This page is a running tally of all the concerts I've been to - half to inform you as to who's great, mediocre, or shitty live, and half to remind me where I've been (you know how the mind starts to go...). So enjoy!
I'd never seen Bjork before last night. I don't think words actually describe the experience, so I'll keep my gutteral cooing and gushing to a minimum and just keep to the facts.
The opener: Soft Pink Truth: Varied electronic squelching to a backdrop of hilarious 70s and 80s gay porn (the premises, not the actual penetration or anything). Why hasn't anyone thought of this before? Genius.
Her dress: Bright fuschia taffeta dress with massive flower on one shoulder, large pink eye makeup, corn-rowed hair with pink threads. I'm thinking I need to adopt this look NOW, minus a few inches of eyeshadow.
The setlist: If I would've been asked to predict the setlist, never in a million years and my wildest dreams would I have come up with this. This was clearly a fan's setlist, with only a few singles played, loads of album tracks, some really old b-sides that made me weak at the knees, and even some new ones thrown in! If you've got tickets for the upcoming shows and you haven't been following Bjork for years and years, START STUDYING NOW to avoid frustration at only hearing one or two you know. Oh my, it's worth the download times.
Highlights for me were Joga (obviously. one of my favorite tracks, simply amazing). Generous Palmstroke directly followed by Nature is Ancient (I'm in b-side heaven!!!).
And I *heart* Bjork.com for getting the setlist up already this morning, though it's missing "You've Been Flirting Again" which she sung in Icelandic...
Take a gander at this:
01. Pagan Poetry
02. 5 Years
03. Hunter
04. Desired Constellation
05. Unravel
06. Jsga
07. All Is Full Of Love
08. Heirloom
09. Generous Palmstroke
10. Nature Is Ancient
11. Hyperballad
12. It's In Our Hands
13. Nameless
14. Crave
15. Where Is The Line
16. Pluto
encore
17. Scary
18. Isobel
I am absolutely overcome with awe and love for her.
Hey, waitaminute... Last time I saw them they said it was their last-ever gig! Then what's this then? Oh, apparently it's their "Last ever, no really, we mean it this time" gig! Yip!
I got a free glow in the dark whistle on entry (how thoughtful, I get to save my voice from all the squeals), and by god did I use it - S Club Party, Alive, Say Goodbye, Reach (For the Stars), and Don't Stop (Movin). Oh my yes. I think they all appreciated that this was one of the few shows where they could actually swear (it's hardly likely that any kids will be watching S Club at 2am on a night called "G-A-Y", now is it?), and lo, the hankies were at the ready. I don't think I could Stop (Movin) even if I tried.
(I put The Sleepy Jackson in parentheses because they were the main band, but I didn't go for them and I was completely allergic to their brand of country-cum-progrock and so escaped to the bar during their set)
The last time I saw The Hidden Cameras it was just Joel and an acoustic guitar, but this time he brought all of his friends so there was much violining, glockenspieling, and audience dance-alongs.... and since he had the support of the whole band they were able to ply "The Animals of Prey" and "Ban Marriage" this time around! Woo! Here's hoping the gig on the 2nd sees the triumphant English debut of the balaclava dancers!
I'm sorry to say, but Icarus bored me to tears. VERY Warp, but the bad sort of Warp that has no defineable or recognizable beat and progresses nowhere. I was actually so bored that I went up to the toilets just for something to do to kill some time, and I never do that.
Thank god for Four Tet, then. Every beautiful nuance and strum from "Rounds" comes through live, squashed through a sequencer (or a colander, I'm not sure which), and brought to life through Kieran's beaming smile. Here's one of the faceless laptop hordes who's managed to standout through personality, a quirlky love of folk lifestyle, and a music sense to make melody and rhythm the main focus, not simply an afterthought (the entire problem of the likes of Icarus). It's little wonder that the near-capacity crowd gave him such love in return - when you can polish a cold, hard medium into something warm and whimsical, your love will return on you triple-fold.
The setlist:
She moves she
Everything is alright
Glue of the other world
You could ruin my day
Tangle
Spirit fingers
Twenty three
My angel rocks back and forth
As serious as your life
Calamine
The second Singles Club gig at the Monarch, and the second sellout gig? Coincidence? Naw, it prolly has more to do with the lineup...
Lomax didn't make much of an impression on me, but were neither good nor bad nor interesting in mine eyes. Franz Ferdinand, on the other hand, were one of the most exciting new bands I've seen in months. Strong songwriting, incredible melodies (both vocal and guitar), and the synths just made me want to weep for joy in memory of The Faint. Rumor has it they've just come through a major bidding war, so here's hoping their recorded material is as awe-inspiring as the live stuff... Futureheads had a hard act to follow, but managed to pull off a fantastic performance in their own right, despite the idiotic drunk heckles from the industry wanker in front of me. And I like a band who can handle criticism.
You can download free mp3s from all the bands HERE