Jimmy Three Gigs

I got a bit carried away buying concert tickets recently. I'd been disappointed by the lack of good gigs in Holland in the autumn of last year, so when some interesting bands came along I went a bit mad buying up tickets. It was only when I wrote them on the calendar that it became clear that the week just gone was going to be a busy one - Kasabian on Monday, Goose on Thursday and Klaxons on Saturday (all sold-out, incidentally). And as two of these were in Amsterdam and I already had enough other things going on, I decided to try to sell either the Goose or the Klaxons ticket.

Suffice to say I didn't manage to get rid of either, and eventually decided to go to all 3 concerts. And in retrospect I'm mighty glad I did. All three were great in their own way.

Kasabian - great music, crowd less so. Adidas clad Brits on stag trips for the most part.
Goose - Brilliant, squelchy Belgian indie dance. Apart from the singer, all apparently aged 14 and able to effortlessly switch instruments at the drop of a hat.
Klaxons - one of the best gigs I've seen, ever. And only 40 minutes long. The crowd were mental, flinging glowsticks all over the place, singing their lungs out, moshing, stage invading, crowd surfing and stage diving like idiots. Utter mayhem. Gramps here was glad he could find a quiet corner on the balcony! And the band were awesome. They managed to make even the sweet harmonies on numbers like Golden Skans sound punky and ominous, and the twee faux-shanty Isle of Her became a thundering beast from the deep.

At a guess I'd say this is the first time I've been to 3 separate gigs in a week since Intro Week at Sheffield Poly, *cough* years ago. Arctic Monkeys in the Melkweg next Saturday. Bring 'em on!

This Month I Will Mostly Be Listening To….

Vol. 14 March 2007

1 Klaxons - Two Receivers
2 The Fratellis - Baby Fratelli
3 Kings of Leon - On Call
4 Dartz! - St. Petersburg
5 The Rakes - We Danced Together
6 Bloc Party - Secrets
7 The KBC - Pride Before the Fall
8 Goose - Bring it On
9 The Wombats - Kill The Director
10 Fields - Song for the Fields
11 Deerhoof - Believe E.S.P.
12 Tokyo Police Club - Citizens of Tomorrow
13 Kate Nash - Caroline's a Victim
14 The Harrisons - Monday's Arms
15 Malcolm Middleton & Alan Bisset - The Rebel on His Own Tonight
16 Bloc Party - Cain Said to Abel
17 Arcade Fire - Keep the Car Running
18 Pull Tiger Tail - Let's Lightning
19 Charlotte Hatherley - I Want You to Know
20 Air Traffic - Charlotte
21 Hot Gossip - Real Mess
22 Klaxons - It's Not Over Yet

Who's hot and who's not?

Funny how band names seem to go through trends of containing the same words. How many bands have there been with 'stereo' or 'super' somewhere in the name? Answers on a postcard to the usual address... 'Superstereo' - good name for a band that.

Current favourites seem to be 'Good' (Shoes, Books) and of course 'Hot' - apart from veterans Hot Hot Heat and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, we've now got Hot Chip, Hot Gossip (who disappointingly do not feature any lycra-clad dancing girls - showing my age here) and of course Hot Club de Paris, my favourite new band of the past twelve months (official - see my Last.fm page).

They make brilliantly skewed pop, with tight barber-shop harmonies, crazy time signatures and lashings of chiming guitar, and their awesome debut album Drop It Til It Pops is currently available with a bonus CD of b-sides and the videos for their 3 singles. Bargain!

Alternatively you can watch the videos here:

This Month I Will Mostly Be Listening To….

Vol. 13 February 2007

1 Klaxons - Golden Skans
2 Charlotte Hatherley - Behave
3 The Maccabees - About Your Dress
4 Bloc Party - I Still Remember
5 The Wombats - Lost in the Post
6 Lo-Fi-Fnk - Steppin Out
7 Arcade Fire - Intervention
8 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Love Song No. 7
9 Dartz! - Once, Twice, Again
10 Tokyo Police Club - Cheer It On
11 Beck - Think I'm in Love
12 Klaxons - Totem on the Timeline
13 Bloc Party - Sunday
14 Kubichek - Taxi!
15 The Wombats - Party in a Forest (Where's Laura)
16 The Fratellis - Got Ma Nuts from a Hippy
17 Kasabian - Me Plus One
18 Goodbooks - Walk With Me
19 Enter Shikari - Sorry, You're Not a Winner
20 Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby
21 The Good, The Bad & The Queen - Northern Whale
22 Frank Turner - Thatcher Fucked the Kids