David Byrne & St. Vincent @ Birmingham Symphony Hall, 28/08/13

This week, I took a trip down to the Birmingham Symphony Hall to see David Byrne play - since I've moved out to the countryside, every gig is a decent distance away, but that means that I get to go to a hotel and turn each gig night into an 'experience' - it's expensive, but it makes every event into something a bit more unique. Famed solo avant-guardian and lead singer of the '70s band Talking Heads, Byrne's currently touring a new record that he produced with St. Vincent (A.K.A. Annie Clark), an experimental artist in her own right.

A couple of years ago, I went with my friend to see This Must Be The Place, a rather aimless film starring Sean Penn and David Byrne. It launched my friend into a protracted obsession with Byrne, whose richly varied musical career is still delighting her now - from slightly unnerving punk track 'Psycho Killer' to chart-pop sensation 'Lazy', Byrne has written something in almost every genre in the Western world, so I can understand why he'd retain amazement for so long. On Love This Giant, his release with St. Vincent, he draws on jazz, funk, ska and old-school minimalism by employing a full brass band to play pop songs, and the result sounds a lot like this:

The band, a choreographed team of brass and woodwind musicians alongside a drummer and a keyboard player, broke into 'Who' as soon as Byrne had made his first wisecrack of the night. The Symphony Hall can prove too huge for a lot of rock and pop, voices and subtleties lost in the huge space, but Byrne and Clark's big-band tracks filled the room without hassle. As they worked their way through a two hour set, not even needing support bands to get everyone going, the crowd became more and more enthused, calling them on for two separate encores at the end. Here's the setlist:

The instrumentation and songwriting on Love this Giant definitely leave David Byrne firmly in his old category as one of the established avant-garde, but that isn't necessarily a comfortable collocation. 'Avant-garde' is about newness, but also about rebellion and challenge to what's gone before. Seeing the album performed live, the level of choreography and onstage organisation made me yearn for spontaneity. On the one hand, David Byrne and St. Vincent make music which is genreless, music I couldn't really compare to anything else right now, yet the performance was all very establishment-friendly - it would never get a bad review in the Guardian, because it follows the rule book on "How to Break the Rules"; i.e., though it was musically thrilling and fresh, it was hosted at an elite venue, followed a rigidly traditional show structure, showcased new talent without challenging the supremacy of the "star", and accepted a formal set of dress codes for its line-up. From talking to people afterwards, it seemed that many people loved the show as much as the music, but I felt it could have been a little more surprising. Still, that's no reason to critique the show too heavily: it was brilliantly played, the musicians were likeable, the hall had perfect acoustics and it was nigh-on impossible to get bored.

My favourite tracks of the night were 'Burning Down the House' and 'Cheerleader', written by Byrne and Clark respectively. The former got the whole audience dancing in the aisles, with a grand cheer rising from the hall as soon as these opening chords rang out from the stage. The latter, 'Cheerleader', was excellently performed live, building up to an epic and memorable chorus which stuck in my mind long after the concert had ended.

It's great to hear David Byrne contributing new music to the world, but it was possibly even better to help my friend's dreams come true afterwards by (reluctantly) agreeing to stage-door the man himself. 90% of the crowd had come to the gig for David Byrne, but only about 1% turned up to meet him afterwards, and by the time he came out onto Broad Street (of all streets!), only about 0.5% remained. So we got a peremptory glance from David Byrne and a moment of his time. My friend was so excited that she did a little dance - our relationships with our heroes are unfathomable sometimes. Nevertheless, if you get the chance to see David Byrne or St. Vincent, they're really worth the trip out (and in my case, the grotty hotel).

Bright Eyes @ HMV Institute Birmingham, 8th July 2011

Okay, it's no secret that I love Bright Eyes. Bright Eyes fans, particularly in America, have a reputation for being hipsters, for posting on forums that Conor Oberst is "sooo cute and fragile". I don't buy into the cute and fragile thing, I think it's a bit of a façade, but there's no doubt that he is a very productive, talented and versatile songwriter.

Last week I spurned the Big 4 at Sonisphere to see Bright Eyes live, on the balcony at the HMV Institute. The band were supported by Jenny and Johnny, a melodic duo who were interesting for several songs, but faded into the background pretty quickly. Bright Eyes came on and the crowd, kind of Bohemian and only sparsely dotted with obligatory drunks, instantly cheered. It was a supportive crowd - through 'Land-Locked Blues', one of the highlights of the evening, there was cheering and intensity at every relevant pause.

They played the above set, with songs from a range of his best albums. However, I've never known how to feel about the emotional content of Bright Eyes lyrics, and by the third or fourth song, I was pretty much decided that I didn't like it. Conor Oberst was a lot more extroverted than I expected, a lot less of a folky, the music heavier. I liked it, but the gentle persona in the singer's lyrics and the almost arrogant persona onstage seemed to contradict one another, and gave the package an aura of falseness.

By the end, though, I had changed my mind. It was one of the first times I've seen a band that really seem to feel their songs live. Conor's miming may be silly sometimes, but there isn't a syllable he sings on autopilot - he's very involved with his songs, and that makes the whole thing really dynamic. At the end, they played 'One For You, One For Me', not one of the best from The People's Key, but incredible live: Conor managed to preach peace and love without sounding like a nu-hippy, and when he hugged that front row, it really felt like he was hugging the whole audience. The artist/audience connection was electric.

If his onstage/offstage personality dichotomy is anything to go by, he is a good actor, but it still felt real. And that's the illusion of live music, live theatre, isn't it? You don't have to be completely honest to make your point.

Musically, they were fantastic, as I knew they would be, and the trumpet really added something, particularly in 'Lover I Don't Have To Love', which is one of my favourite songs. It added a lot of atmosphere, as if the gig needed more.

This was one of the best gigs I've been to in a while, mostly because it was intense and yet full of energy and passion. I may not be into the whole fragility thing that Conor Oberst has going, but I can see that he writes and sings in gold most of the time, and Bright Eyes is one of the best of his brilliant projects, bolstered by fantastic musicians and personalities in the rest of the band.

Young Knives @ Birmingham Academy 2, 19th May 2011

It's been ages since I went to a proper gig. Too long. The last concert I went to was Kerry Ellis and Brian May at the Royal Albert Hall, and I was planning to write it up on here, but it was so self-indulgent, I couldn't get complimentary words together. Not that it wasn't well-played, well put together... but it began with an hour of songs from musical theatre (?!), and it was for charity, meaning that the unpaid performers tried to drop their own names in often enough to make up, in self-promotion, for their lack of earning that night. Brian May was legendary, Kerry Ellis was talented, but it all felt a little too glamorous to be a gig. It was a concert.

So, a proper gig. Compared to the ornate ostentatiousness of the Royal Albert Hall, the momentousness of 100 mile motorway drives and £50, this ten pound gig could have been seen as a 'step down', but it really wasn't for me. Opening it were some hipsters from London, dancing around as if to a much bigger audience, but I guess you have to start somewhere. (Perhaps it's wiser to start by publicising your name, but okay.)

Following these were The Neat, a band from Hull who sounded like Sonic Youth in all but their vocals, which were more like Vampire Weekend's caws and calls. It wasn't unpleasant, but repetitive, and oddly out of place opening for Young Knives. When finally they did come on, it was to a small crowd of generally geeky early twenties blokes, all of whom clearly identify with their future selves on stage.


Young Knives were hilarious, as well as captivating in their performance. I found myself maniacally smiling throughout most of the songs, caught by every witty turn of phrase in their lyrics, with their between-song jokes lingering in my memory as they churned out the energetic, angular riffs they're famous for.

Well, I say famous. As Henry said, "Here's our last single 'Love My Name', which we hoped would make us incredibly rich. We thought it could rival the Kings of Leons and Coldplays of this world."

"I want a sports car," House of Lords added.

"Yes, unfortunately we discovered that to get that big, you have to be really boring."

It's true. There was never a dull moment, never dull enough to melt into the background that so many people seem resigned to being part of anyway. The highlight was definitely 'Hot Summer (Weekends and Bleak Days)', partly because they were so chuffed to play it ("this is our favourite song to play, because it reminds us of when we were young. And handsome.") and because we were chuffed to hear it ("thank you. We're glad you like that one. We really need you.")

A good night was had by all, I reckon, even if the new Academy 2 is a bit generic.

Babyshambles @ Birmingham Academy, 19/12/09

If I was expecting some kind of Christmas theme (and I was), then the only Christmassy thing about yesterday night was the freezing cold. Despite this, the queue was twenty strong half way through the afternoon, but I chose not to join it because I wanted to be able to move by the time it came to go into the gig...

Amidst a few Santa hats and a lot of good cheer in the crowd, the first band on were The Scuzzies: a bad band name for a bad band. Four chords, strung together under a pair of average voices, in the typical way of indie punk at the moment, and perhaps always. Not impressed. The second support was a band called Gaoler's Daughter, which features 'ex-members of Larrikin Love, Littl'ans, No Picasso and Letters From London', and so makes up a collective of faces you know-you-ought-to-remember-but-don't. They were much better than the first band, with some juicy chords and interesting rhythms. They released an album recently, and it sounds like it might be quite good.

Babyshambles took their time, the crowd doing what they always do given a late Babyshambles arrival: asking fraught unanswerable questions. "Is he here? How much longer? Is he still on the drugs?" When they did come out, Pete seemed compos mentis, and it seemed they had a much better time than in March. The review I gave the 25th March Peter Doherty solo gig was mainly a review on the drunken masses in the crowd, but last night there were no such problems where I was standing, middle back. Everyone enjoyed themselves and sang along.

Edit this setlist | More Babyshambles setlists

The highlights for me were: Stranger in my Own Skin, a new one previewed on Pete Doherty's Youtube channel which the crowd responded well to; Pipedown, with grittiness and bitterness and loud, angry chords enough to fill the decade; I Wish, because the crowd ordered it with their familiar shouting of the riff, and then it was played with great crowd participation (of course); Albion, because Peter knew almost every suburb and town outside Birmingham and listed them, to the crowd's immense appreciation, and finally, the glorious Fuck Forever, still played with all the anthemic soul which defined it in 2005.

Sedative was a let-down live, being one of my favourite Shambles songs and a beautiful little masterpiece all round. It lost some of its warmth and tenderness live, and the harmonica didn't work, I thought. That was the only song I was disappointed by, and the whole gig was just so much better than Peter Doherty in March. I think everyone on stage had a better time too, and they were decidedly not a shambles, to add to the overuse of the bad pun. It ended on curfew at ten (Babyshambles being so hardcore they don't conform to non-conformity), and the crowd poured out of the new Academy to snow.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year all round - thus ends my first year of music blogging.

8/10

The Cribs @ Birmingham Academy, 2/12/09

The New Academy opened its doors just a few months ago, and this is the first gig I've been to there. It's further out of Birmingham's centre, and the underpass you have to go through to get to it from town would be a pretty scary place to spend any amount of time. Across the road is a shop with juxtapositional 'Kwality' in the name, and an Adult Shop - all a little intimidating. The Dome is a building of strange architecture, the main entrance overhung by the upper floors, but the door to the usual venue out along one side of the building, looking more like a side entrance. The building itself on the outside is brown, dirty enough to rival the old Academy, and it came pre-adorned with lumps of chewing gum and damp drippy patches under each window.

Inside it's a different story - they have decorated it and arranged it in a similar way to the other Academy, only the balconies are seated now and it's much cleaner and more plush inside. All in all, despite the rather exposed and scuzzy outside for queueing, which wasn't much better at the old venue, this Academy gets the seal of approval.

The first band on at The Cribs was a three-piece punk/indie band called Sky Larkin. They were charming, the female frontperson with stage presence and real talent, for singing and the guitar, although she missed a few notes vocally here and there. She was definitely in it for the music, confused wolf whistlers eyeing up the female roadie and then realising she was in the band. I like that, there's everything right with it, but I liked their music even more - angular, punky but thoughtful rock music. A lot of good noise for three people too, and the drummer was fabulous to watch for the funny faces. The second band on were the much-hyped Los Campesinos!, who had about eight band members on stage at once, give or take an instrumentalist. They had a violinist, an unusual feature, and a flotist-keyboard player. If only they had someone who could properly sing. It was all trying a little too hard, though the sounds they made were quite nice, like a cross between something left-field indie with Hadouken!

The Cribs came on at about twenty to ten. They opened with The Wrong Way to Be, often a closer, but good to hear either way. Ryan asked the crowd if they were 'old-school fans', and then rather sarcastically asked what we counted as old school, third album or before? Obviously the crowd didn't like that, and all cheered for album number one, whether they knew it or not.

The whole evening was a Wichita party, with all three bands signed to the indie label that nudged The Cribs into the limelight, and Gary proclaiming "Fuck the meehjurs" half way through the gig. The Cribs played a very good set, and Tweeted later that 132 people had gone over the barrier in that gig, crowdsurfers or otherwise. (Ryan's asking-fer-it "where have all the crowdsurfers gone?" obviously sparked some ideas in slightly drunk lads' heads.)

Anyway, the set lasted just over an hour, containing highlights of the slower B-side Get Your Hands Out of My Grave, one I never thought I'd see live, and I actually worked out the words, Be Safe with Lee Ranaldo on the projection screen which will never fail to entertain me, City of Bugs because it was at the end and the twins did the extremely appealing "ramming the guitars up the amps" thing for our dilectation. Other songs in the set were Another Number, Direction, Cheat on Me, We Were Aborted, Hari Kari, Emasculate Me, Ignore the Ignorant, Save Your Secrets, Nothing, Our Bovine Public, Men's Needs, I'm a Realist, Hey Scenesters! and Mirror Kissers.

Very good, but because I was pushed further and further to the right of the barrier (my fault for where I stood) and because there seemed to be energy lacking in the performance (don't know why), it wasn't as good as the Leamington Spa gig in October.

7/10

Kasabian @ Birmingham NIA, 19/11/09

What could you expect of a Kasabian gig? I'd have said last week, lighters aloft singalongs, a sprinkling of girls at the barrier Serge-side and a Hell of a lot of testosterone.

I wasn't wrong. The crowd was extremely male, but I stayed out of the crowd of stags at the front anyway, at least when Kasabian came on. Supporting them were Reverend and the Makers, of 'Heavyweight Champion of the World' fame. I like the Rev, but he was full of male bravado and his keyboard player (and wife, I believe?) was gyrating and wiggling around in a roll-eyes-provoking manner. They were okay, but it was all a bit chauvinist and repetitive, despite the Reverend's nice opinions on war and politics (see Love Music Hate Racism and Instigate Debate).

Kasabian put on a proper show, even before they set foot on stage. On big screens either side of the stage, disturbing stories of lunatics (from album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum) were played, and then a siren rang out, accompanied by a pulsating red light above the stage. All the roadies wore white coats reading 'SANE', so it was quite eerie when a man wearing a 'WEST RYDER' stamped coat wandered on, swinging an incense burner, before a countdown to the show. It was all very atmospheric.

From the back of the standing area, the music was the perfect volume to get under your skin, the bass sending sound vibrations through your feet, but no destruction of your eardrums (usually my favourite part of a gig, but it was nice to end without ringing ears for once.) The show was a real show, lighters aloft during The Doberman, a proper set behind the band, and massive confetti showers at the end. Never have I seen so many butch men dancing.

They played all the hits, though setlist.fm doesn't have the list of what they played yet. There was a while in the middle where they were playing 'bar songs', a little flood of bored people going to get beer, but that was possibly the only flat part of the evening, with everyone streaming out of the gig at the end singing the L.S.F. riff at full volume through Birmingham.

'COMFORT THE DISTURBED. DISTURB THE COMFORTED'

8/10

Franz Ferdinand @ Wolverhampton Civic Hall, 19/10/09

Growing up in the Midlands, if I spend any amount of time in a local town at all, I leave disappointed. The Midlands is the county of litter, obesity and unemployment. Wolverhampton, however, has escaped the fate of being Just Another Horrible Image in my Youth through its three popular music venues: The Civic Hall, The Wulfrun Hall and The Little Civic (RIP, you were one of my favourites.) Last Monday saw another great gig at The Civic Hall - Franz Ferdinand.

The band spent time before the gig wandering round Wolves, being stalked by my mildly obsessive friend, and airing the bands' families. Doors opened at 7, and support came on at about 8. Music Go Music, they were called - a band name considerably worse than their music. They launched into a revamp of the classical classic 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' by Grieg (a song which soundtracked my two-year-old nightmares, and is more commonly known as 'that Alton Towers music'.) Everyone wanted to know more by then, hyped up by amusement, and a stick-thin female singer appeared onstage. Their next few tracks were well-played, well-sung, up-tempo pop tunes, with a rock edge. It was retro, but with a modern edge: I liked it very much, though it got a little samey throughout.

I did like the moment when someone shouted something undoubtedly sexist from the crowd, more than a pet peeve of mine, and the lead singer, apparently called 'Gala Bell', said "I'm sorry, what was that?", and another man called "You don't wanna know." Thumbs up, whoever you were.

Anyway, Franz Ferdinand only have one support it seems, so the band we were waiting for was on at about five past nine, playing a visual, energetic set, with covers and past B-sides, until ten. They went through their very entertaining art-school moves, even after all these years seeming to be enjoying themselves more than the crowd. The encore was quite long, started with Paul the drummer slinging his shirt off like a man possessed, the band finishing their onstage glasses of wine, and Alex giving the crowd even more sultry eyes than usual, through his new fringe.

Here's what they played:

Don't ask me what The Scottish Song was. I have no idea.

Again, a great gig, though I got a little bored during the last two songs. Despite their brilliance, both of the extended endings went on a little long - one of the two tracks would have been better. The throwing of the drumsticks was a ritual made more fun though - Alex leaned forward and threw it to my friend, who he knew is an Excitable Fan, but she didn't get it; on seeing this, he threw the second one specifically at her too, which she did get. He has her hooked for life now, no escape.

Because of my friend, we hung around for a while afterwards, but they'd apparently left the moment the gig had finished, so there was no meeting them. I just wanted to get home at that point though, despite how much fun I'd had in the gig. Singing along to Franz turbo riffs is tiring work, especially when they stick 'Ulysses', 'Bite Hard' and 'Michael' one after the other.

8/10

The Cribs @ Leamington Spa Assembly, 8/10/09

Selling signed vinyls and limited edition CDs before a gig is such a Cribs thing to do. Every step of the way, the Cribs have been a live band in touch with what their fans want - amps turned 'up to 11', good music and lots and lots of memorabilia. I got myself a signed CD and a Cribs shirt, and then nestled into the young crowd at the front, taking in the awesome OTT decoration of The Assembly at Leamington Spa - golden orgies of cherubs against massive blue walls next to classical balustrades and art deco stained-glass windows. A very atmospheric and original venue to say the least, although impossible to get out of due to millions of flights of stairs.

The first band on were the Cribs' compatriots and friends Shrag. I liked them - they really did resemble Comet Gain - but the female singers had broken glass voices which began to get on the nerves after few songs. The music behind them was repetitive but enjoyable pop-noise. If that makes any sense at all.

Adam Green was next. What a riot. Whatever Adam Green was on, be it ecstasy, red bull or just life, it made him manic, running about and dancing, and therefore impossible to photograph. He came into the crowd... five times? And each time he threw himself in and got carried so far back that no more arms were available to carry him. The music was better than I'd expected - lots of guitar noise, super-speed drumming and hilarious lyrics. Adam Green. Perfect support, he got us all laughing and clapping along, and dedicated Superstar Blues to Queen Victoria.

The Cribs. Kate Nash watched from the sidelines, and the supports were lured out to the sides to join her as the noise started up. They played a selection from all of their albums, although the two most recent had the most focus. Setlist:

The highlights of the night for me were: Hey Scenesters! because it's always a mass sing-along, mass bop-along track; Another Number for the most singable riff in history, and the fact that it's such a classic, not a person in the venue wasn't soaring on its simplicity by the end; Be Safe because Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth was speaking his wonderful monologue on a projection on the back wall, and because it's Be Safe; and City of Bugs, the final song, which ended in a cacophony of noise with all four members of the Cribs doing something detrimental to their instruments, and Adam Green dancing at the side.

Great gig - it's a shame that Cribs don't do encores but that's the way it is. Nice venue, good crowd, wonderful music. It's the best way to spend an evening.

9/10

The Cribs @ Kerrang! Radio, 3/09/09

2 years. I've been waiting to see The Cribs, manic indie-punk Yorkshiremen, for 2 years. They've always evaded me, somehow; my first Cribs experience was definitely worth the wait.

At just past 1 o' clock, 50 people were gathered in Kerrang! Radio's Birmingham studio, having won a competition (we had to guess what song was played backwards, and it was, as it always is, Men's Needs.) 'Johnny Marrman and the Jarmans' took to the tiny tiny stage to a wave of cheers from a mixed crowd - some of us were Cribs fans, and others generic competition winners.

The setlist was short and sweet. The brothers Jarman and their esteemed colleague kicked off with excellent We Were Aborted, the first song they ever wrote together. The second song was We Share The Same Skies, a rather tender track (for the Jarmans) with added Marr twinkle. Hari Kari was next, another faster number, and then City Of Bugs, a track with lots of distortion that sounds a little like Be Safe from the third album Men's Needs, Women's Needs Whatever (2007), minus Lee Ranaldo (of Sonic Youth, who guested on Be Safe). Finally, they ended with current single, and probably weakest track, Cheat On Me.

The playing was a Hell of a lot less shambolic than I expected; I think Johnny keeps the band together musically, and adds depth and shine that covers up the Jarmans' sometimes messy playing styles. The atmosphere was unusual with there being only 50 people, but not bad. The band spoke a few times, once to say they'd been out in Birmingham the night before, so it was 'too early' for them, and once to sardonically say we'd probably all illegally downloaded these 'unheard tracks' anyway.

Afterwards, they signed and chatted and took photographs with friendliness. Ross was talkative, Johnny Marr was highly sought after for signatures, and the twins differed considerably in the strength of their handshakes. I asked Johnny "Do you sign things you weren't on", producing The Cribs album, to which he replied "Yeah, if it's good I'll sign it. The Beatles, Nirvana...". Gary (looking tanned and a little exceptional) mentioned my Sonic Youth shirt, at which I remarked I loved Lee on Be Safe. Ryan signed The Cribs and told me it was 'well old school', and then I got the photo below. Very very nice day.



9/10

Blur @ Wolverhampton Civic Hall, 24/06/09

It took me a while to register that this was actually happening when four of my idols sauntered onstage last week. I haven't recovered from the initial shock. There had been a complicated preshow bar system with all sorts of inside-queueing and confusion, so when I got to the front and saw four brilliant people all together on one stage, it was dreamlike. It was the best place to be to witness the brilliance of a Blur reunion first hand.

Two supports, local band Tukazon and Klaxons-esque electro-rock band The Magistrates, had kicked it off. Neither were exceptional, but neither got boring as they only had twenty minute sets. Blur came on at the early time of quarter to nine, to frenetic pogoing as the opening chords of She's So High rang out in the 5000-capacity venue. The crowd were fantastic: stadium-worthy singalongs and mass jumping ensued.

Alex James stood like a prize on the right hand side of the stage, posing coyly for photographs, flicking his hair and moving his hips. They'd all lost weight for the tour and looked at their youngest and best for years. Damon Albarn's energy was contagious; after the subdued poise of The Good, The Bad & The Queen, suits and hats aplenty, he seemed pleased and relieved to be back on a stage where he could charge around, stage dive and berate the crowd for not singing loudly enough. At one point he changed shoes because he was slipping around everywhere, to a crowd chant of "Damon! Damon!" that soon turned into a round of all the band members' names.



The setlist was vaguely chronological, with tracks from the shunned first album Leisure, the underrated second album Modern Life Is Rubbish and the famed third album Parklife played near the beginning. The first pause for breath came during Badhead, the crowd surprisingly nonchalant considering the song's delicate charm. The full setlist can be found here, two encores and all. Highlights of the night for me were Beetlebum, which was epic live, especially with that sultry bassline, Sunday Sunday with its manic second half, Parklife, which was sped up to a ridiculous tempo and punkified beyond recognition (Phil Daniels never turned up, sadly), Tender for the crowd participation, This Is A Low for the pure rapture, and of course, The Universal.



The Universal was just superb. It was the final song of the night, after Blur playing almost 2 hours, and the band buzzed with the most amazing positive vibe: they got a standing ovation on the balcony, and at the end, the whole band just stood without their instruments, grinning and lapping up the applause they fully deserved. It was fifteen years ago again, four men youthful and vibrant (despite the thinning hair and wedding rings), four kindred spirits, back together to have another go at it. Thank fuck.

I got a plectrum and Dave's signature afterwards, though teetotallers Alex James and Graham Coxon left early, and Damon rushed out, rightfully shattered after a fantastic gig. Really worth the wait, considering I never thought it would happen. I hope for a bright and Blurry future.

9/10

Maxïmo Park @ Birmingham Academy, 19/05/09

I left this gig high, with the impression that the crowd had loved the show almost as much as I had, from the cheering and calling Maxïmo back on for an extended encore. However, all I overheard on the journey home were comments about how average it had been.

So that's my 'taking-other-people's-opinions-into-account' quota met. Personally, I thought they were pretty good. While putting up posters before the gig with my friend (who works at the Academy) I saw Lukas Wooller eating his dinner in the Academy canteen. I feigned nonchalance, as my friend could lose his job for approaching band members, it's against the rules...but Lukas could see from my Maxïmo Park shirt and vaguely starstruck expression that I had noticed him. We also saw Duncan Lloyd wandering rather aimlessly around on the balcony, exploring the venue maybe, or just lost. It was a little dreamlike, but I'm not usually one to 'freak out' on seeing my favourite musicians. An uttered 'God, it's Duncan as well' sufficed.

The support acts were both average. Stricken City up first sounded a little like Florence & The Machine, and the songs were okay but repetitive. I wasn't struck (pun intended). The second support were Bombay Bicycle Club, a band I've heard of and have been told I should like. I wasn't too impressed though, they could play their guitars but they chose not to in many tracks; the lead singer looked like he was on some kind of hallucinagenic stimulant and the bassist looked like he was on some kind of sedative. The crowd seemed to like it though, there were chants of "BBC!" and cheering.

Maxïmo Park launched into The Coast Is Always Changing at about half past nine, and the crowd were having a good time. I was about 2 rows back, but the front row were unusually tall so I couldn't see much. All the same, I could see Paul Smith with his dramatic facial expressions and Lukas with his rigid dancing behind the keyboard. (Sometimes I think Paul's just in a band so he can dance like a man possessed: he'd probably get chucked out of a club for scaring the clientele, but he's allowed to do it when he's the frontman of a band.) They're the personalities onstage. Archis Tiku just stood at the back, Duncan got on with playing his guitar, and Tom English played drums rather regally, haloed by pink and purple lights every time I looked.

I can't recall the full order of the setlist, but these are the songs they played as far as I can remember: The Coast Is Always Changing, The Penultimate Clinch, Girls Who Play Guitars, Going Missing, Our Velocity, Let's Get Clinical, Tanned, Nosebleed, Overland West Of Suez, By The Monument, Questing Not Coasting, I Want You To Stay, Books From Boxes, Postcard Of A Painting, Roller Disco Dreams, Limassol, Wraithlike, The Kids Are Sick Again, and then the encore: I Haven't Seen Her In Ages, Graffiti and Apply Some Pressure. Graffiti they added because the crowd were being 'very kind' (hence my suprise at the abundance of negativity from people afterwards). A group of girls and I shouted for Graffiti, so I want to believe they played it because of us, but it's probably not true. I'd forgotten how amazing surround sound is for Maxïmo Park songs, with the textural interplay between keyboards, bass and guitar being panned across the room.

8/10

Levellers @ Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall, 1/05/09

Idols to a whole range of skanky people, annoyers of the authorities and long-standing folk-rock legends Levellers played the Wulfrun last night. If you're not familiar with them, you've probably never been a student or an anarchist or been to the Hippy parts of a festival. You've probably also had a wholesome life. Wherever Levellers go, they and their fans leave a trail of drunken destruction, littered with used swearwords and anarchy/peace symbols. But don't think I'm criticising.

They are excellent live. Supporting them, they had chosen two very different bands, one a skunk band ("it's skiffle/punk, nothing to do with what we smoke or the way we smell") called Hobo Jones and the Junkyard Dogs, who came out and played remarkable homemade instruments in true skiffle style, including a washboard and a wobble-board sounding instrument made from a branch and some elastic. They covered The Clash and Green Day amongst others, got a roadie on stage, and sang a song for "our Prime Minister, who's doing a wonderful job" *makes tosser gesture*, Gordon Is A Moron. They were hilarious, from the facial expressions and in-song dialogue to the 'Mine's a whiskey' taped onto the back of the guitar. The second band were a ska or reggae outfit, Pama International. Think The Specials with a soul singer. It went on a bit long, even though it was decent.

Levellers came on, starting with A Life Less Ordinary, and the crowd went mad. The trouble seemed to be started by a whole host of short bald men. I don't know why it was bald men in particular, but it was, and they were all shorter than me. From the very start, people were drinking huge amounts, so when drunken fighting and shoving ensued, I had been expecting it. The music was ideal for it though - Levellers chose all of their most thumping tracks to play. As well as A Life Less Ordinary, they played One Way, Carry Me, World Freak Show, Behold A Pale Rider, The Riverflow, Beautiful Day, Barrel Of The Gun, Death Loves Youth,The Cholera Well, Before The End, Eyes Wide and probably some more. They did 2 encores, playing right up to the curfew.

At one point the lights went and the room was plunged into darkness, but Levellers played on ('we're willing if you're willing'). A highlight was the merch stall man coming out in full fluorescent make-up and a blue mask, in a skirt, pratting about with his huge digeridoo (no pun intended). A sick bastard did decide to feel up all the girls on the second row, including myself. I think he got a slap once, I elbowed him, and he finally got his comeuppence when he decided to touch up a girl in the very centre, and he got caught in a lot of sweaty blokes moshing and shoving him about, without a girl in sight. I laughed.

It was a good night. I'd definitely say Levellers are one of the best live bands I've seen, though they chose their most similar songs to play. Still, brilliant playing, brilliant songwriting, wonderful lyrics - an example of a band that have stayed outside of the system, and stayed good. Go see them.

8/10

Peter Doherty @ Birmingham Academy, 25/03/09

The first notable thing about this gig was the number of utter tossers in the crowd. I found it almost upsettingly predictable that Pete attracted this type of fan; it would have been nice to have an intellectual, sober, appreciative crowd, but alas, those fans must have stood at the back, or gone to see Metallica up the road instead.

I'll elaborate. You know that one group of lads with their girlfriends who ruin it for everyone by shouting obscenities, throwing beer, making moshpits, deliberately kicking people, smoking and fighting their way to the front? The one group that everyone is trying to ignore and rolling their eyes at? Well, I think 99% of the crowd were like that last night, or at least at the front. I stayed at the front anyway. Peter sauntered out when people were filing in, just after 7, shook hands on the front row and said hi. That surprised everyone.

The first support act were okay, a band named Red Roots. They played reggae indie, with a black lead singer and bassist, and a white guitarist and drummer: harking back to the days of 2tone. It was nice enough but got dull. There was no second support: friends of Peter wandered on and off the lit stage playing short solo sets. This included Drew McConnell of Babyshambles, who played three fantastic songs, one all in Spanish (for us girls) and one with Niko.

Finally when Peter came on, after Music When The Lights Go Out, he introduced Graham Coxon (to the wrong side of the stage, for me) and Drew again. The next few tracks were from the solo album, and though the crowd were rowdy as Hell, they weren't half singing their hearts out. Peter was on form, singing well. It was a good setlist too, though there was nothing from Shotter's Nation or Up The Bracket in it, a disappointment for me. What A Waster was in there though, the end of the chorus '2-bob cunt' sung with enthusiasm by the rough standing crowd. They got more and more drunk and objectionable, threw more and more beer and shoes and whatever else onstage. Graham Coxon smiled away, but all onstage were unnerved by the amount of beer and personal possessions showering their wires and amps (including a bag which Pete rifled through, 'looking for ID'). Drew on double bass was a crowd-pleaser, and he could play as well, wearing a fantastic Dracula-esque suit that I admired very much.



The crowd were not going to be moved after Peter went off, singing a Babyshambles riff on repeat and chanting. He came back on, played Time For Heroes, before letting Lee Mavers of The La's come on to sing There She Goes (The La's song, not the Babyshambles song). After this, Peter came out and played Beg, Steal Or Borrow and a glorious rendition of Fuck Forever. He stood on the drumkit and we all chanted along.



All in all, the performance was fantastic, but the audience ruined it somewhat, at least at the front of the gig. I like a bit of roughness, rowdiness, or I wouldn't try to get to the barrier, but some of those people were just self-centred gits, really. So, overall, 7/10, I think.

Franz Ferdinand @ Birmingham Academy, 8/03/09

I think it is safe to say queueing from 10am for this was worth it. I didn't do it, my friend Nita did, but I joined her at 12 and we had a riot of a time. Okay, it was freezing, but her excitement was contagious. See, she'd been waiting 5 years (though intense prolonged obsession) for this - they've only played once near us in 4 years, and she couldn't go to that, so today really mattered, and didn't she know it!

Everything went right. We met their manager Parker and got to hold Alex Kapranos' guitar case, and at about five, Franz arrived in a little silver van and Nita followed them right into the ''No Entry" depot and spoke to Alex. We all got pictures, and she was surprisingly composed.

We went inside at 7. We managed to get to the front, centre, which was excellent, but there was a full hour wait until the support act The Soft Pack came on. I've never seen a band only have one support at the Academy, but it was so, and they were very good. They were all talented players, but the sound had been set up wrong and you couldn't hear the vocals (and the lead guitar was deafening). They also lacked stage presence, though I've seen much worse in that respect, and generally I was impressed and will be finding out more: talent, catchy tunes, great guitar sound. It was another half hour or more before Franz came on, but I liked that there wasn't a second support - there was no faffing, no aching feet and no prolonged waiting after waiting all day.

Franz Ferdinand were amazing. They put on one of the best shows I've ever seen, with official videos, other videos, even videos of the stage from weird angles coming up on a screen at the back, and a light show to die for. There were some real 'wow' moments, like in Outsiders during the encore, where all of the band members and a roadie gathered round the drumkit and played a drum penta-solo. They had the balance just right sound-wise, and they seemed very pleased to be playing, Alex smiling away and making eye contact with the lucky (oh so lucky) front row. I was glad it sounded very guitar-based live as well, much more so than the album.

From what I can remember, they had all the expected in the setlist, including Michael, which they opened with, No You Girls, Bite Hard, Take Me Out, Twilight Omens, Matinée, Do You Want To, The Fallen, 40' (which I was very happy they played - I sank into bliss when I heard that intro), Turn It On, Walk Away, Lucid Dreams, The Fallen, What She Came For and Ulysses, though not necessarily in that order. In the encore they played Jacqueline, Outsiders and This Fire (though I seem to remember there were 4...hm, I don't know, my brain was more occupied with having a great time than recording the setlist.) The only fault I could possibly find would be length of setlist, even though it was decent - who wouldn't want a great band to play a few more songs?

After the gig, they had to rush off to London, so they were out in 5 minutes carrying all their bags. Nita got the setlist (that I'd caught and kept for her) signed, and a poster signed, and another gazillion photos of Alex's back. Nick had seen her there on the front row, and he told her she was amazing and kissed her on the cheek. They made her life.

There was an unusual bit of merchandising too - a CD of that night, pressed straight to disc, which you could buy for £15 to have a copy for yourself. I think you can also obtain a copy of the recorded gig here, for a slightly higher price, but it's a decent idea anyway. Exellent gig, it should sound fabulous on recording.

9/10 I think, for Franz, 11/10 for the whole experience!

Kaiser Chiefs @ Birmingham NIA, 24/02/09

This was the first time I saw a band here, quite amazingly considering I go to pretty much all my gigs around Birmingham. It is half way between a medium venue like the Academy and a stadium - a little bit more standing room and a lot more seating. The first support band were a band called Esser. The lead singer, a man with a sparkly black coat and a Mohican, had a throat infection and kept telling us about it. I don't think they would have been much better if he hadn't been ill. It was ultra-fashionable electro-indie-pop, like Embrace with more synths or Hadouken! with less talent and anger. It was dull but not terrible.

The second band on were Black Kids. I was expecting the worst because I have never liked them on the radio, always found them a bit forced and soulless, but they weren't too bad live. They were well-drilled, and I'd imagine if you liked that stuff, you'd have been satisfied. But I don't like it, so I was bored. Between them and Kaiser Chiefs, some very unusual characters came on stage, dressed in white labcoats and mechanics clothing, measuring everything and ticking fake admin sheets on clipboards. Cue much cheering and laughter.

Finally, Chiefs took to the stage. They launched into Spanish Metal and everyone started fangirling (or fanboying) about Ricky's weight loss. He was energetic as ever, running all over the place and motioning to the crowd to cheer. They played a great set of old and new material, a nice mixture, that I can barely remember due to moshing and enjoying myself...Na Na Na Na Naa was definitely in there, and Never Miss A Beat, You Want History, Half The Truth, a beautiful electric version of Love's Not A Competition, Saturday Night, Ruby, Modern Way, I Predict A Riot followed by Take My Temperature where he went round the crowd and stood on a podium near the back, and it ended with The Angry Mob. After that they did an encore of Tomato In The Rain, something else and Oh My God, a very fitting end to the night. I am glad it'' back there where it should be in the setlist.

It doesn't matter what you think of their recent releases, it's hard to deny how good they are live. Everyone left sweaty and very happy, and I must say, it was the best gig of the year so far.

Scarlet Harlots @ The Rainbow, 16/02/09

The evening started badly while queueing, with me knocking over a metal barrier in the street, and the sound of its falling over reverberated across what must have been the whole planet.

I've never been to The Rainbow before. It's in Digbeth, and like the Barfly a little further up, it is scuzzy as you can get before you just don't want to go in. You can't say it isn't atmospheric though, with fairy lights and ceiling beams and tiny corridors really not suited to a heaving music venue. I liked it and I'm looking forward to a better gig there.

It was packed, and with all the worst of people. I don't think there was a single music lover in the place - they were that breed of teen that the NME writes for: squealy things wearing too much make up and short skirts, carrying bags full of whatever drugs and booze they could scrounge off their older siblings, wearing extremely unsuitable footwear, and only there to take a million photos of themselves in their new Gucci sunglasses, which they were, of course, still wearing in the dark of the venue. None of them looked old enough to vote, and I'm sure there were goings-on in the toilets I can barely imagine. People were actually dancing to Jay-Z remixes, as if they were suddenly cool because they were being played at a Scarlet Harlots gig. I have been to a few gigs now, and never have I been to one which looked more like a scene from Skins.

The first band on I didn't catch the name of, but they sounded like a half-baked Editors with more electronics, so I don't think I want to know the name anyway. The second band were Yelps, who I went to see, and they were definitely not what I was expecting. The synth-based angular pop actually encouraged that unnerving glowsticks-and-PVC atmosphere which was already lurking. The vocals were more approximate than they are in the recordings, and the songs were all much of a muchness. Though the crowd were having fun, I guess they were out to have fun whether the band were good or not.

I left pretty sharpish. That is the effect the 'scene' scene has on me.