Post Upcoming Gigs/Report on Previous Gigs

[razzthekid]

So this thread is for music lovers who are addicted to concerts, like i am, and who begin to sink into a monotonous stupor if they don't get to one every few weeks at least.

So you can post any upcoming gigs you're excited about and talk about old gigs- your favourites, the disastrous ones you wish you hadn't wasted money on and anything in between.

Tomorrow night i'm going to see Macbeth in Abbey Street. Not really a gig, i admit, but it should be fun and i'm really looking forward to it.

Also got Rufus Wainwright coming up in April in the new Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin and also bought tickets for Band of Horses last week. Tickets haven't arrived yet but the gig is on the 4th or 5th of June, if i remember correctly, in the Academy.

Recently(since Christmas) i've seen Fionn Regan twice, Newton Faulkner, Seasick Steve, The Low Anthem and MGMT.

Hopefully i'll go to Slane, i think Kings of Leon are going to be headlining there and i'm praying that the Boss himself, Mr. Bruce Springsteen will also return to amaze my whole family again with his limitless supply of exuberance and happiness on stage. He exudes confidence and his good humour is transferred to every member of his audience and lasts for weeks, leaving you riding on a high like nothing else will.

So come on people....share your concert stories etc.

[emma286]

Great thread idea Kim!

Haven't got any upcoming gigs planned unfortunately. Not for lack of desire! But sadly on my current budget it's just not possible right now :-(

However, I will mention here that the two most enjoyable gigs I've been to, were when I went to see Bryan Adams in 1999 at Wembley, and Genesis when they were playing in Twickenham in 2007. Without a doubt, they are the best musicians I've ever heard live - other than Bonjovi who I've also seen once (can't remember the exact year though think it was a year or two after first seeing Bryan Adams). It wasn't just because of the music quality though that those were my favourite gigs (though that played a big part), but the fact that Bryan Adams and the members of Genesis come across as such down to earth nice people - and I genuinely got the impression they really put their whole heart into their performances because of their love for what they do. I'll always have great memories of both those concerts.

[razzthekid]

Thanks for contributing Emma, hopefully you'll get some gigs soon:)

My best gigs have been(in no order):

~Bruce Springsteen & the E-street Band(i've seen them 5 times now! ;D)
~Ryan Adams and the Cardinals in the Ambassador
~Arcade Fire in the Big Top
~Rufus Wainwright in Vicar Street
~Kings of Leon in the O2 Arena
~The Low Anthem in Vicar Street
~Fionn Regan in Whelans
~Foy Vance in The Academy 2
~Angus and Julia Stone in the Sugar Club

I think that's about it.....

[razzthekid]

Last night i saw Rufus Wainwright for the second time in the new venue in Dublin- The Gand Canal Theatre. It's a beautiful venue and it really suite Rufus. The first half was done as a kind of tribute to his mother who passed away around Christmas i think, after battling with cancer. Rufus asked that there be no clapping at all during the first half and entered the stage wearing a long black cape type thing with a train of about 20 feet. He played for about an hour, just his latest album(the one he wrote while his mother was dying) and then after he left the stage(his exit was part of the show) we could clap, and clap we did!

After the interval he came back on-dressed normally, and by Rufus's standards this was very normal gear!- and played songs from all the previous albums. It was brilliant- and we had front row tickets so it was amazing to be so close to him. Watching his piano playing is just stunning, it's so complex in parts that i wonder how he does it, and at others it's so simple yet beautiful. And you can always count on a few laughs at his shows, he's a witty guy.

So yeah, it was a really great night and i can't wait to see him again. Next time he'll probably have his full band back with him, but i loved getting to see him completely solo- just him and his piano. It was very intimate.

I made 3 videos which i'm currently trying to upload onto Youtube.

[TT]

Sounds like an amazing show! And a great tribute to his mother!

[razzthekid]

It really was.

[Pisces]

Got a gig of my own to report! ;D

HIM, with Drive A, Dommin, and We are the Fallen. I'll break this down one band at a time:

Drive A was first, and while I loved their youthful, piss-and-vinegar exuberance, they weren't doing anything I hadn't seen or heard before. Best comparison, style-wise, might be Green Day, but more aggressive. Now, the opening band's job is always to get the crowd warmed up for the headliners of course, and this singer seemed to be personally insulted that the crowd wasn't immediately in thrashing hysterics. So he did everything possible to incite friendly violence, and when the mosh pit opened up at last, I have never seen so many girls scatter for their lives. I actually felt sorry for them, because I know they had gotten their prime floor locations in order to be as close as possible to Ville Valo later, and now they were in danger of getting their teeth knocked out. But the mosh pit soon closed, leaving Drive A's singer frustrated all over again.

Next came Dommin. And I was not at all prepared for them. Their set was off-the-charts incredible - fantastically moody, creepy, inventive, creative songs that were each so different from the other. I can't quite think of who to best compare them to, so I won't do that. I'll instead link you to their site and let you discover them yourself - www.dommin.com/ I really want to push this band because they are something special - the energy and oomph and sheer talent onstage with them is something I will never forget. Their live production literally took me out of myself, excited me, carried me off somewhere else - which is what an exquisitely executed live show is supposed to do. WOW. Their one cover song - Cutting Crew's I Just Died in Your Arms - was a fresh and aggressive take on an 80's fave. I can't say enough good things about this band.

Third was We Are the Fallen. Meh. Nothing special there. Comparisons might be made to Evanescence, I suppose. But the lovely singer's performance was hampered by some sort of technical miscalculation which caused her to be drowned out by her other band member's instruments. She had a good voice... I think. I couldn't hear her very well, and that was a disservice to her. Having said that, it's my opinion that three opening bands is too many. This one could have been removed from the show and nothing would have been missed.

And finally... [glow=red,2,300]HIM[/glow] And I have a very mixed review on them. I confess to being quite the fan of Valo, and seeing him no more than 20 yards from me was something I will never forget; to say nothing of hearing that incredible voice reverberating through my body. :-*But even my fangirly adoration won't allow me to cloak the fact that he totally phoned in that performance. Frankly, he seemed like he had someplace better to be, and wanted to get his own show over with, and there were moments when he seemed somewhat arrogant about it as well. He didn't take much time to connect with the crowd, turned his back on them frequently, and once left the stage, mid-song, leaving his guitarist to drag out an extended solo in the meantime, waiting for his return. Their encore was one mere song - a cover of Billy Idol's Rebel Yell... and suddenly, it was over. Valo bid the crowd goodnight so abruptly he may as well have tossed his mic aside and said,"Gotta go!" I worry for his health, though, after seeing him in person. And I had flashbacks to last year on this forum when there was so much back-and-forth about Cillian's health and his supposed weight loss, because Ville does look ill. I'm not trying to slander the man, but there has been a massive, tragic change in his appearance that is somewhat staggering. Something's wrong.

That said, his sheer talent evened the scales and made the show worthwhile. Which, in his arrogance (and I say that somewhat affectionately), Valo knows. Stalking around the stage, all it took was for him to release a blood-curdling shriek, or roll a thunderously deep rumble from deep in his chest, and the crowd would erupt in deafening noise. Which... ahem.. I was part of. My throat still hurts, and my voice sounds awful today. I'm patting myself on the back for taking the day off from work to recover.

To sum up this gig, HIM was a event of a lifetime and something I will always be thankful I experienced, but truthfully... Dommin stole the show right out from under them.

[chels]

Wow, I've always wanted to see HIM, and never had the chance. I'm sorry about your disappointment, Ville must be going through hard times in one way or another. My friend saw them a few years ago and said he talked a lot and she made it seem like he was lively. Something's definitely changed.

I hope to see Tom Petty for the 2nd time in July...but I don't know for sure. They put on a great show.

[razzthekid]

I just saw Villagers last night, they're a new Irish band. The debut album was only released about 2 weeks ago and it is so beauifully crafted. Every song is different and all are brilliant. The album was completey created by Conor O'Brien- he writes all the lyrics, plays all the instruments, sings, did all the artwork and produced it.

So last night, he had his band with him and it was one of the best gigs i've ever been to. The venue is pretty small and was packed(there's been a lot of hype about the album and it's getting a lot of attention) but we got right up front. The atmosphere between the members was great and they all seemed so wrapped up in the music. It was raw and loud and they rocked. The song 'I Saw the Dead', which is haunting enough on the album, was so eerie and ethereal when they performed it live. Conor's voice is perfect and the vibration and noises he can make when he just steps away from the mic is class.

I just loved every minute of it. I wish i could see them again tonight.

Also saw Simon Amstell do a stand up gig on Friday night. He was hilarious. He's so cute and he actually seemed kind of nervous, which was werid having seen him be so cheeky and confident on Nevermind the Buzzc*cks. The gig was being recorded for a DVD so i can't wait for it to come out. I related to a lot of what he was saying- about being paranoid and how he's alway nervous and uncomfortable meeting new people and how he says stupid things. It was really funny.

[razzthekid]

Band of Horses last night at Tripod in Dublin. Supported by Darker, My Love, who were pretty impressive- although the sound during their set wasn't great. I will be keeping an eye out for their album.

Thankfully, the sound was sorted by the time Band of Horses came on and the set was brilliant. We were front row- but luckily just far enough away not to be sprayed with Ben's sweat everytime he shook his straggly hair, that was plastered to his head! I love hearing Ben's voice live as it's quite unusual. And they played all the songs i was hoping for- the main ones being Marry Song, The General Specific, Laredo, No One's Gonna Love You and The Great Salt Lake.

And, because of the fact that the venue is also a nightclub, they were supposed to finish up at 11 o'clock but they kept going. The cheering and clapping of the crowd was deafening- i've honestly never heard anything like it!- so they continued playing after 11, although the security and staff obviously weren't happy about. But they couldn't do anything to make them get off stage, so Ben dragged the last song out as long as possible and got all the band members to do a solo each. It was brilliant- like he was really going "Yeah? f*ck you! What you gonna do t' stop me?!" He kept turning around, pointing and singing to someone that the audience couldn't see, but who must've been standing at the side of the stage telling him to get off. Gotta love that man.

So, yeah... t'was another brilliant gig.

[razzthekid]

I'm heading to Angus and Julia Stone tomorrow night with my whole family. I can't wait, we hardly ever all get to go together.

[razzthekid]

Got tickets this morning for The Temper Trap. They're playing a really cool venue in Dublin on Halloween night!

And also got tickets yesterday for Local Natives in Whelans in November. It's a tiny venue- basically just a club and the tickets were only 16 euro. Gigs there are always class.

[this bike is a]

Bob Dylan Oct 7
Sufjan Nov 9
Sufjan Nov 14

yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah !!!!!!11111111

[emma286]

A friend of mine was kind enough to organise tickets last week to see Who's Who - a Who tribute band. They played last Saturday night at the Half Moon pub in Putney, South London. Up till then I hadn't been majorly into The Who's music. But decided to go along as a change, and thought they put on a really great show! Really enjoyed it. In 2011 they're doing another 3 gigs at the same location during the year - already I can't wait to go see them again!

[Kizuna]

OMG, I just found out my new favorite band Bring Me the Horizon is coming to Tucson AZ on November 2! According to a friend of mine who's been a fan for a while, they put on a pretty good show. I am so definitely going!