Tuesday, February 5

I'm in the business of misery, let's take it from the top. She's got a body like an hourglass, it's ticking like a clock.

Two gig nights in summary:

30 Seconds To Mars.
Initial thoughts of "what the fuck!" when standing in a queue to the venue. Never had to queue before a gig like that before! Ever! An hour later, we finally got in.
Support band were pretty good, but tried way too hard. Don't even know who they were?! Quite liked the bassist's "Eat Shit and Die" T-shirt though.
Dramatic entrance by 30 Seconds To Mars. Didn't recognize the first song, possibly down to awful, awful sound mixing. Why is it that the first song is always so bad with the mix? Isn't that what the sound check is for?
Tight set. Great light show. Gigantic guitar sounds. Very, very loud. Once the sound was sorted out, Jared's vocals were brilliant, and boy can that guy scream. Damn good looking dude as well. Drummer pounded away like his life depended on it. Nice acoustic break towards the end. Lot's of crowd surfing. Couple of stupid idiots trying to get a mosh-pit going. Brave move by Jared stage diving into the crowd, twice.
Really enjoyed the gig. Not so, the tenner it cost to park the car.


Paramore.
Initial thoughts of "you gotta be fucking joking!" when it became all too apparent this queue beat the previous one, hands down. Cold, drizzle, biting winds. Surrounded by kids with pen scribble all over their arms and hands. Rumours sweeping the queue that 200 extra tickets had been sold in error and some people would be refused entry. Oh great! It's like a fucking MySpace party out here!
Doors open at 7pm. Finally get into the venue just after 8pm. Just in time to hear "thanks, you've been great" coming from the departing band on stage. Fantastic planning by the promotors, NOT!
Next band on is Kids In Glass Houses. Welsh. Pretty good from what I heard. Obviously have a huge MySpace following. A little bit like Funeral For A Friend, without the shouty guy. Crowd sings along to all the songs. Loud, short set, but lots of confidence. I liked them.
New Found Glory are next on. Used to like some of their songs. Have a new dislike for them now. Arrogant, up their own arses, bunch of tossers. Sound mix was all over the place. Eight song set that included two cover versions?! During one of them, Hayley (from Paramore) comes on to duet and it's awful. What the fuck?! Once again, crowd loved them. Two mosh-pits appear. Wonderful! Bunches of 12 to 16 year olds attempt to 'go all krazy'. Me secretly hoping they say "...and now for our last song....". Can't come soon enough. Twats.
Paramore finally show up at 9.40pm. Crowd goes nuts. Never seen so many camera-phones being held up in my life. People around me mention posting their footage on YouTube. I'd like to say they did a great set. They didn't. I was desperately trying to ignore the fact the guitarist's mic was louder than Hayley's for almost half the set. It's ok though, the MySpace crowd don't seem to be bothered by it. 70 minutes later and it was all over.
I like their latest album, so I was frustrated and ultimately very disappointed by the live experience. For me, they just didn't cut it as a live band and apart from blaming the dreadful audience, I just don't know why. At several points during the night, it actually felt like a Hannah Montana concert (but with louder guitars and the occasional power chord). Not that I've been to one of those, but I've seen the TV show, seen the clips, read the blurb....
They were selling pre-orders for a ltd edition CD recorded from the night's gig. Ha! Good luck to the sound mixer on that one!

For me, a very, very disappointing gig. Almost up there with Evanescence.

5 parlez:

Cat said...

I must write something about last week's Morrissey gig. Soon. Suffice to say, he was AMAZING!

(This font's still hurting my eyes, by the way. It's the thick, serif lettering, coupled with the pale grey-ish colour. I am a fussy bitch, I know.)

Jon said...

I hate Hannah Montana.

So I feel your pain.

bedshaped said...

cat,
I think your laptop might have some issues. The background is black and the font is Times Roman in a bold blue.

john,
Hate is a strong word. She's not that bad!

Boy said...

You're completely right about NFG. Saw them way back in the day when I was a wee nipper, and stayed behind to meet them after. Fucking pricks.
Grrrr.

I want to see 30 second to mars :(

bedshaped said...

boy,
30 Seconds To Mars are definitely worth seeing. Bet they'd be great at a festival too.