just off that night or something, but these two had zero stage presence or energy. You might as well listen to the Psychic Chasms LP on headphones at home. The dream-pop glo-fi thing doesn't really translate to a live setting.