Keeping Rock n' Roll Alive…
Posts tagged Prog
Download Festival, Day Three
Aug 30th
The final day was upon us all to quickly as we were late for our opening band. But luckily for us we could hear them from about a mile away so not all was lost. Finally we arrived for some good old fashioned horse riding, Orc slaying, magical, sword bearing, evil hoard battling chain mail clad Power Metal, in the guise of an Californian band called White Wizzard (what else could they be called?). This fun set was packed with stunning guitar lines and ridiculous lyrics, but hey…it didn’t fail to raise a smile!
White Wizzard
StraightLines stood out on the lineup for being one of the only indie(ish) bands to take stage. So we checked them out and their spritely pop-punk influenced indie rock was upbeat and easy to like. No boundaries being pushed but after all that rock it was nice to listen to some possible future radio hits.
StraightLines
From new to old we travelled back in time to catch one of Britain’s veteran rock acts, the original New Wave of Brititsh Heavy Metal legends, Saxon. Silver haired and rickety bones didn’t stop them from playing in it’s entirety their Wheels of Steel album which was coincidental (as Download itself was) celebrating it’s 25th anniversary. To their credit, it still sounded great all these years later with tunes like the romper-stomper Motorcycle Man, classic era sounding 747 & the thunderous Stand Up & Be Counted. It just goes to prove that, long lives, Rock and Roll!
Saxon
We reviewed TAB the Band‘s album Zoo Noises back in February, and fell for its Rolling stones-esque swagger and rough bluesy shufflings. Live they were equally as impressive. Strong clean vocals, dual guitar attack and melodies in abundance maintained a real foot-tapper of a performance which made you wanna dance! They may yet step out of the shadow of their father (Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry), if they maintain their energy levels and keep writing great songs!
TAB the Band
Crime In Stereo was the best of a line-up lull, We left after 2 thrashed songs without hint of the English language being sung or any inventive musicality. Heavy…Yes, Tedious…Also!
Crime In Stereo
It wasn’t until we arrived at Cinderella that we regretted leaving CiS. Cinderella epitomise why 80′s rock/metal acquired such a bad reputation. Style over substance, squeaky voiced, piano tinklers with generic power chords and floating melodic guitars were the worst we’d heard all weekend!
Cinderella
Thankfully keeping the classic side of 80′s rock flag waving high and proud was the most recognisable, indistinguishable and one of all times greatest guitar hero’s Slash stepped out onstage to the collective roar of the crowds appreciation. Slash was here for all out crowd pleasing this afternoon as he arrived boasting my favourite rock vocalist of today Myles Kennedy (Altar Bridge) as his bands frontman. Despite having a new solo album out he only played a handful of tracks from it, the slash trademark riffing of Ghost, huge ballads Starlight & Back From Cali, proggy By The Sword. Seeing as Motorhead were playing later it was no great surprise to see Lemmy making a guest appearance on the cracking fast paced riff rocker Dr. Alibi.
Lemmy & Slash
It was with great elation and suprise that Slash devoted half his set to covers from his former-bands output. For me this was simply extraordinary! To see Slash playing Gun n’ Roses covers, all taken from Appetite For Destruction, was an absolute dream come true and the man has not lost a thing, plus Myles also has the perfect voice to do justice to these classic tracks. They played a double whammy of Nightrain and Rocket Queen early set to really stoke up the crowd which was already extremely excited. Not much could put into words my feelings when the first bars of the classic Gn’R song were heard! I absolutely loved every second of it! There was even time to throw the Velvet Revolver song Slither, with ex-frontman Scott Wieland now back with the Stone Temple Pilots, (incidentally) playing later…I can’t help but feel its intention.
Myles Kennedy
To round of a fantastic set of virtuoso guitar and just astounding classic rock,we all watched in awe as we were treated to yet another GnR classic, Paradise City. This performance was up there with the best of my life, let alone best of the festival.
Slash
We stuck around the main stage for a little longer, perching ourselves on the hill to see the some even more classic rock, but this time it was more of the pop variety. We were here for a greatest hit set from Billy Idol and that’s exactly what we got! all the hits were aired including Rebel Yell, Hot In The City, Dancing With Myself & White Wedding. The nice past blast was enough to keep the spirits high despite the rain which was now walling with great vengeance.
Suddenly moving between stages wasn’t quite as easy as the mud wallowed and flowed downhill turning the site into a bog in nearly 30 mins flat! The rain did not dampen my enjoyment of the end of Porpupine Tree’s majestically set of beautifully prog-rock, which can swing from astoundingly harmonious and blisteringly rawkus in one glorious sweep.
Porcupine Tree
Sticking with the Dio stage, we were treated to a right old fashioned 80′s party in the shape of Steel Panther. Their unashamedly 80′s rock was perfect for the damp souls and brought smiles and laughs galore from their outrageous stage persona’s and rampant guitar rock! This was all out fun and they even managed to bring out Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian to play on Asian Hooker as well as debuting their new single I Want It That Way (Yes…The Backstreet Boys one…). It seems also that the side screen cameras were a temporary Motley Cru style titty-cam. Seeing as soon as it flicked to a female audience member, her shirt suddenly went over her head…odd!!
Steel Panther
Enjoying a band in the rain and waiting for one in the rain are 2 very different things! The next 25 minutes of waiting dragged hugely, not helped by the fact that I could feel the water running down the inside my jacket and the cold weather taking hold of me! Still all was quickly forgotten as Ac/Dc’s homage paying countrymen Airbourne arrived onstage. These dude’s have always been a bit nuts, this show only re-inforced this view. They ran riot here in the rain, cracking beer cans open on their head and hitting a relentless barrage of power chords. New album material was good, played with the same manic vigour as their older material, plus they haven’t lost their catchy, fist pumping chorus writing talents.
Just to prove how crazy lead singer Joel O’Keefe really is, I point to the following evidence
Exhibit A) Yes, he has climbed up the stage, in the absolute pouring rain, without any safety equipment, then plays a guitar solo hanging by his legs only 30ft up!
That Really Is A Long Way Down
Exhibit B) Now getting up borderline suicidal, he really had the crowd scared for his welfare, but after more guitar solos from atop of the stage, technians turned his guitar transmitter off, forcing him to come down…vvveeerrrryyy carefully!!!
“It’s A Long Way To The Top…If You Want To Rock And Roll”
Everything after this point pales into insignificance at the stunt just witnessed, by these superb but insane Aussies!
As we headed for the final nights headline act we caught the end of the Stone Temple Pilots performance, needless to say Airbourne was a much better spectacle.
And so to the final band of the weekend, legends of rock Aerosmith, with their flamboyant lead singer Steve Tyler firmly back in the fold doing what he does best. For the third night in a row the headline act has been monumental, tonight was no exception. Tyler freshly re-united with the band after drugs problems was back at his best commanding a huge presence on stage. Joe Perry showed how to play the blues as he played some of the defining riffs of a generation.
Quite aptly the skies cleared and we recovered from the chill by being treated to Classic tracks like Sweet Emotion, Living On The Edge, Eat The Rich & Walk This Way which set the bar sky high. My songs of the night however were the genre spawning Rock-Ballad Dream On complete with perfect Tyler screams, set opener Love In An Elevator complete with Woo-Wooh sing-a-longs plus older gems Draw The Line and a rampaging version of Toys In The Attic which rounded out the show.
As the final amp was powered down with Tyler & Perry exchanging congratulations, we were left in the darkness of the damp field ready for the longest walk of the weekend…the one back home!
Download Festival, Day One (Ac/Dc Day)
Jul 25th
11th June 2010
After a night on my friends couch, a Tesco breakfast (quickly becoming a pre-festival tradition) and an emergency Argos run for camping chairs, the diminished DiR crew arrived at Download 2010. After a menacing hike in the blazing sun we managed to find a nice quiet place to pitch our tent on high ground away from the possibility of bogginess (let me stress this wasn’t actually a choice…it was what was available).
Parked in our sumptuous, newly acquired chairs, we shared some early afternoon comfy cans of rapidly warming beer before heading into the arena, almost 2 miles away from our current location. As the first days proceedings didn’t kick off until a rather civilised 3pm we had time in abundance to march over there!
Having not been to a proper (ATP not included) UK summer festival for some time, I was surprised by quite how massive these places are! With the Download site containing 5 stages with 2 huge outdoor stages this felt a lot bigger than Reading and I will say had optimal landscaping with natural bowls by every stage. Plus the sun was shining (unexpectedly), you couldn’t ask for much better than this. Especially with tonights headliners bringing their own world tour stage with them, today already felt somewhat special!
Year Long Disaster
Starting the day in more humble surroundings in the Pepsi Max Tent were Year Long Disaster. Kicking off the festival was always going to be a hard slot and it proved so. Their underwhelming sound failed to make a real impression as they drifted through their set of decent but not special, vintage hard rock.
Anathema
Seeing as there was plenty of hard rock and metal on offer over the weekend, we decided on something a little bit different for our next band. Anathema played to a majority sunbathing crowd who were delighted with their sweeping atmospheres and slow but hard hitting melodies. In the open air this was total bliss out territory and just as we were all floating into dreamland they sadly departed only to be replaced by A Day To Remember who played us some wishy-washy screamy hardcore mixed-up with emo-pop punk. Needless to say we weren’t impressed with their interruption.
Coheed & Cambria
Prog-Rock titans Coheed & Cambria were next up, inflicting their metal ambitions loose on the gathered masses at the second stage (aptly renamed the Ronnie James Dio Stage, after his passing away). With his hair fluttering like a badly groomed poodle, Claudio Sanchez led intricate melodies and extended prog meanderings which were both amazingly technical and surprisingly catchy. Taking much of their set from their new album this was a standard execution of their material with little or no crowd interaction. Thankfully for them the audience were to busy being in awe of their bonkers sci-fi rock to care. Finding time to throw in the epic metal tune Welcome Home just before they bailed out was a masterstroke which ensured a grand ovation and calls for an encore (which were quickly ignored).
Them Crooked Vultures
With the greatly reduced line-up the only thing left to do was to head towards the main stage in order to set up camp for the evenings main event. If you were clever…like I…you placed yourself dead centre between both main stages and enjoyed 2 sets of classic rock and roll. The first of which came from Them Crooked Vultures. TCV are quite rightly the hottest supergroup around, and this evening they proved worthy of their super title. Their bluesy shuffles and sparkling fuzz guitars were ploughing through riffs like a naked guy through a crowd (yes…this happened!). The interaction between the three prized musicians was astounding! John Paul Jones & Josh Homme had their guitars intuitively connected not forgetting Dave Grohls drum set becoming as big a weapon as those wielded in front of him. Their poppy scuzz blues and slightly too long blues jams went down superbly. But slowly but surely the crowds attention began to fade and with it severe long-stage-drift towards the currently unoccupied stage decorated only by two inflatable red schoolboy caps branded with one huge ‘A’ each fluttering in the wind. It was time for what we’d all been waiting for…..
I have never witnessed such anticipation for a single festival set (nor any performance actually) in my life. The crowd was absolutely buzzing and after a what felt like an eternity, the lights went up as Ac/Dc the living legends & godfathers of Hard Rock n’ Roll blasted onstage revealing just why they needed their own stage. They not only brought with them a seemingly endless catwalk which stretched nearly 30 metres into the crowd but they also thought they’d bring a train too!
Ac/Dc
The speakers they brought with them was gargantuan too!! Being nearly 3 times bigger than the festivals main stage, they sounded absolutely massive, small children would have been blown away and stray dogs had no chance against these things…it was that powerful. This only made hearing a seemingly endless barrage of timeless rock n’ roll classics even better. Front man Brian Johnson who could probably apply for his bus pass introduced the set with the following choice words:
“We’re here for one reason and that’s to rock and roll, and the party starts right now,”
Now that’s exactly what did happen as the crowd exploded in a wave of jubilation as the first chords of Runaway Train rang out. It was no great surprise to find the crowd knew every word, to every song and yet despite the packed conditioned everyone found room to hop around and sing them manically to strangers (whoever though music could not connect people?).
Brian Johnson
The songs which got the crowd the most excited was most definitely the bass kicking Thunderstruck, ballsy Shoot To Thrill, the classic riffs of Back in Black & Highway to Hell, not forgetting the huge singalong on You Shook Me All Night Long.
My favourite moments were when the legendary guitar god Angus Young rose high above the crowd on a huge elevating platform while playing his heart out not far from me. He may be old, but he can still rock with the best if them! Also in true rock style he flashed his pants, only to reveal the band logo of course. His axe wielding was brilliant with big time classic blues solo’s, those unforgettable riffs and a magical presence in front of a crowd nearly 100,000 strong.
Angus Young
The train wasn’t tonights only prop either, confetti & fireworks aside they also had a huge bell was lowered onstage to be rung for the opening sequence to Hells Bells, a 30ft inflatable woman (Rosie) with ample cleavage provocatively perched upon the train for Whole Lotta Rosie and a line of cannons which exploded during set closer For Those About To Rock (We Salute You).
Rosie
I can find no words to criticise tonights performance, this was simply the greatest rock show I have ever witnessed and it doubt it will ever be topped! Ac/Dc wrote the book on Rock and tonight they played it in it’s entirety too! A truly awe inspiring performance! Lets hope this is not the last time we see them out on tour!
ATP Pavement Festival: Day 3
Jun 24th
After a dip in the swimming pool complex with its incredible cool water slides, (with rather long queues and dramatic names like The Black Hole & The Master Blaster) then having watched the Monaco GP we were ready for day 3.
It started quite slow really with Pierced Arrows, who were devoid of life and energy. They played basic bluesy riffs with weak vocals that failed on most levels to captivate the audience.
Arriving at the ‘normal’ Wax Fang I was slightly disappointed that they didn’t always wear afros and 70′s style glam wear. Their set was a mix of tight riffs melded together with huge sound that really worked here on the Main Stage. They played with a lively spring in their steps and had the backing of the crowd, most I expect were here (like me) on the back of their stunning Prince show. The only down side was their material wasn’t particularly memorable post-performance, but this did not dampen their spirited performance.
Boris
After yesterdays gargantuan effort, we thought we’d check out the weekends second performance from Boris, this time performing their so called ‘classic’ album, Feedbacker. Given an album title like that and Boris’s sound you can imagine what it sounded like.
In fact I have to imagine also, as I fell fast asleep during the first song after sitting down for a rest (As it turns out 3 out of the 4 recharged our batteries during this show). 45 Minutes later I awoke to find a desolate and empty arena. I promptly headed out to find the rest of the DiR team who were busy putting a huge hole in the Pizza Hut buffet selection, much to the annoyance of other customers.
We didn’t really see anything for a while after this, brief sweeps past The Clean weren’t attractive enough to warrant our full attention, neither was the uber-northern song smith Terry Reid (Who looked like a cross between Pat Butcher and Jack Duckworth ). We returned to the fold to see the outspoken legend that is Mark E. Smith and his iconic band The Fall.
The Fall
Never one to shy away from controversy, Mark decided to pull the majority of his set from his latest album which despite its decent standard was somewhat of a disappointment. Very few popular songs were played as even Mr. Flowers (a self confessed Fall freak) didn’t recognise a single tune!Still the set they did perform was typical Fall. Musically tight and vocally shocking with Mark’s grumbles coming across as clearly as radio Belgium in a electrical storm. Nothing he did made much sense. From wandering around aimlessly on stage, twiddling dials he should never be let near, pulling out his band member’s amps or erratically attacking their instruments. Still it made for good comedy value at least.
We all wondered if we would hear a song we knew in the encore. Not surprisingly the answer was no! The crowd shuffled away in dismay while we stood and pondered what to do next, which turned out to be a master stroke as The Fall unexpectedly returned for a 2nd encore! This time they got it spot on, playing a song we knew…We Are Spata F.C.. From being quite a way back, we were suddenly right down the front for this cool tune. But as quickly as they returned they buggered off again. This wasn’t a bad show, I’d just expected more…a lot more.
After flitting back and forwards between Enablers and The Raincoats, chilling outside in the cool air enjoying relative peace was the most engaging option. After all I was waiting for the old school punk attitude of The Authorities.
The Authorities
These guys looked every one of their aging years but don’t let that fool you into thinking they are past it. They invoke the sound of punks early days of three chord wonders, crunching melodies, male dominated thinking and tracks of no more than 3 minutes long. They were on top form and blasted their way through some top punk numbers. Showing no signs of nostalgia, they clearly felt it was still 1972 and we were all willing to peek inside the time warp which had opened up onstage. A 30 second guitar rattle brought about the end to a high octane set as they powered down the final amp of ATP Pavement 2010.
ATP have the right idea when it comes to festivals! Civilised, laid back and comfortable, things not normally associated with festivals. I guess that’s why it this weekend was such a success despite a lineup which was barely got us excited before arrival. A long drive awaited us in the morning, but we all knew we’d be back soon for another installment of ATP genius!
ATP Pavement Festival: Day 2
Jun 23rd
Not being woken up by a blazing dawn sun, a drunk girl falling on your tent over, or a drunk bloke relieving himself in the remnants of your bonfire was by far the least interesting but most pleasant way to start day 2 at a music festival. Rolling out of bed and beginning the almighty fry up was The Docktor who rustled us up a feast (Note: 4 blokes sharing 3 cans of baked beans with their for breakfast is not advised for those with sensitive noses or a strong gag reflex). To work it off we hit the sandy coastline for some beach football! After all it was a rather unusual glorious sunny day! A few bruises and an abundance of sand in all manner of bodily crevices later, we caught wind of a secret gig going on.
Not being able resist the urge of the secret gig we were treated to an extra special show from Wax Fang @ Reds who were set to perform the entirety of Prince’s timeless album Purple Rain.
Wax Fang as Prince
Complete with comedy wigs, 70′s flares and more than required bodily hair on show Wax Fang both looked and sounded simply amazing. Their Prince routine was perfect, from the shrieking vocals right down to the note perfect solo’s and ambient keyboards. This was tongue in cheek delight and as they played hit after hit such as When Doves Cry, & I Would Die For You. Despite playing covers this was a guaranteed highlight for the festival as they faded slowly out with the fully extended version of the epic Purple Rain, the entire crowd swaying hands aloft to cheer this inspired performance.
Later that afternoon we had the biggest clash of the weekend, music or the FA Cup Final. I was the only one who made it away from the TV as I headed out to catch Blitzen Trapper. I was so glad I did! Their Americana influenced folk was at times beautiful and bold, while always being catchy and melodic. Lead singer sounded very close to a less nasally Bob Dylan but more or less managed to steer clear of the obvious comparisons. Their instrumentation was excellent and they did not get overpowered by the size of the arena, their music suited this perfectly. On the whole a very impressive performance that I really enjoyed.
Blitzen Trapper
It was at this point I found myself pondered over the weekend’s stage schedule structure. Most bands played for at least 45 minutes each with most being granted 1 hour. Now this is a good thing if you happen to like the bands that are on, but with a limited number of bands over the 3 days, 37, this leans itself to being quite restrictive.
On the plus side though if you missed the start of a set It didn’t matter so much as they would be playing for ages anyways. Looks like this was one debate I was not going to solve in a hurry so I decided to stick my head into Centre Stage for Saccarine Trust, before promptly removing it again realising the last 30 mins for the Cup Final & lunch was a more profitable use of time.
Fiery Furnaces
Disappointed after a Pompy defeat our next band of the day were up on the Main Stage. I have to admit that I went into this show with rampaging negative bias against Fiery Furnaces. Their brand of twisted indie is not the most approachable, unless you have an arty streak or a connoisseur complex. But I can say they’re live shows are a blast. Kicking into their tunes with wistful breeziness and rampaging a noisy fed back amp the combo of pop and rock was ideal. Melody wise they had big enough progressions to keep everyone nodding their heads (Apparently dancing at ATP is un cool), and enough catchy guitar licks to make me happy. This was a huge surprise, as they dropped their sweetness and blasted their way through a very entertaining set!
Boris
We quickly shuffled our way through the crowds, we had a date with Boris. The gargantuan Japanese noise rock behemoths had some technical problems in setting up and were late in getting started, but it was well worth the wait. If Spinal Tap turn it to ’11′ then Boris have their amps set to 111 as this was the most epically loud show the earth has ever seen. A drum kick sounded like a firework exploding, a bass thump was making my clothes move and the power chords where like a head gremlin playing the migraine march on your frontal lobe!
When this audio wall hit’s you square in the face, it sends you flying into a dizzying sonic spiral of intense rock energy which is astoundingly great. The songs themselves were very lucidly progressive, with heavy sections counterbalanced with some inventive and beautiful melodies. The greatest compliment to Boris was evident in the crowd. Despite near deafening volumes which could knock planets out orbit…nobody was going anywhere! Instead they were putting fingers in their ears and remaining down the front sharing the epic sounds.
Now for the reason we were all here, it was time for Pavement on a Main Stage filled to capacity (you can almost feel the desolation on the rest of the site). In one form we’d seen all the Pavement members bar front man Steven Malkmus himself over the weekend already, (Spiral Stairs, Marble Valley) so when they finally got down to their actual set it felt like we were pretty acquainted with them already.
The biggest cheers of the weekend greeted them as they made their way onstage and began playing a solid all round set of their greatest hits. Their pop sound was rougher live, but this made for a far better performance. With so much joy in the room there was a lot to love and little to fault in this show. Throwing in classic tracks like their biggest hit Cut Your Hair, Stereo and Gold Soundz, Pavement were lapping up energy from the crowd and flinging it right back.
This felt like a great return for the American indie heroes, but with a room full of people who signed up to their ATP curated festival and sold out the event before announcing any bands except themselves, I ask “was it going to be any different?” Nonetheless a superb showing for the weekends main headliner!
Monotonix
After chilling out for a while on the sofa with a few of our beers, we arrived at Reds and looked on is disbelief! The queue to get in was snaking around the smokers hangout with no indication of movement. Of course everyone was here to see the fiery DIY garage rock of those crazy Israelis’, Monotonix. After asking the door security informed us that the venue was full! 5 minutes later as we walked past him into the venue I wondered what on earth is going on?
Sit Quietly
This bewilderment was to continue once inside. Monotonix were sitting on their own stage, in only a their shorts and full chests of hair in the middle of the floor with the crowd all sitting down around them. They sounded immense! None of it made the slight bit of sense, but their three piece rock captured the spirit of beer soaked garage rock and roll ethics which is so lacking in the modern era. After about 15 minutes this spirit was too hard to ignore as the seated crowd stood up, overcome with the desire to rock out!
Sadly this was quickly brought to a halt as Butlins security stepped in and dragged Monotonix off stage, citing capacity problems and accusing the band of inciting violence. A lot of unhappy faces booed them which was unfair as they did nothing wrong, the hatred was rife and if the crowd was to kick off against the security team they would have had serious trouble on their hands. Thankfully we were at ATP not Reading festival so everyone trotted off mumbling and grumbling about the appalling security operation and health & safety gone mad.
Atlas Sound
Saddened we headed upstairs to an extremely packed Centre stage where a lone American was onstage. Atlas Sound was an incredibly annoying, whiny, overly American youth who did little or nothing to impress any of the DiR.net posse. The atmosphere was weak and uninspiring almost as much as his in between song nonsense. A lacklustre showing which was one of the most dull of the weekend.
Still Flyin’
It’s 1am and the final band took to the stage. Still Flyin’ in more of a collective than a band. With 12 members on stage you get the jist why. They had 2 trumpeters, 2 percussion, 4 singers, a keyboardist, a guitarist, a bas player and a random guy whose job it was to shake a ball shaped maraca and bound about stage. It comes as no surprise then that they play pop. This was an extremely joyous set with a carnival atmosphere that had people bopping along into the wee hours. Their reggae influenced, almost ska-indie pop was great fun way to round off day 2.#
Biffy Clyro @ Hammersmith Apollo
Jun 7th
6th May 2010
With a huge Wembley arena show beckoning in the future of the hottest Scotsmen since Sean Connery, this was one of the last chances to see Biffy up close. Their support this evening came from a band I saw last week at The Camden Crawl RoloTomassi & fellow Scotsmen The Twilight Sad.
Rolo Tomassi I felt were a strange choice of support. Their in your face aggression and non-sensical yelping doesn’t sit with most rock fans, let alone pop fans! They got a warm reception, but that could be because the crowd were intimidated by their thrashy math-rock. They were better here in the indoor setting and armed with the epic swirling electro vibes at the heart of their new material they are onto something good.
Rolo Tomassi
With Rolo departed The Twlight Sad arrived. Personally I’d rather have listened to another hour of Rolo! These Scottish miserablists were pretentious and extremely boring. They sound like an chronically depressed Snow Patrol covering Sonic Youth. No real songs were to be found…just incessant noise and the occasional strong accent. They were aimless on stage, had very little presence and the biggest cheer came when they powered down their amps, bringing to a close the worst set I”ve witnessed for quite some time!
Biffy Clyro rode the wave of ovation to centre stage and begun wiping out the Twilight Sad induced trance by flying straight into That Golden Rule, setting the tone for a lively and accomplished performance. Their Prog gone Pop-Rock philosophy was ever present as their off kilter guitar licks and galloping bass lines proved their musical engine was revving in 5th gear.Not being the most chatty of frontmen, Simon Neil makes up for this with his powerful musical lust and enthusiasm (I could easily give or take the barechested-ness though).
The majority of tonight’s set list has come from their last two commercially successful albums, latest single Bubbles and radio pop classic Mountains were played remarkably early in the set. This only goes to prove their success and repertoire quality since ‘going mainstream‘. This is not to say they have totally abandoned their early works. They played a brilliantly creative version of Glitter & Trauma and the sublime Bodies In Flight to please the old guard.
Flying straight back into the newer material they played heavily upon their latest album and DiR.net album of 2009, Only Revolutions which made the DiR crew happy! The abundance of sky soaring choruses from their material was astonishing. Hammersmith witnessed a very vocal performance tonight from band and crowd alike.
Returning in a flurry of fireworks and a mighty morphing stage for their encore Biffy upped the ante once more with more big rock tunes. Saturday Superhouse sparked some lively dance moves, the beautiful acoustic version of Machines was solemn poignant and the biggest cheer of the night goes to the mighty Captain. As they faded into the night ready to take on bigger arenas in the winter. Biffy will no doubt become big arena stars as their music is already begging for the larger venue crowds. I’m just glad I caught them when I did!
Does It Rock? Februrary Round-Up
Feb 27th
Plenty of great albums were released this month and we here at DiR.net have picked the best of the bunch to bring to you in a handy Spotify playlist! The widest variety of music in one playlist your likely to find!
Listen now >>> DoesItRock.net – Feb 10 Mix
1) Los Campesinos! – Straight In At 101 … Indie at its multi-intrument bashing best DiR? Review
2) Hot Chip – Thieves In The Night … Electro-indiers best track from their latest disappointing album DiR? Review
3) Seasick Steve – Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde… Steves gravel tones are simply stunning on this cracking blues number DiR? Review
4) The Soft Pack – Answer To Yourself … California fuzz soaked guitars make for an uplifting tune
5) Story Of The Year – To The Burial … Chest thumping rock anthem king kong would be proud of DiR? Review
6) Swanton Bombs – Who’s Asking? … Ranshakle riffing and DIY ethics from this promising bands debut LP.
7) Chow Chow – Suits Like Animals … Re-release for this superb slice of indie rock spiced with electro fun and melody
8) Priestess – Raccoon Eyes… Take the trip back to the 70′s for some scorching Sabbath riffing DiR? Review
9) Plastiscines – Bitch… Spiked garage pop from thes french youngsters, their image is one to savour!
10) Kashmir – Intruder … Beautiful melodies and subtle guitars line this laid back rocker
11) White Rabbits – Percussion Gun … Ample druming drives this near perfect understated indie rocker!
12) Fair – Disappearing World … Mid tempo pop number is as catchy as it is american.
13) Scanners – Jesus Saves … Dark poppers Scanners take a soar towards the light with this sparking tune
14) The Sunshine Underground – Spell It Out … New tangent direction produces at least one fine indie electro rocker
15) Bigelf – Madhatter … Imaging Led Zep with Pink Floyd holidaying in Wonderland, awe inspiring heavy prog rock
16) Taking Dawn – Take Me Away … Breaking band from Roadrunner Records mix metal, glam, with attitude to produce a stonking rocker!
17) Close Your Eyes – xChet Steadmanx … Post-Hardcore lads take on a pop-punk sound, suprisingly it works!
18) Fight The Empire – The Truth Is Out … New British band with some great riffing on the title track of their Debut album, watch out for these guys!
19) Wakey!Wakey! – The Oh Song … Plenty of Ohs on this piano stomper from a star of the american tv show One Tree Hill
20) Cobra Starship – Pete Wentz Is The Only Reason We’re Famous … With Fallout Boy saying farewell, here’s a tribute to their enigmatic bassist on this months Pop Punk Antrhem!
Dananananaykroyd @ Scala, Kings Cross
Jan 11th
29th October 2009: Dananananaykroyd, Dinosaur Pile-Up, Calories @ Scala, Kings Cross
Scala, could quite possibly be the best venue in London if it wasn’t for 2 things. A) bar prices are terrible £3.80 for a lager and B) the location of the bar/facilities are about a 5 minute march from the main arena. Having to ascend 4 flights of stairs and march 5 minutes every time I feel to need to visit the little boys room is not ideal in any one’s book!
Despite this the main arena is tiered within a very intimate space. Sound was good but that did not phase the first band this evening from putting on a show to forget.
Calories
Calories first and foremost should never ever be your band name! It’s right up there with the terrible band names ever! Secondly they played simply indie music without any real outstanding instrumentation or emotive soul. Thirdly their singer could not hit the right note even if it jumped down his throat and tried to sing itself, some were truly shocking and hard to listen to. When they finally managed a collective harmony this greatly improved things which wasn’t at all bad. All too soon the failed x factor contestant vocals were back and i switched off again…time to get the walking boots on and trek to the bar.
I was expecting big things from Dinosaur Pile-Up and that’s exactly what we got. Grunge dies long ago and wasn’t noted for its happy tales. Put fun and grunge together into a pot and stir it with the big pop stick and you get their superb sound. High Volumes, energy, great vocals and riffs Cobain and co would have been proud of were the pivotal cornerstones of their set tonight. Summer Hit-Single is destined to be exactly this, its fantastic guitars and equally immediate vocals epitomised all that’s good with them. Each song was engraved in your brain after one chorus, your singing along by the second, you know all the words by the third, and your still humming them on the tube home!
Dinosaur Pile-Up
A Great set and with more fine tracks than a formula one season including the distinctly grunge Melanin, the punked up rock of Traynor and the pop buzz of Opposites Attract. Keep a close eye they will be selling out much bigger venues near you very soon, I’m sure!
Dananananaykroyd
Left reeling from Dinosaur Pile-Up we dived back in again for the ones we came here for Scotland’s comically titled Dananananaykroyd. With a name mixing Blues Brothers legend Dan Aykroyd and the batman heme tune you can only hope their music is as great as their name. I can declare it’s actually much better! Tight guitars each purposefully struck exactly where they need to be with technically complex riffs bordering on prog were instantly likable.
Dual singers were so you and full of energy with more than a few dodgy dance moves were the key to their performance. Each trading lines like blows in a world title fight each trying to outdo the other for vocal title belt. Could not understand a damn work but i really loved this dynamic twosome. Their energy was infectious as it swept over the crowd causing a lot more dodgy dancing and bustle in crowd central. I do not understand how some of the kids seem to be dancing as if they were being electrocuted, maybe I’m just not down with the youth of today.
The adolescent faced singer, the one not wearing a poncho, asked the crowd not to bash dance, and instead go for from on side of the room the other and hug each other. Yes you can tell this wend down like an indie kid at a death metal show, pushing shoving and disaster is all that followed…fun to watch though.
They played the majority of their debut album with standout moments coming from Pink Sabbath, Black Wax and Some Dresses. They played with maturity way beyond their years and with more exhilarating shows like this they are going big places, very soon!
