Post by Paddy on May 25, 2009 21:27:04 GMT 1
I don't know if anyone else does this, but I thought I'd just give a little insight to gigs I go to.
So last night (24th may) I was at the UEA 7pm sharp for the gig. Maximo Park, who have 3 albums out, with the latest Quicken The Heart out only 2 weeks prior. Maximo Park have visited 2 years previous to the UEA, unfortunately, I seemed to be the only person I knew that hadn't gone to what was said to be a very very good gig, so was in high hope with the addition of extra material.
The first support to enter the stage was Stricken City, female lead band with 2 guitars and drums. Dressed in a white top and with lego style hair, even me, standing at the back of the venue could tell who she was. They started off with a good start, getting many heads turned with a decent first song to the set, even those (like me) who were just chatting with friends near the bar. The set slowly (make that quickly towards the end of it) downhill as each song was so samey and they just rolled into one. The lead singer's vocals were quite irritating towards the end, ending with a slightly slower song and then another song that I think may have been the first one re-sung. If anyone is interested in such artists like, well actually can't think of any, but Striken City have an EP out in August 2009. Don't think they will become too successful.
The second support band were supposed to be the Noisettes when the gig and tour was first announced, but since then they have had success in the mainstream with Go baby go aka mazda advert song...so were not playing the tour, as they have a tour of their very own next month (June) which I suppose has a bit more context for them. The replacements were the Leeds band Grammatics who having heard of before last night, knew a little about them, but had never taken much interest. This may change after last night. Heads once again turned with the new artist on stage and the room started to move. After the deadness of Stricken City, and the emptyness, starting at 7pm, the room kept filling for an hour or more after opening. Grammatics were a good laugh, had good communucation material to keep the crowd involved and more importantly had a couple of very good songs that would do very well if released into mainstream airplay.
Being stood beside the lighting and sound men, had to laugh, as the lighting guy just sat, obviously with no job for grammatics doing crosswords. Totally oblivious to the fact that a gig was happening.
With a rather large wait, the main attraction of the night; Maximo Park turned up onto stage, Paul with his trademark hat on, and megaphone in hand. Playing a 90 minute set, almost everything got played, with the major exception of Acrobat, which was one of the few songs I really hoped would be played.
Material from all 3 albums was used, with descriptions for the majority of the songs played. All in all, Maximo and Paul put on one amazing show. Even with an encour of 3 songs at the end, one of which is not included on an album.
Maybe one little complaint was the slight too heavy use of bass, sound man should have realised this, but it is only a minor thing.
The other minor complaint is the lack of movement in the crowd, Ok, I was towards the back with a group of mates, but even so, it was still very still. I didn't see the bottom half of the venue but I take it some people were moshing, but as the UEA is being heavily victimised with theft and pick pocketers at the moment, people were being extra cautious, and it showed. The police were out in force more then usual as well as a strong security guard. It's a sad time when you can't enjoy a gig without that presence, but its how things have changed.
Anyway, from the whole evening, a good gig, building up through the evening.
Maximo Park definately deserve a 9 for their performance for the night, Grammatics a 7 and Stricken City a 5. (all out of 10).
So last night (24th may) I was at the UEA 7pm sharp for the gig. Maximo Park, who have 3 albums out, with the latest Quicken The Heart out only 2 weeks prior. Maximo Park have visited 2 years previous to the UEA, unfortunately, I seemed to be the only person I knew that hadn't gone to what was said to be a very very good gig, so was in high hope with the addition of extra material.
The first support to enter the stage was Stricken City, female lead band with 2 guitars and drums. Dressed in a white top and with lego style hair, even me, standing at the back of the venue could tell who she was. They started off with a good start, getting many heads turned with a decent first song to the set, even those (like me) who were just chatting with friends near the bar. The set slowly (make that quickly towards the end of it) downhill as each song was so samey and they just rolled into one. The lead singer's vocals were quite irritating towards the end, ending with a slightly slower song and then another song that I think may have been the first one re-sung. If anyone is interested in such artists like, well actually can't think of any, but Striken City have an EP out in August 2009. Don't think they will become too successful.
The second support band were supposed to be the Noisettes when the gig and tour was first announced, but since then they have had success in the mainstream with Go baby go aka mazda advert song...so were not playing the tour, as they have a tour of their very own next month (June) which I suppose has a bit more context for them. The replacements were the Leeds band Grammatics who having heard of before last night, knew a little about them, but had never taken much interest. This may change after last night. Heads once again turned with the new artist on stage and the room started to move. After the deadness of Stricken City, and the emptyness, starting at 7pm, the room kept filling for an hour or more after opening. Grammatics were a good laugh, had good communucation material to keep the crowd involved and more importantly had a couple of very good songs that would do very well if released into mainstream airplay.
Being stood beside the lighting and sound men, had to laugh, as the lighting guy just sat, obviously with no job for grammatics doing crosswords. Totally oblivious to the fact that a gig was happening.
With a rather large wait, the main attraction of the night; Maximo Park turned up onto stage, Paul with his trademark hat on, and megaphone in hand. Playing a 90 minute set, almost everything got played, with the major exception of Acrobat, which was one of the few songs I really hoped would be played.
Material from all 3 albums was used, with descriptions for the majority of the songs played. All in all, Maximo and Paul put on one amazing show. Even with an encour of 3 songs at the end, one of which is not included on an album.
Maybe one little complaint was the slight too heavy use of bass, sound man should have realised this, but it is only a minor thing.
The other minor complaint is the lack of movement in the crowd, Ok, I was towards the back with a group of mates, but even so, it was still very still. I didn't see the bottom half of the venue but I take it some people were moshing, but as the UEA is being heavily victimised with theft and pick pocketers at the moment, people were being extra cautious, and it showed. The police were out in force more then usual as well as a strong security guard. It's a sad time when you can't enjoy a gig without that presence, but its how things have changed.
Anyway, from the whole evening, a good gig, building up through the evening.
Maximo Park definately deserve a 9 for their performance for the night, Grammatics a 7 and Stricken City a 5. (all out of 10).
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