Chimpomatic

Magnolia Electric Co.

Bush Hall, London

June 2nd 2005

I was late getting to this gig, and heard someone say "he's onstage now" as I arrived, so I rushed in to see that the first song was underway and pushed down to the front. I got into this band via Songs Ohia and hadn't ever seen the main man (Jason Molina), so didn't know what to expect. This dude was young looking and thin, and it quickly transpired that he had zero stage presence. Half the crowd chatted through his set as the accoustic songs ambled into each other... and then it finished. Luckily I quickly realised this was only the support band.

Magnolia Electric Co. were on stage shortly after that, with grizzy beards, hair and lot more electric guitars. They were a powerful unit, effortless and tight, motoring through a selection of songs from the new album and older stuff, and totally captivating. Phew.

The crowd we're totally into the show, which made for a great atmosphere. Plus they covered Werewolves of London as an encore. Love it.

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4th Jun 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet

Homefires

Conway Hall, London

mugison ruled as usual, pulling someone on stage to help with the projector for 2 birds, doing a rare live version of the night is limping, getting muddled after 2 hours sleep and a gig in iceland the night before… all great.

lau nau was ok, nice use of tape machines, but a bit meandering.

white magic spent the whole time looking pissed off and tuning their guitars before running through dylans' 4th time around in a fairly pointless fashion.

jesca hoop was a bit too ye olde folke for me.

hot chip were ok, but felt like they were playing everything too slow. and the singer sounds a bit like the housemartins.

really enjoyed king creosote, who had james yorkston, pictish trails and some other fence collective dude playing with him.

adem himself was great, and was probably too modest to headline the night, even though his set had the most up feel to it, with an all-star backing band featuring people from the other bands.

badly drawn boy showed off a new hat.

james yorkston finished the night, another v good set, if a little quieter to finish on maybe… he did get the crowd off their feet at the end though, with adem, kieran 4-Tet hebden, and other fence collectivees on stage with him. generally, a great day and it did feel like adem had hand-picked stuff he was into.

plus they had great sandwiches

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22nd May 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet

Ian Brown

Live at Claremont House

Thanks to the National Trust's push to update themselves, Ian Brown played this outdoor gig in the spectacular setting of a turf ampitheatre in the grounds of a stately home in Esher, Surrey. I like Ian Brown's solo stuff, so was happy to see him live. We'd discussed on the way down whether there would be any Stone Roses songs - as he has been so far reluctant to dwell on that particular back catalogue.

However, once permanently bitter and twisted support act Aziz Ibrahim was finished "Your parents saw Hendrix, you can tell your kids you saw me" it was a nice surprise to hear Ian Brown kick off with I Wanna Be Adored. Then Sally Cinnamon. Then about another hour of Stones Roses classics. "This is what you were expecting, yeah?" he said, as I upgraded my picnic position to front row. Thanks to a brief punch up, the crowd parted like the Red Sea and I cruised straight down to the front in time for I Am The Resurrection. The nostalgia set finished with Fool's Gold before he thanked the band (a tribute act called Fool's Gold apparently) and continued with a brief blast of his solo material - much of which has become classic in it's own right.

Great gig. Tick another one off the list.

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27th Jul 2004 - Add Comment - Tweet

Sebadoh

Live at the EFDSS

Lou Barlow seems to have a problem with falling out with people. First we had to get over Dinosaur Jr. (minus Lou Barlow) and then Sebadoh (minus Eric, with Eric, minus Eric). Tonight we had "Lou Barlow And Jason Lowenstein Play The Songs Of Sebadoh" - not that Eric was missed too much.

Lou Barlow has always seemed like the leader of this troupe, but Jason got a pretty thunderous applause when he stepped up to the mic. Kicking out a lot of the classics and favourites, the gig played out like a campfire indie session with a couple of friends. Every song seemed like your favourite, with most of the crowd sat on the floor shoegazing and remembering the good old days.

Nostalgia can't last forever though, and there was a slight hint of under-achiever about the whole affair. Sebadoh always seemed like they were only the start, but the rest never really came. Maybe it's not Lou that falls out with people, maybe they just fall out with him.

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15th Oct 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Guided By Voices

Live At ULU, London

The band were winding down at the end of their European tour with this final show at ULU - a hint of things to come was made evident by the roadie loading up two crates of chilled beer on the stage. Bob then used that to chase down a bottle of scotch, getting slowly more chatty... GBV might as well be their own support band, clocking in here with a not untypical 2 1/2 hour show. The first hour was relatively slow, but still featured a couple of my personal favourites, such as "Back To The Lake".

"Later on tonight, you'll all be drunk and happy and we'll have played all your favourite shit, but for now you have to listen to our new shit - which should be OK, because it rocks."

The booze kicked in to good effect though, with an encore longer than many bands sets, pumping out all the classics.... A pattern emerges with each new release from GBV as each album contains a couple of 'classic' tracks, which slowly work their way into the highlights - making the last hour non-stop greatness.

"How's My Drinking?" Fully acceptable thank you.

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2nd Oct 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet