Second week running to Club Academy in Manchester, last week Mugison, this week Frightened Rabbit. Mugison’s gig great on different levels – his music, his stories and humour and his rapport with the fairly small crowd.

Frightened Rabbit however had sold out the Club Academy and arriving at 9.15 it was pretty full in there. The crowd seemed much more mainstream than for Mugison, and I was slightly disconcerted to be surrounded by a quite straight looking uni crowd. Is this what my music taste had come to I wondered, or were Frightened Rabbit a bit different as I’d thought when I listened to them.

They came to my attention when I saw they were from Selkirk. Birthplace of one my relatives, Selkirk has a saying: ‘A day out of Selkirk is a day wasted’. It is a small self contained town on the Scottish Borders, which doesn’t seem at first glance to have much need for more glamourous activities that may be found in the cities to the North and the wider world.

Frightened Rabbit came on to what came close to a punk noise … quite unexpected and a little exciting … their singer seemed pretty uncomfortable with the rock star role, and there was quite a bit of ‘turn my instrument/mic up please’ from various members of the band – which is actually probably quite a good thing – they really cared about the music, and it wasn’t just an image thing for them. They had maybe 5 top tracks that really made them stand out, and were playing some new tracks from the album just released.

I had a couple of early qualms thinking of comparisons … U2 … Simple Minds … but these were unfounded – they were kind of different and in the end I couldn’t think of any bands that were closely like – the singers slightly disfunctional emotive approach – a little shy maybe and probably quite honest – his voice was pretty different and it was a good gig. One of the best for them they said too – they are a band that are on the verge of going huge … they just need the songs to match up to their last album – but maybe they’d be happier the way they are …

Mugison: Saw this guy first on a DVD I picked up in Iceland. He was playing in a tiny attic with a band mate, then later in an isolated little used church. Seeing the gig advertised, thought if I can’t go to Iceland, at least I can see someone who is Icelandic.

Arrived at Manchester Oxford Road station at 7pm on a Friday night – the place was buzzing, Manchester gearing up for a good night out. Nipped into Adbul’s for a bite … of you guessed it … chicken kebab. As always fantastic – a little smaller than the kebabs down at Whitworth Park but still the most tasty I’ve ever had. Left the shop with mouth burning with the chilli sauce.

Walked down to the University, plenty of time to get there, and into the student’s union. Another gig was on in the same building that night – 80s rock group Europe. Lots of hair around me going up the stairs, and the ticket guy said I was the first person he’d seen with a Mugison ticket.

Into the bar, and the place was thronged with middle aged rockers of all shapes and sizes. I looked around wondering if I’d spot Mugison in the bar. I remembered he had a beard, but all these Europe fans had beards. I went down to the gig room in the basement. It was completely empty. Must be the smallest Academy venue – I’d never been there. I went back upstairs hoping a few people at least were going to turn up.

I decided to skip the support. I’d hoped he would be Icelandic, but his name suggested he was from the UK, maybe I missed a treat?

Going back down for 9.30, the room had filled out a little – still nowhere near half full, but when Mugison came on, the response he was getting was enough – it seemed like a nice crowd.

He started with two songs dedicated to his wife. He was telling stories in between songs in his wonderful Icelandic accent – his wife was a ‘great practical joker’, she booked his tour dates and sometimes as a joke would book him on an airplane to the wrong city, so he would then have to travel across by his own means

Sometimes playing with a band, tonight he was on his own, and most of the songs were with guitar, though on a couple he played a strange small computer gadget that made loads of weird noises … samples from ‘broken guitars’ etc. At one point he stood up and searched his pockets. He was looking for a pick … a girl from the audience volunteered one.

His stories were very amusing, some of an ‘adult’ nature … such as the ‘Ice Breaker’ – a sailor he had met fishing off the coast of Russia, and also an onstage trouser accident he had had in Brussels – very funny.

A couple of songs he had the audience particating, with an wicked smile he had the girls responding to ‘Jesus is a good name to moan’ … I think he enjoyed that one … haha

He is ‘a bit afraid of encores’ so he stood up took a bow then sat back down and immediately played the ‘encore’ … a reference to the ‘final countdown’ caused a few chuckles … then he strode across to the bar his job done … who knows where his night went from there.

For me it was a walk back down Oxford Road, getting a telling off for walking into the wrong exit of the coach station, a short wait to get on the last coach back across the Pennines. In the seat behind a very pretty girl from I know not which country was having a phone conversation in an unknown language, and I was lulled by her murmurings and slightly dirty laugh back across the M62.

Lists … yeah sign of old age … some top gigs and a few that weren’t …
Artic Monkeys, Ash, Baaba Maal, Be Your Own Pet, Beck, Belinda Carlisle, Biffy Clyro, Bjork, Boomtown Rats, Breeders, Buzzcocks, Cape May, Cat Power, Cortney Tidwell, Cramps, Darts, Datsuns, David Thomas Broughton, Dinosaur jnr, Evan Dando, Fluffy, Foo Fighters, Giant Drag, Goldfrapp, Grandaddy, Help She Cant Swim, Hives, Howe Gelb, Howling Bells, Jeffrey Lewis, Jon Spencer Blues, L7, Lloyd Cole, Local Pricks, Lucinda Williams, Marc Almond, Metallica, Metric, Motorhead, Nina Nastasia, Paddingtons, Pixies, PJ Harvey, Ramones, Regina Spektor, Skin, Sky Larkin, Sleater Kinney, SLF, Spunge, Steven Malkmus, Stranglers, Strokes, Test Icicles, The Hellicopters, The Others, The Pogues, Tori Amos, Tricky, Weezer, Wolfmother, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

yeah yeah yeahs leeds only one week after motorhead … life is good!

Runaway, Phenomena, Heads Will Roll, Pin, Dull Life, Gold Lion, Cheated Hearts, Skeletons, Hysteric, Soft Shock, Honeybear, Zero, Turn Into
Encore Maps,Y Control, Date With The Night

Pic: Tamara Dulva (creative commons)

Been looking forward to this one … Motorhead, Damned and Girlschool. Missed Girlschool due to work, but caught half the Damned’s set. I only had the one Damned album – their first – a cracker – I was hoping to hear some of it, but the set was focussed on later material – in Ru’s words ‘the poncy stuff’. Best songs had to be Love song and Smash it Up. Eloise was played pretty heavy and wasn’t quite as bad as it could have been. Captain Sensible made a comment that tonight was about Rock and Roll and two fingers up to Simon Cowell. Another quip ‘better than the Sex Pistols eh?’. He was carried off still playing at the end wearing his trademark berry and weird glasses.

Surrounded by nodding meatheads for Motorhead, possibly long haired rockers in a previous life, Motorhead’s set was not hit friendly – they were playing what they wanted to play and this was no greatest hits tour. For the first part of the set I was stood next to the only man in a white shirt in the gig, who was trying to dance in a very packed space (Academy fuller than I’ve ever seen it). His buttocks were rubbing up and down on my pint holding arm, and it was generally a little disconcerting. After a while he decided he needed to be more part of it, and headed off into the mosh pit. Playing with Mikkey Dee (drums) and Phil Campbell (lead), Lemmy didn’t appear to have aged since the last time I saw them maybe 15 years ago. Saw the following set list on the web for them for this tour :

1. Iron Fist, 2. Stay Clean, 3. Be My Baby, 4. Rock Out, 5. Metropolis, 6. Over The Top, 7. One Night Stand, 8. I Got Mine, 9. Guitar Solo, 10. The Thousand Names Of God, 11. Another Perfect Day, 12. In The Name Of Tragedy, 13. Just ‘Cos You Got The Power, 14. Going To Brazil, 15. Killed By Death, 16. Bomber. Encore: 17. Whorehouse Blues, 18. Ace Of Spades, 19. Overkill

Not 100% sure they stuck to this though as didn’t know all these songs. Highlights for me were: I got mine, Killed by Death, Bomber, Stay Clean, Overkill. We got the guitar solo and also an astoundingly loud drum solo by the ‘greatest drummer in the world’ (Lemmy’s words). My ears are still popping. It was long and insane – and while my initial reaction was ‘oh no’ – the solos brought the other two members of the band forward and you could see how they fitted into the band … you didn’t feel like you were going to see just Lemmy.

There was the odd track that was a bit of a plodder and I started thinking of dodging off to get another pint, but you couldn’t because you didn’t know what the next track was gonna be – it could have been a track you had been wanting to hear for the last 10 years.

I guess for me it was the speed freak numbers that made my day – for these Motorhead hadn’t slowed down at all, the screaming guitars were as fantastic as ever. They played a couple of covers – which I didn’t know – I guess they would have been a bit different for the fans who had been to all their tours over the years.

The encore started off with Mikkey and Phil coming out with acoustic guitars sitting on stools, and with a bit of played up embarrassment Lemmy sang a bluesy number – they were all smirking along doing this – not the greatest track but it gave the gig another dimension – then back to the thunderous rock and roll. Ace of Spades – was well Ace of Spades but Overkill was phenomenal – Lemmy kept holding his finger up ‘one more time’ and they would play the loop at the end of the track again one more blinding time. Amazing.

I’d wanted to see Motorhead again ‘before Lemmy croaked’ – but I think he’s probably gonna outlast us all … and in case I didn’t say it – it was a bloody brilliant gig, Lemmy did the shooting us with the guitar thing at the end

Another review here

Cheapscape, freeloader, penny pincher … yeah yeah yeah … fact is the Undertones at Bingley fest on the free day was the band I wanted to see. I spose because bands from around 79 influenced my musical tastes for the next … years. The Undertones were high on that list. Original lineup, except for the ‘new’ singer (since 1999) replacing Fergal … I was wondering how they would sound compared to yester-year. After seeing ‘From the Jam’ at Bingley a few years back, I was prepared to give a band with a replacement singer a go. For From the Jam, their replacement for Paul Weller, sounded like Weller and had some much needed energy being younger than the man – it was a good gig. The Undertones new singer also sounded like his forerunner – with the same cracked warble … and it was looking good going into the first couple of songs. Then the problem started … he began strutting around the stage like Mick Jagger … except he was a fifty year old bloke doing something very old and unoriginal … Mick owned his strut. The songs were good, but looking at this guy was painful. His continual hip thrusts, and rockstar poses just looked crap and pretty embassasing. My perfect cousin and Teenage Kicks went down predictably well – with all and sundry jumping around … the bearded 50 year old biker in leathers jumping around with some young ladies in front was my favourite … accompanied by the stench of weed the couple behind were blowing straight at me. It was a good gig, marred by the singers posing … he should watch a video of himself – some of his moves worked and some looked really terrible. Best thing for me was material I hadn’t heard that was really good – I don’t know which album(s) they were from but there were some cracking songs that never reached me as a 12 year old.

photos from the y not festival in Derbyshire a couple of weeks ago.

The festival is small but perfect with a main stage and a acoustic tent. Acts alternate between them, so you can get to see them all. There was real ale and ciders instead of the usual garbage festival booze … and lots of mud!

A few photos added to the King of Burger section from Manchester … mainly taken around the Oxford Road backstreets and the North Quarter.

Dan’s idea … Y-Not indeed … early train over to Manni and on to Stockport for a pickup over to Buxton and then Derbyshire … festival ok to find, up a long track with a very muddy field on the right with some marooned cars. Some festival stewards suggested a council car park further on, and there was one space left just for us. Down the road and into the fest … no queues at all … magic! Then to the gate … the mud started … pretty much the whole area covered in a swamp. Wearing best trainers suddenly seemed pretty stuppid – most people were in wellies … doh, all those years at Leeds hadn’t prepared me for this. Staggered across to the beach bar cocktail tent and a sex on the beach … suddenly the mud didn’t seem so bad – I resigned myself to chucking my trainers in the bin – and off we went. A slippery slide over to the beer tent … ‘what no carling?’ ‘what no strongbow?’ what kind of festival was this … barrel after barrel of real ales … didn’t they know people came to festivals to drink the crappiest beer for the most overinflated prices from paper cups? Still I didn’t trust this real ale business so what about the ciders? Dave had bought a pint and now was looking a little unhappy with it … ‘ok, I’ll have that, you get some real ale if you must’. Ooof 7% with a very bitter aftertaste … took some drinking ‘haven’t you finished that pint yet?’ – ‘no I got a bit to go yet’.

Still we should try and see some of the bands I suppose…The Souvenirs…King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys…HUW…Joe Summers..Minus IQ, they went by, Souvenirs & Minus IQ not too bad, King Pleasure best watched from a very long distance on coffee tables in the mud with bacon sandwich…HUW – cider kicking in viciously now – don’t remember ever being that disappointed about missing a dance music set, getting there on the last track, something a little strange about that cider … Joe Summers – a song about how the new rave movement had left him totally non-plussed … the bands were playing alternatively in the tent and the main stage so you could catch a bit of everyone – or just loiter in the beer tent or at the beach bar sipping vivid cocktails from plastic glasses …

The Dandilions hadn’t sounded too good on the spoiler CD I’d put together, but they were working SO hard. The crowd weren’t taking part too much, but the band got everyone on their feet, large portions of the crowd to dance … and finally a huge conga around the tent, brilliant, all on a Sunday afternoon towards the end of the festival. Detroit Social Club had sounded a little different from the indie fare – but it was the Sunshine Underground who really hit the festival spot! Ok they were a bit Manc or a bit Coral … but by then they sounded like the greatest band on earth!!! Sam Beeton was terrible in contrast and I went outside and sat in the muddy field watching the sunset, one field of party goers in a rural English landscape – black and white cows dotted around the rolling hills surrounding the field.

The Young Knives finished it off…laced with irony and self mockery – they were indie but quite different from the norm, 3 suited men playing to a field of partied out festival goers but with still just enough left in the tank … staggering back through the mud in the dark I was glad not to go down … back to the council car park and a quick escape back to Chorlton with only a few scratches.

Cat Empire – a fun night – strange band, mix of very different characters making quite different styles of song. Some brill moments though, followed by some groupy behaviour to get an autograph at least.

Tried to make Rosie and the Goldbugs at Cockpit … but 3 bands on, first not started till 8.30 on a work night … nooooooooo! Saw first band tho – crazy bunch of space invader kids – like walking into a 80s video arcade room turned up full with guitars and drum machine … mental!

Was heading home by 9.30 tho, sad yes, sensible yes … but then, live to fight another day