British Sea Power, Manchester Academy 2

As my favourite current band are on tour it was only right that I went along to see them, and that I did on Sunday night at the Academy.

It was a bit of a strange show, BSP always put on a good live performance IMO, but this one seemed a little flat by their standards, there are a couple of factors I could think of to explain it – they are currently showcasing a new album so some of the tracks hadn’t been played that much, and a lot of the audience seemed to have been attracted along by that new record, and not be too knowledgeable about their past efforts, which obviously had an effect on the atmosphere.

As a firmly committed fan I enjoyed the gig, and the balance between the older stuff and tracks from the new album, though I could have done without being soaked in beer by some idiot flinging a pint about, and Noble’s dirty sock being wafted in my face when he went crowd-surfing wasn’t the most pleasant experience of my life!

The new album itself “Do You Like Rock Music” is growing on me, I much prefer their debut “The Decline of British Sea Power”, but this one seems to be enjoying some mild commercial success, so they must be doing something right, then again given the taste of the music buying British public, maybe they are doing something wrong?

Manic Street Preachers, Leeds University

I went to my first gig for a while last night, the Manics are one of my favourite bands and it was the god knows how many-eth time I’ve seen them, but it was still well worth it, especially as I got the ticket for £10 less than face value on e-bay – it’s great when people try and ticket tout and come a cropper.

I’ve been to a few gigs at the refectory in my time, and it’s not one of my favourite venues, I’m not sure there is anywhere you get sweatier watching bands, although I’ve only got myself to blame really. I like going to gigs by myself as I tend to get into the music a bit more, and that certainly happened last night, happily they didn’t play too much stuff from their latest couple of albums (which I am not too keen on) and they played plenty of classics from Gold Against the Soul, which was nice, although they were back to finishing with “A Design for Life” which, great as it is, is way too predictable.

The band have had a bit of a break pursuing solo projects over the last couple of years and they certainly seemed to be a bit recharged by it, they seemed more energetic and happier to be there than they did the last time I saw them, there was also a mumbled mention of a tour in December which is good, which gives me something to look forward to – hopefully by then they will have dropped some of the newer stuff completely!

Music at Myrtle 2006

I took the opportunity to visit Myrtle Park in Bingley for Music at Myrtle, which is an annual, free, event organised by the council. Before I go into detail about last night I must point out that I have history with the venue, 5 years ago I was robbed in a dance-off at the event when some dodgy judging awarded victory to my mate Darren as we strutted our stuff to the tunes of Boney M, anyone knowing me and him know that I am by far the better dancer. The proof of my amazing rhythm comes from the fact that I am a world record holding maraca shaker, and was once invited to play the harmonica on stage with a band at Rio’s in Bradford – anyway we’ll end that there because it may be 5 years ago, but I’m still bitter.

Back to last night, I mentioned Boney M above and, in years gone by the entertainment has been provided by the likes of them, Showaddywaddy, Bjorn Again and best of all Edwin Starr (may he R.I.P.) but this year there was something of a change in direction, with one of the favourite bands of my youth, Ocean Colour Scene, headlining the evening.

Before the headline act support was provided by local outfit OperatorSix, usually the local acts at these events are pretty naff but I was fairly impressed with them and it turns out they have in the past supported OCS and Paul Weller, their stuff was a bit poppy for me to ever consider shelling out for but, it was listenable and they were watching.

OCS came on shortly after nine and played a set just short of 90 minutes long, it was pretty much a greatest hits effort and they didn’t miss out anything that I hoped they wouldn’t, I was unsure about the make-up of the crowd thinking it might be full of free-loaders who didn’t know the music but, although there were plenty about, most of the crowd seemed to know their stuff and there was a great atmosphere with a few good singalongs, they played my personal favourite “The Circle” second in and the hits kept coming. The band also incorporated maracas into their set, which is always a sure sign of a good thing and finished off with a cover of The Beatles “Daytripper” during a little encore which kept the uneducated happy.

It had been chucking it down all day and the place was full of mud so the only downside of the evening was me ruining my trainers and pants after being dragged into dancing to “One for the Road” by some maniac woman, but it was all good fun.

Hopefully attracting OCS will be a sign of things to come and, if I’m around next year, an act in the same mould will be the main attraction, knowing Bradford Council and it’s decisions I won’t hold my breath on that one!

Across the Tracks…..

Yesterday saw me venture into Leeds with my mate Dave for a day at the Across the Tracks

The first impressions weren’t great as the festival venue itself wasn’t too impressive and there was no grass which I personally feel is an essential part of the festival experience but there you go, anyway I soon got over it (once I’d had my first beer) and got down to enjoying the music that was on offer.

The first band I saw were music festival which was held on a very small patch of land and inside Granary Wharf underneath Leeds train station.This et Al who were, well average, to be fair the acoustics in the cave like setting of the indoor stage weren’t the best and although the songs sounded vaguely familiar they were nothing out of the ordinary and I wouldn’t go out of my way to see them again. More impressive were Pigeon Detectives who also graced the indoor stage and seemed to have a bit more about them, although the manner of the lead singer was a bit grating. A few of their tracks went down well and I’d definitely be keen to hear more than the half hour set that I did.

After that we headed for the main stage, a good 20 yards away, but more importantly outside of the oppressive heat suffered under the railway arches. The first band we saw were The Young Knives, the most striking thing about this lot was the fact they dressed like Weezer. A couple of their songs were OK, but nothing special and the band’s attempts at on stage banter and connecting with the crowd were painful, at least they have plenty to work on I suppose.

Following them on the main stage was Jose Gonzalez for me the best thing about him is the fact that he’s got a Spanish sounding name and after a few songs that just seemed to merge into one we’d had enough and headed back to the indoor stage. The sort of easy-listening, “chill-out” music he plays does have it’s place but it’s not really my sort of thing and definitely not what I want from live music, for me music has to have a bit more about it and the music of Black Wire certainly had that. The lead singer’s stage antics suggested he fancied himself as a cross between Mick Jagger and Jarvis Cocker and, while he is neither, the music was pretty good and I’d reccommend them looking for something new to listen to, no doubt they’ll be on myspace.

After that it was back to the mainstage and The Bees, this was the first band of the day that I had a bit of knowledge of and they were largely entertaining with their a bit of psychedelic sound
with a bit of sixties pop thrown in for good measure. The song that got the crowd going was Chicken Payback which I recognised from some advert or other but, as I don’t watch much TV, I can’t remember what the advert is for. As a warm-up for the main attraction of the night they were more than acceptable, and they had maracas, which earns them bonus points.

For me the main attraction of the night, although they shockingly were not headlining, were British Sea Power, this was the fourth time I have seen them and once again they didn’t disappoint, putting on a great show and playing plenty of the songs that I hoped they would. Of all the bands that played they clearly got the best reaction from their audience, which doesn’t come as a suprise to me, after all they were deemed good enough to support Pulp on their last big tour!!

Sea Power are well known for decorating their stage with foliage, fruit and other nature based things while they play and my night was made when they threw some of these into the crowd and I ended up with a big branch as seen picture and was just inches away from acquiring a pineapple as well. Happy, happy days even though I am aware that picture makes me look a bit retarted, it was taken by myself while I was in a state of euphoria after capturing the branch with the crappy camera on my mobile.

After BSP had finished all that were left were the Magic Numbers, who like Jose before them, are a bit too MOR for my liking. The euphoria of successfully acquiring some BSP foliage managed to carry us through though, and most of the last hour or so was spent trying to fend off branch thieves, field questions from admiring fans and making lame, smutty jokes to girls enquiring about the branch such as “I’ll let you touch my bush if I can touch yours” suprisingly, these didn’t get us very far, although we did meet a nice girl who I donated a bit of my bush to. In the photo hereyou can just about see her branch sticking out of her hair under the light, I only deemed her worthy of such a prize as her boyfriend had a brilliant moustache, all other requests were strongly rejected.

Midway through the Magic Numbers set we trudged home after pledging one day we would meet up and re-unite the broken off parts of our branches, we watched the end of the gig from platform 17 of Leeds station (from where plenty of free-loaders had been watching all day) before heading back home, via a stop at Kashmir for a curry of course.

All in all it was an enjoyable day, though the choice of venue wasn’t the best and if they are going to do it again they could do with a bit more space, and a more sensible line-up, like having BSP headlining for 1 and a half hours and not the bloody Magic Numbers!