Gigs 2025

[David L]

I'd like to see the kind of dance you were offering....at a metal gig   

[dom]

Funnily enough, my daughter, who is into this genre didn't know either - I annoy her by calling it shoe shine!

Named because the guitarists are looking downwards at their instruments! or their shoes!

Bit more detail here from wiki...

In a 2016 article for HuffPost Andy Ross claimed he coined the term "shoegazing" at a show on 3 September 1991 which featured Chapterhouse, Slowdive and Moose, because the bands' members seemed to be in "a state of trance by the footwear lurking semi-motionless beneath their low-slung guitars".[23] Alternatively, The Guinness Who's Who of Indie and New Wave Music (1992) claimed that the first use of the name was in a concert review for Moose, published by Sounds, in which the author referenced how singer Russell Yates read lyrics taped to the floor throughout the gig.[24]

According to AllMusic: "The shatteringly loud, droning neo-psychedelia the band performed was dubbed shoegaze by the British press because the band members stared at the floor while they performed".[1] The term was also used by the British music press to describe dream pop bands.[25] Slowdive's Simon Scott found the term relevant:

I always thought Robert Smith, when he was in Siouxsie and the Banshees playing guitar [on the 1983's Nocturne live video], was the coolest as he just stood there and let the music flood out. That anti showmanship was perfect so I never really understood why people began to use "shoegaze" as a negative term. I think if Slowdive didn't stand there looking at what pedal was about to go on and off we'd have been shite. [...] I am glad we were static and concentrated on playing well. Now it is a positive term.[26]

[Thenop]

Seeing Black Country Communion tonight, curious never seen them before.

[The Picnic Wasp]

I'd like to see the kind of dance you were offering....at a metal gig   

Due to the shame I can remember it quite clearly. It was a place in Sauchiehall St, I think it was called The Venue, and they would play music before the band came on stage. They were playing an Ozzy track as I suffered my bout of invisibility.😂

[pdw1]

Dark Angel last night; one of the hottest sweatiest gigs I have been to in a long time. Fantastic band.

Iron Maiden in a couple of weeks time.

[Matt2112]

James
Halifax Piece Hall
Sat 7th June

The summer season of gigs at surely one of the best medium-sized venues in the country was kicked-off with a sold out two-night stint from evergreen Indie darlings James.

I attended the second night and it was, well, just okay in all honesty.

For this more casual fan there were too many ploddy, maudlin numbers (I'd come for a few hours' escape from depressing subject matter, not to be subjected to it) and my favourite James songs Born Of Frustration and Sound had arrangements that were a little too laid back, lacking the punch of the studio album versions. Tim Booth is a laudably humble guy, but there were too many times where I just wondered why he and his band seem to hide their lights under a bushel.  Another slight disappointment was the absence of She's A Star, which I could hear drifting across and up through Shibden Valley the night before while walking my dog round my village.

Still, there were welcome occasions which lifted the spirits: a rousing version of Tomorrow, Booth's crowd-surfing during Getting Away With It and an encore where the trumpeter performed from one of the Venetian-style balconies before re-joining the rest of the band for the climactic Sit Down. It was a good way to finish, but it had been a rather meandering journey to get there.

Rating: **

[Thenop]

BCC was brilliant. Hughes at 75  Unreal.
Bonamassa cuts through and Bonham, although the light touch of his father is not there, is brilliant keeping it all together. Sherinian weaves in and out and makes his Hammond sound ethereal.

And they make it look so easy and so much fun. Quintessential classic rock band with equal parts Zeppelin, Purple and a touch of bluesy funk.

If they ever come round again I'll be there as well.

[Slim]

I love a bit of Shoegaze, will type more when I get back.

[captainkurtz]

Nine Inch Nails - Manchester Coop - 17th June 2025
Father John Misty - Gateshead Sage - 25/6/25
Black Sabbath - Villa Park - 5th July 2025
Peter buck / Luke Haines - Cluny - 29th August 2025
Tom Stade - The Stand - 7th September 2025
Black Country New Road - Gateshead Sage - 20th September 2025
Jack Dee - Tyne Theatre - 9th October 2025
Stewart Lee - Tyne Theatre - 4/11/25
English Teacher - 18/11/25
David Byrne - Glasgow Armadillo - 7/3/26
Paul & Suki improv - Tyne Theatre - 11th March 2026
Scott Bennett - Tyne Theatre - 30th May 2026

[Slim]

I love a bit of Shoegaze, will type more when I get back.

Looking closer at the thread I see that Dom has already covered this, but supposedly the term comes from the habit of guitar players looking at their pedal board - because typically they'd use a lot of effects. Personally I think it has as much to do with the introspective, almost diffident demeanour of the performers, you'd never bounce around the stage in a Shoegaze band.

I think of Lush as being shoegaze pioneers. Dreamy 9th chords, open tunings.

Our own (TNMS) CQ introduced me to this band (a project really) about ten years ago, I thought they were terrific. Heavy Shoegaze. Actually it must have been at least 13 years ago, because I see I commented on the video then.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Nothing against them but I've never seen Metallica, nor have ever been inclined to.

I like them, but find a full album difficult.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Some Iron Maiden tickets now available on re-sale sites but all nonsense prices. I'll give it a miss. It's not Rush.

[pdw1]

Some Iron Maiden tickets now available on re-sale sites but all nonsense prices. I'll give it a miss. It's not Rush.

It many ways live it is very much like Rush 
I have a spare ticket for London if anyone fancies standing.

[Matt2112]

Ricky Gervais
Leeds First Direct Arena
Thu 26th Jun

Arenas, such as the cavernous amphitheatre in the heart of Leeds's city centre, are not places for comedy gigs; I know this.  Some may argue they're not great places to see rock gigs either, and I'd agree with that to an extent.  So in both cases I make sure that if I do attend I'm no further away from the stage than I would be at a theatre or Academy-sized gig.

I was five rows from the front for this show, where Ricky Gervais casually graces almost 14,000 people with 70 minutes of his time.  Yep, that seems short, but at least the tickets are nowhere near the three-figure mark that's charged to see certain other arena-touring comedians.

So with success that has seen his stand-up revenue enter the Guinness Book Of Records, Gervais isn't going to reinvent the wheel: all the crowd-pleasing elements are present and in the right places.  He's the AC/DC of adult humour, and indeed enters the stage to Highway To Hell as if to prove the point.

His schtick is to set-up a routine with points constructed from logic and reason, before delivering a punchline that aims to be as rude and crude as possible, often with a post-punchline "topper" to dial the outrage up to eleven.  He's extremely good at it and - most of the time - it lands well.

It's a show that's short but sweet - or should that be satisfyingly sour.

Rating: ***

[Matt2112]

Sat 1st Feb
MICK MILLER, Bradford Tapestry ***
Sat 10th May
STEWART LEE, Leeds Playhouse ****
Fri 6th Jun
JAMES, Halifax Piece Hall (Sold on Twickets)
Sat 7th Jun
JAMES, Halifax Piece Hall **
Thu 26th Jun
RICKY GERVAIS, Leeds First Direct Arena ***
Mon 7th Jul
SIMPLE MINDS, Halifax Piece Hall
Thu 10th Jul
JOHN HEGLEY, Shipley Hullaballoo
Fri 11th Jul
THE HUMAN LEAGUE, Halifax Piece Hall
Fri 1st Aug
SQUEEZE, Halifax Piece Hall
Sat 2nd Aug
THE SAW DOCTORS, Halifax Piece Hall
Thu 7th Aug
EXTREME / TERRORVISION, Halifax Piece Hall
Fri 8th Aug
The Libertines, Halifax Piece Hall #
Fri 29th Aug
NILE RODGERS & CHIC, Halifax Piece Hall
Sun 21st Sep
F.M., Leeds The Old Woollen

# Chaperone duty - got out of it!