What's the last gig you went to see?

[L CC]

Kosheen.

Never heard of them, but they are Bristol contemporaries of Portishead. More poppy than the latter, but quite interesting.

I was quite a big fan BITD. Thought they'd disbanded.

[Tim Hall]

Last night, a recording of the next two episodes of ISIHAC at Dorking Halls.

Fred McCauley, Lucy Porter, Milton Jones and Omid Djalili on the panel, guest appearances by both the Lovely Samantha and the Immaculate Sven.

I've been to a recording before, and as happened then, the first episode seemed to drag a bit and felt slightly forced. Second one was much better.

I doubt Lucy Porter's entry for "elixir" in the Uxbridge English Dictionary will make it to broadcast somehow.

Airing Monday 11 and 18 December, which is rapid.

[Paul]

Last night, a recording of the next two episodes of ISIHAC at Dorking Halls.

Fred McCauley, Lucy Porter, Milton Jones and Omid Djalili on the panel, guest appearances by both the Lovely Samantha and the Immaculate Sven.

I've been to a recording before, and as happened then, the first episode seemed to drag a bit and felt slightly forced. Second one was much better.

I doubt Lucy Porter's entry for "elixir" in the Uxbridge English Dictionary will make it to broadcast somehow.

Airing Monday 11 and 18 December, which is rapid.

I went to the Leicester recordings last month. My previous experience (Malvern 2021) was that it dragged towards the end, but the team in Leicester (including Tony Hawks and Richard Coles) were on sparkling form and the evening flew by.

£11. I don't think there's much better value.

[Paul]

Billy Bragg at Rock City on Saturday. Bloody awesome.

[spesh]

Last night, a recording of the next two episodes of ISIHAC at Dorking Halls.

Fred McCauley, Lucy Porter, Milton Jones and Omid Djalili on the panel, guest appearances by both the Lovely Samantha and the Immaculate Sven.

I've been to a recording before, and as happened then, the first episode seemed to drag a bit and felt slightly forced. Second one was much better.

I doubt Lucy Porter's entry for "elixir" in the Uxbridge English Dictionary will make it to broadcast somehow.

Presumably because it was an exercise in cunning linguistics, as it were... 

[Mr Larrington]

Billy Bragg at Rock City on Saturday. Bloody awesome.

Oh goody!  Miss von Brandenburg and I are seeing him on Thursday.

[Tim Hall]

Last night, a recording of the next two episodes of ISIHAC at Dorking Halls.

Fred McCauley, Lucy Porter, Milton Jones and Omid Djalili on the panel, guest appearances by both the Lovely Samantha and the Immaculate Sven.

I've been to a recording before, and as happened then, the first episode seemed to drag a bit and felt slightly forced. Second one was much better.

I doubt Lucy Porter's entry for "elixir" in the Uxbridge English Dictionary will make it to broadcast somehow.

Presumably because it was an exercise in cunning linguistics, as it were... 

Nail. Head. I suspect her rejoinder to Fred McCauley singing "We're no strangers to love. You know the rules and so do I"
of  "No anal" may suffer the same fate.

[jsabine]

Billy Bragg at Rock City on Saturday. Bloody awesome.

Oh goody!  Miss von Brandenburg and I are seeing him on Thursday.

Tomorrow at the Roundhouse ...

[Cudzoziemiec]

The Orb, in Brighton. Two hours of happy dancing, found some old friends. They seemed to be enjoying themselves too.
https://mastodon.social/@between_beyond/111516021146048392

Any good?

I've seen them on two or three occasions over 25 years and on one they were OK, one quite bad, and the other unspeakably awful. They are playing here in February, but it's £25 which is a lot to pay if they don't deliver.

A friend saw them in Leeds about a month ago and said they were great. Friend is deaf, so this is probably more of a recommendation for a night out in Leeds than the actual music.

[alfapete]

Billy Bragg at the shiny new Bristol Beacon which only reopened at the weekend (formerly known as the Colston Hall) and is very much improved.

The world would be a better place with more Billys in it. A forty minute film about his work followed by two and a quarter hours of musical and political passion, without a break. The encore was a performance of his entire first album (all 17 minutes of it) which ended with a rousing singalong of 'New England'. What a bloke.

[jsabine]

Well, he mentioned having been at Rock City, and he mentioned the Bristol Beacon, and apart from that tonight at the Roundhouse was pretty much like that^.

A good night out. Not sure he's entirely removed my jaded cynicism, but he had a damn good try, and just being in that crowd restored a bit of faith in humanity.

[Jaded]

Some Penguins...

These were at the Bristol Beacon. A very good gig, and the venue acoustics were outstanding.

I'd been a fan of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra since late 1970s, but had never seen them. This lot is Simon Jeffes' son and musicians playing as Penguin Cafe, so the beginning of the set was their new album. Lots of listenable tunes but none particularly memorable, unlike the second half of the gig which was full of PCO tunes and mesmerising.



(I wasn't on photo duty  )

[JonB]

Billy Bragg at the shiny new Bristol Beacon which only reopened at the weekend (formerly known as the Colston Hall) and is very much improved.

The world would be a better place with more Billys in it. A forty minute film about his work followed by two and a quarter hours of musical and political passion, without a break. The encore was a performance of his entire first album (all 17 minutes of it) which ended with a rousing singalong of 'New England'. What a bloke.

Sounds great, I clearly should have gone to this and just to mention that Adam Buxton had Billy Bragg on as his podcast guest a few weeks back - worth a listen.  Good to hear that the Beacon upgrade has worked out well.

[Jaded]

A stunning song

[Mr Larrington]

Another satisfied customer for Billy Bragg, this one at the Grand in Clapham.  Miss von Brandenburg has a copy of the setlist and, thanks to being accompanied by a semi-evolved long-armed munkeh, an early Christmas present in the form of one of Mr Bragg's plectrums.

[rafletcher]

Rich Hall (with Rob Childs) on his “Shot from Cannons” tour, at the Court Theatre, Pendley, near Tring, in a gig associated with the Tring Book Fair (where he was promoting his memoir “Nailed It”). Excellent.

[Jaded]

So, Mike Flowers was supporting Mari Wilson.

[Jaded]

Monday night was Kim Wilde night!

A show with a lot of favourite Christmas songs and then some Kim Wilde favourites. Accompanied by her brother and niece. A mellow but excellent show.

[Jaded]

And last night, another gratuitous Toby Lee photo,



followed by the great Geno Washington, who I hadn't locked out of the building 

[Mr Larrington]

Note Mr Lee's new guitar

[jsabine]

Lankum at the Roundhouse.

Oh. My. Word.

[citoyen]

Would very much like to see Lankum. But I was elsewhere tonight, at the Barbican for fellow Mercury nominees Jockstrap. Bloody brilliant they were too. They were accompanied by a string section and percussionist, and alongside his usual bank of synths, Taylor Skye had a grand piano and a harpsichord.

It’s Georgia’s voice that makes them special though, and she sounded incredible.

[citoyen]

Second gig night in a row last night - Warmduscher at the 100 Club, which could hardly be more of a contrast to the Barbican as a venue (but both iconic in their own ways).

I am physically wrecked this morning - haven't been this bruised after a gig for a long, long time. Mainly a result of getting bashed against the edge of the stage a lot - even got knocked over onto the stage a couple of times. At one point I was bundled over and my head came down on the guitarist's monitor so I got a blast straight into my left ear, which is still ringing this morning.

It was fucking awesome. Gig of the year by a country mile.

Probably my favourite band right now, and they are something else live. Only the second time I've seen them and the first was an in-store event at Rough Trade, so this was the first proper gig of theirs I've been to and they more than lived up to expectations. I doubt there's a tighter rhythm section anywhere in rock music right now than Ben Romans Hopcraft (bass) and Bleu Ottis (drums). And Clams Baker is an extraordinary front man. Turns it up waaaay past 11.

Support was pretty good too - Industry Standard, who are yet another one of the current wave of "post punk bands with a shouty singer", but they are very decent musicians with some great songs (and great song titles - eg Rapey Bobby, Grief Shag), and the frontwoman whose name I didn't catch has fantastic stage presence.


Industry Standard @ 100 Club by citoyen, on Flickr


Industry Standard @ 100 Club by citoyen, on Flickr

[Jaded]

Would very much like to see Lankum. But I was elsewhere tonight, at the Barbican for fellow Mercury nominees Jockstrap. Bloody brilliant they were too. They were accompanied by a string section and percussionist, and alongside his usual bank of synths, Taylor Skye had a grand piano and a harpsichord.

It’s Georgia’s voice that makes them special though, and she sounded incredible.

That Jockstrap gig got a rare 5 star review in The Times today.

[citoyen]

Would very much like to see Lankum. But I was elsewhere tonight, at the Barbican for fellow Mercury nominees Jockstrap. Bloody brilliant they were too. They were accompanied by a string section and percussionist, and alongside his usual bank of synths, Taylor Skye had a grand piano and a harpsichord.

It’s Georgia’s voice that makes them special though, and she sounded incredible.

That Jockstrap gig got a rare 5 star review in The Times today.

Interesting. It was a bit special. Had no idea what to expect beforehand but the choice of venue meant it was never going to be an ordinary gig. Would love to see them with a full orchestra and backing vocals.