Gone are the days that you miss a gig because you forgot, or accidentally buy tickets for two gigs on the same day.  Just visit your “Upcoming events” tab and click “Subscribe to your events” to populate your calendar of choice with all of your planned events.  

When you open events in your calendar, you’ll also see whether you said “I’m going” or “I might go”, the venue’s address, and a link to the Songkick event page.  Now it will be even easier to plan your gig nights and buy your tickets all in one place.

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When you’re a kid, you always have ONE band that is yours right? You own every album and single, have your bedroom wall plastered with posters and press clippings – hell, even have your hair cut like one of the members. Well, when I was a kid (and it’s going to be pretty easy to guess my age right now) I had three bands that I couldn’t get enough of (I know, three – I was greedy). The bands in question – Nirvana, The Charlatans and Blur.

After spending years trapped in the shadow of my older siblings record collection (U2, INXS, Depeche Mode, Simple Minds, Pop Will Eat Itself, Aztec Camera) I suddenly started to develop a taste of my own. It began with Nirvana. Hearing ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ on a dreary Sunday afternoon whilst travelling to a Garden Centre with my mother (the memory is still that vivid) my ears were never quite the same again. I grew my hair, developed a stinking attitude problem and started to shut myself in my bedroom; absorbing the wise words of Kurt Cobain from the CD lyric booklets into my tiny impressionable skull. Blur followed closely – ‘There’s No Other Way’ grabbed my attention initially when I saw the video on The Chart Show and remember thinking what an amazing guitar riff it had. That, and the fact that it featured the actress who played Mrs Mclusky from Grange Hill. Genius. The Charlatans – well quite simply, I got into those guys after trying to impress a girl. It worked.

Those are the only three bands that travelled with me from my teenage years to adult life. On a live front – I never got to see Nirvana. I was 14 when Cobain blew his brains out and far too young to witness their raucous live show (well, that’s what my mother told me anyway). The Charlatans, I’ve seen those guys 10 times according to my Songkick profile – though I could have sworn it’s actually closer to 20. After they dabbled with ‘Reggae’ though a few years ago, I vowed never to see them again. My memory of them was already being soured y’see and I didn’t want to add fuel to the fire by watching my once heroes ruin their carrer by performing third rate pap.

Then there was Blur. BLUR. B.L.U.R. The one band from my CD collection that I’ve loved for years and years but have never seen live – not through lack of trying. Round about the time of ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’ and ‘Parklife’ I was far too young to go and see them, even though I begged and begged my older brother to take me to see them at Mile End Stadium in 1995. He never did – the miserable old toad. He tried to make it up to me though by buying tickets to see R.E.M at Milton Keynes Bowl on 29th June ‘95. The lineup? R.E.M, Blur, Belly and Magnapop (remember Magnapop? Me neither). Talk about a stunning lineup. Especially for an impressionable 15 year old indie kid. But wait! Remember that other band who were treading the boards in 1995. The lads from Manchester – Oasis? Yes. Well, y’see both myself and my brother were also quite taken with Oasis. As most people were back before everyone found out that they were in fact talentless goons.

Oasis announed that they were to support R.E.M at their show at Huddersfield Stadium on 25th July. I specifically remember my brothers excitement at this and what followed “…but Rich…. the lineup is the same as Milton Keynes, you just need to swap Blur for Oasis”. He was calling the shots here – after all, he DID buy the tickets. So I agree to his plan. We sell the Milton Keynes tickets and commit to the Oasis date.

A few days later, Oasis pulled out of the show. They were replaced by another hugely popular English band.

The Beautiful South.

I’m still reeling about that to this day.

So fast-forward 14 years. Blur have announced that they’re to perform with the original Albarn/Coxon/James/Rowntree lineup for the first time since Coxon’s meltdown in 2003. The location? Hyde Park. Oh. Yes. The nation rejoices. As do I.

As with all big shows, the Hyde Park dates were preceded by a bunch of warm-up dates that saw the reinvigorated four piece play the rock n roll hot-spots of Wolverhampton and Colchester to rapturous response. I was lucky enough to get tickets to their Southend Cliffs Pavillion show which, I still find difficult to talk about – it was just so…. perfect. I’d waited 18 years to see them. That’s a long time, and when they unveiled the double whammy of ‘Girls & Boys’ and ‘Tracy Jacks’ the feeling can only be described as euphoria. They played for two hours. Two perfect hours that were capped off with an epic reading of ‘The Universal’ which brought the entire theatre and indeed, the security staff (probably) to tears.

Blur: ‘The Universal’ @ Southend Cliffs Pavillion 21/06/09

I wanted more. I hated the fact that I couldn’t relive that feeling of joy again. That I’d waited 18 years and it was over in two hours. The Hyde Park Shows were my only hope of salvaging another performance just in case they decided to disband again once the current live commitments were over. I was ticket-less though, of course. I tend to stray away from BIG shows as a) they are normally filled with drunken fools and b) the sound is generally rubbish, but I didn’t really care because this was BLUR. Luckily – a last minute face-value ticket landed on my lap and I was good to go. Thursday 2nd July was a good day folks.

Now, as predicted – the crowd did contain a large sum of forty-somethings drunk out of their mind on Cider and roasting like pigs in the sun. It was an outdoor event after all. Couldn’t really expect anything less. But who am I to moan? After all, my wish had come true – I was seeing Blur for a second time in as many weeks! Barging my way to as near to the front as I possibly could the band emerged to a thunderous response. They’d only been on stage for 30 seconds and you could already seen a tear forming in Damon’s eye. The big softie. And then it hits you – these guys haven’t performed as the original lineup in nearly 10 years yet they can still reach out to such a ridiculous amount of people with such ease and gusto. For 2 hours, it’s 1995 all over again. Cue ‘Girls & Boys’.

Blur: ‘Girls and Boys’ @ Hyde Park, London 02/07/09

With a setlist spanning two encores, ALL of the hits plus a few band favourites (’Trimm Trabb’ and ‘Death Of A Party’ leaving the Cider swilling drunkards utterly perplexed), Blur had possibly just performed the most important show of their career. From the first announcement that they were to re-form this was the show they were leading up to. The make or break show. What happens next? Judging by the looks the band were giving each other on stage, one can only assume that they will continue on this journey for as long as the general public will have them. Look at Take That. They reformed, let’s face it, for the money – and loved it so much they’re now more successful and universally loved than ever before. My prediction is that Blur will follow suit – just as long as Albarn and Coxon can keep their egos at bay, we might just have them round for a few more years yet. Let’s hope so, as that hit of sheer euphoria that I’ve now felt twice needs to be re-lived over and over and over again.

Setlist: ‘She’s So High’, ‘Girls And Boys’, ‘Tracy Jacks’, ‘There’s No Other Way’, ‘Jubilee’, ‘Badhead’, ‘Beetlebum’, ‘Out Of Time’, ‘Trimm Trabb’, ‘Coffee & TV’, ‘Tender’, ‘Country House’, ‘Oily Water’, ‘Chemical World’, ‘Sunday Sunday’, ‘Parklife’, ‘End Of A Century’, ‘To The End’, ‘This Is A Low’

Encore 1: ‘Popscene’, ‘Advert’, ‘Song 2′
Encore 2: ‘Death Of A Party’, ‘For Tomorrow’, ‘The Universal’.

De Staat, a band from the Netherlands, takes the stage with much appreciation from the Dutch contingency waving the national flag. An intriguing drum intro bangs through an obviously improved sound system, after previous disappointments of quality in KOKO and De Staat conform to a classic rock & roll template with an edited touch of QOTSA, the occasional surf guitar and a cowbell present in each song. This five piece who’re fronted by someone who doesn’t know whether he’s Elvis Presley or Rex Manning (both heroes for different reasons) offer enough hooks and entertainment to restrain myself from breaking the bank at the bar. They leave the stage to generous applause.  

My thoughts are still on how my former sweetheart and I departed. No animosity, no grudges, just a mutual decision to experience news things. The venue fills up and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain  is played out in its near entirety. Tensions ease. 

Then they appear. A relationship that was lucky enough to last longer than a one night stand. Fittingly, dEUS open the set with When She Comes Down, their opening track from their recent album Vantage Point. It is clear to hear that she has removed all piercings and covered all tattoos to get a respectable job in the city. The band seem in good spirits as they boast Belgium currently lead Spain by a goal to nil in the World Cup Qualifier. The mood is projected onto the crowd as they play Instant Street. Feet continue to lift off the ground with a few dancy numbers which include Fell off the Floor, Man, Theme from Turnpike and the single The Architect. The atmosphere soon dies down when they continue to play a selection of songs from their recent album. Nothing Really Ends brings the crowd to a standstill and the excitement soon disappears along with the group of girls who were jumping next to me. Some things really do end as the realisation hits of why it’s taken so long to get back in touch. Conversation becomes a chore and eventually dries up as the band play the rest of their set with attempts to rejuvenate the crowd but there’s nothing worthwhile to remember. To no one’s surprise Suds & Soda meets the uproar of the audience with open arms. It’s difficult to not join in with the jumping crowd but it only proves to be a meaningless reminiscence. 

An enjoyable enough gig with two encores but still left with the disappointment of not being able to recapture the magic and passion of when we used to snog behind the bicycle sheds. Leaving the venue with an empty void the thought brushes pass me that I should be doing this with someone I love. However doesn’t mean I won’t be sending the occasional courtesy email to see how things are going.             

Setlist: (if my memory serves me correctly)   

When She Comes Down
Instant Street
Fell off the Floor, Man
Theme From Turnpike
The Architect
Favourite Game
Slow
Nothing Really Ends
Bad Timing
Little Arithmetics
If You Don’t Get What You Want
Suds & Soda
Encore 1
Smoker’s Reflect
Oh Your God
Roses
Morticiachair
Encore 2
Serpentine

Every once in a while I’ll discover (or rediscover) a band or singer who totally knocks my socks off (all over again), and I’ll check our own site and be like, “WOAH. They’re on tour!” That moment of discovery reminds me of the selfish purpose Songkick served in the first place. We wanted a site that would aggregate all the concert info in one place and make it really easy to find. It can be easy to forget that as you’re arguing whether to make something a button or a link in the day-to-day.

My ex-boyfriend introduced me to Stevie Wonder. He’s really knowledgeable about the good old classics,and has a really anal connoisseur’s knowledge–this album recorded in that studio, with this equipment, produced by this guy, during that era of the musician’s life, which was annoying and impressive at the same time. Stevie Wonder’s Songs in they Key of Life is one of his desert island discs. When I learned that, I was like, “What? The blind guy with cheesy beads in his braids who plays on Sesame Street?” See, I’m naive and uneducated, and have a total dilettante’s depth of knowledge. I like what I like and sometimes I get obsessed and find out more and sometimes I don’t.

Well, yes, Stevie Wonder is the smiley guy with braids. But his songs have a sheer exuberance and generosity that shame me for every meager and ungrateful thought I’ve ever had. I’ve been listening to my iTunes on shuffle all day, when he came along, I didn’t even recognize who sang the song (again: ignorant dilettante), but I thought, “WOAH this song is amazing. Who is this?” Lo and behold, it was Stevie. Next thought: “Beads, braids, is he still alive?” (You would like a stream of consciousness of my every day, wouldn’t you?)

Not only still alive, but touring my friends. Sadly, not coming to London, but those of you in America are lucky. See his tour dates.

Stevie Wonder – I Was Made to Love Her (mp3)
Stevie Wonder – Joy (Takes Over Me) (mp3)

So I was grateful for another chance to see them play live at ULU. The Silver Jews are one of those bands whose discovery is an undeserved surprise gift that makes you wonder what other hidden, bespoke treasures might be lurking out there in the musical cosmos. I had never heard of them, but a very dear musical friend of mine put them on a mix CD. I listened to them for the first time with absolutely no pre-hype bias, and I still remember my startled reaction to its poetry.

I usually hate comparisons between lyrics and poetry. It’s close, but not the same; it’s so easy to lend weight to a description of a song by calling it poetic. But Dave Berman’s lyrical economy completely startled me with its allusive grace.

I enjoy shows most when I know the songs I’m going to hear. When I’ve played them repeatedly, turning over the emotions at different times in my life. Some great songs are inextricable from my memory of certain periods of my life, and The Silver Jews punctuated a time when I was desperately waiting for something to happen to me.

But these familiar patterns achieve sudden, new saturation by the live performance. That’s what it is for me, at the heart of it. I like going to shows when I barely know the band, when it’s something new and fun, when it’s something I’m not really committed to, but the shows that are formative (if you’ll let me be dramatic) are the ones where I come prepared. And to see a living, sweating human being sing something that is at the same time so painfully mine–well, I guess that’s the rare occasion when I shed my usual misanthropy and feel like two people who don’t know each other really can share something special just by being human, living life, and feeling the same things.

When the band stepped on stage, they opened with two of my favorite Silver Jews songs ever: “Random Rules” and “Trains Across the Sea.” Dave Berman was wearing a gray, vintage-looking blazer with a dark black piped pattern, paired with a hot pink dress shirt. He looked like spent Vegas lounge singer who had lost it, wearing the weird, plastic glasses of your eighth-grade science teacher, greasy combover and all.

I think he was wasted. I don’t know. Either way, he was captivating. He never played guitar, but instead availed himself of the mic stand as though it were a weapon, a stave, or a baton, swinging it around to his band members as they played their solos. As he swayed around, abruptly sat down, and leaned on the precarious mic stand, there was a strange reliable control in his movements. So instead of an uneasy anticipation, you felt you were watching a pro who would never fall.

Silver Jews – Random Rules (mp3)
Silver Jews – Trains Across the Sea (mp3)

1. being starstruck. I rarely get that feeling, but at gigs I get it a lot. I’ve been blown away by Jens both times I’ve seen him, he’s just so charming.

2. something unique. I love the fact that his Scala show was totally different to his Uppsala show – when a musician is on the road for months on end, it still amazes me how much character and individuality each gig can have. (There are of course exceptions – I remember seeing De La Soul twice in 6 months back in the day and getting a practically identical show both times, even down to the jokes they told between songs.)

3. liking everyone a bit more. I don’t know if you have this feeling – but sometimes you can walk into a gig and the people in the queue look so different to each other and to you. It’s nice to feel that everyone from the indie kids to the people in suits straight from the bank, to the old guys with pints of ale are all there because they love Jens.

4. falling in love with a song for the first time. This time for me it was “Your arms around me”. I’d heard it before – but this time I just stood there blown away by it, wondering why I’d been so late to the party. It’s below for your listening pleasure.

5. the backstory. I LOVE it when artists tell the story behind a song when introducing it. Jens spent 5 minutes telling us the entire story to A Postcard to Nina before finally launching into it. He made me want to get on a bus to Berlin.

6. intimacy. The Scala felt just the right size for Jens right now – packed out, but still intimate. On a random note I love the way they didn’t stop people from standing on the steps, it felt like there were people on every square foot of space, but still enough room to dance.

7. An awesome support act. More about Bon Iver in another post – enough to say that I’ll be listening to a lot more by him over the next month, and catching his next London gig.

After the gig I mentioned to Anthony a few of the things off this list and he added another great one:

8. When you really appreciate the effort they’ve made to be there. Whether it’s traveling miles or getting over a fear of performance, sometimes you really feel incredibly grateful they’ve decided to play for you. He said he’d felt that really strongly recently at a Cat Power gig.

Those are some of the reasons I love live music, why do you?

Jens Lekman – Your Arms Around Me

For the uninitiated, it is an elusive scene, as difficult to enjoy as it is to define. But if approached with an open mind and guarded ears (thank god I remembered ear plugs!) you will not be disappointed. The festival aims for a survey of the genre with everything ranging from white noise, to long scratchy sequences of found audio samples, to more “traditional” (dare we use the term) arrangements of drums and bass with other instruments layered on top (”other instruments” in this case often being shaken chains, broken violins, or sustained screams). The vibe ranged from quiet meditation, to violent fist-pumping in a storming mosh pit brocean.

Partaking in three full days of this sonic bombardment may seem like a daunting task — even for the die-hards — but we attended Friday night and enjoyed a pretty choice sampling: Thurston Moore’s distorted droning with Nancy Garcia interweaving modern dance between brief engagements with every other instrument lying about; event founder and organizer Carlos Giffoni knob-twiddling screeching feedback loops with Burning Star Core violinist C. Spencer Yeh; and the legendary Tony Conrad with MV Carbon.

Overall it was a pretty amazing introduction to a vast and diverse culture … and a great night out!

Check out the flickr pics — some of our favorites here, here, here, here, here and here. A full line-up and contact info is available on their website.

credit Snap Punk!

It was my first Nick Cave gig after years of loving his records, which was unusual – most of the bands I see live for the first time are those I’ve only just got into.

First up the show was brilliant. He played a ton of my old favourites (Into My Arms, Stagger Lee, Red Right Hand, The Ship Song) as well as tracks from the new record Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! One of my favourite tracks from it is More News from Nowhere for you to enjoy below.

One of the oddest things for me about seeing Nick live was that I’d built him up in my head to be some sort of weird combination of a gunslanging cowboy pimp (Stagger Lee) and the kind of guy you’d find at the back of an old country church on Sunday (Into My Arms). After watching him play I think I’m not so far off…on stage he flips incredibly naturally between those styles. One of a kind.

Nick Cave – More News from Nowhere (mp3)

Nick Cave – Stagger Lee (mp3)

Nick Cave – Into My Arms (mp3)

The place was completely packed and sold out. I heard a rumor that they booked another show for Tuesday night (last night) because there was so much demand. Such is the power of the blogs I tell you! While I was waiting in line to get my wrist band, this girl asked me what they sounded like. It was really tough to describe them (I’m shit at it anyway), but I said something along the lines of really mellow, synthy music with a female vocalist. The fetching singer, Ruth Radalet, reminds me of a modern-day Nico. Maybe it was the heavy bangs framing a beautiful face, but their voices share a flat, removed quality.

After their set, they came to the side of the stage to sell merch. How’s that for DIY?

Here’s their cover version of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill,” paired with the original for comparison. I listened to this song on repeat for much of February. It was the last song of their set, and it didn’t disappoint. (It’s been a while since I posted mp3s, yes?)

Chromatics – Running Up That Hill (cover)
Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill (original)

Pretty lights = mood shot

All three boys in the band were wearing the exact same, pristine white Adidas sneakers. (Third boy is the drummer, you can’t see here.) Not sure if that was a nod to boy band outfits or what.

This is the best shot I have of Ruth. Isn’t she a Nico for 2008?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRLbpy9KDaY&feature=related

And here’s a dark, shaky photo from last night – see teacosy-sporting guitarist in background. Cute!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldton_tim/2382918861/