Repeat Locations

In the last eight days, I’ve been at the Barbican centre for three of them.  I don’t mind – I like the Barbican – but it does make for an interesting feeling of deja vu.

Last week, I spent two days there attending the Lead Developer conference (again) – it’s been running for five years now, and I’ve been to four of them.

Then last night, I was back there to see “Conversations with Nick Cave” – a different type of concert, with Cave performing songs solo with just a piano, interspersed with lots of questions from members of the audience.

I’ll aim to write more about both things (and a couple of other things that have been keeping me busy and/or a dirty stop-out) but right now I’m absolutely knackered. So those bits of writing will come later. Probably.


Dickhead

There are times where (as many people already know) I’m an absolute dickhead. This is the (fairly short) tale of one of those times.

One of the reasons I wanted to visit Toronto (which I finally did earlier this year) was because I’ve been a fan of a band called the Cowboy Junkies (who I’ve written about several times, and saw twice in November) for a very long time – since the first time I heard their “Trinity Sessions” album, in fact.  The Trinity Sessions was an album that was all recorded at the Holy Trinity church in Toronto, with only one ambisonic microphone to pick up all the voices and instruments.  It’s one of my all-time favourite albums.  However, I’d never seen a picture of the church. (This is relevant)

Then, on the anniversary of the recording of Trinity Sessions, they put a photo on their Facebook page of the church

And I thought “I recognise that church“. It turns out we’d gone in and visited it while we were in Toronto, and I hadn’t even realised it was the same place.  Indeed, we only went in because it looked interesting (and was hidden away down a little side-street, so we’d only glimpsed the place and its architecture) and it turned out to be a great little find, because it’s beautiful inside, as well as having an absolutely massive organ. (Fnarr)  And I knew it was called the Holy Trinity church. I just hadn’t connected the two.

So it took me another six months to realise that I’d actually been in the place, despite all the clues that were there.

And that, in this case, is why I’m a dickhead.


Ministry, O2 Forum, Kentish Town

I’ve been a fan of the (very loud) band Ministry for a very long time – I missed their last gig in London due to other stuff occurring, and had made sure I got tickets for the gig on Saturday night at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, London.

As I had nothing else planned, I went down to London early – I know the local area, and there are a few places very close to the venue where parking is free on a weekend, which makes the entire proposition even easier.  In light of my whole “not doing as much” policy, it was still a quiet and easy day – I had lunch, then found a couple of pubs to sit outside and either read, catch up on internet stuff, or do some reading.  With the weather the way it’s been, it was all most civilised.

For the gig itself, I got there in time to see the support act – a singer I’d not heard of before, called Chelsea Wolfe, and her support band.  Personally I wasn’t overly taken with them, but they were better than expected. (I generally expect support bands to be bobbins, but still go to see them if possible. If they’re better than bobbins, it’s a bonus. If they’re bad, then it’s purely as expected, and I don’t feel disappointed by that)

And then onto the main thing.  I don’t know what happened, but the venue suddenly got exceptionally hot, and stayed that way for the whole concert.  It was bad enough that I know a lot of people left early, it really was pretty intolerable.  The gig itself was great, and thoroughly enjoyed the entire thing – but was definitely sweaty and stinky by the time I’d also driven home.

I’d go again, happily – but ideally in rather cooler temperatures, or a venue where the air-con/ventilation was capable of coping with 2,000-ish gig-goers…

 


Hamilton

Last Friday, I went to see the musical Hamilton in London, and loved it.  I knew very little about it beforehand – my preferred way of going to plays and so on – and found it thoroughly enjoyable.  It’s incredibly fast, and a lot of the lyrics failed to stick in my head, so I also ordered the original Broadway cast recording/soundtrack.

I listened to the entire thing while driving to and from London this week (each disc was just the same length as the drive, by happy coincidence) and some of the tunes and lyrics have then lasted all week as well.

I’m aiming to go and see Hamilton again, probably at the end of the year, and in the meantime I’m pretty sure I’m going to have listened to the soundtrack a lot in the meantime.

 


Old Gigs

This year seems to be another one with a lot of band revivals – and I’m happy about it.

First of all, the band “The The” announced that they were going to do their first tour in twenty-odd years.  Having been a fan for a long time, I got tickets.

The first-announced one, back at the Royal Albert Hall (where I saw them *cough* years ago) is the single most expensive gig ticket I’ve ever bought – the gig sold out in minutes, and I was in the queue, so the only ones that remained by the time I got there were ridiculously costly (but also have hospitality included, so I’ll make it pretty much work out, somehow) but fuck it, got one anyway.

Then they announced a second gig, this time at Brixton Academy on the following night. Much much cheaper. So I got one for that too.

Later, they also announced a smaller warm-up gig, in Nottingham. Yup, got that too.   (It’s ridiculous, and I just hope it’s worth it)

There are a couple of others this year as well, including Ministry and Nine Inch Nails, both of whom I’m going to see.

And then yesterday, the Cowboy Junkies announced they were coming to the UK for three concerts – in Glasgow, Manchester, and London. I think the last time I saw them was on their last visit here, although for some reason I appear to have missed one a couple of years ago – had tickets, didn’t go. I’ve been a fan of them even longer than I have of The The, so it was a no-brainer.

Glasgow and Manchester went on sale today, and I’ve got one for Manchester. The London ones don’t go on sale ’til the end of the month, but I’m already seriously considering getting one for that too. It’ll depend on the price, but it’s pretty likely, if I’m not going to see them again for another decade…


Sisters of Mercy, Camden Roundhouse

Over the weekend, I went to see the Sisters of Mercy play one of their only two headline gigs in the UK this year, at Camden Roundhouse.

I did have reservations about it, as they’ve not recorded any new stuff in decades. I’d been fairly disappointed by the last time I saw them (a long, long time ago – although I did think I’d seen them in between times somewhere) so it was a bit of a crapshoot.

Anyway, I still went, but with the aim of expecting very little from the concert – and as it happens, I’m really glad I went.

The gig itself was brilliant – and others thought so too – with all the old favourites played, as well as some lesser-known stuff. The set-list was in a different order to that in the linked review, but that’s just semantics.

Regardless, it was a great gig, and I’m really glad I went. Long may they continue – and maybe there’ll be a new album sometime soon. We can but hope.


No Time To Cry

This weekend, along with everything else, I’m seeing the Sisters of Mercy play at Camden Roundhouse.

I knew it was a while since I’d seen them – but I hadn’t actually realised how long ago until I looked back on D4D™, and discovered it was actually in April 2003. How the fuck has it been that long? (And how the hell long have I been writing D4D™?!?)

In a lot of ways, I’m trying to not get too excited about the gig – I’m not expecting greatness, as they’re all a lot older, and a very different lineup now to how they used to be. But still, it’s the Sisters of Mercy, and I’ve been a fan for a long time.

I’ll write about it after the weekend either way, I’m sure.

[No, the title doesn’t mean I’m sad/unhappy – it’s a Sisters of Mercy lyric]