2017 - A Year In Live Music

Happy New Year! In previous years around this time, I’ve posted a blog about my top 10 favourite gigs of the year, as well as favourite festival sets as well. As I didn’t go to a festival this year, it will be difficult to do a top list of bands seen at a festival. Instead, I’m going to just rank the gigs I’ve been to, but I will also talk about the ones that didn’t make the top 10 as honourable mentions. I’ll do the gigs that didn’t make it in chronological order, as to not create a top 15.

I wrote a blog earlier this year the evening that the news broke about Chester Bennington passing away. It would feel improper to not mention both him and Chris Cornell’s passing. Whenever I hear a song that either of those men have been a part of, I still feel a pang of sadness. Only following his passing have I realised how much of a genius Chris Cornell was. I said in the blog about Chester that I didn’t care for the later works of Linkin Park but it wasn’t the time to really address that. I still feel it would not be appropriate to really discuss that point as I wouldn’t want it to come across as disrespectful. I cannot stress the point enough about how much of an impact Hybrid Theory had on my life however, and I wanted to mention both men as they are still very much in my thoughts as the year ends.

Let’s kick on with the honourable mentions of 2017 gigs – the ones that didn’t quite make the top 10.

Kreator – O2 Kentish Town Forum, London. March 2017 – This was probably the closest gig to making the top 10 which didn’t. The bill was superb, with Aborted, Soilwork and Sepultura in support. Soilwork are just excellent live. Sepultura really got the crowd moving when they played some of their classics – but you can’t help but wonder if they could headline this venue and bigger ones if Max and Igor were in the band. Probably bigger, as Max and Igor headlined it doing a Return to Roots show. Kreator were their usual great selves live. The new material fits in very well in their set. Their new album is excellent. I guess if I’m looking for negatives for this not being in the top 10 is because by the end of it, I was really tired and ended up leaving during Pleasure to Kill. Think this is the 3^rd time I’ve seen Kreator in this venue but I’d go again, amazing support bill or not (although come on Kreator, bring Vader to the UK one time!)

Morass of Molasses – Edge of The Wedge, Portsmouth. April 2017 – I could almost copy and paste my words from last year, but just change the names of the supporting bands. The opening band didn’t do a great deal for me. Gravel Rash were good fun. Morass of Molasses were the band of the night though. Riffs for days! Sadly, I’m not sure when the next chance I will have to see them again is, but if they come back to Portsmouth after their Icebreaker appearance, I will be there. I was also really pleased to see them on the bill for DesertFest in London. That sounds like an awesome festival that I want to attend one year.

While She Sleeps – The Talking Heads, Southampton. April 2017 – First visit to the new Talking Heads and I want the old one back! I know that won’t happen but a man can dream! It was very weird that I walked into a venue for a sold out gig and wasn’t ticket checked but oh well. This gig is an honourable mention for two reasons. The first being how good the top 10 are in my opinion (if I were to try and give this a place were this to be a top 15, I would say it would be 11^th or 12^th – in a knife fight with Kreator). The second being the slight awkwardness about bumping into an old school friend who I no longer speak to (my fault, not theirs). Sadly, that awkwardness is my lasting memory of the gig rather than how good While She Sleeps were, which is a shame as they were bloody excellent. I really like their latest album and the material from it live crushes. Hopefully I will get a chance to see them live again. I find it hard to believe it will be in such an intimate setting mind (I was surprised when it was first announced).

Ginger Wildheart – The Railway, Winchester. April 2017 – It is always tough for me to not include everything Ginger and Wildhearts related in any top 10 list at the end of the year. This was a set list that contained some great Wildhearts material but the main focus was solo material, including from the recently released Ghost In The Tanglewood. It was a really fun night and a great first visit to The Railway pub.

Dragonforce – The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth. October 2017 – If I was doing a top 15, this would be 15^th. Power Quest had a decent set supporting them. Dragonforce started off really good as well but about half way through the set, they did a long drum solo and then the singer and bassist picking up the guitars and having a mess around, which was cool in places but it lost me. After this, I just wasn’t interested. They did their cover of Ring of Fire which is just dreadful. They closed with Through The Fire and Flames which was cool but not enough to save this gig for me. Shame really, as I was really looking forward to it beforehand.

Top 10

10 – KT Tunstall – Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry. May 2017

For a full review of this gig, please click here! A quick review though, Nina Nesbitt was good in support. KT Tunstall was excellent. The set list contained 5 out of 6 of my favourite songs of hers which was ace. I hope this is not the only time I see her perform live.

9. The Wildhearts – Rock City, Nottingham. January 2017

The Wildhearts playing Fishing For Luckies in full, Massive Wagons and The Main Grains – what is not to love?! This gig was just brilliant. I enjoyed The Main Grains and suspect I’d go see them play if they did a headline show. Massive Wagons were bloody wonderful. They are doing a headline show nearby and based on how good they were on this night, I definitely want to go to it. Now, the reason why this gig is 9^th is because the story after the gig has become more of a talking point than the gig itself. The gig itself was bloody excellent and seeing The Wildhearts play Fishing For Luckies in full was just superb – it was the only UK outing for this album in full and I would definitely go again if they did a full tour playing it. Seeing Danny on stage for the conclusion was a wonderful thing as well. However, I had 1 or 2 too many beverages of the alcoholic persuasion during the gig and on the walk back to the hotel afterwards, I got really lost. So much so I had to call an uber to get me back to the hotel (something which made the driver laugh a lot at my expense – deservedly so I feel). I have often criticised people who get drunk beyond the point of no return during gigs because why would you spend so much to go to a gig, and then get so drunk you can’t remember some/all of it. Well, on this occasion, I was that person. I remember the gig being amazing, but certain specifics of the gig are lost in an alcoholic haze, which is a shame.

8. Weezer - Wembley Arena, London. October 2017 -

Last year, Weezer’s gig at Brixton Academy was in my top 3 of the year. It seems odd to have them in eighth in this list and it isn’t because the gig wasn’t excellent because it was. Ash were the special guests and they were outstanding. Weezer were better however. The set only contained 2 songs from their latest album which I was pleased about, although not the fact the one I really like off the album wasn’t played. Weezer have so many fantastic songs though and they played a whole heap of them, which made for a lovely evening. Dope Nose being in the set list probably would have made it a top 5 gig, as I love that song. Can’t win them all.

7. Milk Teeth – The Joiners, Southampton. August 2017 -

The opening band on this tour, Wallflower, were decent. However, if I am to be honest I don’t remember a great deal about them. The main support however, Employed To Serve, I mean fucking hell. They are a stunning band on record – their latest album The Warmth of a Dying Sun is just awesome. Live though? They are a force to be reckoned with. I really hope I get to see them again live. Milk Teeth were just as good as Employed To Serve. Both bands absolutely smashed it on this evening and I honestly couldn’t pick a favourite. Just a lovely way to spend an evening was this gig. Milk Teeth and Employed To Serve are two bands I’ve properly discovered this year and my life is better because of it.

6. The Wildhearts (Acoustic) – Engine Rooms, Southampton. December 2017

Engine Rooms was an interesting choice for this show as I would have thought the Joiners or Talking Heads would have suited it better but no matter. Before I start waffling about how good The Wildhearts were, I want to give a nod to Dave McPherson, who opened this gig. I’ve seen Ginger play a handful of acoustic shows, and they have all been excellent. I went into this evening with high hopes and they were more than met by Ginger and CJ. The set list was packed with the best of The Wildhearts back catalogue and it all just worked so well in this environment. The singalongs were as good as any Wildhearts show which made it even better. I walked in wondering whether this gig would make the top 10, and walked out wondering just how high it should be (caused me to do some reordering, that is for sure) – with a massive grin on my face. More of this sort of thing, please!

5. Marmozets – The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth. November 2017

This gig was originally scheduled to be on the same day as I was seeing Metallica in Birmingham and so, I didn’t buy a ticket. Then Becca, the singer, was unwell so a few of the gigs got pushed back. Portsmouth was pushed back by two days, meaning I was able to make it. It would be a bit weird to say I’m happy that Becca got ill, but I’m kinda glad she did as this was my first time seeing Marmozets and they blew me away with how good they are live. Their debut album (The Weird and Wonderful Marmozets) has been in regular rotation for me since this gig but in particular, Why Do You Hate Me is a song I’ve played over and over. It was about a 75-minute headline set and it was just superb. It was tough not to put this gig higher truth be told. The band announced extra dates just before this gig and I remember before the gig turning to a mate and saying “Southampton on a Saturday night is nice, but this will likely do me”. About 2 songs in, I was changing my position on this. Now? Marmozets at the Engine Rooms is currently scheduled to be my first gig of 2018 (tempted by Hatebreed or Mongol Horde, both of which are the weekend before it). I am really excited to see them again. I expect to be writing words about them again this time next year based on how good the Portsmouth date was.

4. Metallica – The O2, London. October 2017

Picking between two Metallica gigs in one year is like picking your favourite child (I guess, being childless I’m not quite sure if that is true). I felt it would be cheating to have them tied for the same place (which in prep for this, I noted I did in a previous year for Frank Turner gigs – but there were a lot more to pick from in 2015 – probably). Anyhow, Kvelertak are a band that need crystal clear sound live for people to hear just how good they are. Alas, this was not to be on this night (or at the Birmingham gig, so I’m guessing they made the best of what they could have). Metallica though, I mean, damn. I really like most of their latest album, and the stuff they played from it was just great – especially Moth Into Flame. The older material was, as ever, stunning. One of the best bits of this gig for me was going with a mate who had never seen Metallica before. When the band had just finished One, he looked at me and said, “that was awesome!” to which I replied “well, it is about to get better” with a shit-eating grin on my face. Just as he asked how, the band kicked into Master of Puppets. That, that’s how!

3. Metallica – Genting Arena, Birmingham. October 2017 –

A lot of what I have just written above is the case for this gig. However, Metallica played Spit Out The Bone at this gig, whereas they didn’t in London. Fine margins indeed!

2. Guns N’ Roses – London Stadium, London. June 2017 –

Before the tour was announced, I never thought I would see Axl, Slash and Duff on the same stage. When the reunion tour was announced, I said the only thing which would stop me going would be if it was silly money. Sure, £100 a ticket was steep, but it was entirely worth it. A full review can be read here.

1. Volbeat – Telia Parken, Copenhagen. August 2017

I wrote about this gig as a part of my Copenhagen blog. However, some 4 months after this gig has taken place and the reason it is number one is because it was everything I hoped it would be, and then some. The support package of Amorphis and Flogging Molly were brilliant – Flogging Molly especially. It was great to see a filling stadium be won over by how good they are. Volbeat though were on another level. It was just awesome to see a Volbeat show of this magnitude. The setlist was excellent and personally, would have just wanted more to be added rather than anything to be cut. There aren’t many headline bands that would get me to step on a plane to go and see them, but Volbeat are now one of them. I would 100% go back to mainland Europe to see a Volbeat show of this magnitude again.

And that, as they say, is that. It was a decent year certainly for gigs. I’ve got high hopes for some of the gigs I have lined up in 2018. So far, I’ve booked a ticket for Marmozets, Milk Teeth, Cancer Bats (performing Hail Destroyer in full), the Britrock Must Be Destroyed tour, Frank Turner for a night at the Lost Evenings festival playing Love, Ire and Song in full and, last but not least, an evening with Machine Head. These should all be pretty good. Roll on the first one!

Copenhagen

Recently, I spent a few short days in Copenhagen. I returned on August Bank Holiday Monday – which feels like months ago - when in fact it was only just over 2 weeks ago today. The main reason I visited the capital city of Denmark was to see Volbeat play a headline show in a stadium – but when booking I decided to hang around a little longer than the gig to take in a bit of the city. Before this trip, I’d never been to any of the Scandinavian countries – I had heard good things about Copenhagen but I was told I would need to take a fair bit of money with me as it was expensive. With that in mind, I flew out early on the Saturday morning but travelled to Gatwick Airport the night before. It was significantly cheaper to get a return train ticket and a hotel for the night than to get a return taxi which was nice and something I will consider doing again. I did have to trust Southern Rail which I was apprehensive about, given their poor press recently – but credit where it is due, it got me to the airport with barely any delay. I had thought about sitting down in the airport bar with a beer but going down there made me want to retreat to the relative comfort of my hotel room. Thoughts of sacking off the entire trip and just heading home the next morning entered my head but they went away fairly quickly – I write it off to just being nervous about travelling to a new part of the world by myself.

The first day of the trip was a long day. I woke up about 4.30 in the morning to make sure I got an early enough bus to get to the terminal to have a bite to eat and get through security. I find it amusing how some people still don’t understand the process of going through security. Anyway, after circling the post-security area of Gatwick until my gate was called, I was still feeling tired from my early start which I resolved to sleep off on my flight. Before getting on my flight however, the airline requested that barely anyone had paid to have checked luggage and if anyone wanted to check their hand luggage, they could free of charge. I decided against doing this as I wanted my bag on me, and how does an airline that charges for people to bring cases on board not see this coming? Sadly, sleep alluded me on the flight despite my best efforts (a complimentary copy of The Times did not put me to sleep, but rather kept me alert). The person next to me used my arm as a pillow at one point, as if to rub salt into the wound.

When I arrived at Copenhagen Airport, I remarked to myself how much it reminded me of Hamburg Airport. It was busy but well laid out, so I was able to get a metro ticket and get out fairly quickly. This however was my downfall as I had originally planned to eat lunch there before heading into Copenhagen proper. Within 30 minutes, I was stood outside the Forum venue wondering what exactly I was going to do for the next 2 hours and a bit before I could check into my hotel. I considered going there and asking to pay to check in early, but I dreaded how much it would cost (I would later learn that a late check out would have cost me about £10 an hour so this was probably a good call to not head there early). I went to find my hotel and walk around the local area before deciding a good way to kill some time would be to head to the gig venue. I wasn’t 100% certain where it was, which would help kill time – so off I set. I walked from the Forum metro station to Telia Parken – about a 40-minute walk. Despite dragging my case with me, I’m glad I used this spare time to do this as it meant when it was time to head to the venue later that evening, I could do so with confidence. When I got to the venue for the first time, I got to hear Volbeat sound checking a song, which was pretty ace.

By the time I got back to the Forum (my central point for anything), it was close enough to check in time so I headed to the hotel. There was a group of people checking into a couple of rooms as I arrived which worked out well for me as by the time they were done, it had gone 3pm which meant I could check in no problems. I got to my room to find a bunk bed and another single bed – not what I was expecting at all but would do for two nights of somewhere just going to be used to crash out. Almost as soon as I had checked in, I went out to a local supermarket as I hadn’t eaten at this point since my early breakfast at Gatwick and was pretty hungry. One staple of me being abroad (and sometimes even in England when I’m not paying attention) is managing to buy sparking water in place of still water. I did that again during this trip to the supermarket (and got charged a deposit fee for the bottle, I would later learn). I popped back to the hotel to freshen up before heading back to Telia Parken for the gig.

This time around, Telia Parken was positively heaving. I walked over to the merchandise truck I watched briefly being set up on my first visit which was displaying the event t-shirt. It wasn’t cheap, but I decided to buy it on the grounds it was my first time going to a gig in Copenhagen and as long as it lasts, it will be a nice reminder of the gig. I had all but worked out before heading to the stadium that I had managed to buy a top price seating ticket rather than an inner pitch standing ticket, which was a shame. Although when I took my seat, I felt really tired so maybe it was for the best I was seating for this one. The first thing I noted when I took my seat is that they closed the roof – which meant this would basically be a massive arena gig. I almost fell to sleep in my seat before the opening band came on. In fact, I think I may have actually drifted off and Amorphis woke me up. They were really good. At the time, I was thinking “I’ve seen this band a number of times now, but never listened to them properly, not sure why”. Turns out I’d only seen them once before – but I still haven’t checked them out properly. It is on the to-do list! The main support was Flogging Molly. I had seen them do about 40 minutes at Download and serve as main support for Frank Turner (where they were probably on stage for a similar length of time), but this would be the first time I’d see them play for an hour. They were superb. They are so much fun live and they have a great back catalogue to choose from. They are another band I need to go back and revisit. I think they won over a lot of people with their set, which is cool. However, the people (myself included) were there for one reason, and that reason was Volbeat. Their set was one of the best I’ve ever seen. I’d have loved to see them play some older material but I understand why they didn’t. They did pretty much play all of my favourite songs of theirs though, which was nice. They also bought out a number of special guests including Barney from Napalm Death (he has appeared with them almost every time I’ve seen them, which is ace) and Danko Jones. The biggest surprise however was when they bought out Lars Ulrich from Metallica, who played drums for Guitar Gangsters and Cadillac Blood before the band covered Enter Sandman which was just amazing. I’ve said it before, it pains me that Volbeat aren’t bigger in the UK – but after this show, I will have no gripes about travelling further afield to see them, as they delivered in a big way. After the show, I couldn’t sleep straight away when I got back to the hotel, meaning that when I eventually did get to sleep, I had been awake for about 21 hours – long day.

The day after, I woke up really early – probably about 5am UK time. After how long the day before was, this was a surprise and not a pleasant one. I got some more sleep but not much and decided to wake up and go and investigate the hotel breakfast. It worked out about £8 a day and was quite basic but I decided it was better than trying to find something whilst out for breakfast as I wouldn’t know where to start. After breakfast, I came back to my room to grab some things before heading out for an explore to notice that it was raining – not overly heavy but when packing, I was really smart and didn’t bring a jacket with me – so I didn’t fancy a walk in the rain. I started to read one of the complimentary newspapers I picked up Saturday morning and ended up having a nap for about an hour or so. When I woke up, the rain had stopped, so I went out for an explore.

I had no fixed plans as to what to do. I had thought I’d walk from my hotel to Nyhavn where I could go on a boat tour, but decided instead to get the metro to just round the corner. Nyhavn, if ever you are in this part of the world, is a must visit. It looks really nice, and was busy whenever I visited which was cool. I saw there were several options for boat tours, so I opted for the one I found on Google Maps first – Netto boat tours. This cost about £4.50/5 and was worth every penny. There is a lot of water around Copenhagen, so you get to see and learn an awful lot – much more than I would have discovered by walking around by myself. The boat went out to the Little Mermaid statue which we got to see from the back. It is world famous although I couldn’t tell you why. Sailing along Christianshavn was really nice. For context, when googling to find out if I had spelled that correctly, I discovered that Freetown which is around that area is where you go if you want to buy marijuana – that wasn’t mentioned on the tour! The guide we had was really good, he delivered the tour mainly in English and Danish but also bits in German. I must say, when people can just switch languages freely like the guide did, I’m always impressed. Not only that, but he had a cracking singing voice, demonstrated when we went under a long and low bridge when he belted out the first verse of Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds. I know I said it earlier, but this tour was worth every penny and I almost did it again the next day, but I had my suitcase with me and I could imagine that being an annoyance if the boat got busy.

After the boat tour, I went for a stroll around the general area. I went over to the Copenhagen Street Food hall for lunch which was great. There were so many stalls selling all sorts of food. I think almost everyone would be catered for, which is cool. I ended up eating a shredded duck burger which was delicious. I walked through the shopping area and back by some of the areas the boat tour took us (stopping at one point for a beer at a pop-up bar). Tiredness got the better of me though so I headed back to the hotel where I ended up falling to sleep again. When I woke up, I decided to head out for some food before calling it a night. Despite having two naps, I was really still quite tired. The conclusion of my day was spent watching comedy videos on YouTube – cheers free hotel Wi-Fi!

My final day started again with the hotel breakfast. I decided I would try not to eat after this until getting to the airport. I figured eating before that could lead to be being hungry right around the time I would be boarding my flight. I could eat when getting back to Gatwick, but that time I think I would just want to head home and hope that Southern Rail would play ball with getting me home. Anyhow, my plans somewhat changed when the hotel explained how they operated their left luggage room. I had thought a member of staff would take the bag and would look after it, but actually anyone could access the room if they had left a bag in there. This left me nervous because it opened up the possibility of someone being able to fiddle with my bag without my knowing about it. Had that happened, and I got to the airport – that would have been bad news for me! I checked out the hotel and made my way back to Nyhavn. I decided to kill some time and walk up to the Little Mermaid statue – I wasn’t impressed with it the day before but hell, maybe seeing it from the front would change my mind. It didn’t. Lots of people were there to see it though and it was a nice walk, so all was not lost. When I got back to Nyhavn, I walked around by the water for a bit before heading to Christianshavn one last time before getting the metro back to the airport. Seeing it from the boat was nice, but I wanted to walk along the water there – which I did.

I remembered the metro taking about 30 minutes from the airport to the Forum station, so even though I was a bit closer this time, I figured it would be something similar from Christianshavn back to the airport. The train got held up at a station due to a problem and we were still there in less than 20 minutes. I had got to the airport about 4 hours before my flight, which was slightly poor planning but it was fine. There was a welcome committee set up, awaiting the arrival of someone/some people who were famous. I wondered if it might be the Danish football team, as I noted they were due to have a home match at Telia Parken in the coming days when I was there. It turned out to be a badminton player. Not quite the same thing, but I doubt I would have known any of the Danish football team anyway, so no matter. I had some food in the airport Burger King. Two things of note happened here. One – I misread the menu and ended up with a soft drink with my food as opposed to a bottle of water. I haven’t had a cup of soda like that in about 5 years, so I decided to choose a zero option and went with Sprite – that was a bad call. The second thing was that after the Sprite, I went back to the counter and bought a beer. That was the first time I could’ve bought a beer from a Burger King so it had to be done. Going through security, I successfully managed to lose my hat (I have bad form for that in airports) and got to passport control a bit later than I would have liked due to exploring the post security area of the airport.

A similar situation as the flight out presented itself at the gate in that they asked for about 35 bags to go into the hold – I think they got about 5. I think if you have a cabin size bag, on a flight where initially you are charged if you want to bring a big suitcase on the flight, and you volunteer to put it in hold, they should give you some sort of incentive as some thanks. Anyway, that has nothing to do with Copenhagen, just my thoughts on budget airlines. My flight was painless and got back in on time. Going through security was pretty smooth as well – took no more than 10 minutes I’d say and I was back in Blighty – my small jaunt to Denmark was over. It was fun. 

Chester

Today was a standard Thursday for me really. Work during the day, cycled home and swapped my bag out in order to go to the gym. Truth be told, I wasn't overly feeling going to the gym as I'd much rather have sat on the couch and watched the Para Athletics coverage from London 2017. However, I did go, but made a deal with myself that I'd not mess around with weights today and just do a cardio session. When leaving the gym, I checked my phone before getting on my bike and there was nothing. By the time I had got home, I had two messages waiting from my brother. In recent times, we've shared articles, tweets and various other things on the internet that form two messages. I didn't think much of it so didn't read them immediately. Instead, I decided to shower and then I would read them. When I eventually did, I was dismissive of what he had written. He had told me Chester Bennington had died.

My immediate thought was "this must be a hoax" because how could it not be? I thought the same thing when I started seeing news break about Chris Cornell. "What sick fuck does this?" I remember that was my immediate thought when I started seeing stuff about Cornell. But, this couldn't be real...could it? It turns out that whilst I was initially in a state of disbelief, the facts were confirmed - at the age of 41, Chester Bennington had committed suicide - on what would have been Chris Cornell's 53rd birthday.

I won't go into my feelings of the band that Linkin Park became, because this isn't the time nor the place. But I credit Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit with introducing me to heavier music. Without them, I honestly don't know how my life would have played out. I'm not asking you to read previous posts now, but look at the archive on the side - and see how many rock gigs and festivals I've written about. Without Linkin Park, none of this would be possible. They helped shape my music taste into what it is today, and for that I thank them. I also thank them for the two albums of theirs I adore. Hybrid Theory and Meteora are both fantastic albums, but Hybrid Theory is something special.

I only saw Linkin Park perform once. I missed them at Download 2007 in favour of seeing Motley Crue in a tent. I saw half their headline set at Download 2014 - when they played Hybrid Theory in full. I remember standing before they came on stage thinking this would be no big deal. At this stage, I'd basically given up on Linkin Park. This set would be a nice little nostalgia boost and nothing more. Granted, it was a nostalgia boost but it was so much more. It was special. It was a reminder of just how good Hybrid Theory is. I walked away when they finished the album - knowing that nothing else they could do would top that for me. I only saw Linkin Park once, and it truly was a special night for me.

I feel daft even writing this next sentence, because I know how it will sound. I find myself writing this and not feeling gutted, but more numb. I promise that word wasn't chosen because it is a song title, but because it is the most appropriate word to use. I can't think of another way to describe my feelings. I'm shocked and I do feel sad. But numb is the best way to describe how I currently am feeling about this.

RIP Chester. You had a profound impact on my life, and I will be forever grateful for that.

Samaritans

Campaign Against Living Miserably

Live Review: Guns N' Roses - Not In This Lifetime - Live at London Stadium 17/06/2017

Yesterday, I went to the Guns N’ Roses “Not In This Lifetime” tour when it was in its second night at the Olympic Stadium in London - now rechristened since West Ham United made it their home as London Stadium – catchy. I had seen Guns N’ Roses twice before this day – Download 2006 (the least said the better) and Manchester in 2012 – which was excellent. Occasionally, when I would mention the fact I’d seen Guns N’ Roses and list these dates, people would scoff and say something to the effect “no, you’ve seen Axl”. I’m sure there are other bands in a similar situation where the line-up had all changed aside from the singer – perhaps not as big as Guns N’ Roses were/are. Regardless of where you stand on this one, I saw a band who toured under the name Guns N’ Roses with Axl Rose on vocals and previously that had been good enough for me. I have also seen Slash (and Duff McKagan for that matter) play GnR songs live, so that was cool.

It probably doesn’t need stating but I imagine I was in the minority of people by having this view as the band Guns N’ Roses were playing arenas in this country and they weren’t full (on their last arena tour – London tickets were being given away for free on the day – limit quantities of them but still). On this tour, with Slash and Duff back in the band, they have been playing big open air gigs and stadiums around the world (selling out several them as well – don’t know how many off hand). When the rumbling of a reunion between Axl and Slash started, I didn’t believe it would happen – there just seemed to be too much bad blood between them. I was quietly hopeful though as I never got the chance to see these two perform on the same stage together. Then it was announced that it was taking place and I knew that if/when it was coming to this country, I had to go. There was a bit of chat about them headlining both the Download and IOW festivals – but when Download announced their headliners and Guns N’ Roses weren’t one of them, it was clear that wasn’t happening – not in 2017 at least. They instead announced a date at London Stadium, which quickly became two dates due to demand for tickets. I couldn’t get one for the Friday but managed to grab one for the Saturday. This was back in December (apparently) so since then, it has been the waiting game.

That waiting game came to its conclusion yesterday. I’ve been to London Stadium before for athletics, rugby and to run around as part of the Great Newham 10k, but never for live music so this was going to be a new experience. I can now say that I’m a fan of London Stadium as a live music venue. Whilst being slightly smaller than Wembley in terms of overall capacity – I can see it becoming London’s home for stadium rock gigs as the standing area is noticeably bigger than Wembley’s (and other comparable stadiums like Twickenham and Arsenal’s ground I would say). Because the area as well was built with the London 2012 Olympics in mind, it can easily cope with the numbers of people that would come to a big gig as well. When I arrived in the area yesterday, it was dead easy to find where I needed to be, and I ended up entering the stadium concourse right by a merch stand (funny how that happened) – so I grabbed myself a tour shirt. £30 is steep for a t-shirt without doubt – especially when the tickets weren’t exactly cheap – but I don’t do it very often.

On to the gig itself. The opening band were called Tyler Bryant and the Shakedown. I’ve seen their name about but never actually listened to them (a brief bit of research tells me they just played Download). They also supported AC/DC last year at London Stadium – someone in a high place is a fan of this band clearly! That aside, I enjoyed their set. It made me want to go back and listen to them again (I haven’t yet because in all honesty, my soundtrack to writing this is Guns N’ Roses with the shuffle button on). I will aim to check them out some more though. I suspect they will be back in this country before long. The main support was The Kills. Now, I’m not complaining, but I did note that the main support in Dublin was Royal Blood, and around Europe, it is Biffy Clyro – are The Kills a slight drop off? In my view, yes. I’ve just googled to find out some more tour supports and seen that one of the founding members of the band used to be married to Kate Moss. Odd that information was offered up without needing to search for it. Anyway – I first heard of this band when they were due to support Metallica in Paris in 2012 - almost every other European show had Gojira and Machine Head. Paris got Gojira and The Kills – bullshit if you ask me! Anyhow, I didn’t mind some of The Kills stuff, but overall I would say it is not for me. It probably would have made more sense to swap the bands around – maybe The Kills are bigger than Tyler Bryant, but genre wise I would have said Tyler Bryant is more fitting for a rock show like this. Oh well. The Kills weren’t terrible, but I doubt I will go out of my way to listen to them again.

On to the main event, and my word – what a main event it was. For about 15 minutes before the band came on, the stage graphics started moving around which was good. A Motorhead song on the PA went quiet, and gun shots rang out from the speakers and then the Looney Tunes theme tune. Not long after this, the band were on stage. It was quite surreal actually seeing Axl, Slash and Duff on the same stage together – even though they had been touring together for a little while at this point – to actually see it was quite something.

What then followed was 2 and a half hours plus of Guns N’ Roses playing a set list which was immense. Early doors, the question of whether the set would feature Chinese Democracy material was answered, with the title track being the 3^rd song played. Two others from that album were played – Better and This I Love. I was really pleased to hear them and that the album hasn’t been ignored as there are some great songs on it. I would have loved to have heard Shackler’s Revenge as well, but you can’t have everything! Looking over the set list again now, it is hard to pick out highlights as the whole thing was excellent. The opening of It’s So Easy into Mr Brownstone into Chinese Democracy into Welcome To The Jungle was outrageous. The run of Estranged, Live and Let Die, Rocket Queen and You Could Be Mine before a cover of The Damned’s New Rose was brilliant. Civil War into Yesterdays and Coma? Fantastic. The build up to Sweet Child O’ Mine before Slash launched into the very familiar intro was great. An instrumental cover of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here into November Rain (with the Layla piano outro as an intro) was just massive. Gun to my head, November Rain is probably my favourite Guns N’ Roses song and this was a great performance of an epic song. The mood changed considerably as the band paid tribute to the recently departed Chris Cornell by playing Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun. It was a special moment. Axl then dedicated the moment to the people who had died recently in the UK in the terror attacks and the Grenfall tower fire before the band played Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. The main set ended with Nightrain – but the band were back before long to end the gig with Don’t Cry, a cover of AC/DC’s Whole Lotta Rosie and ending proceedings with Paradise City. To me, that is a near perfect set list. I would have loved to hear My Michelle (which was played the night before at the expense of Out Ta Get Me). There are other songs from the Use Your Illusion albums I would have liked to have heard but as said earlier – you can’t have everything.

Not only was the set list a great one, but the band matched it with how good they were. The band have introduced a backing vocalist who also plays some other instruments when needed to support Axl’s vocals which I think worked really well – for the most part you couldn’t tell she was singing (which I guess is the point). This gig was one of the best I’ve been to – that is a sentiment that is easy to express as the gig is still fresh in my mind but I feel as though this one will live with me for a long time and for all the right reasons – it will take something special for this not to be my gig of the year.  The one thing I wish I had done differently? I wish I had stumped up for a golden circle ticket just to be a bit closer to the action – without doubt it would have been worth it.

Will they come back to the UK with this line up on this tour? Will it be the same set or slightly altered? Will it be their own shows again or will they headline festivals? At this stage, it is impossible for us to answer these questions (the only people I suspect who know are the band and their management). All I can say is I hope so. Absolute belter of a gig, that was! 

Live Review - KT Tunstall @ Warwick Arts Centre

When heading to the Warwick Arts Centre last night to see KT Tunstall, there were three main thoughts on my mind. The first was about the first & last time I was at that venue, which was a few years ago to see David Gray. The second was about the gig I was attending that night and how I was very happy to finally be at a KT Tunstall show - there have been a whole series of reasons for why I haven't been able to see her live. When KT was announced for Victorious Festival - a festival in my hometown, which I won't be at because I'll be in Copenhagen - I decided to do what I could to get to one of the dates on her headline tour. The final thought was about the horrific bombing in Manchester. I didn't go into the venue scared it might happen again but I couldn't help but think of the people that went to see Ariana Grande at the Manchester Arena with the same intent as me at this gig - to have a good time - and never came home (not forgetting those who died collecting children at the show). By continuing to go to gigs, and most public gatherings, we show that we will not be broken by acts of terror and that love will triumph over hate.

Onto the gig, and the opening act was Nina Nesbitt. She was really good. Seeing her live definitely made me want to go and check out more of her songs. Predominantly, you will tend to find me at rock gigs and occasionally, when a support act tries to get the crowd to join in, it can end up being a bit awkward when no-one does. The worst example I can recall of this was a support band for Motörhead who tried to get the crowd to clap along to a song and if memory serves, not a single person clapped. Anyway, that wasn't the case for Nina as the crowd joined in when requested for a singalong which was good. I really enjoyed this set.

KT Tunstall came on not long afterwards and was excellent. I had wondered if it would be KT with a live band or on her own. It was KT accompanied by an electronic band so to speak (Pete, Hans and Wee Bastard). Occasionally there were little issues with the band which with lesser performers could have derailed the set. However, KT took it in her stride and, perhaps most importantly, made the issues that occurred funny (#prayforpete). How often at a gig does William the Conquerer show up to play trombone? (That might classify as  a "you had to be there" moment).

For me, the set list was nearly perfect. I like a lot of KT's material but there are 6 stand out favourites of mine and 5 of those were played which is ace (Still A Weirdo, Other Side Of The World, Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, Hold On and Suddenly I See). There were a couple of occasions when other artists songs were incorporated in some of these songs - Seven Nation Army and Walk Like An Egyptian - which was great. KT, as part of the "KT's Covers Challenge" covered The Undertones - Teenage Kicks which was really good (and indicative of how good a live performer she is as she was told by her guitar tech Tristan she'd gone to play the song too early in the set - proving her show can be flexible as opposed to a rigid set as you would more commonly see).

All in, this was a superb night out. I'd been waiting many a year to see KT Tunstall live and she did not disappoint. I will now hope it doesn't take me as long to go and see her again.

WorldWired

I’ve said to myself the last few times that I’ve written year-end review blogs that I should write more frequently. I always enjoy the writing of that particular blog (even if choosing the eventual top 10 is always a right prick) which I guess helps matters. I’ve only been to one live music gig this year, and I did give thought beforehand to writing a review of it – but then booze happened. For those who read this and don’t know, I went to see The Wildhearts in Nottingham perform their only UK show (to date) of Fishing For Luckies in full. It was an early curfew gig (10pm) so my plan was to eat after the gig. Boozing on an empty stomach meant that I got drunk quite quickly and by the time The Wildhearts came on stage, I was nicely pissed. The gig was fantastic from top to bottom without doubt. What was a bit daft though was that I’m not familiar with Nottingham at all – this being my only visit. I managed to get quite spectacularly lost on the way back to my hotel (even managing to cross the road my hotel was on whilst getting lost). I eventually gave up and called an uber from where I was to take me back (much to the amusement of the driver) and, after one more drink, called it a night. Now, that story is quite amusing – even when back at the hotel I was amused about how much of an arse I’d been. However, that would not make a good blog as I have just retold the entire story in a paragraph. Maybe that is where I am going wrong – my blogs tend to be longer than a paragraph. Anyway…

I am going to a gig next week and a couple of others in April including to see one of my favourite artists, Ginger Wildheart, which should be good. I’m looking forward to seeing While She Sleeps as well in Southampton. That one is twofold actually – While She Sleeps are a superb band who ought to be bigger than they are. Their last album, Brainwashed, was just stunning. It is also a chance for me to visit the new Talking Heads in Southampton. I really liked the old one and saw some outstanding gigs there, but for a while there has been a threat of it closing and last year it finally did. However, it has relocated to nearer Southampton Central train station (which is a win for me) so I’m looking forward to checking out the new location. I will be heading back to Coventry to the Warwick Arts Centre for the first time since seeing David Gray there in 2011 to see KT Tunstall (one of about 4 acts I’m really gutted to be missing at Victiorious Festival). I’ve wanted to see her live for ages. Then of course, there is the small matter of Guns N’Roses, Volbeat in Copenhagen and Weezer at Wembley Arena. I’m sure something there will yield blog worthy material.

However, one thing I wanted to write about is the fact that over a week ago, Metallica announced a UK arena tour. These don’t happen very often (thinking a proper tour in arenas, I can think of 2004 and 2009). A Metallica indoor show these days is pretty rare. I’d imagine that is because they still do good business headlining festivals (in that, they don’t play to empty fields). As Metallica are my favourite band, I suspected this news was coming but I was still excited when it was confirmed. I won’t lie, when I saw the prices, my excitement waned a little bit – I still wanted to go but I was shocked. To stand on the floor, it would cost over £100 when you factor in all the booking fees and postage. All lower tier seating in any arena was the same price, hell even some of the upper tier seating cost that much. The remainder of the upper tier cost either £60 or £80. There is no way to sugar coat it – that is a lot of money for one gig. Due to the timing of the gigs, members of my family have paid my way into two of the gigs as birthday presents– one of the London shows and Birmingham. I am an excited man. I cannot sit here and defend the price rise – it is a significant rise, so much so that it cannot be explained away simply by shouting Brexit! It probably won't come as much of a surprise to learn that the tour sold out in under a day - or at least I believe that to be the case. I know both London shows sold out. 

However, with that all being said, I’m now getting lost in the ideal setlist planning based on what they’ve done so far for the World Wired tour. As such, this for me would be perfect

Hardwired
Atlas, Rise!
For Whom The Bell Tolls
King Nothing/The Memory Remains
The Unforgiven
Now That We’re Dead
Moth Into Flame
Creeping Death
Halo On Fire/Confusion/Spit Out The Bone (delete as appropriate)
Phantom Lord/Hit The Lights
Sad But True
One
Master of Puppets
Fade To Black
Seek And Destroy
------
Battery/Fight Fire With Fire
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman

Now that, would be cool! I write this whilst pro-footage of their gig in Brazil is on in the background. Sure it has cost a lot of money, but it is going to be outstanding. They say you shouldn’t wish your life away – but roll on October!

I will definitely write more often. I really enjoyed the revisiting series I started doing last year. I should do another one of those again soon. I think if I were to do another one, it would be Weezer or possibly Frank Turner. That could be a fun day or so.

2016 - A Year In Live Music

Another year has come and gone (well, almost). It has been an interesting one for sure. I’m not going to focus on the negatives of 2016 in this blog. I’m here to do what I do every year – talk about the best gigs I’ve been to in the last year (I’m sure these introductions are getting shorter and shorter each year).

Before getting into the gigs of the year though, I usually give a mention to the festivals I’ve been to and the various sets I saw and rank them as well. However, I only went to Victorious Festival this year, so this will be a much easier job. I remember looking at the completed line up for Victorious and not being overly impressed with either day until the evening, which was a shame. However, I did discover a pub nearby that had Hop House 13 on tap. Swings and roundabouts I guess. Anyway, my top 10 are:

10. Pretty Vicious –Didn’t know a massive amount about them, but they were alright. 6/10
9. Dagny – I had a choice to see two bands before Pretty Vicious, and this band were on the same stage as them. They were pretty good. 6/10
8. The Boomtown Rats – I thought they were a lot of fun. Few good singalongs along the way which helped. On an unrelated note, they have been booked for next year’s Wacken festival. That is a weird booking for a metal festival but not the weirdest I suspect. 7/10
7. Levellers – Genuinely thought I knew some of their stuff before they came on stage, but I didn’t. They were really good though. 7/10
6. Sound Of The Sirens – Listened to a handful of their songs before the festival and wanted to see them live. They did not disappoint. Good music and genuinely funny in between songs. They had a really good set. 7.5/10
5. Manic Street Preachers – Manics are very dependable live. This was a solid set. It wasn’t my favourite time seeing them live (but to be fair, all their singles in one night will likely never be topped). 8/10
4.  Ash – Missed them at the Wedge earlier in the year because I’m an ass (but mainly because tickets had sold out before I got round to buying one) so seeing them here was essential. So glad I did as they were excellent. 8.5/10
3. Wolfmother – Genuinely didn’t know what to expect from their set but they were outstanding. Loved their set. If they come back to Portsmouth, I’d probably go see them again. 9/10
2. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Sure there were sound problems in places, but the set was really good. I’m not overly familiar with his solo material, but there was a fair bit of Oasis in there which was pretty cool. The singalongs for Wonderwall and Don’t Look Back In Anger were pretty special. 9/10
1. Travis – I’ve wanted to see Travis for years. They played everything I hoped they would and they were great. 9.5/10

I’ve just re-read the conclusion of last year’s blog where I talked about 2016 gigs that could make the list for this year. One of them does which you will see later on. Most of the others were honourable mentions which I will be getting to shortly. Sad to say the Hey! Hello! headline show in Southampton got cancelled. I’ve seen them twice since the cancelled show, both times were really good. Hopefully we will get a headline tour next year. Anyway, to the honourable mentions! These are listed in chronological order

Honourable Mentions:

Cancer Bats – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth – January – I’d love to be able to wax lyrical about this gig. However, “beers before Bats” occurred (as well as beers during Bats) and as a result, there are chunks of the gig I simply don’t remember. Cancer Bats don’t do bad live shows though, and the bits I can recall back this up – which is why this is an honourable mention. People who get twatted for every gig they go to must have a lot of money to fritter away. Not remembering all this gig due to the drink is not a good thing! (Neither was working through the hangover the next day…oofh). Also, Palm Reader were really good.

Crossfaith – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth – March – Sure they were fun but it fell on the same night as I did a 10k run for charity, so turned up already knackered. Thinking back on it now, I can’t remember a great deal from it. It was a pretty short headline set from what I recall though.

Morass of Molasses – Edge Of The Wedge, Portsmouth – April – To my shame, I don’t tend to go to many small local gigs. Going to this was a good call though as this was a really good gig from top to bottom. The other bands that played were Foxer, Victorian Whore Dogs and Sahara Snow – all 4 were really good. Morass though were my favourite band of the night and I’m very tempted to grab an Icebreaker Festival ticket for next January just to see them again. Riffs for days!

Muse – O2 Arena, London – April – I thought after it happened that this gig would without doubt be in my top 5. When I drew up my original list it was towards the bottom end, eventually falling out of the top 10. It would have been 11^th had I done a top 11 though. The stage was in the round, sort of, which is pretty cool – only the second gig I’ve been to with that set up (if you discount Rammstein’s second stage in the crowd, which I am) and I am a big fan of in the round stages. On the show, it was pretty damn ace. I can’t remember off the top of my head everything about it but the way the drones interacted with the stage was pretty special. In terms of songs played that night, they played all my favourites from the new album. Map Of The Problematique was a nice surprise as was Plug In Baby. Overall it was a great set list and a really good gig.

Ginger Wildheart Band – Brooklyn Bowl, London – July - Would have been a strong contender for top 10, but I had to leave early to avoid a rail replacement bus. The last train back from London is long enough without a rail replacement bus being in the mix! Think this was Hey! Hello!’s first show with their new singer, which was cool. Ryan Hamilton’s band were a really good main support. The headline set by GWB was ace, and one which included songs I’ve not heard live before from the Silver Ginger 5 days, which was cool. It was really cool seeing Conny Bloom play with Ginger as well – something I hadn’t seen before. Also, I like the Brooklyn Bowl.

Amon Amarth – Roundhouse, London – November - Leaving this one out of my top 10 was a horrible decision. This gig ticked a number of boxes for me, including going to The Roundhouse in London for the first time (a venue I quite like now) as well as seeing Grand Magus live for the first time. They were really good. As were Testament, who were the main support. I saw them earlier in the year and whilst I enjoyed it, the sound mix that night was not their friend. Amon Amarth are an excellent live band – I’ve seen them deliver stunning sets in headline length slots at Wacken before. This was my second time seeing them at a headline show and this was just as good as the Wacken shows, if not better. Also, they had people with swords and shields battling on stage at different intervals which was pretty cool.

Delain – Engine Rooms, Southampton – November - Similar story to the one above really. I left early to catch a direct train home as opposed to staying to the end and getting a service which involved a rail replacement bus. As much as I love the song We Are The Others, I don’t love it enough to have been on a stopping service replacement bus. The gig itself was excellent though. Delain showing off the best of their new album, Moonbathers, with some ace songs from their back catalogue mixed in. No “Sing To Me” though which was a shame.

Alter Bridge – Genting Arena, Birmingham – November - I tend to not go to gigs just to see the support bands and leave before the headliner – but never have I been more tempted than I was at this gig. Alter Bridge are an excellent band, but they were the second best band when I last saw them in an arena (the best band that night were Black Stone Cherry). This gig had Gojira and Volbeat supporting – and they were third best. Gojira are a really good live band and the stuff from their new album sounds massive live. Having seen them live on a festival main stage, I knew they wouldn’t be swallowed by the stage – but they owned it. Volbeat…well what can I say? I’m massively in love with Volbeat and think it is criminal they aren’t headlining venues the size of the Genting Arena in the UK when they can headline stadiums and open air venues around mainland Europe! (More on that later). I enjoyed Alter Bridge a lot more than I thought I would, considering I’d just watched one of my favourite bands. They were very good.

And so, onto the top 10. It was quite interesting when compiling the provisional list as I only had 9. The 10^th spot was filled at the end of November. I went to three gigs in December which were all shouts for the top 10. Enough of the waffle though, the top 10 gigs I went to in 2016, starting with number 10.

10. Birthday Bash 2016 feat The Wildhearts – The Forum, London – December

I’ve said this a few times, but I bloody love The Wildhearts. They are one of those bands that as soon as they announce a tour, I work out what dates I can attend, in the hope it is more than one. This London show was also the Birthday Bash as it fell on Ginger’s birthday which meant it had a bigger bill than the other shows on the tour. A bash usually is one long Ginger gig with loads of special guests. This one was multiple bands on the bill. Opening were Elvana, who I missed. Then it was The Main Grains, who I caught the second half of and thought were very good. Then it was The Dowling Poole who were good. Hey Hello were on after them, and they were superb. I liked what I heard from Jim Jones and The Righteous Mind but I disappeared after 3-4 songs to go for a smoke. Dirt Box Disco were the main support and they were excellent – they are just a lot of fun live. After they finished, I cursed the fact the Hey Hello tour earlier in the year was cancelled as they were due to be the main support – whilst Dirt Box are great in a bigger room, it would have been great to see them in a 150 cap venue.

The Wildhearts came on and it was business as usual as far as a Wildhearts gig goes. The set list was a best of and it was outstanding. Unfortunately, Ginger was feeling unwell which became apparent during Nothing Ever Changes But The Shoes when he started throwing up on stage (didn’t miss a note of the song mind). I was expecting the gig to end there, but it didn’t. The crew came out and cleaned up the stage (so much respect for them) and Ginger and the band soldiered on throughout the rest of the set, including playing a song which I’d not heard live until this point – Stormy In The North, Karma In The South – which was ace. Danny McCormack joined them for the encore, which was cool to see. It probably should have been more special but Ginger feeling unwell was the main point of note here, and he started being sick again after Geordie in Wonderland which was a shame to see. Again, I anticipated the gig being ended but the final song, I Wanna Go Where The People Go, was played with special guest Frank Turner on vocals. The Wildhearts were just superb and this gig deserves its place on this top 10. It would without doubt been higher but I think after Ginger started throwing up, I expected the gig to end which took me out of the moment a little bit. If anything, Ginger and the rest of the band deserve the world of praise for finishing the gig – especially as well as they did.

9. Black Stone Cherry: Experience Kentucky – Guildhall, Portsmouth – November

In another end of year post, I included my story about having seen Black Stone Cherry at the Wedgewood Rooms. That story was included in the entry for them playing Wembley Arena if memory serves. They played arenas earlier this year I believe and I decided to give that a miss as the London date was midweek. Then they announced this tour. This was a “an evening” with tour, with Black Stone Cherry playing an acoustic set, taking a short break and then playing a full band electric set. As it was taking place in my home town, it was a no-brainer. On a trivial note, when I saw them at the Pyramids in Portsmouth in 2009, they originally booked the Guildhall and it got downgraded.

The acoustic set was brilliant, and they played Stay – which is one of my favourite Black Stone Cherry songs and one which hasn’t been played live in quite a long time (cheers Florida Georgia Line). A couple got engaged on stage during the acoustic set which was pretty cool. The full band set was ace – they played a few covers including Ace of Spades as a tribute to Lemmy. The set contained quite a few songs I’ve never seen them play live which is always good. It was great getting to see them play in Portsmouth again. I didn’t expect to see that happen after they started playing arenas. Black Stone Cherry are an excellent live band – and this gig proved that once again.

8. Billy Joel – Wembley Stadium, London – September

I’ve wanted to see Billy Joel live for quite some time. When he came to the UK in 2013, I so wanted to go but I just didn’t have the money. Also, the London show was at Hammersmith, which was a shock – but it meant it sold out very quickly. He announced a show at Wembley Stadium for this year and I mentioned it to my brother, as I knew his wife wanted to see him live. He asked me if I could sort out the tickets for them, so it could be a birthday surprise for her – which I did. After I done that, and had the Ticketmaster order page staring back at me saying “Michael, you are going to see Billy Joel!” – I was slightly annoyed that I wasn’t. After a bit of deliberation, I decided to grab myself a ticket as well. As soon as I bought it, I had buyer’s remorse but that went away fairly quickly.

Wembley Stadium all seated is a bit strange. I was in the upper tier, looking down on the pitch. Those poor bastards who sat down there got soaked during that gig as the weather was horrible. There wasn’t a support act for the gig which meant we would get about 2 and a half hours of Billy Joel which was pretty ace. The set was basically the perfect Billy Joel set list for me – with the added bonus of an AC/DC cover thrown in for good measure. Joel and his band were on top form all evening. I had read some reviews of his European tour which were all full of praise – so I went in with high hopes and I was not let down. This was a great gig. 

7. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – Ricoh Arena, Coventry - June

Going to this gig ticked a box for me, in that I’d wanted to see Springsteen live for quite a while but never got round to doing so. I have spoken to a number of people about his live shows and every review was glowing. My parents, who had seen him once before this gig, said they didn’t know exactly what was going on (he played Darkness on the Edge of Town in full), but they could tell it was something special. This gig just happened to fall on my Mum’s birthday, so I went to visit them and we all went to see Springsteen together. In the US, he had been touring the album The River. I was a bit disappointed when that didn’t happen in Europe but not so disappointed that it took anything away from the gig.

No support band for this one, but one wasn’t needed. Springsteen and his band played for about 3 hours I think, maybe slightly longer. All of the reports I had heard set my bar pretty high for this gig – that bar was surpassed and then some. The whole gig from start to finish was just great – even when songs were being played that I didn’t know, I didn’t feel bored, waiting for one I wanted to see/knew. One thing which impressed me is just how well prepared the band were for the fan requests. They played three fan requests – and one of them was a song rarely played live. Now, they might have ballsed it up for all I know about the song in question – but based on the crowd reaction to it, it didn’t seem that way. They played a few cover songs throughout the course of the evening, the highlight being Because The Night, a Patti Smith song. The overall gig highlight for me was when they played several in quick succession that I loved – Born In The USA, Born To Run and Dancing In The Dark – outstanding stuff. I went to this gig, as said above, to tick a box but I would 100% go and see them again.

6. Clutch – The Roundhouse, London – December

Funny that this gig is here given the first time I saw them live, I dismissed them. I have come to the conclusion that they had a bad sound set up the first time I saw them. It wasn’t great. I saw them again at the Wedgewood Rooms which was noticeably better but I had to leave early to catch a train home. I didn’t give them much thought until I saw them at Download 2011 and they blew me away with how good they were. I wanted to go a headline show to see them again but I couldn’t make any of the London shows that cropped up between this set and their set at Download 2015 – which was even better than the 2011 one. I fully intended to see them on their headline tour in 2015, but I waited too long to get tickets and they sold out. I made plans for that day and then the gig got moved to a bigger venue as the Shepherds Bush Empire needed emergency work doing to its roof (after The Wildhearts blew it off in September – maybe). So there were now tickets available, but I had alternative plans. This tour came around and I again held off buying a ticket but got one in the upper standing area, which actually I quite like.

Lionize were playing as I walked in, who I thought were quite good. I also liked the main support – Valient Thorr – but not as much as Lionize. Clutch came on, opened with The Mob Goes Wild and from that point, this gig was just outstanding. There was not a single “piss break” moment during this gig. The set was almost perfect for me but no Earth Rocker was a bit of a disappointment. That is the only negative I have to say really. This gig made me go back and listen to the latest album again (which I already liked) and discover just how damn good the song Firebirds is. There was a pretty long pause before the encore of Electric Worry and X-Ray Visions – which was a superb encore. Of all the times I’ve seen Clutch live, this is definitely the best.

5. Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls – Guildhall, Portsmouth – December

For most of these entries, I’ve written a bit of context to go along with discussion about the gig. That is a straightforward task for this one – In 2014, the Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls gig at the Guildhall was my gig of the year. In 2015, it was my second favourite gig of the year. It seems strange putting it in 5^th this time around as it was outstanding. It has been a tough year for establishing an order.

I missed the support acts because I was in a pub across the road (I know; I am an awful person). I don’t tire of seeing Frank Turner live. Much like The Wildhearts, when Frank Turner announces live dates in the UK, I try to work out if I can make any. This set list was a bit different to the tour from last year but was still pretty great. Also, getting to hear him play Love, Ire and Song was just great (played it in 2014 and I have no memory of it taking place – despite not being overly drunk for that gig). I don’t know if there is anything else to add really – another year, another excellent Frank Turner show seen.

4. Arch Enemy – The Engine Rooms, Southampton – August

I wrote a full review of the gig here, so I won’t tread over too much old ground again. What I will say though is that when I was heading to this gig, I had hoped it would be in my top 10. I had no idea it would be so good that it was a genuine contender for gig of the year at one point. It has changed place on this list a number of times, ending up in 4^th. It was a headline show I had been waiting to see for nearly 10 years and it was much better than I ever thought it would be.  

3. David Gilmour – Royal Albert Hall, London – September

I wrote a full review of the gig here, so I won’t go as in depth with this one. The review of this gig was the most recent post to this page before this one and just re-reading it, it reminded me just how special it was. I don’t think I need to add much more than that really.

2. Weezer – Brixton Academy, London – April

I missed Weezer at Sonisphere 2011. I had a headache kick me in the...well head I guess, during Sum 41 and I left the arena to take a break to shake my headache off. I came back in to watch Ginger, who played a great set. However, I left the tent and my headache was back and worse. So I left the arena again and didn’t come back. This meant missing Weezer – but I remember being alright with this because I was convinced they would come back. And then they didn’t. As the years rolled on, no UK show happened. They released an album in 2014 which was pretty decent but still no UK show happened. Then The White Album was announced to come out for earlier this year, alongside a couple of UK dates – Manchester and London. It was midweek which was a pain for those who don’t live in London – but I had to go.

The support band were Dinosaur Jr, who were really good. I’d seen them once before at Camden Rocks festival which was also good. However, having a good support that night was little more than a bonus. I was there to see Weezer and they did not disappoint. I had managed to listen to The White Album twice before going to the gig (it is great by the way) so I was somewhat familiar with them. It seemed I was in the minority though as the crowd didn’t really singalong when the 5 songs from the new album were played (it was a bit louder for the stuff from Everything Will Be Alright In The End). However, when they played one of their better known songs, the singalongs were something else. In the first half of their set, from their back catalogue, they played My Name Is Jonas, Hash Pipe, Back To The Shack, El Scorcho, Pork and Beans and (If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To – the singalongs were loud. This to me was almost the perfect Weezer gig (and had they played Dope Nose, it would have been).

1. Avantasia – The Forum, London - March

I’d seen Avantasia twice before this night, both times headlining Wacken festivals and both times they were my band of the festival. I did not anticipate they would play a UK headline show and this view was reinforced when Team Rock Radio were plugging Bloodstock Open Air in 2013 and mentioned just about every band playing apart from Avantasia – who were sub-headlining the Saturday night. One of the publications that fall under the banner of Team Rock, Metal Hammer, when reviewing the festival wrote something like apart from the 500 diehards there, no-one could care less – can’t imagine why that could be. Anyway, fan boy annoyance aside (not least as I couldn’t make that show), when a headline show was announced, I snapped up a ticket immediately.

It was “an evening with” set up in that there was no support band. Doors opened at 7, Avantasia came on at 8. The new material from Ghostlights worked so well live as did all my old favourites that I had seen previously at Wacken. Tobias Sammet was only not on stage for 3 of the 24 songs of the night (sadly, two of them are my favourites but no matter) which is pretty damn impressive. It was everything I hoped it would be and then some. Looking back at the set list from that night now, I’m really struggling to not say “all of it!” were I to be asked about the highlight – and that to me is the sign of a great gig. I’ve spoken about this gig without once giving mention to Michael Kiske. My favourite Avantasia songs that have more than one singer usually feature him, and he was so good during this gig. That isn’t to say the other singers and musicians weren’t great, because they all were. I think the thing which made it gig of the year for me was seeing this music that I absolutely love in such an intimate setting, given the context of the previous times I had seen them. They were always great at Wacken, but this was just something else. I remember watching their first live DVD, and there was a clip of them playing a venue in Argentina the size of The Forum. I remember wishing they would do something similar in London, and speculating just how incredible it would be (and then being annoyed because it would never happen). It did, and it was (and then some).

And that, for 2016, is that. It has been a good year for gig going and I’ve been to some great gigs. I suspect I will do this again next year and I can already see some potential gig of the year candidates in my calendar. At this stage, it is hard to look past Guns N’ Roses at Olympic Stadium – but we shall see. Had you asked me this time last year what my gig of 2016 would be, I would probably have said David Gilmour.