This year saw somewhat of a dip in the number of gigs I went to, but the one’s I did, they weren’t too bad I suppose…
Mastodon’s ‘Crack the Skye’ was one of my favourite albums of last year, so understandably, on hearing that they would be playing it in it’s entirety , I was filled with girlish glee., getting the tickets as a birthday present (which was the day before) was the icing on the cake. Stood outside Sheffield Corporation in the pouring rain (Sheffield, in June, of course it was going to rain…), I could still feel the skin round my first tattoo (which was done on the aforementioned birthday) burning from being shaved, I was eager to get inside, get me coat off have a couple of bottles of Newky Brown and let my ear drums be pummelled. Mastodon did indeed play all of ‘Crack the Skye’ along with another ten or so tracks from their back catalogue. I left, however, feeling a tad deflated, they were good, but by their high standards, slightly disappointing. The new material lacked the bite, live, of their older stuff, and didn’t come across as well as I’d hoped. I don’t think the sound did them any favours either, from where we were at least, everything was mixed into a big muddy mess, lacking any real clarity. A shame, but at least I got an awesome poster!
Clutch at Leeds Cockpit provided me with some short lived tinnitus…which has to be a good thing… supported by the dreadfully named, but actually pretty damn good And So I Watch You From Afar, and, well, themselves essentially (in the form of The Bakerton Group, an instrumental side project), the headliners certainly did not disappoint, riff after riff, they just kept on giving. It’s a wonder how, returning for the encore, they managed to play at all, looking thoroughly mashed!
August 8th was my first trip to Farndale since I was a nipper, my grandparents would often rent the cottage directly opposite The Band Room during the summer, and I have a lot of fond memories of visiting them there. The trip there was great, taking the scenic route, we stopped a few times just to take in the views. We stopped by a couple of pubs, where my dad had a conversation with a chicken, and then headed on to the venue. It was rather a low key affair, matching Woodpigeon’s music, a kind of wistful Canadicana. Despite having already having released two albums, and having another two almost in the bag, they seemed to struggle for material. Any feeling of an anticlimax was dispelled by the trip there though. I’ve not listened to them much since, in hindsight I think they’re probably just a bit too fey, even for me.
I got to go to my favourite venue twice this year, Manchester Apollo, to me, is the perfect place to experience live music, I’ve seen many of my favourite bands there, and if I were to compile a list the best gigs I’ve been too, the Apollo would feature heavily. (you’re welcome, Carling.)
First up (more on my second visit later) was Fleet Foxes, supported by Blitzen Trapper. Have not heard much of the Trapper’s material beforehand, I was pleasantly surprised by their Neil Young inspired folk-rock (with added synth…surprisingly, it works), the guys from Fleet Foxes joined them on stage, their drummer Josh Tillman (who’s album Vacilando Territory Blues was one of my favourite’s of last year, incidentally, I bought it the day of this gig… fascinating, I know!) playing some stealth cowbell.
I was a little unsure of how Fleet Foxes’ trademark harmonies would sound live, as it turned out, I had no need to be, they were just as gorgeous as on record. The snippets of new material that were played sounded very interesting, the only downside of this gig was that, despite joking about and starting to play it, there was no full version of ‘Free Bird’, ah well.
We stayed in a budget hotel in the city centre, just off of Oldham Street, which is, for want of two better words; freakin’ awesome, a few indie record shops, comic book shops and the rather wonderful Night and Day café/venue always make gigs in Manchester with Miss Mac something to really look forward to.
My second visit to Manchester Apollo was to see Massive Attack, as my mum and dad had originally planned to go together, but the former was nursing a migraine. It’s a bloody good thing she decided to stay at home too, as from the get go Massive were crushingly heavy. The LED wall behind them just added to the atmosphere, projecting various quotes, and News footage amongst other things, at times it made it hard to concentrate on the music. And we only got a little bit lost on the way there!
The only gig I went to in York this year was And So I Watch You From Afar at the revamped, and now slightly dull, Fibbers. Impressive during their support slot for Clutch, I thought it would be rude not to. Intricate and heavy in equal measure, think early Pelican, this is a band deserving of a much bigger audience. Go here to read my good friend Paul’s review.
Grizzly Bear at Leeds. See review. Best.Gig.Ever (well this year anyway)
Megafaun. Here’s me review So much fun!
14.1.10
8.1.10
Films what I seen last year
No More lists, one’s enough methinks, however, over the next week or so I’ll be posting a fair bit about the past year and a little about the year to come…first, as the title of this post may have suggested…films.
Ah, Orange Wednesdays, Ah, City Screen Membership, how I love you so.
We’ve seen some absolutely wonderful films this year, where to begin….
‘(500) Days Of Summer’ is probably as good a place as any…starring Joseph Gordon Levitt as Tom and Zooey Deschanel as the eponymous Summer, it’s a rom-com Jim, but not as we know it. The narrative jumps back and forth before, during and after the couple’s relationship. It even features a choreographed dance to Halls & Oates' ‘You Make My Dreams' . It’s sweet, tender and very very funny in places.
I’ve already written a little about ‘An Education’, so I won’t repeat myself. I’m very much looking forward to getting this little gem on DVD; hopefully it’ll be as good the second time.
Sam Mendes’ ‘Away We Go’, is a rather lovely film. Burt (hehe) and Verona (who is heavily pregnant) are moving so they can raise their child near Burt’s parents. Who, oh dear, are moving to Antwerp for two years. So begins a road trip, the couple trying to find the perfect place to bring up their unborn child. Suffice to say, after visiting various friends and ex work colleagues, they do find that perfect place and a very happy, but not at all mawkish ending.
I laughed quite a lot, and very nearly cried…
‘District 9’ is set in Jo’burg, South Africa where an alien ship hangs ominously in the skyline, it follows the plan to move the aliens, referred to as ‘Prawns’ from District 9, a shanty town for all intents and purposes, to District 10, essentially a concentration camp. This film could have only been set in South Africa. I’ll leave it at that, no spoilers. I don’t like spoilers. It was nice to see a non-hollywood Sci-Fi film seemingly come out of nowhere and achieve such success. Despite how much I enjoyed it, I do hope there’s no sequel.
What did I learn from this film? That saying “F*ck” over and ever again in a South African accent is very very funny indeed.
Based on a novel, by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist, ‘Let the Right One In’ is a story of friendship first, a story about vampires second, which is perhaps why it was so utterly engrossing, and probably the best film I saw last year. An American remake is due out later in 2010, which doesn’t bode well, but considering who’s directing it (Matt Reeves, Cloverfield) and who is playing the young boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee, 'The Road') and girl (Chloe Mortez '(500) Days of Summer' ) it might not be complete and utter horse sh*t
I only watched the original ‘Star Trek’ series occasionally as a child (I don’t think, prior to seeing the film, I’d seen an episode in 10-15 years), and thought the more recent incarnations of the franchise were a bit….meh. It was the involvement of JJ Abrahams, Zachary Quinto and Simon Pegg that got me interested…thank a fictional deity they did. From start to finish, ‘Star Trek’ is an absolute blast, Quinto and Chris Pine getting the young Spock and Kirk spot on, Leonard Nimoy looking surprisingly sprightly for his age, Pegg and Anton Yelchin as Scotty and Chekov offering light relief, and Eric Bana as a pesky womulan, there’s not a weak performance amongst them.
It’s made me reassess my position on ‘Star Trek’ all together, and now I cannot wait for no.2
I Didn’t see ‘Avatar’ until the third day of this year, but it came out last year, so what the hell. I enjoyed it, Sam Worthington is incredibly wooden, the story was a little…predictable, a harmless enough piece of Sci-Fi fluff…BUT MY GOD… James Cameron’s many years working on his 3D technology has really paid off, I found myself ducking and flinching time and time again. Even in the scenes where nothing really happens, it almost feels like you’re there. I can only imagine how stunning this would look on an IMAX screen. This is a film that HAS to be seen in a cinema.
A real life Spinal Tap. The drummer’s called Rob Reiner for crying out loud. ‘Anvil! The Story of Anvil’ is a feel-good film if ever I saw one…just watch it…for the love of all things metal…just watch it.
Ah, Orange Wednesdays, Ah, City Screen Membership, how I love you so.
We’ve seen some absolutely wonderful films this year, where to begin….
‘(500) Days Of Summer’ is probably as good a place as any…starring Joseph Gordon Levitt as Tom and Zooey Deschanel as the eponymous Summer, it’s a rom-com Jim, but not as we know it. The narrative jumps back and forth before, during and after the couple’s relationship. It even features a choreographed dance to Halls & Oates' ‘You Make My Dreams' . It’s sweet, tender and very very funny in places.
I’ve already written a little about ‘An Education’, so I won’t repeat myself. I’m very much looking forward to getting this little gem on DVD; hopefully it’ll be as good the second time.
Sam Mendes’ ‘Away We Go’, is a rather lovely film. Burt (hehe) and Verona (who is heavily pregnant) are moving so they can raise their child near Burt’s parents. Who, oh dear, are moving to Antwerp for two years. So begins a road trip, the couple trying to find the perfect place to bring up their unborn child. Suffice to say, after visiting various friends and ex work colleagues, they do find that perfect place and a very happy, but not at all mawkish ending.
I laughed quite a lot, and very nearly cried…
‘District 9’ is set in Jo’burg, South Africa where an alien ship hangs ominously in the skyline, it follows the plan to move the aliens, referred to as ‘Prawns’ from District 9, a shanty town for all intents and purposes, to District 10, essentially a concentration camp. This film could have only been set in South Africa. I’ll leave it at that, no spoilers. I don’t like spoilers. It was nice to see a non-hollywood Sci-Fi film seemingly come out of nowhere and achieve such success. Despite how much I enjoyed it, I do hope there’s no sequel.
What did I learn from this film? That saying “F*ck” over and ever again in a South African accent is very very funny indeed.
Based on a novel, by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist, ‘Let the Right One In’ is a story of friendship first, a story about vampires second, which is perhaps why it was so utterly engrossing, and probably the best film I saw last year. An American remake is due out later in 2010, which doesn’t bode well, but considering who’s directing it (Matt Reeves, Cloverfield) and who is playing the young boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee, 'The Road') and girl (Chloe Mortez '(500) Days of Summer' ) it might not be complete and utter horse sh*t
I only watched the original ‘Star Trek’ series occasionally as a child (I don’t think, prior to seeing the film, I’d seen an episode in 10-15 years), and thought the more recent incarnations of the franchise were a bit….meh. It was the involvement of JJ Abrahams, Zachary Quinto and Simon Pegg that got me interested…thank a fictional deity they did. From start to finish, ‘Star Trek’ is an absolute blast, Quinto and Chris Pine getting the young Spock and Kirk spot on, Leonard Nimoy looking surprisingly sprightly for his age, Pegg and Anton Yelchin as Scotty and Chekov offering light relief, and Eric Bana as a pesky womulan, there’s not a weak performance amongst them.
It’s made me reassess my position on ‘Star Trek’ all together, and now I cannot wait for no.2
I Didn’t see ‘Avatar’ until the third day of this year, but it came out last year, so what the hell. I enjoyed it, Sam Worthington is incredibly wooden, the story was a little…predictable, a harmless enough piece of Sci-Fi fluff…BUT MY GOD… James Cameron’s many years working on his 3D technology has really paid off, I found myself ducking and flinching time and time again. Even in the scenes where nothing really happens, it almost feels like you’re there. I can only imagine how stunning this would look on an IMAX screen. This is a film that HAS to be seen in a cinema.
A real life Spinal Tap. The drummer’s called Rob Reiner for crying out loud. ‘Anvil! The Story of Anvil’ is a feel-good film if ever I saw one…just watch it…for the love of all things metal…just watch it.
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