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Live music, gigs, and concerts discussion.

Love Sparks since I got into them and saw them at the Albert Hall in Manchester a few years ago and then the Philharmonic in Liverpool a year later. The Edgar Wright documentary about them is fantastic as well.

Annoyed I missed them in Manchester because I'm on a coaster trip (same with Dua Lipa (and originally Billy Joel) at Anfield) but they play Wolverhampton in a few weeks so if my finances are OK I might go to that gig.
 
A little local festival yesterday, Lazy Days in Southend. The line up was right up my nostalgic street; Badly Drawn Boy, The Lightning Seeds, and Embrace.

I was supposed to see Badly Drawn Boy about 12 years ago at another festival, but that was in his 'take all the drugs and have a breakdown' period, so unfortunately he pulled out of that one. He only did half hour, just him singing and on the guitar, piano and mouth organ himself. He is incredible, what he did was superb, but he did play an odd set that in half hour could have been filled with crowd plaasers but included some slightly more obscure stuff. I imagine he keeps it interesting for himself rather than trotting out the exact same stuff every time he gets on stage, which is fair enough. He ended with Once Around The Block, which was a bit of a beautiful moment for me.
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Next up were The Lightning Seeds, who sounded awesome and gave the crowd exactly what they wanted by smashing out every hit they've had. The highlight for me was Perfect, which is one of my all time favourites and made me have a little cry heaing it live. Less of a highlight was finishing with Three Lions, amusing that Ian Broudie even apologised for playing it but said they get **** if they don't 😆.

Embraced followed, and were alright. Their sound is their sound, but that is to push everything through the middle in a way that ends with a slightly indistinct mush which was really stark after the crisp sound produced by the Lightning Seeds. The bassist may well have not plugged his guitar in. The crowd seemed to like and they had a couple more songs that were familiar to me than expected, but not my pick of the day.

We'd always planned to leave before the evenings acts, of which I was pretty gutted not to see The Coral, and less bothered by missing out on Peter Doherty. Of a few less known acts Ellur, Pip Blom, and especially The Milk were all great.

The festival itself was a superb set up for a small local thing, lots of children's entertainment and free activities like circus skills, rick climbing and mocktail making on a bike powered blender. Nice to see the kid on my shoulders on a video put out by the festival today, that's her smack in the middle with her arms in the air!
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It was the first time taking the 6 year old as a bit of a test to see if she'd enjoy it and push on to a 'proper' festival next year. We've got the thumbs up for that!
 

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Saw We Are Scientists last week at the Jacaranda Baltic. Part of a short tour to promote Qualifying Miles.

Did just over an hour playing stuff off the new album interspersed with some of their best known tracks.
 
I'm an 80s kid from Manchester, grew up on bad 80s pop, a house that always had 60s radio on and later on.. Britpop. By the time I hit 20 it was at the start of the indie revolution 2000 onwards. Doves were my favourite band from home.. could even be the Artic Monkeys today. Also loved the White Stripes, Strokes, Kings of Leon, early Muse, QOTSA, and more niche sounds like Willy Mason. Nowadays, I like Fontaines, Idles, The Murder Capital. Seen all live in recent time..Next gig is Gurriers. A lively post punk rock band.
 
Went to see Will Smith at the Victoria Warehouse by Manchester last night.

Had loads of fun with him playing all the hits you'd expect from his career, and the newer songs were decent enough. He did a really nice tribute to James Avery (Uncle Phil) and a bit were he spoke about the Oscars incident and forgiveness. He even had his Oscar with him for that bit.
 
Saw The Hives tonight doing a small show to support the new album in Liverpool. Everything you'd want from them over about 40 minutes.

A nice sampler before I see them again in Manchester in November.
 
Saw Wolf Alice in Liverpool at the start of the week. Another album launch show, I attended the early show. Played for about an hour so that was great, especially as there arena tour clashes with a gig I've already got tickets for.
 
Hurrah emo rockers My Chemical Romance are playing at the home of the current Premier League Champions next June!
 
Clipping. at Project House in Leeds, they were only there last April for their only UK gig that year but obviously something about it touched them so they were back. They brought the singer Sharon Udoh who's performed on a few of their tracks with them again too which was great.

To be honest though it wasn't as good as last time. I did enjoy the new songs but the album isn't as good as their previous ones so the set list wasn't quite as good, and the crowd was a bit lifeless despite most people seeming to know all the deep cuts. Still an alright gig and a great venue.
 
Saw Busted vs McFly in Liverpool on Tuesday. Was a really fun night as both bands have loads of enjoyable songs.
 
Just back from the Jacaranda Baltic in Liverpool seeing Ash playing a short show in support of their new album Ad Astra.

Played a load off the new album and a few old favourites.
 
Jazzman and rapper Mckinley Dixon at the Pink Room at Yes in Manchester (upgraded from the basement room). He signed some vinyl afterwards but we needed to get the train home after that, would have been nice to get a pint with him or something.

Baffling he isn't better known but hopefully one day he'll be able to tour with a full band. His drummer is fantastic though.
 
Saw Biffy Clyro in Liverpool at the Camp and Furnace on Friday evening, two acoustic gigs in support of their new album. Played a good number of old favourites as well.
 
Went to see The Last Dinner Party tonight, first time I've seen them and it was a really fun gig. First gig I've been to in The Dome at Grand Central in Liverpool. Had previously seen a few wrestling shows in there.

Yesterday I saw Of Monsters And Men doing an early evening gig, again really good.
 
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