So, I just got back from a Fratellis gig at the Engine Shed. It was good and I felt compelled to do some writing. So lets get to it:
R.E.M.
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.E.M.Most known for: Michael Stipe
Been going since: 1980
This band, hailing from Athens, Georgia, US, are often considered one of the best bands of today (usually compared with and spoken in the same breath as U2). They were also the first band I ever saw play live.
Twice.
So it was a good 4-5 years ago and my parents decided that it was time to really bring my sister and I into the music scene that they so cherished and loved. We'd all heard and appreciated the same music, but when my parents learned that R.E.M. were playing just a few hours away from home they decided not to go alone but to bring us as well. Even today, I appreciate that because as surreal as the experience was, it was also very important to my growth as a person, the growth of my musical appreciation and as well as that it was fucking awesome.
Arriving in Sheffield, we were pumped. We did some shopping during the day, ate a nice meal as the sun settled into the horizon and waited patiently in the que for only 30 or so minutes. Sitting down, we listened to the support act and chatted with those sitting next to us. They were nice people.
Then with not even a dimming of the lights, Michael Stipe wanders onto stage. Some cheer, some freak out. Most just wonder to themselves if this is how R.E.M. 'kickstart' every show. Apparently, it wasn't.
Michael thanks us all for coming down but it's not long until he's explaining that the show won't be taking place. Bassist Mike Mills is feeling particularly ill and isn't able to perform. There's a slither of laughter as the audience catch onto the joke that isn't there; Michael is serious. It's only a few moments before a women in front of me is breaking down: "This is the second time I've come to see them and both times they've had to cancel.". At the time I felt her pain...now I think she was funny as hell.
Dissapointment rings thick in the air, but Michael, God bless him, is a tremendous sport. He brings out Peter Buck who's sporting an acoustic guitar and the two of them slam out a half dozen of R.E.M.'s classics before saying that the show is to be re-arranged and we'll all be admitted as long as we have our tickets.
So two months later, we find ourselves in the same stadium, same seats, with the same drinks and the same food. We've had another good day in Sheffield and we're ready to see one of the worlds greatest bands play a great show, and they really do not disapoint. The lyrics bind with the music in a fashion that only a true artist of the highest pedigree can truly conjure up. Michael's banter with the audience is both funny and endearing, and there is little that has touched me more than Michael commenting on his discontent with the American Government before launching into a rendition of Final Straw.
Quite a few feel that Around the Sun was a weak R.E.M. album but I loved it, I loved the Around the Sun tour, twice and although no song will top some of R.E.M.'s classics, their combination of past hits and present chart toppers was an experience I wouldn't trade in for anything.
Favourite Song: Losing My Religion (1991)
Tenacious D
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenacious_DMost known for: Rocking out! or Jack Black...
Been going since: 1994
This two-man band from Los Angeles, California is truly a band of kings. Doubly so as they are often referred to as Two Kings or sometimes simply 'the D'.
The bands music has a tendency to be as obscure as the bands name (a name which nobody really seems to understand) but Black's charisma and Gass's frantic, yet masterful playing of the guitar (usually acoustic) see the D through even the darkest of times. When the D aren't singing about getting high, or dominating a crumbling society, their main target seems to be the genre of Rock and all it's subsidiaries including, but not limited to: metal, heavy, techno, indie, jazz, blues, screamo, etc. One of the most attractive qualities that our beloved Two Kings use to their advantage is their appreciation to the history and art of good Rock and the feeling that these two fat slobs love rock just as much as you bridges the gap between listener and superstar. It's easy to forget that Jack Black is one of Hollywood's biggest names when he's screaming about the incredulous invention he's come up with to furthur the skill of Rock singers everywhere.
My memories of seeing the D are shaky and hectic. I was undergoing my Drama GCSE (that's a big compulsory UK examination) at school and found out that a teacher was selling Tenacious D tickets. The next week I finished my final examination, hopped in the back of my friend Dave's car with two other friends, Kelly and James and we began an epic 3 hour journey to Blackpool in order to see them. I should have been exhausted, having just finished such an important exam, but I was pumped. This was the D and I was going to savour it.
When we got to the stadium, we were greeted by, of all things, a standup comic as our support act. If anyone has ever seen the Tenacious D movie...yeah. Same guy. He had an odd habit of slating the audience and convincing us all to shout 'Cranberry Sauce' at the top of our voices before he left. And he threw coins at us. That hurt...
Eventually, Gass and Black made their way on stage, a stage that had been set up to look like an apartment and I was treated to the greatest show of my life. Not a gig...not a concert...they didn't just sing their back catalogue, they put on a performance. Literally, an entire story in which JB and KG got killed, went to hell and met up with Colonel Sanders and the Anti-Christ and started a rockband in Hell, before defeating Satan. I shit you not, it was easily the most genius thing I have ever seen in my life.
The music, as expected was great, but there was something about seeing Kyle slam down the riffs on an open stage, and seeing Jack sing "I do not need a microphone" whilst throwing away a microphone that made it all so much more compelling. It was obvious Jack had a headset so he could continue to sing, but hell, sometimes the magic is too strong to be killed by a few facts. It may not have been the best concert of my life, but there's no doubt in my mind that it was the best stage production.
Favourite Song: Rock Your Socks (2001) *editors note:* If I have one complaint about TD's setlist, it's that this track was omitted.
However, I am willing to admit that Master Exploder (2006) is also an immense song worthy of space on your iPod/mp3 player.
Snow Patrol
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_PatrolMost known for: Chasing Cars (20006)
Been going since: 1994
I saw Snow Patrol during their Eyes Open tour and walking in, I didn't appreciate the Irish/Scottish band at all. Walking out, I certainly did.
This was another family gig, with my Mom, Dad and Sister accompanying me. The support act was a then little known band called The Young Knives, who I'd actually been keeping track of. They gave the evening a good start by playing fantastically. But you know how it is. Somehow the support act never quite matches up to the band or artist you're going to see.
It's odd but there was nothing about the show that stood out as amazing, rather just the sheer tightness of the production. The band performed and they sounded perfect, the lights were incredible and probably most importantly there was a real sense of atmosphere to the arena. See, I've always said that skill and atmosphere are two different things. You can play a song and play it well, perfectly even, but if there's no sense of atmosphere, you're just a dude with a guitar, or a microphone, or a drum, or a theramin (all those of you who don't know what a theramin is, Google it). To really nail a concert experience you need to be able to play well and nail the atmosphere. Sometimes, the atmosphere can beat out the playing, so if you're playing badly it might not seem so bad or even be noticeable. Not only did Snow Patrol play well, they hit the atmosphere and they hit it hard. They showed themselves as a Rock Band and got the audience going as well. They got me going and I was cynical as hell walking in. Atmosphere can do a lot of weird things.
Something else, also worth noting is that Snow Patrol has a strong roster of songs to back up their skill and atmosphere. I mentioned how Run and Chasing Cars became somewhat overused, even slightly trite and cheap, but at the heart of the music, they're really good songs. All it takes is an unbiased perspective and you'd be surprised just how decent a lot of songs you'd written off as over-used really are.
So, I was happy with the show. More than happy even. The experience I will forever remember about Snow Patrol's gig is how they just turned me onto their music. There was actually a moment two songs in when I felt something click and realised that i was really enjoying the show. That I really liked this band.
It's the little moments that have been known to make a difference, that stay with you until the day you die and that no-one can ever take away from you, no matter how hard they try. All of these bands, all of these gigs have had their special moments (well, most of them...) but Snow Patrol's moment lasts with me because it was so small, so subtle and so impossible to miss that it was evidently genuine. It's the little moments that can't be faked.
Favourite song: Set the FIre to the Third Bar (2006)
Wow. This turned out longer than I expected, and I'm only 1/3rd of the way through. I would finish now but caps lock is stuck, so i have to hold down the shift key, which makes proper grammar and punctuation increasingly difficult. Tomorrow, once I've sussed out my keyboard, I'll get on pt. 2.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading ^_^
B[o]ut.
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