Saturday 24 July 2010

260: Phoenix FM Unplugged: Tibetan Tea Company and others, Brentwood Theatre, Brentwood

This was a gig I put together pretty much at the last minute, and by last minute I think it was all sorted out in 24 hours. As a result I didn't bother to sell any tickets for it although we had a bit of a crowd through word of mouth, more than at some gigs I've sold tickets for!

It was meant to be acoustic although some of the bands brought more stuff than they should have but it all sounded good.



Bob Collum



Phillious Williams



Echelons



The Tibetan Tea Company



Paul Dorling

Friday 16 July 2010

259: Latitude Festival 2010, Henham Park, Southwold

Bands seen: Aaron Wright, These Ghosts, Rose Elinor Dougall, Unthanks, Black Mountain, Alice Gold, Good Natured, Wild Beasts, Everything Everything, Boycott Monday, Standard Fare, James, Nedry, Tom Jones, Cevanne, Sweet Billy Pilgrim, Mumford and Sons, Jesca Hoop, Morning Parade, These New Puritans

This was my fourth year out of four at Latitude and I think the calibre of the acts is still on a slow decline.

But there were highlights. Said highlights for me included sets from Rose Elinor Dougall, Everything Everything, Cevanne, Nedry and These New Puritans, and also watching and meeting Sweet Billy Pilgrim, but mainly because they were so NICE (and of course because memories of that appearance on the IT Crowd are still fresh in my mind). I was also the only photographer in the press pit (for the MAIN STAGE!) when they were on. Next band - Mumford and Sons - about 60 people. Photowhores!

Biggest disappointment was Tom Jones, for whom everyone turned up at midday on Sunday, only to be treated to no banter, none of his hits and the whole of his pisspoor new album of verysubstandard blues songs. I only stomached a few songs, making the excellent move to catch Cevanne on the Lake Stage, but most people seemed to enjoy it. Is it because they're all too polite to be rude to a very old man?

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Saturday 3 July 2010

258: The Pre New, Lexington, King's Cross, London

I saw Earl Brutus for the first and last time in June 1998, when they supported Kenickie at the Electric Ballroom. It was a fantastic gig and I'll probably get round to writing about it on this website one day (or if I have done already, look it up!)

I waited a long time for news that they might get back together (it worked for the Sultans of Ping, after all) but when lead singer Nick Sanderson died in June 2008 it looked like that ship had sailed for good. So I was pretty amazed and delighted in equal measures when I heard that Jim Fry, Gordon King, Stuart Boreman and Shinya Hayashida had got back together to play old stuff and write new stuff under the "Pre New" name.

I was also surprised and disappointed in equal measures to see that Shinya had learned to play bass (albeit in an odd fully-vertical way), and didn't just stand on the stage and headbang and shout random abuse at people. He actually seemed like he was having a great time!

I did too, and so did the rest of the crowd. It was just one of those "so happy to be there" moments.

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