The concert review thread

So my fellow Mofo's how about a thread that lets you share your reviews of concerts you attend? As an avid concert goer, I thought I'd share my thoughts on recent concerts, so here goes.....

Franz Ferdinand

August 30th Princes' Gardens Edinburgh


Just back from a thoroughly enjoyable evening watching Franz Ferdinand give a preview to their new album, as well as belting out the big anthems from their debut album to a boysterous home crowd.
Firstly, the setting for the concert was amazing, some two hundred feet or so above the stage was the beautifully illuminated Edinburgh Castle, the fact that the stage was bang in the middle of Prince's gardens also added to a special setting for the boys to try out their new album.
The boys were given hero's welcome as they came on stage, and they didn't waste anytime in working the crowd into a frenzy, they opened with " Michael ", " Jacqueline " and " Take me out ", arguably three of the most popular songs from their debut album. The next half hour or so was dedicated solely to their new material, on first listening, I found it very similar to their last album, but without any real standout anthem. Of course, it's difficult to judge how good the new songs are, especially when you're about 6 feet away from a huge bank of speakers, and the enthusiasmn of the crowd is constantly jumping all around you. The new songs did have the same energy of the band's previous work, so I would imagine that there won't be too many dissapointed fans.
After this it was back to more familiar ground, as " Tell her Tonight ", " Auf achse " and " Come on home " were belted out and accompanied by the crowd.
After recieving a huge cheer of appreciation from the crowd, eventually the band came back on stage for a three song encore, finishing with " This fire ", and sending the masses home happy and maurauding along the streets of Edinburgh.
A fantastic night's entertainment, Franz Ferdinand were on top form, and on first inspection, the notorious difficult second album seems good if not outstanding. Again any artist that plays Edinburgh or Glasgow has to be good, not the most forgiving crowds on the planet, but if you hit the heights, there can't be many better crowds to play, uninhibited and up for it, the crowd always adds to the nights enjoyment.



Rating 4/5

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Toga, toga, toga......


Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbour?

U2

June 21st Hampden Stadium Glasgow




OK, so it was a few months ago, but we're talking about U2 here.

Hampden Stadium is not the greatest venue in Glasgow, but it's probably the only venue that can deal with the demand for a U2 concert in Glasgow.
The most dissapointing thing about the concert, was an expectant crowd ready to be geed up, being sadly let down by the support band Interpol, who came across mostly as white noise!
However, as soon as the intro music for the main event kicked in, and lights were suitably dimmed, you couldn't help but get caught up in the sheer excitement and electricity that one of the world's biggest band ultimately brings with it.
First up was " Vertigo ", a great choice to whip the crowd into a state of euphoria, from then on it's a little hazy, I know all the old favourites were there, " Sunday, bloody Sunday ", " Pride ", " New Year's Day ", " Beautiful Day ", " Elevation ", " With or without you ", " I still haven't found what I'm looking for " and so many others, with the one noted exception, my personal favourite " Mysterious Ways ". In between these classics, were the majority of the new album's songs, " Miracle Drug ", " City of blinding lights ", " All because of you ", " Crumbs from your table " and an emotional rendition of " Sometimes you can't make it on your own ".
A fantastic two and a bit hours were followed by a five song encore, finishing as it had all began with an encore performance of " Vertigo ".

In my opinion, life is all about experiences, and as an avid music lover, there can be few greater musical experiences than watching the world's greatest rock band play live. This is my second U2 concert, I last saw them at Murryfield Stadium in Edinburgh during the " Popmart " tour, and I have to admit, for me the " Popmart " tour was better, purely because it was a more energetic time in the band's performances. It's a minor quibble, I still loved every minute of the recent concert, and U2 have grown old musically, gracefully, and with style. I love the fact they always try to be different with every album, and perhaps this is why they are still as popular today, as when they hit the heights in the 80's.
U2 have always had a strong affinity with Glasgow, their " home from home " as quoted by the Edge, so it was no surprise the welcome they recieved before and after the gig. Hopefully they'll stick around a while longer so I can attend my hatrick concert, on current evidence, they still have much to offer.


Rating 5/5

Basement Jaxx

June 17th Barrowlands Glasgow


My main reason for this review, is to give the Barrowlands a mention.
Let me explain why, it's old and run down, but for sheer music history, nowhere else can compete with the famous hall. Everyone who is anyone has played at the " Barras "( local slang for the hall ).
I read a quote from Jimi Hendrix once saying it was one of the wildest places he ever played, high praise indeed.
The Barras is a special place, there is no where else in Scotland that comes close to the unique atmosphere created there, it is the best place to see a concert, you have to witness the stamping feet effect that accompanies every encore, it always sends a shudder down my spine. Yeah this is a little selfish of me, but I'm sure anyone who has had the privillege of attending a sell out concert there will be sympathetic.

Anyway, onto the concert itself. Basement Jaxx might not be everyone's cup of tea, but their grooves and beats combined with killer vocals are very infectious. A rowdy Friday night crowd turned up, waiting to be entertained, the band got straight to it by starting with the new single off their greatest hits album " Good Luck ".
What followed in the next hour was all their most recognisible hits;
" Romeo "
" Red Alert "
" Oh my Gosh "
" Bingo bango "
" Where's your head at "
" Rendez-vu "
" U don't know me "
" Do your thing "

By the end of their set, I was sweaty and knackered, but I had a huge grin on my face, and had been highly entertained.
Then, the slow steady rumble started, the stamping of feet, whistling, shouting, rythmic clapping got louder and louder until the band re-emerged on stage to do a three song encore finishing with the ever popular and energetic " Good Luck ".
Then, it was over, the blinding lights came on, a mist of sweat and perspiration clearly visible rising from the crowd, and 1500 happy punters made their way on to their next drinking den or boogie club.
A great concert by a band clearly using previous knowledge of the venue and crowd to full effect.


Rating 4/5 ( a sweaty 4 at that! )

*ehrm*

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The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".

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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.

yeah check out the concert tab man, there's been a bunch of posts in it lately too.

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Concert Tab!! MOFO poetry Been Dreaming Lately?

Reading Festival (sunday)

Iron Maiden 5/5

The atmosphere was incredible, i was right at the VERY front in the mosh pit for all their 90 minute set, so i couldn't see the 1000s of people behind me and spend most the time trying to stay alive. They only played songs from their first 4 albums, so i didn't actually know most the songs. Bruce Dickinson, although old, knows how to hold a crowd, he was pretty damn active, jumping of the sets etc. Liked the props too, and the giant Eddy that came out was a laugh.


Marilyn Manson 5/5

OK, so maybe he's retired from music, whatever, he rocked. He came on a bit late, spent a fair bit of time preparing the set- which was pretty cool. He's certainly a performer, i'm not a great fan of his music, but he's soo much better live. His eccentric dresses and stilts were all fun. He played his best known tracks, which was cool to sing along too and his encore was far much better than Maiden.


more to come...

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Sorry guys, ma bad!
I did a search for concerts, it came up blank.
Don't know what happened, can only apologise once again.
Maybe a moderator can merge this thread with that one?


Why is it under games tab, and not under tv and music?
All is clear now!

No need for apologize. And it's in "Games, tabs and lists"... I thought it was proper for a tab.

No harm in having both is there? One for listing and one for reviewing.

went to bologna ( italy people!) for the independent days festival, saw the editors: great drum section, awsome vocals, but htey lack on the song writing departement, very similar to interpol but interpol being wastly superior, maximo park: great frontman ( he has to be a nazi, i'm sure of it ) he and the keyboard player can really get the crowd going , massive energy in both of them, on the down side, the music is really not that hot, Social distorsion: not a fan of punk, at least in this form, way to slow and not agressive enough, kudos for performing for 20 or so years....,skin: she played some of the skunk anansie hits ( the highlights of her show ), her stuff isn't half bad, bud not so hot either, kudos for being the only black female rock artist ( that i know of anyway), queens of the stone age: josh homme is the coolest motherfuker on the planet, as soon as he came on the stage that was very clear, he is the king of cool and the queens are to become the biggest rock band in the world, awsome music, but unfortunately i only stayed for some half an hour, had to rush to see...the bravery: i was a bit worried they would suck seeing as how i saw them perform on conan o'brien and they sucked royaly, much to my surprise that was the highlight of the festival, they're awsome live.....

Queens of the Stone Age? Bah, they're no Kyuss.

is that josh's former band?

Yuh, though he played guiter. If you like QOTSA, you should love Kyuss.

well i dunno about that, one of the major reason for liking QOTSA is josh , his voice and his presence.....no josh as frontman..? well, i'll check them out.....

You can get some free downloads from the link in my sig, though they're not songs i'd particularly reccomend. You should definetely check out Desert Sessions if you havn't already.

Kyuss ruled.

Dragonforce - Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh 18th September

This gig was flat out amazing, the crowd had a great atmosphere, and the band was very interactive with the crowd and running about everywhere on the stage.

Support band 'Mendeed' who hail from Glasgow, were very good in my opinion. I heard an mp3 of them before the gig and didn't think much of it, but they sound 100 times better when they play live. They really got the crowd pumped up, and i got beat up in the pits. (lucky me). Their set was about 45-50 mins, which was long enough for me.

30 minutes later, Dragonforce came on. The crowd went mad, there wasn't a single person that wasn't cheering. Their set lasted about 90-100 minutes which i thought was great since i only paid £7 for my ticket. They also came out after the gig, and signed any merchandise for the fans. Since i didn't have any, i just got them to sign my ticket and that was good enough to me, also got a handshake from each member which was more than i was expecting.

All in All, this gig was great. Easily a 5/5.

Yellowcard - Kings College London Wed 19th October

The night started off by the doors impressively NOT opening at 7:30 but at like 5 to 8 and it was absolutely tearing down with rain so we were drenched. Air conditioner on superblast so it was totally freezing in the venue. Opening act were the scots that rock, the Fratellis. Not bad at all actually, but they forgot the audience was there really-paying no attention to the crowd and they looked like they didnt really know what they were doing. They were like a fusion of the Libertines and the Zutons.
When Yellowcard finally arrived it got hectic, amazing atmosphere as they rocked the shizzle outta that place. Days later I was told that Yellowcard actually paid for the bar that night. I was stone cold sober cause I was too broke to get any drinks and nobody thought to mention the fact that they were sodding free! Anyway Yellowcard really rocked and the crowd went crazy for Only One and Ocean Avenue.

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Undercoverlovers 100 REDUX

Steel Train & State Radio October 22

Steel Train took the stage and did their soundcheck while the audience was present which is unusual, but they save themselves with charm and humor. They threw me a curveball by launching into a song that could only be described as trance-punk and sounded nothing like the any of the songs availible for download on their website (which were mostly country rock). Every song was full of energy especially from the lead singer/lead guitarist who jumped around, tinkered with wild effects and conjured up feedback with complete fervor. The whole band was solid and good natured throughout and they could really maintain a groove. The highlight of their set was when they set aside all instruments but one acoustic guitar and crooned "Road Song" in glorious full band harmony.

Next up was State Radio. I was mainly here to see them, which is because I was a big fan of Chad Urmston's previous band Dispatch. They are quite a change of pace from the Urmston's earlier trio, while they retain the reggae flavor exibited by Dispatch it has been beefed up and punk overtones have been added. The acoustic songs and more low key songs were played electric and "Waitress", the band's standout track IMO was played without the female singer that accompanied Urmston on the EP whose incredible harmonizing gave the song it's heart. Overall though I can't fault them, as they gave an incredibly stellar, hardworking performance, which can't be denied, wether you like their style or not. They even played a song called "Keepsake" which they rarely play and could barely remember the words to, just to appease two obnoxious fans that were screaming its title for the better part of the show .

The intimate venue allowed for great involvement of the audience and a great time was had by all. If these bands come through your area I sincerely recommend checking them out. I don't know about the other venues on the tour, but for us it was only $10 a piece!

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Judas Priest: October 21st, Pengrowth Saddledome

I got my tickets two weeks before the concert and I was absofrickinlutley stoked for it. So that day, me and my buds ditched school a bit early, took the train to the mall, and then took the train to the Saddledome. The time was about 3:34PM and the concert started at 7:30PM. We were four hours early, but we hung out anyway, and as soon as the doors opened we rushed to the merch tables to get our shirts and then went to our seats. Our seats were fifth row from floor, right beside the stage. At 7:30PM, a band alot of you might know named Anthrax took the stage, they played a solid 70 minute set, I unfortunatley had never given them a listen, but after this show I did. And about 8:50PM Judas Priest took the stage, the first 30 minutes of the show wasn't super great, it went kind of slow. And then they broke out into Diamonds and Rust, and that got everyone all frenzied up, after such staples as "Living after Midnight" and "Breakin The Law". They broke into "Painkiller" And that got the whole crowd fired up in a huge way, everyone started singing along and thrashing about. After a few more songs, and some wicked stage stuff, they went off stage. And then a whole bunch of people started leaving, but we stayed. And they they ran back out and broke into "You've Got Another Thing Comin" And everyone was once again whipped up into a frenzied state. All in all I'd say it was a steller show, Anthrax certainly gave Priest a run for their money in stage presence. But both bands kicked some serious ass that night. One of the better concerts i've ever been too.

4.1/5

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