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Gigs you've been to and your thoughts.

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absurdabsurd:
I still don't know how I feel about the Pumpkins gig at the O2 Arena in London back in Feb. I had seen them at Reading Festival last summer as well, where they were completely outplayed by NIN who were on just before them, but I decided to shell out around $70 plus trainfare to go see them again because they are the band that accompanied me through HS and adolescence and all that BS.

Oceansize opened and they were excellent.

The Pumpkins opened on Porcelina... and I completely melted, then went into Behold! The Night Mare which set such high standards for the rest of the set list because that's two of my favourite Pumpkins tunes right there. Most of the hits got dropped into the set, various things off the new album, and then a massive long drawn out FUZZDISTORTIONGUITARWANKERY section that was all shades of rock-awesome but started to get a tiny bit boring after around 15-20 minutes, though that might be because I was a) seated and b) in a state of massive sleep deprivation where maintaining my concentration span was an insanely difficult task. Overall they played for around 2.5 hours. They finished on a cover of Echo & the Bunnymen's Lips Like Sugar, apparently because the Brits don't know how to appreciate their homegrown music. Billy also mentioned Joy Division when saying this and for a moment my heart was jumping for a JD cover. Oh well. They didn't play Cherub Rock, and I may or may not have read somewhere that they intended to finish on that instead of the cover but I can't really remember. (They did finish on Cherub Rock at Reading. I think people would have rioted otherwise, from what I was hearing around me.)

The lights were fucking weird, including psychedelic flower patterns and all sorts of geometric weird shapes which completely ruined it for me occasionally. Stick to spotlights/atmospheric lights/flashes, stay away from the patterns and acid colour overload!

Outfits awesome as usual. METALLIC SKIRT yay.

Anyway, that Pink Floyd cover sounds interesting. I DO like me some Echo & the Bmen, but Pink Floyd or Joy Division would have been way more awesome as covers.

I still want/need to see them play either Soma or Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right) live at some point in my life so I guess I will keep paying for overpriced tickets next time I get a chance to go...

DMart:

--- Quote from: absurdabsurd on 06 Apr 2008, 17:01 ---...started to get a tiny bit boring after around 15-20 minutes, though that might be because I was a) seated and b) in a state of massive sleep deprivation where maintaining my concentration span was an insanely difficult task.
--- End quote ---

I entirely blame this... After being seated at Festival Hall and being a bit tired I felt a little bored as well - it's a lot harder to get into the vibe when you're so far away from the action and the sound isn't really up to the task. In the crowd at V-fest: Wow. Just -- wow. Oh, and there's probably videos on Youtube of the Floyd cover, I think they rocked it out at quite a few shows.

...and I actually thought the lighting was really good! (particularly considering it was just lighting, i.e. no projectors/tvs/whatevers)

absurdabsurd:

--- Quote from: DMart on 06 Apr 2008, 17:12 ---...and I actually thought the lighting was really good! (particularly considering it was just lighting, i.e. no projectors/tvs/whatevers)

--- End quote ---

I just found it unneccessarily distracting and flashy in the 'shapes' phases because I don't really associate the Pumpkins' music with bright yellow/blue/green/pink/red/purple triangles, squares, and flowers. Simpler lights all the way through would have been the key really.

I remember the screens Billy had with him on his solo tour back in 2005 or whenever it was. Those were awesome, even though when not lit up it did make everything look a little tiled and sterile. That was such a let-down show for me though... the venue he played at here in Milan was way too big for what they were trying to do, Billy didn't seem to think anyone in the audience spoke any english whatsoever so I don't think he really spoke at all, and the entire thing more or less ended with him in a fit of anger, disappearing off stage and never coming back on. The opening band, Gliss, were liquid sexy shoegazey awesomeness though.

I actually liked his solo album, too....

chizzle:
Last decent gig I went to was by a guy called Colin Macintyre, he used to go by the name of Mull Historical Society but decided to give the actual society their name back! He played at one of my favourite venues ever, a converted church in Glasgow, Scotland called Oran Mor (translated from Gaelic means "cool place") which is intimate and, well, just damned excellent! I've been trying to get people to listen to his music for ages now, he makes some very interesting mixes (he was credited on one album track of playing "seagulls"!). He's playing in a crappy Manchester venue next month, but I'm still going along, I'm sure it'd be a riot.

TheFuriousWombat:
As funny as Family Guy may or may not be, pic sigs are against the rules here. Please get rid of yours, Chizzle. Thanks.

On topic, I'm seeing These United States (super good psyche-folk) on Wednesday and The Death Set (Kinda old-school sounding punk with electronics) next week, both on campus. Both shows should be pretty great. Thoughts to follow I suppose.

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