Page 4 of What gig did you just go to?

Elbow on the second night of their Manchester Apollo 'residency'.  Superb.

Ste

last night saw Tim Barry (ex singer of Avail), Cory Branan and Sam Russo. Freaking awesome gig, well worth seeing, nice to go to a gig where you could hear the lyrics :)

Avail was a punk band that split up years ago, but now Tim does semi acoustic folk/rock stuff. All 3 performers were v good, worth checking out.

At the Isle of Wight Festival 2015...

Last night I saw the last half of Geno Washington & The Ram's set, lots of classic soul music (think The Blues Brothers and you get the idea). Enjoyed that, Geno knows how to work a crowd.

After that UB40, well actually it was UB40's Ali Campbell, Astro and Mickey Virtue but definitely better than the remaining members of UB40. I'm not a huge fan of their music, but I don't mind their hits and enjoyed it.

Last act of the night was Billy Idol, who looks amazing for 59. His lead guitarist every bit the 80s stereotype, black eyeshadow, big hair, leather flares, bright shirt, fag in mouth. Did nearly all of his hits, but missed out Hot in the City.

Few technical issues in the Big Top tent, UB40 had a power outage near the start, and both them and Idol suffered from a few intermittent sound cut outs which was a little bit annoying,

I missed the first 5 minutes of Ali Campbell and co because I got drawn to the Jack Rocks stage by the sound of Jolta and had to see out their set. These guys are seriously polished and whilst maybe their sound isn't overly original, they really put out a great noise.

Friday night...

Sharon Corr, was okay but I think I enjoyed her more last time I saw her at the festival, maybe her set list had a few less Corrs tracks in it.

The Prodigy, good as always, played some of their latest stuff along with all their hits.

Saturday night...

Kool & the Gang, were really cool. Great hits, fun performance, brilliant way to spend an hour in the sun (was it out? can't remember, felt like it was out, maybe they made it feel like it was out?).

James, kicked off with Sit Down, then went into some new stuff and lesser known tracks (by me anyway), so managed to grab some food and wonder back for the end track which was his other main hit that I forget. He does some mad dancing, I just don't know their stuff much and perhaps it needs familiarity to enjoy it more.

Pharrel Williams was really good, had some funky dancers, got some of the crowd on stage for a number and then this brilliant older lady stayed for the next number and did some very lurid dancing that was both hilarious and awesome at the same time. He also got some kids on stage for another track, did all his hits I really love, and left me with the feeling that whenever he made a peace sign he really meant it.

Lastly... Blur, I like their hits but don't really know their album stuff. But I enjoyed it all the same, and hats off to Phil Daniels for travelling all the way down from wherever he lives just for Park Life. :) Albarn said he'd lost his voice on Friday and was worried he'd not be able to play, thankfully he sounded just fine. Great way to end the day.


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Final day...

Caught a bit of The Corteeners, okay, just don't find their stuff original enough to catch my attention for long.

The Lightning Seeds... brilliant, think these are always going to be a must see festival band for me.

Paulo Nutini (spelling?) was pretty much as I expected, great voice, but his music I just find dull.

Fleetwood Mac... just awesome. Lots of extended versions and guitar solos, and a few acoustic numbers.


Oh, and the friend I went with on Sunday turned out to know the awesome lady who got up on stage with Pharell Williams so I got to meet her too. Small world.


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saw Faith No More for the umpteenth time last night, Roundhouse in Camden, not been there before, was quite a nice venue, more like an Arts Center than the usual grimy London clubs I see bands play at ;)

It was good, but not great, I've seen them better, and worse, I think partly due to the venue, I was standing off to one side a bit, as I had a good view there, a friend venued into the middle and said it sounded a bit better there.

I think the other problem was the usual problem of promoting a new album, they played 5 or 6  songs off Sol Invictus which sounded good, and then the rest of the 90min set was the "classics" from the old albums.

I guess also, when I saw them 2 years ago, it was the first time I had seen them since they split up when I was at uni, and they played loads of old songs, and there was a real buzz of excitement, and a few suprises such as Tom Jones' Delilah and Kanye and JayZ's N Word in Paris, the only surprise ein this show was an alternate ending to Midlife Crisis.

Isle of Wight Festival 2016 kicked off today (well Thursday, time is relative, lunchtime doubly so)...

Cast where good, and Status Quo were great.

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Last night saw the Stereophonics, who were good but not as good as when I saw them last time at the IoW festival (set list then was pretty much their entire greatest hits album).

Then Faithless, who were good, amazing light show.

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Yesterday saw The Corrs (with added Irish jigs thrown in between their hits), then as a contrast The Sex p***ed Dolls (sometimes abbreviated to The Dolls in the running order). All female punk cover band with short skirts, hair extensions, and a lot of energy, can see them becoming a festival favourite.

Iggy Pop was really good, Richard Ashcroft was too (although had to miss the last 10 minutes of him due to stage clash so missed what I presume would have been Bitter Sweet Symphony) although whatever he is doing when he's gesticulating or otherwise communicating with his band was strangely irritating.

Having seen The Who before in Hyde Park, skipped them for Adam Ant (because unless they are your favourite band, anyone you see and really enjoyed should never been seen again, because they'll rarely ever be as good).

Adam Ant was great, his on-stage persona is as huge as one of his drummer's hair.

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Final night... Mike and The Mechanics good as always, though no Cuddley Toy this time around from Roachford. :( Still good though!

Ocean Colour Scene played the entire Mosley Shoals album which was great.

Queen + Adam Lambert were great (as you would expect) although I do find the stereotypical gay american thing a bit tiresome, but whilst Lambert was singing it was great.

And then jumping back to The Cribs, a band I'd never heard of, but so high up on the bill they should be good right? They seem to have been around for over 10 years, performing live, so must be a half decent or competent live act right?

No, absolutely without question the most awful live act I have ever seen in my entire life, by far, I can't even think of a close second. Dull music, average playing, dreadful out of tune singing, horrendous performance. It was like a local going-nowhere band that got their first gig in a pub and accidentally walked onto a festival stage after a wrong turn.

If you don't believe me...