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Memorable 20th Century gigs: “The internet says No”.

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Do you remember any great gigs from the 1980s and 90s that you can’t trace via the world wide web? Do you ever get the feeling you’ve imagined a gig? I’ve tried “Setlist FM” and other archive artist sites. Can you recall any of the following: Steve Winwood at Lancaster University? A Festival at, or near, Nostell Priory, Wakefield featuring Tom Robinson and George Hamilton IV; a year or two after the 1982 Theakston’s free Jethro Tull, Lindisfarne, Marillion festival. Chick Corea at Manchester Free Trade Hall? Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel and the Furious Five at Lancaster Sugar House, following their hit “White Lines”?

Your Best Night Out of 2023

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We’ve had albums and TV, and I dare say books and films are to come, so what were your best nights out of the year? Thanks to my desktop calendar I know my list includes 34 nights out including the occasional afternoon matinee, with 2 more to come (The Unthanks winter tour at Earth in Hackney on Sunday and The Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House on the Saturday before Christmas).

The largest category is gigs with 14 and my highlights of the year were Peat and Diesel at Chinnery’s in Southend on Sea and The Unthanks reprising 3 early albums in an all-dayer at The Barbican in London. Apart from both fitting the broad category of folk music there is not much to link Peat and Diesel’s sweatbox-singalong-ceilidh and the dark Northumbrian broodings of the Unthanks but they were equally rewarding in their own way, and both sent me home transported by the power of live music.

Comedy is next with 9 entries, and the funniest thing I saw all year was Ross Noble being interviewed for Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast. Ross is the funniest man alive, and his improvisation technique meant that wherever it started the » Continue Reading.

Baby it’s cold out there…on ticket sales at the grassroots

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A fair few of us here are in some way ‘involved’ with the grassroots live music scene – whether folk or jazz clubs, grassroots venues or a bit of promoting that artist we know and love in our hometown. In the dynamic tickets thread there was a comment about ticketmaster pricing for yer big gigs impacting on sales lower down the food chain. From the things I’m involved in….

1. Artists and agents are still cautious. There’s both a lot of acts wanting to tour, and not enough of the acts that you’d jump to put in the programme.

2. For events with a pre-COVID comparator we are on average 25-33% down on pre-COVID levels. This is not uniform, and gigs with an appeal to the under-thirties are doing fine…

3. Conversely, gigs where the core audience was over fifty are really suffering. With several very high-calibre artists we’ve said we’ve been slightly disappointed at the audience we’ve got, only to hear it’s the best attendance of the tour.

So this is a bit of rant/therapy session thread. I’d love to hear from others what it’s like out there – good, bad or ugly No need for names, musings on » Continue Reading.

My First gig and a ramble down C90 lane.

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So I know that all of you caught the Pistols in Manchester, saw Led Zeppelin in 1968 when they were billed as the New Yardbirds, Beatles at the Cavern, etc. Me?

The Spinners, the UK ones with the yellow smocks. It would have been at some point between 1975-77 at Bristol Colston Hall. They played in the round, because I can clearly remember a guy behind them yelling furiously while they were singing “Deep Blue Sea” – I don’t believe he was overcome with emotion, just a little disturbed – he was gently led away. Perhaps it was the blue light they switched on for that song? This is the only real detail I can remember from the night beyond them standing in a thin yellow line. I was about 5 or 6 at the time, so I would probably have enjoyed “The Rambler”, “D-Day Dodgers” and “Everybody Loves Saturday Night” if they played those as they were my favourites.

Prior to this, music was a mysterious thing held on plastic C90 cassettes that frequently regurgitated their spool into the guts of my dad’s expensive looking “separates” system – two cassette decks, amp and tuner, but no turntable (it’s » Continue Reading.

Pixies klaxon

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New album in the works and gigs in Cardiff, Plymouth, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, London, Newcastle, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast and Dublin. 02 holders can do the presale, everyone else its 10am tomorrow. See you at the Brum gig.

London advice sought

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Hello all,

In February, my Family and I are spending a few days in the Smoke. We’re looking to see School of Rock in the sparkling West End. I liked the movie and my son’s is performing in his school’s version of it next year. My question is re snagging some tickets. Is it worth waiting until we’d down there and trying to get theme when we’re there (for a discounted price) or, given that we’ll need 4, is that a bit risky? What about outlets? Are some better than others? or am I best use the venue’s official box office?

On a similar matter, I have a pass to go out myself to a gig one night. Can someone send a link to a listing of gigs that I can filter my day/ genre. I’ve had a look at the various O2 venues for the nights I’m there but nothing particularly up my street. Or… any recommendation welcome. I’m there from the 11th to the 15th.

Thanks in advance.

What’s the deal with misleading YouTube live footage?

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We had a jolly time at Folk by the Oak yesterday, which is a terrific day out if you like your festivals over and done with in a single day so you can be in your own bed by midnight. This morning I went looking for clips on YouTube and found the same thing I have found after other recent gigs – videos which claim to be of that event but are patently fake, and loads of them too.

I don’t click on them because they are so obviously bogus, but what’s the deal here? Would I be sent to a link where I would be asked to enter my bank details to watch or something like that? And as this is, I’m assuming, some sort of scam, or at the very least sneak advertising, why does YouTube permit it on such a scale?

How is your gig diary shaping up for 2017?

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Now that there is just a hint of spring in the air, and those of us who work office hours are leaving work in daylight, the dormant gig-goer shuffles uneasily from his hibernation and raises his snout to sniff the air. Yes, he thinks, it may be time to think about ‘going out’ again.

I can see that my booked events fall into three chronological groups. March is all about spoken word with front row tickets for Ross Noble on his Brain Dump tour (which will be the third time we have seen him in about 12 months), and favourite author Christopher Priest making a rare public appearance for an interview at the local book festival. I’ve loved Priest’s work since discovering The Prestige on a second hand bookstall more than 30 years ago, but have never met him. We also have an application in for a recording with David Sedaris for the BBC. We’ve applied before but been unlucky, so fingers crossed on that one.

Things then take a folky hue as spring turns into summer with Kathryn Williams at Canada Water in April, The Unthanks at Deptford in May, Fairport’s 50th birthday bash at Union Chapel, also in » Continue Reading.

Pugwash on Tour

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Pugwash are ace. I first saw them at one of the first Word in Your Ear gigs, which was the first time I met the lovely Hannah and a few of you here as well as Mark Ellen and David Hepworth and also Dave Gregory from XTC who played a couple of numbers with them. I had a good chat with Thomas Walsh after the gig who was just a fecking legend and gave me most of the back catalogue to take home and I’ve been a firm fan ever since. Their most recent LP ‘Play This Intimately (As if Among Friends)’ is a thing of perfectly crafted wonderment and they’re currently on tour. They may well be coming to your town – so if you’re near Hebden Bridge, Leicester, Frome, Dundee, Hayfield go see ’em. P.S. They’re also playing Glasgow and somewhere called Islington. Some US dates too. Do not miss.

https://www.songkick.com/artists/518699-pugwash

Anyone up to get Augernised?

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Brian Auger is gigging the UK in early November. Fans of the, er, sound of the swelling organ and post-mod positivity up for it? I’m intending to see them in that London at the Jazz Cafe.

And yes, I didn’t know of John Prescott’s prowess on the organ, either. You’re not looking so young, yourself.

Luna on tour

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I read last week that Luna are on their last (reunion) tour now. See link for details. Annoyingly, they are not coming anywhere near mainland Europe. Is there any Afterworder who has gone/is going to see them? It would be good at least to read if they were as good as I remember them – one of my favourite bands.

http://deanwareham.com/shows

So who’s in your gig diary?

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An unusual flurry of activity in the Night’s Out section, including a post from me, reminds us that the warmer weather often brings more gigs, both indoor and outdoor, so who have you got lined up?

It’s looking like a folkie year for us, with Fairport, the one day Folk by the Oak festival and Carthy and Swarbrick in the next few months. To that list you can add David Sedaris, Carmen at the ENO, and, way off in December, a second Unthanks gig to follow up their Folk by the Oak appearance (Come on – it’s The Unthanks, Union Chapel, and Christmas – you have to make an effort to see that combination, don’t you?)

Sadly Richard Thompson has elected to play his London trio gig on the weekend that the Light and I are likely to be taking her daughter to the other end of England to start university, otherwise he’d be at the top of my list.

And you … ?

Elizabeth, Above the Tree & Maurizio Abate – tonight in Peckham Rye?

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Anybody fancy coming along to this?

Elizabeth is a rather lovely semi-ambient offshoot of Nope, and the other stuff looks pretty interesting – and all for a mere five of your English pounds.

http://www.theninespeckham.co.uk/event-calender/2015/3/9/38b-presents-maurizio-abate-above-the-tree-elizabeth

http://www.theninespeckham.co.uk/event-calender/2015/3/9/38b-presents-maurizio-abate-above-the-tree-elizabeth

Who you going to see?

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Talking about Duke Garwood on another thread made me remember how much I used to like reading about the gigs people had coming up. To kick it off the thread, I did Afghan Whigs at Koko in London a few weeks ago and have tickets for: Benjamin Booker – Village Underground, London, March 2 Wilko Johnson – The Junction, Cambridge, March 6 James Chance and Les Contortions – Cafe Oto, London, March 10 ( I’m not familiar with Les’s work but I hear good things) Vintage Trouble – Koko, London, March 31 Duke Garwood – St Pancras Old Church, London, April 16 Wilko Johnson – Shepherds Bush Empire, London, April 26

I’m 50 this year and plan to get out and about a bit more. What about you lot?