By the way, if anyone has an objection to their picture being here, please let me know and I'll remove it. Click on the button below, it should work..... NEW IMPROVED, NOW WITH MOST RECENT GIGS AT THE TOP!
And some recently added (but very old gigs) near or at the bottom. Many of these go back to the crap camera I entered the digital age with, a couple even go back to film and prints, remember that? One set even go back to black and white! That I developed and printed myself!
All pictures property and copyright of Peter Marshall, if you want to use them, just let me know. It would be nice to get an email from this site now and again.....
Alphabeat - Roadmender - 6/11/2008. The happiest band I've seen since...ooooh... Tangerine Dream :-) Extremely jolly bunch, very 80s pop, I didn't know anything by them but it didn't really matter. Jolly audience too, mainly of young girls it seemed and it was nice to be able to get to the bar easily. Another fairly short set (80 minutes? Not that short but TD did 180 minutes...) but very good, and nice to see a band who know when to turn the lights on, makes getting a picture a lot easier. As you can tell from all the cameras! It was like a press conference at times!
Tangerine Dream - Forum - 1/11/2008. Very very good, played from 8 till 11, but not quite what I was expecting. A bit like a cross between Pink Floyd, Hawkwind and the Prodigy. With some very Tangerine Dream bits thrown in. But seriously far more dancey than I remember them ever being. But they all looked to be having a good time, which is always nice :-)
Joseph Porter and others - Sawyers - 15/10/2008. Well, I don't know what to say. One of the best gigs I've been to, in one of the nicest pubs I've found in a while, with some of the nicest people. Where the fuck was everyone? It was like the Ashes all over again, but much smaller. The few people who did make it, really made it. Brighton, Kings Lynne, Southampton, Harrogate, etc. We only had to drive about an hour, made us almost locals! We missed the very start and for some reason I didn't take any pics of Rachel Pantechnicon. It was much the same set as the Ashes but very good, and new to Jo. Paul of Pog had lost the rest of his band but did a great set anyway, Philip Jeays was amazing, MUST go see him again, and Joseph did a fantastic job with a guitar despite claiming to only do three chords. I wish I could play as badly... With songs ranging from the Trojan War (After the Horse Has Bolted, I didn't think it would work solo like that but brilliant!) to one about the Holocaust (OK, it wasn't the most cheerful of gigs) it was simply a stunning evening. Beer was good too.
Hot Leg - Pitz - 12/10/2008. Really? That long since we've been to the Pitz? Dear me. Anyway, I last saw this chap supporting Deep Purple at Wembley so, while I was never really into the Darkness it seemed rude not to go five minutes up the road to see them. And while they did a pretty short set (70 minutes ish) it was actually very good and entertaining, and they seemed to enjoy it. I was impressed enough to buy a tea towel (didn't have a lot of money on me). Yes, I can now dry my cups on Justin's face!
Tator - Le Porte Noire (Brussels) - 4/9/2008. Just found them in the bar. They played for hours to a handful of people. Nice time had by all.
Alkaline Trio - Koko - 20/8/2008. Good gig, I just wish I had got closer to the front but it was a bit lively for me. The only problem with the new camera is that the zoom range needs to be bigger.
Blyth Power Ashes - Lumb Farm (Nr Ripley) - 15-17/8/2008. I only have one criticism of this do. Well, two actually. Maybe three? Firstly, more lights for the bands please Mr Porter, photography is a bit tricky (you all know I don't like using flash so there are some pretty weird pictures in there where it's a long exposure lit by someone else's flash, just long exposure with disappearing people and far too many where I just gave in a flashed like everyone else). Secondly, more beer needed (actually not really cos we took some too but the place did sell out both nights :-) And lastly, why have I missed all the others? I blame lack of advertising, tho the thing that made this (and Glastonwick) so special (and they are the two festivals I've enjoyed most. Ever.) was the intimate atmosphere. Big parties, basically. So I'll tell you how fantastic they were, and how you're missing out if you don't go. But please don't buy a ticket before I do...
RSI - Craufurd Arms - 1/8/2008. Interesting building, shame there wasn't any real beer and it could have been busier but it was a good night out. Made a change :-) Support from AntiVigilante and Youth Kill Culture.
Suzanne Vega - Koko - 22/7/2008. Very short notice of free tickets, email sent the night before the gig (@ 11:30 so I didn't get it till the next day), good gig, nice venue but I was a bit nervous of a venue I didn't know, camera wise, and took only a handful of pics (I know, not like me at all!) But a great night out :-)
LiveScape - Xscape - 19/7/08. Went to see RSI, saw a couple more, the Marc Bolan lookalike (sorry, Imperial Vipers) was pretty good but we preferred the first part of their set. RSI were good as always, sorry we didn't get up to see AntiVigilante but seriously! On before 12 noon! Not going to happen...
Glastonwick - Church Farm, Coombes (Nr Shoreham) - 4-6/7/2008. What a good idea, a beer festival with great music. Or a music festival with great beer, take your pick. The beer selection was remarkable, I knew none of them, which for a card carrying alcoholic (aka Member of CAMRA) is quite unusual. And the bands were terrific, highlights for me being TV Smith (which I expected), Eastfield, (the stunning) Blyth Power, Luke Wright and indeed just about everyone we saw. I can't recommend it enough, just let me get my ticket for 2009 before you do!
I should also mention the rather fabulous houseboats of Shoreham, the fantastic shuttle bus, the terrific school building on the hill, the Buckingham Arms (when you're waiting for a bus to a beer festival and the pub you're waiting at has 11 (yes, eleven!) real beers on the bar you KNOW you're winning), the very individual B&B we stayed at (great breakfasts) and so on. You can tell I enjoyed it, can't you? Sunday morning was a bit rough tho... The layout will be a bit crap, sorry about that :-(
Enter Shikari - Pitz - 28/6/2008. Warm up gig for their do at the bowl with Linkin Park. My, they have done well for themselves! They were very energetic, very loud, very good. Tho my mate thought they only played one song all night. Oh dear, we're getting old, aren't we?
Wyeside Festival - Hereford Rugby Club - 6-7/6/2008. Though we only went on the 7th (Saturday). Much to our surprise the weather was OK, the field was actually in great nick, no mud anywhere and the camping was fine (if a bit cold in the night). Local beer (whose name I can't remember, in fact I have quite a few memory issues for some reason... oh yes, the 8 or 9 pints of the local beer) was very nice, I think I enjoyed everyone we saw and Hawkwind were really impressive. Though maybe the 8 (or 9) pints had some bearing there... No, they were very good. Any set that starts with "Aerospaceage Inferno" gets my vote :-)
Pilgrim Fathers - Pitz - 31/5/2008 Supported by someone we missed that I don't have a name for, FINK and Modus Vivendi. I largely went based on Modus Vivendi playing, I was very impressed before, and while they were again very good, Jo preferred FINK, which is a bit of a surprise as it didn't sound promising, to me at least. But they were excellent musically and it did work really well. Bit loud all night though and my ears were ringing the next day... Funny thing tho, it wasn't a vast crowd for FINK and MV, but it wasn't deserted by any means, but it was empty for the Pilgrims. Why would you go home before the headline? MV were a good support for them, style wise, if you like that kind of thing why would you not stop and check out the next band? Seriously strange... And I would suggest any band playing the Pitz to open with a loud number to let people in the bar know you're on, they don't announce you so announce yourselves, when I walked in because I thought something was happening I was virtually the only person there. And it didn't get much better :-( I took this picture with the thought "Our manager never mentioned days like this". Go on people, get out more!
Dead Kennedys - Oxford Academy - 29/5/2008 They did have a support but I don't know who they were, the DKs were on when we got there at about 8:50 and they were off by about 10:10 and I gather from other reviews they had been starting early. Still, fast, aggressive and very very good. The "Academy" on the other hand...
Space Ritual - 100 Club - 9/5/2008 I have to say I enjoyed it, but not as much as I often do, not enough of the classic stuff for my tastes. I even entertained thoughts that Dave Brock's lawyers had been especially active for a while... But the (pretty good) crowd enjoyed it, the lights were fun and Nic always looks like he's enjoying it, well worth seeing :-)
My Passion - Pitz - 2/5/2008 We just went cos I quite liked the sound of their stuff as described in Go, I can't remember how it was described now but it sounded like my kind of thing. And they were good, tho I thought they were trying a bit too hard, personally. But as the lead guy from Mojave Alstars said, they were trying, and what more do you want? Also saw the guys from Firetone (ex Aurora's Shadow), it's a tight little business :-) I assume there were supports but if so we didn't see any, we got there very late, only just in time for the last act in fact.
Outl4w - Pitz - 12/4/2008. Supported by RSI and Me vs the Atlantic. All good, glad we went :-)
Inspiral Carpets - Roadmender - 10/3/2008 We missed the support (hey, we nearly didn't go, just back from skiing, coming down with colds, not at our bests) but IC were fantastic, I was surprised how many songs I recognised and was even more surprised at how incredibly good they were. Well worth seeing, seriously.
Linchpin - Pitz - 19/1/2008. Supported by Unofficial Superheroes and Aurora's Shadow. All pretty good, and a bit of drama part way through AS's set...
New Model Army, Roadmender, 29/11/2007. Sorry, far, far to many pics...
Stiff Little Fingers, Roadmender, 13/10/2007. Supported by someone we missed and I didn't get the name. Is it really 2 1/2 years since we saw SLF? Shocking! Great as ever, they looked to be enjoying it (except for the beer shower which Jake doesn't like and always seems to happen) and we really enjoyed it.
Karma 45 - Pitz - 5/10/2007 Seriously people, it's Friday night, the Pitz is a good venue, get off your arses!
Gallows - Soundhaus - 22/9/2007. Support by Blackhole, Lethal Bizzle and Poison the Well. What can I say? A lot of one word descriptions come to mind. Loud. Aggressive. Committed. Energetic. Controlled. Intense. Witty. Composed. Confident. Intelligent. All those and more. Was I impressed? What do you think? They've had a lot of good things said about them and they lived up to it and more. You must see them, simple as that.
Sohodolls - Pitz - 15/9/2007. Supported by Mojave Allstars, Modus Vivendi and 586, again we saw all four bands and were glad we did, bloody brilliant. Shame more people weren't there, but that appears to be Milton Keynes for you. But all the bands gave it lots, many photos were taken (besides mine, try here for another set) and it was excellent. You people should get out more. So should we, first gig for a month!
Beautiful Days 2007. Coming soon, when I can blank out the memory of all that mud.....
UK Subs - Pitz - 6/7/2007. Supported by Critical Stage, Eyelash and Dun2Def. My word, we saw all four bands! At the Pitz! Some sort of record that......
Manic Street Preachers - Rock City - 24/5/2007. Don't know who we missed as support this time, the Manics had JUST started as we went in at 9pm. I was a little dubious when I bought the tickets, I liked the early stuff but drifted off in recent years but bought the tickets anyway cos the MSP at a little venue like Rock City? Neat, I figured. And then I bought the new album, and it's a cracker, get it. The gig was fabulous, early stuff, classics, fantastic stuff off the new album, really great. Glad we went.....
Wheatus - Zodiac - 3/5/2007. Supported by Army of Freshmen, MCLars and Punchline who we (rather inevitably) missed. I was assuming AoF would be second on the bill (ie, playing third) but they weren't, they were on second, so we missed a bit of them. But only a little, fortunately we caught most of the set which was a good thing as, to be honest, we went specifically to see them. Odd thing really, we first missed them at the Pitz a few years ago. When I read the list of people they had supported I was miffed and wanted to see them. So the next time we missed them was when they were supporting BfS at the Astoria because the M1 sucks and it made us late. Then we missed them again on the recent BfS tour because we assumed Son of Dork were the lowlife on the bill, not being aware of the Busted connection. So when we saw that Wheatus/AoF were doing their own tour we figured we couldn't miss them this time, right? And? Was it worth it? Bloody right, they were excellent! As were Wheatus, not what I expected but really very good. And much to my surprise, I really enjoyed MCLars too. Normally I would cross the street to avoid rap (with a silent c) but he was actually worth listening to, and supported by Wheatus it was fab. Well, I thought so, Jo hated it utterly..... Unlike the audience who seemed to know everything by everybody, were really bouncy and enjoying it and were all, I suspect, young enough to be my kids. But I thought the atmosphere was really cool. So anyway, the pics are a bit dark, there are too many of them, hope you enjoy....
Waterboys - Cambridge Corn Exchange - 26/4/2007. We were a long long long way away, so the pictures are a little ..... crap. Sorry. We went to the nice pub again so I'm afraid I don't even know who the support were.....
Laibach - Pitz - 14/4/2007. Personally I hadn't heard anything by them (or indeed heard of them, actually) so didn't know what to expect. We didn't miss the support this time, because there wasn't one :-) And they were superb, really impressive. Only problem is, are they really Slovenian Fascists as my brother says, or is all the uniform and military bit post ironic imagery? I don't know, see what Wikipedia says ..... Music was really good though, as was the (hopefully post ironic) merch.
Angelic Upstarts - Pitz - 13/4/2007. Supported by The Vibrators, Drongos for Europe and two bands we missed, Dun 2 Def and Middle Finger Salute? To be honest, we weren't that bothered about the Upstarts, we just wanted to see if Drongos were as good as we remembered from Morecambe and see the Vibrators again, because they're always fantastic. And the Drongos were VERY good, The Vibrators were excellent (as always. Whenever I see them I wonder why bands need more than three people, Guitar, bass, drums, what more do you want. NMA were the same when I first saw them....) and happily the Upstarts were way better then we expected, and I thought I'd seen the lead singer before! Turns out he's from "Crashed Out" who we saw at Blackpool. Only downer was missing Dun 2 Def, sorry Jon etc :-( Though the story about The Duel's guitarist (Peppe) at Pink Punters was good :-) Good night had by all. See here for a review of a similar line up, worth a read.
Dun 2 Def - Bletchley Irish Centre - 7/4/2007. Supported by The Duel, AntiVigilate, Scheisse Minnelli and Rotten Agenda Wow, 5 bands for a fiver! And we saw them all! Which makes a real change. They were all good to very good to excellent and the only pisser was that more people weren't there to see them. OK, I've seen fewer people at the Pitz but that's not the point. Most of the audience were the members of the other bands watching each other. Seriously people, go and see some live music, it's very good, really! Milton Keynes doesn't deserve the few venues it's got sometimes. The other pisser (yes yes, I said "only pisser" a second ago, so I've thought of another, what of it?) was the lighting, it sucks, so I've decided that the chaotic, dark, blurred look is officially in and you'll just have to live with it. Actually the chaotic blurred look fits the vibe quite well, but really that's just an excuse for crap pictures :-( Anyway, everyone (in the main) seemed to have a good time, many were very drunk, the Scheisse Minnelli guys were frankly crazy dudes and very nice with it, if you get the chance you should go and see them. Actually you should really get out more cos they were all well worth seeing. And for £5, it was an absolute bargain!
Hell is for Heroes - Pitz - 25/2/2007. They're good. Very good even. But they suffered from comparison with ... And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead (who we saw two days before, who were amazingly good). But, like I said, they were good, they have a couple of really excellent songs (Models for the Programme springs to mind) and if you like Hundred Reasons (and I do :-) then you would like them too. Well worth seeing. Supported by a screamy bloke (Dan Williams Allstars apparently) and Brigade (who I thought were pretty good too, tho I did worry that I was wondering what conditioner the lead singer used cos his hair behaved so well). Go see them. Go see them all!
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Roadmender - 23/2/2007. Supported by someone we missed and Forget Cassettes. <<<<BLURB TO FOLLOW>>>> (Let me just say it was fucking awesome and I'll get back to you, just want to get pictures up :-)
Ok, so now I've got round to it, what to say, except to repeat that they were fucking awesome? Dunno really. I've bought three albums since (cos I had nothing by them before the gig, and hadn't heard anything either) and they're all excellent. You've got to be impressed by a gig where at least three different people play the drums. At least I'm always impressed by multi-instrumentalists, and ToD have several (like Yo La Tengo) and the drumming was one of the stand outs for me, really striking. The support, Forget Cassettes, had one of the drummers who played with ToD (Doni Schroader, ah, the joy of Google :-) and so benefited from some of the same qualities. And Beth Cameron (did I mention the joy of Google?) has an really interesting voice and her set was pretty neat too. If you've not seen them on this tour, you've missed your chance cos it's over. Try and catch them next time, they're (both) REALLY worth seeing.... Here's the set list, handed to me by (I think) the bassist. Bit torn, sorry....
Bowling for Soup - Cambridge Corn Exchange - 8/2/2007. Supported by Army of Freshmen, Son of Dork and Wheatus. Ok, so I'm a bit annoyed with myself, for several reasons. We missed Army of Freshmen. For the third time. But that was always likely, I think they must have been nearly finished as we were walking past the venue looking for the Eagle pub, but I guess we COULD have seen at least a bit of them. And that's the first reason I've become annoyed, we were here for the gig after all. That said, the pub was very nice, the food looked really good and it has a lot of history (look here ), the first few pictures are of the RAF bar ceiling. So after a nice pint we went back and the second annoyance, note the lineup above. What order are they in? That's the order I saw everywhere, so I was looking forward to Wheatus. I admit I only know "Teenage Dirtbag" but I liked that a lot and was sure I would like more. But no, we had missed Wheatus too and it was Son of Dork! I'm sure lots of you know that one of them (dunno which one, and don't really care) was in Busted, hence the high pitched fan screaming, but I would have preferred Wheatus, thanks very much (so not many pictures of SoD, sorry if you're a fan). So again, when you're near the venue Peter, go inside. You might see something good..... And finally BfS. They are very good, liked it a lot, but why didn't I go up the front to take pictures? It was VERY energetic just in front of us but I could have gone down the side like I normally do. Don't know what I was thinking.... Sound wasn't that good (or maybe I'm just losing my hearing) and so I didn't really hear what Jaret was saying, and he does like to talk a lot, so that was also a bit of a bummer..... But let's end on a positive note, BfS are great (fabulous plectrum juggling too) and what a lovely venue (no Carling!), despite the less than perfect (but better than Brixton) sound.
New Model Army - The Astoria - 17/12/2006. Excellent, as always, supported by Nozzle, nice to see Dave again. And nice to see people there, good gig :-) Pictures, BTW, all taken with my little F11, just cos I'm sick of security taking my bigger one. Not too bad, considering where it was....
The Damned - Pitz - 6/12/2006. Supported by Men of Utica and Goldblade. Only saw a bit of MoU and they seemed a shouty for my mood, but not bad and I liked his "Maggie out" comment, surely not old enough? Goldblade are good value, John Robb is a performer and, when you get past the stage persona seems a nice bloke. I was very worried for the little lads he got on stage though, I was sure he was going to elbow one in the face. But he didn't, fortunately :-) The Damned were excellent, it was just a shame that the (usually good) lights at the Pitz weren't working :-( But the Captain and Dave were in good form and entertaining, good night out :-)
Space Ritual - 100 Club - 3/11/2006
Hazel O'Connor - The Stables - 12/10/2006. Yeah, I know, we only saw her two months ago but she was just up the road, and it was a very different sort of gig. Supported by Lu Cozma, who I didn't know about but was very good. Pictures not all they could be, due to the Stables not liking cameras being flashed about.....
Wreckless Eric - 100 Club - 6/10/2006. Supporting Wilko Johnson. Yeah, I know I normally do it the other way round but while Wilko Johnson was merely good songs played very well by talented musicians, Wreckless is a genius. And should have top billing, frankly.
RSI - Pitz - 29/9/2006. Supported by Anti-Vigilante, Reason69 and NoCigar. Good night out, good turnout, although to start with some of the audience were rather too ....... enthusiastic? for my tastes. But when they had to go home concussed (or bruised or something I assume) it got a little calmer. Sort of. Nice to see the AV lads and Jon and Kayleigh (spelling?), music was excellent, lighting was a bit monochromatic tho. Lots of red. More white next time please.
Beautiful Days 2006 - 19th-21st August 2006. All pics now up :-)
Blackpool 2006 Wasted Festival - 10th-13th August 2006. Now all up :-) About time!
TogFest - Bradwell Abbey, MK - 24/6/2006. What a great day, very like a small Beautiful Days, lovely weather, good beer (Frog Island, just a shame it ran out. Though possibly for the best :-), bands were fabulous, nice to see so many people. Everyone seemed to be enjoying it :-)
New Model Army - Zodiac - 24/5/2006. Excellent, as always :-)
Cult of Luna - Pitz - 23/4/2006. Supported by Bossk and FellSilent. Wow. I was in two minds about going out, Sunday night, work in the morning, band I'd never heard of or anything by (though I liked the name :-), stuff to do at home (which would be a lot cheaper) etc etc etc. But I thought "It's 5 minutes drive, these people have come a lot further, least I can do is go see". And wow, was I glad I did. Just caught the last track from Bossk which was fantastic, watched most of Fell Silent, who were very good (if not TOTALLY my thing) and was blown away by Cult of Luna. Both Bossk and CoL seem to be from a musical genre I wasn't even aware of the existence of! Think Tangerine Dream crossed with Rammstein. I think the best label I have come up with for it is Prog Thrash (with maybe some Ambient Trance Metal thrown in). Wild. Soooo glad I went to see them. And while at the front I did enjoy, during a rare quiet bit, a resigned sounding comment from another spectator (who obviously didn't know CoL either) to his mate: "You could have said it was prog....." :-)
RSI - Bletchley Irish Centre - 21/4/2006. Supported by AntiVigilate and Desperate Cycle (and someone else we missed? As usual.) Interesting venue, lighting was a bit low so crap pictures (give me the Pitz any day) and I got the impression that none of the bands could hear what they were doing but on the plus side the beer was cheap and the guy playing music between bands had taste (Ruts, Stranglers, that kind of thing :-) Bit of a wander from the point, young people. They often get a bad press these days but I have to say that all the ones I actually meet at these places are perfectly pleasant. Maybe I've just been lucky and it'll just take one bad experience to spoil it, but they all seem to be having a good time and are very polite (unlike the wanker in the Xscape car park who took a dislike to my pink hair and let me know (from a safe distance, tosser)). And they're a lot more comfortable hugging each other than we were when we were young, I think. I've noticed this with my daughter too, I think it's probably a good thing :-) Anyway, back to the plot. All the bands were very good (in the circumstances), I didn't know anything by DC but they sounded OK to me though I didn't take many pics. And Happy Birthday to Sean from AV, ah to be young again. Very coherent for a lad in a bar on his 18th I thought, even managing a little dance when his guitar strap came off. Good night out....
Wreckless Eric - The Granary in Buckingham - 8/4/2006. Supported by Amy Rigby. This one might go on a bit as I have quite a lot to say, and don't know how to say it. Not least because I 'm trying not to come across as the sad sycophantic tosser I really am, but we'll have to see how that goes. I should say up front that I like Wreckless (Mr. Goulden to you and me) anyway so I'm going to enjoy it on some level whatever he does (cos he does it so well) but last night was the best I've seen him. His stuff is so personal it can hurt, even though it's happened to him and not you, and delivered with such honesty and humour that you can't not get involved. And with Amy Rigby, who obviously knows his stuff really well, joining in there was an extra kick in the music that really worked. And Amy was fabulous too, I've never heard her before but there was humour and cynicism in her stuff that matched Wreckless's and they complemented each other wonderfully. And when the two of them did WWW it was superb. Actually, everything they did was wonderful and the venue was great, the people were lovely, the sound was good etc etc etc. That's not to say it was perfect. The beer could have been better (and as there are so many good pubs in Buckingham it's a shame about that) and some of the time was marred a little by a small group of people stood at the bar yacking loudly and constantly. And one of their mobile phones went off. Not once, but twice!. And when asked (nicely I thought) if they could be a bit quieter at least one of the women involved seemed to get rather snotty and while I only heard part of her discussion with the (ever so nice) promoter asking for her money back so she would go ("why should I pay £10 and not be allowed to talk?") I was on the verge of offering her £20 of my own money if she would just fuck off..... People eh? Why spend money to go to a music venue and not listen to a bloody thing? Strange. Anyway, even with those minor issues it was a superb gig, Amy and Eric were great and I really can't recommend either of them highly enough. Go and see them.
Bleeding Hearts - The Wheatsheaf Leighton Buzzard - 1/4/2006. I still don't know what these guys are doing playing in a small pub with free admission but I'm glad I get to see them in such a great venue. Seriously good, and really nice people too, and while I haven't got down to the "best 20" pics, I did get under 200 :-)
The Buzzcocks - The Zodiac - 5/3/2006 Supported by Gear (who we only caught the very end of, so no pics, sorry) and The Adored, who grew on me. The Buzzcocks were of course, wonderful, and seemed to be having a good time. I think Steve Diggle's natural expression is a smile :-) I must be more strict with my pics though, here again are hundreds of the bloody things. I should ... no I WILL start pulling out just the best 20 say for a smaller page. Anyway, go see them. And The Adored too.
Funky Monks - Wheatsheaf, Leighton Buzzard - 24/2/2006 Not often I go see tribute bands but it's unlikely The Red Hot Chili Peppers will be playing Leighton Buzzard any time soon. And once they got the sound sorted out they were pretty good. Big crowd too, not seen the Wheatie so full before (tho I'm told it has been).
Milton Keynes - Pitz - 17/2/2006. Punk night. And what a good one! We missed the first support (I don't know why I bother saying that, we ALWAYS miss the first band, they should start later. I need my tea you know...) So sorry to The Derivatives, maybe next time, AntiVigilante were good as ever (rapidly getting in with a chance of being the band I've seen most often!), The Duel were truly excellent, I was really, really impressed, and RSI are not only very, very good but have a real following which makes for a lively crowd. A brilliant night. If some of these pics are a little more blurred than usual it's partly because (in the case of The Duel) Tara wouldn't stop moving and partly because I like the pretty colours at the Pitz and they make up for the lack of sharpness. Well, I think so :-)
AntiVigilante - Wheatsheaf, Leighton Buzzard - 15/2/2006 I think people know I have a lot of time for these lads by now, really good fast stuff, they know what they're doing and look to be having a good time. And soon they're going to be supporting Anti Nowhere League! And (maybe) UK Subs! Fantastic :-)
Red Star Rebels - Wheatsheaf, Leighton Buzzard - 10/2/2006 Again, a lot of fun, and VERY good at what they do. Sounded less like Guns and Roses this time... Nice people too :-)
The Vibrators - Racehorse (Northampton) - 15/12/2005. Supported by Dun2Def (should have been RSI I understand) and The Mispelt. Again, another venue new to me, pretty good but if all the pics look like they were taken through a can of tomato soup, I'm sorry. Maybe the management could invest in some lightbulbs. I had to resort to flash, sorry about that too. All the bands were excellent, The Vibrators were super, and such nice people too. Shame it was such a small audience, if Anti Nowhere League can fill the Pitz I would have expected more people going to see them. No disrespect to ANL but I thought the Vibrators were a lot better. Maybe Thursday is a bad day.......
New Model Army - Rock City - 14/12/2005. I've never been to Rock City before, but WILL go again. What a nice venue :-) Great to see so many people again (including the bassist from Bleeding Hearts, go see them if you can), excellent gig, the band seemed to enjoy it, support was by the wonderful (I thought :-) Spear of Destiny. Kirk has a great voice.....
The Damned - Roadmender - 4/12/2005 Supported by Wreckless Eric, who we REALLY wanted to see. But unfortunately.... Well, you probably know by now that The Roadmender is shut. I hope someone takes it and keeps it as a music venue, but I suspect a small select housing development may appear. It's not a big site tho, and it faces a car park... You live in hope. So we went to the Malt Shovel instead. Very nice pub, worth a visit.
Neck - Pitz - 25/11/2005 Supported by Red Star Rebels and Six point Five. Really enjoyed the Neck set, fourth time we've seen them and the audience got into them too, which was nice. But the bloke Jo threw her beer over who looked surprised? Next time be a bit more careful when you're spinning people round, you might not have realised your spinee had kicked her hard, but Jo certainly did. Count yourself lucky it was only beer :-) And Red Star Rebels were a lot of fun, and VERY good at what they did, which was sound a lot like Guns and Roses... Nice people too :-)
3 Men and Black - Roadmender - 23/11/2005 Could be one of the last gigs at The Roadmender, that would be sad :-( But they were excellent, really interesting to hear some Specials stuff this time, nice to meet them after, nice people. I wonder why Ms Black was pissed off though?
Alkaline Trio - Brixton - 16/11/2005. The band they couldn't photograph! They took my camera. Again. :-( I am now in the process of buying a backup (smaller) one :-) There would have been some GREAT pictures too. And that would have been good, cos the sound was utter crap, the worst I've EVER experienced at a big venue. So I did you lucky people a set list instead. The one with ??? is one I either just didn't know or was unable to make out due to the sound (did I mention it was crap?) Good set and they seemed to be enjoying it too, but please Matt, don't lie to us. We're NOT "the best fucking audience ever" and we know it...
Milton Keynes - Pitz - 3/11/2005. Band showcase. Aurora, Rebel Scum, Anti-Vigilante and Red Lights & Crash Sites. Again we missed all of the first band (I say that too much) so sorry no pics of them. I wasn't that impressed by Rebel Scum until I realised they were a Star Wars tribute band, and the dancing CP3Os quite won me over :-) Anti-Vigilante were as good as ever (and easily the best/my favorite band of the night) and I'm afraid we weren't in the mood to be shouted at by Red Lights & Crash Sites so we went home after their first track. I'm sure they're very good at what they do.... I guess I'm getting old :-(
New Model Army - Roadmender - 22/10/2005. I have reservations about the new album but maybe it'll grow on me. Eight did.... But a GREAT gig. very passionate (as always) and really nice to see so many people. I hope those going to Paris enjoyed it :-) The first pics are of the support, Sons of God?
The Fall - Roadmender - 21/10/2005. I did enjoy this again, far more than I should. Hypnotic drumming and bass/guitar and Marc E Smith doing his bit over the top. Strange but somehow good. Supported by John Cooper Clarke, a hard act to follow, frankly.
Bowling for Soup - Astoria - 16/10/2005. Again the Astoria took my camera :-( Having this time let me in with it! Some pictures of the second support, American HiFi. Sorry we missed Army of Freshmen, bloody M1 traffic on a Sunday night. BfS were excellent, I really enjoyed it. More than Jo, anyway :-) To follow
Anti Nowhere League - Pitz - 14/10/2005 Supported by Phineas Gage and RSI. Only saw the very end of RSI, which was a shame cos they were probably the best thing on, and New England is a great track to cover. Tho ANLs cover of Streets of London was pretty good too :-)
LiveScape, Milton Keynes, 8/10/2005. Charity do for Willen Hospice, fantastic idea and it went really well, as far as I could see. I hope it did well for them. I only saw a few acts but was really impressed, and of course [spunge] were great :-)
The Offspring, Academy, 16/9/2005. VERY enthusiastic drummer, really quite tuneful and extremely good :-)
Bleeding Hearts - The Wheatsheaf Leighton Buzzard - 10/9/2005. What these guys are doing playing in a small pub with free admission I have no idea, they should be headlining festivals. Seriously good, and really nice people too.
Beautiful Days! 19-21/8/2005. All pics now up, maybe movies to follow where possible....
Alkaline Trio - The Astoria - 18/8/2005. They took my camera :-( Must get a backup (smaller) one :-)
Milton Keynes - Pitz - 12/8/2005. Band contest thingy, round 3. Pristine, Storm the Gates, Anti-Vigilante and Left Foot First. Again we missed all of the first band so sorry no pics of them. I have to say I'm glad I wasn't judging, I wouldn't have wanted to choose between them, I thought they were all excellent. StG were quite rocky (had the singer seen Napalm Death?), A-V were pretty fast punk and LFF still remind me of Hundred Reasons. And I apologise again to the lad I threw beer over after he barged into me from the pit. But at least he didn't get his shirt covered in his own beer :-( Going to miss the next round which is a bugger, worth going to see. And really nice to see the Pitz so busy....
Marky Ramone - Pitz - 6/8/2005. RSI and Graveltrap supporting. Again we missed nearly all of the first support so sorry no pics of them. Is it me or does it brighter in the Pitz the nearer to the top of the bill you are? RSI seem to have played in near darkness, Graveltrap got some light and Marky and Antiproduct got lots of light. Which was good, cos they're worth seeing, maybe more so for the boys it has to be said (without wishing to say anything bad about Mr Product, who was great :-). When Clare pproduct shouted "1-2-3-4" the first time I blew beer down my nose and nearly choked :-) REALLY looking forward to seeing them at Beautiful Days!
Sum 41 - The Forum - London - 17/7/2005. Very jolly :-)
Oasis - Milton Keynes - Bowl - 10/7/2005. Another big gig though I think there were more at Green Day....
Nine Inch Nails - Brixton Academy - 4/7/2005. Looks like I overdid the pictures again :-)
Milton Keynes - Pitz - 1/7/2005. Through Silence and Route 215 supporting Fletcher. I got a bit carried away with the camera it would seem, many pictures :-) Though not of the first support, we only saw the very end of the first band, who aren't even on the ticket so I can't tell you anything about them. Anyone got any ideas? Mail link below if you do.....
Leighton Buzzard - The Wheatsheaf - 25/6/2005. Bleeding Hearts, who I won't try and describe, go check their website. They were good tho :-)
Milton Keynes - Pitz - 24/6/2005. Left Foot First (I think that's what the bassist said, they replaced Goldblade and weren't actually listed so sorry if that's wrong) and Joanovarc (who rocked, BTW) supporting Jesse James.
Green Day - Milton Keynes - Bowl - 18/6/2005. Biggest gig I think I've ever been to, (I don't think there were 60000 at Maine Road for Pink Floyd which is probably the previous biggest). Supports I actually saw were Taking Back Sunday, Jimmy Eat World (very few pics of them tho, sorry) and then, of course, Green Day. And then walking home I had an "elves leaving middle earth" moment. See if you do too.
Anti-Vigilante and Useless ID - Pitz - 17/6/2005. Really VERY good!
Black Sabbath! At Aylesbury Civic Centre! Cozy! And VERY loud! 7/6/2005
Do or Die and Diecast, who were both supporting Napalm Death at the Pitz - 6/6/2005
Morecambe 2005 19-22/5/2005 - Lots of stuff, this links you to a page with links for each of the bands I saw.
The Buzzcocks at the Pitz, 3/4/2005. The Buzzcocks were super, a real privilege to meet them afterwards (thanks Jez , Alison and, of course, the band themselves!), the supports were also great, sorry we missed the Wayriders, only caught a bit of Johnny Panic (but loved what I saw and heard) and Trashlight Vision were excellent, catch them if you get the chance. Seriously. Seemed really nice guys too.
Stiff Little Fingers, Roadmender, 29/3/2005. Supported by Neck.
This is The (mighty!) Fall, supported by John Cooper Clarke and a local band, Milton Keynes Empire, 12/3/2005.
Rammstein - Brixton - 4/2/2005
NMA Exhibition, Bradford, 16/12/2004
NMA, Manchester Academy, 16/12/2004.
Spunge, Roadmender, 12/11/2004
Dead Men Walking, Mean Fiddler, 22/10/2004
Otley pics from 25/9/2004
Space Ritual - 100 Club - 23/7/2004
Wreckless Eric - 12 Bar - 21/7/2004
Beautiful Days - 2004
Ozric Tentacles, Pitz, 9/6/04
Yo La Tengo - Roadmender - 3/4/2004
Placebo, Brixton, 2/3/2004
Ataris, Academy, 28/2/2004
Lostprophets, Brixton, 22/02/2004
Red Sky Coven, Zodiac - Oxford - 8/2/2004
Space Ritual, Academy, 8/11/2003
Hundred reasons, ULU, 30/10/2003
Killing Joke, Roadmender, 9/10/2003
Alkaline Trio, Academy, 21/9/2003
Justin Sullivan, Roadmender -20/5/2003
Sisters of Mercy - Manchester Academy - 23/4/2003
Tangerine Dream - Astoria - 15/2/2003
Space Ritual - Roadmender - 24/01/2003
Stiff Little Fingers - Macclesfield (Bar Cuba) - 8/12/2002
Nik Turner and ICU, Manchester University, Sometime in 1982, I think....
This site was last updated 11/08/08