Category: Gigs
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The Black Angels – The Warehouse, Houston
Despite having heard only a four-track EP by The Black Angels, I thought they’d probably be worth seeing live, so jumped at the chance when they came through Houston. This was again at the Warehouse, but in a different/smaller room than the one I saw The Black Keys in – either that or they have remodeled and significantly downsized. This time the ‘stage’ (a wooden platform that stood at most a foot off the ground) was squashed in a corner of the room, and there were sofas in the ‘audience area’, which I didn’t take as a good sign. The evening… Read more
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The Black Keys, The Warehouse, Houston
I’ve been back in Houston for four months now, and decided that it was about time I got back into the live music scene. There was no-one I desparately wanted to see, playing, but I fancied a night out, so I took my chances with The Black Keys, at the Warehouse. I hadn’t heard anything by The Black Keys, but I’d heard some positive things about them, so I thought I’d give it a go.  Finding out that Dinosaur Jr. were also on the bill was the decider – although I couldn’t believe that J. Mascis & co. were relegated… Read more
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Morrissey, Ancienne Belgique
I’m a huge Smiths fan. A British music journalist once said: “I feel sorry for any new band, because no matter how good they are, they’ll never be The Smiths”, and I think he was right. Unfortunately but the time I discovered The Smiths they had split. (During their heyday they were the sole preserve of the ‘cool kids’ at my school – of which I certainly wasn’t one…) Morrissey is the next best thing (Johnny Marr wasting his talent in Electronic – although his contribution to The The’s Mind Bomb was a highlight), and although he went through a weak… Read more
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Pukkelpoptastic!
Last weekend I went to the PukkelPop music festival here in Belgium. In part this was because a good buddy of mine (Peter) was going and insisted I’d have a great time, and in part because I wanted to convince myself – having recently passed the 40 mark – that I am not too old to go to festivals (or even gigs in general, despite the wife’s insistence that I’m past it and will just be an object of ridicule to the rest of the much younger audience who probably think I’m only there to chaperone my kids). That said, I did… Read more
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65 Minutes of Magic
Last Sunday I realised another one of my ambitions and went to see Mogwai in concert. They were playing as part of the Domino festival in Brussels, at the Ancienne Belgique (a great venue!). Although I only cared about seeing Mogwai, I figured that while I’d forked out EUR22.00 I may as well catch some of the other bands on the bill. I got there in time to catch Wolf Eyes, whom I’d never heard, but had read some good press on. Sadly, they turned out to be just unlistenable noise – the kind of shouty faux-deep vocals you get… Read more