Gigs gigs gigs

[Skummy]

we went to see Heaton, and it was bloody brilliant. More or less the same setlist as @Colly, and still lacking Jacqui Abbott, but absolutely brilliant all the same. You forget how strong his voice is until you hear him doing the acapella parts of Housemartins songs. The end of "Think For A Minute" was giving me goosebumps. And it was just lovely to hear some of the songs I've grown up with performed live. 

Billy Bragg was fantastic too - great setlist, and can't help but get a bit fired up by the entire O2 singing "There Is Power In A Union" on a day that we all had to work around train strikes to get there. "I'll Be Your Shield", "Levi Stubbs' Tears" and "Waiting For The Great Leap Forward" are my favourite Bragg songs, and we got all of them, so couldn't be happier with that. Lots of angry ranting too, plus tweaking of lyrics, including the slightly clunky trans-inclusive version of "Sexuality". It should be an incredibly low bar for a left-wing artist to publicly express solidarity with trans people, and to call out transphobia in his own audience, and it's sad that Billy seems genuinely exceptional for doing it.

The only real downside was the O2 itself. Just not a fan of gigs at such a massive venue - we were on the front row of seating, and I was still further away from the stage than I think I've ever been at a gig. 

[Hobo]

On 16/12/2022 at 15:08, Skummy said:

 I think the Beautiful South (and by extension, to some extent, The Housemartins) got a bad rap for a while because they were the sort of band that Mums like, and the sort of band whose CDs you could buy in Woolworths and WH Smiths. They seemed very "safe". But actually, he's a brilliant songwriter and a great singer, and they did some really interesting stuff - and he continues to do so

I went down a beautiful south rabbit hole on YouTube a while ago and was was pleasantly surprised that the songs had a lot more to them than i had initially thought

[Colly]

I'd not heard Heatongrad til he did it live, that pretty much dispelled any notion of 'safe' immediately.

Agree on the big venue thing though, I think ours (in the newly reopened Stockton Globe. The Beatles played there but it's been a closed edifice on the High St since 1990. Really nice building) was one of the smallest venues on the tour and for me was just right. Glad we were in the standing though, we've sat at the top for comedians but wouldn't have been as good for music.

[Skummy]

27 minutes ago, DropHobo said:

I went down a beautiful south rabbit hole on YouTube a while ago and was was pleasantly surprised that the songs had a lot more to them than i had initially thought

For sure, they're in this weird spot where they were hugely successful and seen as a bit of a mums-y middle class Radio 2 act, while actually writing songs like nobody else, and often being quite subversive. So they manage to be really underrated in some ways while also being one of the biggest selling bands of the '90s.

The manager of the club I used to DJ at was a huge fan, and a lot of the cool indie types used to make fun of her relentlessly for it. One of them, who I went to college with, said he hated the Beautiful South because of the lyric "I love you from the bottom of my pencil case", and how it didn't mean anything - I pointed out that if you actually listen beyond the opening line, it's a song about songwriting, and cynically monetising his failed relationships, and how no one else was (or is) really writing like that. 

7 minutes ago, Colly said:

I'd not heard Heatongrad til he did it live, that pretty much dispelled any notion of 'safe' immediately.

I was saying to a mate that was there, I imagine there were some people there during Billy Bragg's set being all, "keep politics out of it, I'm just here to see the 'Perfect 10' bloke", only for Heaton to sing something more aggressively left-wing than Bragg did, and opening with the line "fuck the King and fuck the Queen, with an AK-47".

[Colly]

I keep being drawn back into this thread...

I find it quite interesting that even their big family friendly 90s hits (Perfect 10, Don't Marry Her) are radio edits in the first place, though to be honest neither are my favourites. 

I take personal offence to your paragraph 2 as Song For Whoever well in my top 5 and probably my favourite 80s BS song, it's lovely and the live version was fantastic. It's such a brilliantly subversive love song, and the video helps too. You'd call it meta now, but probably not then...

Re Billy Bragg I love the idea of him, and I generally love people singing in their own accent, but I can just never quite get away with him. Enjoyed a bit of his ranting but then ended up in a 20 minute bar queue. If he'd just let Kirsty McColl sing all his stuff (admittedly impractical at this point, ring Frank Turner instead) I'd be well into it.

 

[Skummy]

yeah, I'm not a huge fan of Perfect 10 or Don't Marry Her - Perfect 10 is, while not as egregious as 36D, pretty dated and occasionally ugly in its gender politics, while Don't Marry Her is a song that's better in radio edit form than uncensored; "she'll grab your Sandra Bullocks" is an infinitely better lyric!

In terms of the big hits, it's A Little Time and Song For Whoever for me, with a soft spot for Rotterdam for childhood nostalgia reasons. Favourite songs are probably Prettiest Eyes and Sail This Ship Alone, with a special mention for Woman in The Wall, because it's my Mum's favourite. 

 

Billy Bragg is like Dylan for me - there are some songs that are absolutely made for his voice, and some I'd rather hear sung by anyone else, but the longer I've listened to him and the more I've got into him, the more songs have drifted into the former category and out of the latter. Something like "I'll Be Your Shield" I wouldn't want to hear sung by anyone else, while there's some earlier stuff that's a harder listen. He has a really distinctive guitar sound on songs like Levi Stubbs' Tears, that marries really well with his voice, whereas stuff like Sexuality that's a bit more '80s in its production are where his voice tends to not work for me.

[Colly]

Good as Gold is my 90s heyday favourite, singalong verses plus that chorus make it so positive. That was probably the big miss in terms of Jacqui for me, but still sounded great.

[VerbalPuke]

3 hours ago, Skummy said:

we went to see Heaton, and it was bloody brilliant. More or less the same setlist as @Colly, and still lacking Jacqui Abbott, but absolutely brilliant all the same. You forget how strong his voice is until you hear him doing the acapella parts of Housemartins songs. The end of "Think For A Minute" was giving me goosebumps. And it was just lovely to hear some of the songs I've grown up with performed live. 

Billy Bragg was fantastic too - great setlist, and can't help but get a bit fired up by the entire O2 singing "There Is Power In A Union" on a day that we all had to work around train strikes to get there. "I'll Be Your Shield", "Levi Stubbs' Tears" and "Waiting For The Great Leap Forward" are my favourite Bragg songs, and we got all of them, so couldn't be happier with that. Lots of angry ranting too, plus tweaking of lyrics, including the slightly clunky trans-inclusive version of "Sexuality". It should be an incredibly low bar for a left-wing artist to publicly express solidarity with trans people, and to call out transphobia in his own audience, and it's sad that Billy seems genuinely exceptional for doing it.

The only real downside was the O2 itself. Just not a fan of gigs at such a massive venue - we were on the front row of seating, and I was still further away from the stage than I think I've ever been at a gig. 

Sounds like a similar set list as to what we got for Billy Bragg. It was really was an awesome show, he's a really charming man in between songs as well. Levi Stubbs Tears sounded great in our venue, and like you said, it was heartening to hear the sing along. Especially when he did "You fascists are bound to lose".

[supergrass]

A couple weeks ago a customer came into my shop looking for a travel pillow, which we had. He mentioned he was a tour manager for a band playing the O2 academy next door. It was Fozzy, he put me on the list, I went. Awful, to be honest, but not completely in a bad way.

[Colly]

What a return post that is. Welcome back.

[supergrass]

I finally had a story to tell.

[Naitch]

Big D and the Kids Table are coming back to Norwich in April. More importantly, however, they're being supported by Kill Lincoln, a ska punk band I love but never thought I'd get to see live.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

First gig of the year tonight, Dropkick Murphys! Gutted that The Interrupters aren't supporting this one now but I might head in for Pennywise and The Rumjacks if I can be bothered to leave the bar early enough.

[K]

going to see the viagra boys this weekend. should be fun.

[Adam]

5 hours ago, K said:

going to see the viagra boys this weekend. should be fun.

I saw them in Glasgow on Saturday, and it was a lot of fun. Really like their energy live and the crowd was in good spirit too.

[Colly]

11 hours ago, K said:

going to see the viagra boys this weekend. should be fun.

I don't know who this is so I'm just going to assume autocorrect of the Vengaboys. Enjoy.

[Naitch]

Saw the 900 (the THPS cover band) on the 4th and now off to see Black Veil Brides tonight. Also booked for Trivium later in the year; it's nice to finally have some bands to my music taste finally coming back to little old Norwich!

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Finally ticking off a huge bucket list band and seeing Busted in September.

Also seeing The Cult play in a castle which is pretty dope.

[Bobfoc]

I hear Busted are being supported by Hanson. That's a far bigger deal.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Typically not on the show I'm seeing because Hanson are apparently banned from the South West.