Sonic Youth

Posted by jill on April 27, 2009

So after a few months moaning that there was nothing decent to see, here is the second gig in a few days to absolutely blow my ears away. In the build up to it all, I don’t think I have been this excited by a gig for a while, having only found out about it this time last week.

As a recent fan of the band, only really starting to dig into their material since around 2004, they played lots of old material that I was unfamiliar with. In fact, my favourite track of the whole night might possibly have been the opening song of the night She is not alone. On tonight’s setlist, I’ll have to make the most of the permanent £5 Sonic Youth sale in Fopp.

Of the songs that I was familiar with, the material off Daydream Nation was absolutely perfect, making up for the rather lacklustre Daydream Nation show I watched back in 2007.

Tonight was one of those shows that you wish would never end, and one and a half hours certainly wasn’t long enough.

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead

Posted by jill on April 23, 2009

As you may have noticed, it has been a bit quiet round here recently. Winter 2009 was very disappointing for gigs, and this year there didn’t even seem to be any new bands worth seeing. However, with the arrival of Spring, it looks like all the decent bands are now coming out of hibernation too.

There is no better band to reignite my interest in live music than …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead. They are one of those acts who seem to drift away from my awareness from time to time, and new album releases just pass me by. However, every time I see them live I am reminded of what great performers they are, and the highly entertaining shows. The last time I saw them, two years ago, was under similar circumstances.

Tonight’s show was no exception. It would have been easy for them to blast out material from their latest album, which is surprisingly good. However the set consisted of a great balance between the new songs and some old favourites. With the highly entertaining stage show: Jason running into the audience, trashing his drumkit with his drumkit, and a final, final encore although the drumkit was gone, I am reminded that they are still one of my favourite live bands.