Profane, Ruby Lounge, Manchester, November 1st 2008

I think we are lucky that we have talented friends and I look forward to seeing them in bands. With this in mind, we set off to see Profane at the Ruby Lounge in Manchester the other weekend. We managed to miss everything that went on before the band but that didn't matter as Profane were our reason for being there. This was their first show featuring visual effects by Fata Morgana, which explained why everyone had white shirts on. Never seen Darryll in anything light coloured before! Anyway - the visuals worked really well and added to the atmosphere; not that they needed any help with that. If you haven't heard them, there are some definite progressive slants in there, some brutal noise, epic soundwaves and some good old Tool-esque angular rhythms. Pretty complicated stuff but never too challenging that you give up and get bored.
Profane hadn't played in Manchester since their ill-fated support slot with Ministry and there was a fair crowd there waiting to see their return.
First part of the set was older material from 'The Day we Scorched the Sky' which still sounds big and clever in all the right ways. The second part was new songs which are just phenomenal. I've listened to a new song they've got on myspace and they really don't sound like anyone else. There is a lot of complexity in the music but a great deal of subtlety too. Basically, I was very impressed and think the show was a big success. I really hope they carry on getting an increasing following and am sure they're destined for big things.
Good job Profane were so good else my lasting memory of the evening would have been being offered a lap dance in the Ruby Lounge.

Taste of Chaos - Manchester Academy 2 - 30th September

I am pleased to report that I wasn't the oldest person at Taste of Chaos - Danny and Feisty were there too. We did look like we should have been there with our children though. That aside, I was looking forward to it.
HORSE the Band were quite unlike anything I have ever seen before. Their singer looked like Philip Seymour Hoffman with a mullet, keyboard player looked remarkably Napoleon Dynamite-esque and one of Flight of the Conchords appeared to be on guitar. They're quite a difficult band to describe. They don't sound quite like anyone else. Ever. Loud, shouty vocals, angular guitars and varied-tempo drums, with a sprinkling of what sounds like a Nintendo through the keyboards. Like Converge crossed with Manic Miner. After a couple of minutes of the full-on aural assault though, I was starting to appreciate the troupe of bouncy people yelling at us. It's good to see something different for a start and their website made me chuckle when I got home. Yes, I think I will definitely go and see them again if they play these grey shores again. Plus, they have HORSE in their name and I love horses best of all the animals...
Anyway, there was another band on that I didn't go to watch as I was chatting about knitting or something and couldn't be bothered moving. Sorry, MUCC.
As I Lay Dying were about as cheerful as you might deduce from the name. I stuck out about 2 songs of their quite generic power metal and then went to find someone to talk to about knitting. I really am very rock 'n' roll.
Story of the Year were a surprise. I was expecting a bit of a wishy-washy band as I only know that one song that goes 'Until the Day I Die' but they were a lot shoutier and more impressive. They seem to have a lot more depth to them live than on record, although I was hoping for the backflips they're famous for and they never materialised. It is a bit of a small stage in there.
Atreyu were the band I was most looking forward to. I've seen them a couple of times before and Lead Sails, Paper Anchor is a really strong album. I finally persuaded the other half to come and see them too. I wished I hadn't. They weren't dreadful, but the shouty, muscly man was really struggling with his vocals and the Academy 2 didn't quite seem big enough for the sound they make, so resulting in a lot of echo. Some of the songs (i.e. where shouty man stuck to shouting, leaving singing drummer to do the singing) still came across well and I'll never get sick of hearing 'Right Side of the Bed'. Other half looked positively worried at 'Blow' but I've still seen worse bands. Couldn't help feeling a bit let down.
7/10 (Mainly for HORSE being so good)

Life Among People - Manchester Academy 23rd October 08

LAP made another appearance at the Academy Unsigned. Now a 3 piece again, the trio are edging closer to finding their own sound but already stand out against the rafts of generic rock bands being bandied around these days. Their new songs have a new-found intensity in their subtleties and sound fresh. They're lucky in that the overall sound isn't affected too much by being a 3 piece, though I must say it's a fuller sound with an extra guitar in the mix. I also must confess that I was recovering from a stomach bug so perhaps didn't take as much notice as I maybe should have but was still impressed. Their cover of the Terminator theme tune is still sublime although I am getting concerned that the younger elements of the crowds seem to not know what it is - the youth of today! I don't think it was one of their best performances but the Academy Unsigned nights are always a difficult crowd to please. I'm sure a big break must be on the horizon.

Strike Anywhere 21st September 2008 - Music Box, Manchester

Crikey, I almost forgot to blog this one. I nearly missed the gig too as I only found out about it a couple of weeks ago. I first found Strike Anywhere on a cold and grey Glaswegian evening, supporting As Friends Rust. We saw them several times that tour, on account of us being addicted to seeing AFR and stalking them the length and breadth of the country. I was impressed by SA's honesty and energy and always check them out when they're in town. It must be a while since we saw them last though as I don't believe I have seen them on this tour for Dead FM, and they've been touring that for two years now.
Anyway, off we trot to the Music Box a.k.a. the downstairs of Rockworld. It hasn't changed one iota since I was waving my tresses about to L7 and the like in the last millennium. I took very little notice of the support bands, I'm afraid, as I'd had very little sleep over the weekend and a mad week of work prior to that. There's nothing like a Strike Anywhere show to blow the cobwebs off. There was a small but devoted crowd who went mental the minute the band came on stage. There were a lot of songs off the last two albums but we got 'Chorus of One' and a fair few off the 'Change is a Sound' record, which I think is still my favourite. SA always remind me of a punk version of the Levellers. There are dreadlocks and a very all-inclusive vibe though you never get the feeling you're being judged or preached to. 'Chalk Line' is dedicated to the girls in the scene who stop it being a boys club. I applaud that sentiment!
Their newer material is more punk than hardcore and I often think of them and Rise Against in the similar vein. Imagine my glee when I find out today that Rise Against are touring too.
I think it's fair to say that I've enjoyed other SA gigs better as the sound was not that great in the Music Box, but that's more to do with the acoustics of the venue than anything else. Singer Tom looks not a day older than the first day I met him and has lost none of that energy. Oh yeah, I got asked for ID on the way in too - result! He's still one of the most affable guys I've met and I'm pleased to hear they've got loads of new material written and just need the studio time. They play a good set that is well received and it's a lot like meeting up with old friends.
They're playing in Leeds next Friday so anyone who's not at a wedding (i.e. not us!) should go and check them out. You won't be disappointed!
8/10 (because of bad sound)

August

Watch this space - I'm exhausted but will summarise August's gig-fest and be back later with some photos and a much better blog.
Started wonderfully with As Friends Rust at Camden Underworld (19th I think). I can't begin to express how excited I was about this though I was also apprehensive in case they had suffered from not playing for 6 or so years. They hadn't. It was fantastic. The atmosphere was super-charged, everyone was there like it was the only gig in the world ever and I think I've still got the grin welded to my face. Gutted it was a one-off tour but I'm still living in vague hope.
Then was Leeds festival but to be honest I've forgotten most of it. I'm tired. The Kills were great and I did enjoy the daftness of Tenacious D on the Friday. Saturday, QOTSA were way better than they have been the last few times I saw them and Rage Against the Machine were every bit as explosive as the last time I saw them (1996/7?). Still part of me wished to be in Stoke watching As Friends Rust. I was gutted at the loss of my duck umbrella, but pleased to see how ace the VIP loos were and very glad not to have to go in the ordinary campsie. I'm a complete lightweight. Sunday was capped off nicely with Manic Street Preachers, though I was deeply peturbed by the lukewarm response to Little Baby Nothing - it's a classic, you idiots!
In between all this, we had a lovely weekend with friends in Brighton, a trip to Lille to ruin my insides with cream and egg-based foods and beer and a visit to the Burke clan in Sussex to celebrate my niece's 18th. That made me feel old.
I've 5 weeks and 2 days till the next foreign jaunt and far too much to do before then so I will go and prepare with a big sleep. I will do a proper blog soon, I promise!

Some tales from New York

I'm not convinced anyone actually reads these things but it helps me remember what we've been up to. In this spirit, I'm going to attempt to summarise our 5 days in New York City for posterity. The first thing that struck me getting off the plane at JFK was how humid it was. The last time I was in New York was about the same time of year so it should have been no surprise. It's the first time I've arrived by air though. We did the obligatory yellow cab to the hotel, which gave us some good entered views approaching Manhattan. I was surprised how near the airport was and wondered why it takes up to an hour to get to Midtown. I realised why when we Manhattan and had Jimi's Crosstown Traffic stuck in my head for the next 20 minutes or so.
The hotel was the Affinia Manhattan, chosen using the old 'look through Tripadvisor ratings to find the highest rated one that you can afford in the right area' technique. It was a very swanky lobby and I felt quite scruffy after a long flight and rather hot cab journey. This didn't bother the receptionist who checked us in and upgraded us to a suite. Yay. He was really confused why we weren't going to see Coldplay that night at Madison Square Garden (which was just across the road), especially as we were English. I restrained myself from launching into a tirade against dullness. The room was not the most modern but it was comfortable, well equipped (kitchen, lounge, bedroom and 2 bathrooms) and best of all with a view of the Empire State Building (ESB to those in the know...).
We were determined to not go to sleep until as late as possible so went out to find the world's largest camera shop. It was completely bewildering inside - like a technologically-advanced Argos with entirely Jewish staff and the most gadgets I've ever seen. Got a nifty camera bag in the end. We had a bit of a wander round and a nosy round the old ESB which was handily scaffolded and covered up at the bottom. Found a rubbish shopping centre before paying our one and only visit to Sbarro. I think we did quite well. And we managed to stay up past 10pm. What jetlag?
Day 2 started promisingly as we didn't get up till 9am. Wish it was that easy to recover from jetlag in the opposite direction. Plus I was excited that we were going to get to see Pearl Jam that evening. We decided on this trip we should try to do the things we didn't get to do last time and top of that list was a good nosy round the Rockefeller Center. Those of you who don't know what it is, see the link, but it's a marvel of Art Deco town planning. Beautiful buildings with loads of steel and murals. They've done up the top of the GE building so you can once again visit it. 'The Top of the Rock' apparently. We went up and needless to say, I am definitely still not keen on heights. Impressive views from up there though. The sun was blazing as well and it was nice to have a sit down up there and think just how far away from work I was!

We took a self-guided walking tour of the Rockefeller Center, taking in the sights of St Patrick's cathedral, Radio City Music Hall and some of the buildings on the Avenue of the Americas. I think I was starting to be obsessed by the end of this so we headed over to the International Center for Photography which had some interesting exhibitions from Japan and the USA. Then it was time to pick up the Pearl Jam tickets and buy a pizza that was unfeasibly large. It was supposedly a small but I've never seen one so large over here. I've gone into a lot of detail in previous posts about the shows so I direct you to those. I had a pretzel the size of my head on the way back to the hotel. It was sad to see so many homeless people sleeping rough as I think it's something you don't see so often over here these days. I think New York is still very much a city of a thousand contrasts and the USA feels like such a different place to the UK, even though we speak the same language. Actually, I doubt that after constantly asking for people to repeat themselves and people keeping thinking I was Australian.

Day 3 was a good start to the morning knowing that I would be off to see the greatest live band in the world again that night. We called in to Macy's on the way to the subway. The New York Subway is cheap and relatively useful, but also insanely hot and humid so we headed for the cool climes of the American Museum of Natural History. It's enormous and the main entrance hall has two dinosaurs in it (I think they were a brachiosaur and an allosaurus but I've slept since then). As it was so massive, we decided to tag onto a tour of the highlights of the museum. We saw dinosaur fossils, gemstones and minerals and proper retro-looking diorama featuring bison and other animals. We finished off our visit with the planetarium (I will always get 'Sanitarium' by Metallica in my head at this point) in the Rose Center's nifty planetarium. More steamy Subway travel, a quick visit to Times Square and the world's largest toy store (disappointingly i's a Toys R Us but it has a huge, mechanical T-Rex in it) then off for another great show at Madison Square Garden.
Day 4 and the time's going for too quickly. We went off to Grand Central Terminal to see the impressive vaulted ceiling and decorations. Had a knish in the food court underneath, set out like a train carriage, then nearly had a divorce over a wiped memory card upstairs in the concourse. Brian K Vaughan (writer of comics/graphic novels) was doing a signing at a comic store near Grand Central and I'd promised the long-suffering other half that we could go. Plus, I finally got to go inside the Chrysler Building and coo over some more stainless steel and art deco. The geek line, I mean comic queue, wasn't too long, but I had time to have a wander off and stumble on a completely vegetarian burger bar, Zen Burger, which I earmarked for having tea in. Other half met BKV, I sulked that I didn't get to meet Pearl Jam and we fed our faces with burgers. Went back to the hotel and checked out the cocktail bar in the hotel, Niles. I had a cocktail and it was lovely. Then I had another one. Then we got one for free. Then I went to bed.
Day 5 had a slightly postponed start due to the sophoritic effects of 3 cocktails on a complete lightweight. We were booked on a river cruise from the South St Seaport to see some great views of Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty and Olafur Eliasson's Waterfalls. It was the hottest it had been that week I think but nice to get a breeze off the river. I was glad I hadn't had 4 cocktails though as I don't think I'd have appreciated being on a boat. On Friday nights, the Museum of Modern Art is free. We thought it would be a goodidea to visit then, not realising that everyone else would have the same idea. It was busy and so we didn't get to see all of Olafur Eliasson's installation, but saw some impressive works nonetheless including Warhol's soup cans, lots of Mondriaan, Klee and of course a load of old Pollocks. Sorry about that. The photography exhibitions were impressive too. We called at the Rockefeller Center again on the way too to re-take some of the photos I thought I had lost, including Chris Burden's public art project, 'What My Dad Gave Me' - a 6-storey skyscraper made out of 1930s replica toy parts. We finally got to go to Franchia as well, a Korean vegetarian restaurant on Park Avenue. It was a lovely place and really tasty, though I am pleased to report that Manchester's own Koreana does a nicer bibimbap.
Day 6 meant a whistle stop trip to Central Park for a geocache near the Dakota building and a little wander round. I decided to attempt some shopping in the Time Warner Building but ended up with an Owly book and a Napoleon Dynamite board game. Very useful. A quick shower at the hotel, final trip to Macy's and it was time to get in our yellow cab back to the airport. A slightly disappointing duty free session (no beer and not the right perfume) and it was time to get on the plane. Sadly not time to take off though as the thunderstorm that had been threatening the whole week decided to show up. It's not much fun sitting on the tarmac for 2 hours in a thunderstorm but I guess it's less fun flying in it.
And that was that. I think I could keep going back and still never see everything. A busy place but not in a tiring way. Of course, Pearl Jam and cheap flights are always a good combination and excuse.

Pearl Jam - Madison Square Garden, New York City, 25th June 2008

Well, I wasn't going all that way to not see Pearl Jam for a second night if they're in the same city. There was a complete fiasco surrounding posters outside the venue earlier on but I put it behind me and the staff inside the venue seemed to have a modicum of respect and intelligence so rudeness and unhelpfulness is not indicative of everyone there.
Anyway. We got in and were sat slightly nearer the stage for night 2 and thankfully the two beered-up ones in front of us weren't there either, so things were looking up. Managed to miss the support band again as we were getting some food and having a little rest after a day out sightseeing in the very humid climate. I was wondering what it was going to be like, seeing that they had played a good set the night before. They came on to Release which, to be honest, justified the flight prices alone to me. Eddie's voice sounded spot on and the whole of the Garden was singing along - I very nearly started to have a little cry but I'm a grown up these days so I didn't. It did remind me how very special this band can be when they get it right. I did worry that they rest of the show wouldn't match up to this opening, but we weren't disappointed. We had another 2 3/4 hour set with some surprises in it. World Wide Suicide and Severed Hand upped the tempo and even though we'd had Corduroy the previous night, I will never tire of hearing it. The backing singers came out again for All Night which sounded good again but made it clear we were going to get at least those 3 songs again from the night before. I'm not complaining as lots of bands these days play similar sets each night so us Pearl Jam fans are spoiled rotten with such varied setlists, but the element of surprise was gone for a couple of songs. Cropduster was a nice addition to the set as I think it's one of the better songs on Riot Act. Much as I like all their albums, the early-era stuff still gets me the most excited these days, especially when they pull Garden out of the bag. It sounded amazing and haunting and I think the crowd were one of the loudest I've ever heard. It's almost a spiritual experience being part of that. It's a rare thing to feel so engaged with a band in such a large venue. They must be doing something right.
They attempted to start Marker in the Sand (which made my husband happy as it's one of his favourites) but Mike seemed to completely forget how to play it. A bit of a reminder off the rest of the band though and he was sorted out. Next was a song I've never heard them play - I'm Open off the No Code album. It's not the most spectacular song they did but it reminds me of listening to No Code on repeat just before we went to see them for the first time in '96. Wishlist is nice to hear too. State of Love and Trust will always be one of my favourite songs in the world and tonight they pulled off about the best performances of it I've seen them do. My voice was starting to go at this point from so much singing. Next was EvenFlow, which is a lot of people's cue to spend a penny if needs be. It's a great song but I've heard it a million times and you have time to get out and back before the end of the guitar solo. Top tip there.
We had Who You Are with the guest vocalists nest, which was pretty much the same as the night before. Next was another song I've not seen them do: Rats which built up with Given to Fly with a frenetic end to main set of Do The Evolution and Go.
First Encore started with Inside Job then WMA with the guest vocalists again. Eddie invited us to settle down for some campfire music before launching into the short, sharp shock that is Lukin. I'm still too slow to sing along with that one. CJ Ramone came out again for I Believe in Miracles (see right) and the band didn't look any less in awe than the night before. Eddie started to sing Betterman and managed to get the whole of Madison Square Garden singing the wrong verse and collectively realising it. He started again but let the crowd continue. I thought he looked visibly touched by the intensity of emotion coming back at him from the crowd. Beautiful. Rearviewmirror was next and sounded as intense as the first time I saw them play it.
Encore number 2 started the same as the previous night with Eddie and his solo spot. A nice touch was seeing the band relocate to the back of the stage, complete with Matt on a little set of drums, to play Last Kiss for the people sat behind the stage. Every seat in the place was taken, even those all the way round the back of the stage. Why Go sounded massive but I was already starting to feel sad that the show would soon be over. I thought that would be it for the surprises too, but they brought on no other than Ace Frehley to play Kiss' classic Black Diamond (see left). Eddie left the stage to leave Mike to start on the vocals and Matt to take over. I have to say I was really impressed with Matt's vocals. Eddie came back on for Alive and then we had Yellow Ledbetter which usually indicates the end of the show is nigh. I think that's why it always has a strange melancholic air to me. Mike finished off with a searing rendition of the Star Spangled Banner during which Eddie and Boom seemed to go for a sit down behind the drums before gazing in awe at Mr McCready.
And that was it. No more Pearl Jam till the next tour. It was really worth it though!
9.5/10