Tag Archives: Gig

Twin Atlantic – Budweiser Live Project, Cardiff 10/16

Posted on October 20, 2015 | Leave a comment

Splott Market

Last show of the week!
Went to Wales for the first time ever and saw absolutely nothing on the way there. Having had a night of drunk frenchmen screaming in my hostel room I was pretty tired indeed, so I slept from the moment the bus left London until we stopped in Cardiff. Much needed, but I still would’ve liked to enjoy the scenery.

Anywho, once in Cardiff we proceeded to make our way… out of Cardiff? Not quite, but at least out into an industrial part of town where we eventually found a huge. massive. warehouse. Which was apparently where the gig was going to be. After half an hour walking around it we settled down by the fence and weeds. At least there was a Greggs nearby. I do make it sound worse than it was, we had Greggs and we had speakers so could blast The LaFontaines, Arcane Roots and In Dynamics all day, good stuff!

By the time doors were about to open, there were a lot of people! Well, at least compared to Manchester and Birmingham, where people seemed more content to drop in during the two support acts. All went well on doors at least and we made our way to the front. They had cornered off 1/4 of the warehouse for the gig and it was still massive and above all, freezing. First Twin gig I’ve seen in a sweater and jacket!

Support band number one were talented but not my cup of tea and to be honset in the cold and being that tired I just couldn’t focus. Band number two was of course Dive In and we danced our hearts out! Got a nice shoutout from the stage as well haha.
Time for the last Twin Atlantic show (for a whole week) and I was noticeably tired. Not the best venue either in my opinion, cold and unpersonal. Very rockstary gig from McTrusty which is great but not as fun as the more “personal” ones I’d say. Barry saved the day though, su much fun watching him during this gig and he seemed so incredibly happy haha. Loved it.
Looking forward to Leeds on the 24th, hopefully warmer!

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Arcane Roots + In Dynamics – Dingwalls, London 15/10

Posted on October 19, 2015 | Leave a comment

[Public service announcement: Since I accidentally deleted this whole post the following is the shorter and more boring version. Well done, me.]

For the show in London I had decided, very unlike me, to go on a coach in the early afternoon. As I wasn’t queueing this seemed sensible. Also meant I got to eat my very first english breakfast with Jessica in Birmingham, which was wonderful. Less wonderful was the fact that Megabus once again fucked up my bus trip.

While I was fine not queueing I had definitely not intended to arrive after doors (it’s a fine line)((hah, line)). By some inventive dinner, aka forgetting all about it, I managed to get there by 7.15pm and joined the frenchies on second row. All good. First band on stage was Echoic and they were good but I was just too excited about finally seeing Arcane Roots again to pay much attention.

Second support was In Dynamics and here I did pay attention because they are most definitely awesome. Only recently started listening but was instantly hooked, exactly my type of music. Here are the current favourites:

Live was as good as I hoped, and I’m very much looking forward to the headline gigs in London and Brighton! Get to go back to The Barfly as well, been way too long now. They’re supporting Arcane Roots on the rest of their UK tour as well so I get to see them one or two more times there as well.

Then, well, it was time for Arcane Roots. I last saw them in 2011 when they were on tour with 22, a Norwegian band and the reason I went to 5 dates of that tour. Luckily AR turned out to be utterly amazing and so I did the exact same thing that I did with Twin Atlantic. Which was to not see them for four years. (I really need to stop doing that.) But now it was finally, finally time and oh man, they’re even better now! So much energy, so much feeling and the best and craziest crowd ever!  You know it’s great when the ceiling is sweating as well. I was only going to see them in Birmingham apart from London but after this show I might just have to do York as well. And… possibly Paris. Ooops?
Well you know, four years is a lot of time to make up for, no time like the present eh?

Here’s one of their newer singles that I just can’t stop listening to:

Also, special shoutout to Jack (drums, In Dynamics & Arcane Roots) for playing a double set like it was nothing, great job!

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Twin Atlantic – Budweiser Live Project, Manchester 13/10

Posted on October 14, 2015 | Leave a comment

Old Granada Studios

What a day. Started off as we know, with a 2-hour delay (thanks Megabus!) and I ended up in the queue at 3pm rather than 1pm as planned. Ah, the stress. No worries though, met up with everyone and had pretty good (but very short) time in line. Doors at 7pm, VERY calm and collected people, not a single runner.

Venue turned out to be tiny and a little strange. Old film studio but it worked quite well. Can only complain about the sound, not sure if it was the venue, the speakers, being middle front row or just a combination of all of them. It was okay when Twin were on but for the both support bands it was not at all good.

Speaking of support bands… The first band sounded good but looked like the thing they wanted least in the world was to be in front of an audience. I think all in all they looked at the crowd for 0.01 seconds. Which doesn’t make for a great liveband. Second support was much better at playing live but had terrible, terrible sound. Very low and incredibly flat. Sounded pretty nice though, very 80’s. Not so sure about having two support slots on this thing though (but maybe that’s just because I didn’t really enjoy them). Would’ve been nice if Twins set had been 6 songs longer.

Twin came on and finally the sound was okay. Surprised by the set, not a single ballad (unless you count Brothers and Sisters). Short and sweet, and a little weird. They seemed to have loads of fun on stage, struck me a bit like more of a rehearsal than a “proper” gig. Which is fine by me, I had loads of fun too, burst out laughing rather than sang along a few times. And of course, headbanging! Always the headbanging.

After the gig it was time for the usual shittalking, one of the best parts of any gig. Gave up on waiting to say hi to any band members though and went for pizza instead (good decision). Then bed! Rudely woken up by a flock of Canada geese the next morning, holy shit they’re loud! Noce walk through Manchester to the bus station where I was actually happy the bus was 30min late, as that meant I could get tea.

Now I’m queuing in Birmingham after enjoying a tiny acoustic set in front of the library. But that’s a story for tomorrow’s post!
Have pictures! (I can resize!)

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Twin Atlantic – Perth Concert Hall, Perth 20/9

Posted on September 23, 2015 | Leave a comment

As I was moving to the UK anyway, I decided to make a “tiny detour” on my way to Brighton. Via Perth in Scotland no less. This may have added an 11hour coach ride to London, instead of just flying there but as a certain Scottish band were playing I deemed it all worth it. (Turned out to be an incredibly good decision too.)

Came to Perth at around…12? And of course went directly to the concert hall because queueing. Joined Laureen and Marine outside the doors and, well, went on waiting. And had too much coffee and too little proper food, as you do.
Thanks to Danielle being amazing I also had a hotel room for the night, so got to leave all my stuff there and dip my face in some makeup so I’d look reasonably alive. Back to the queue which was fine until the opened the outer doors at 6pm. I mean, it was great to able to go inside to the inner doors, but my blood pressure still can’t handle the last 30minutes before doors at a gig.
We made it in okay after all though, barrier between Barry and Sam.

First out of the support were Model Aeroplanes and they sounded good for two songs and then they sounded the same for the rest of the songs. Good music but not very exciting and not the most fun to watch on stage (yet, anyway). The crowd didn’t react very well, everyone seemed to just be waiting.

And as Fatherson entered the stage it became obvious what the crowd was waiting for. I’d only listened to them on Spotify before, and much as with Nothing But Thieves they didn’t catch my attention. Also much as with Nothing But Thieves I was quite blown away by the live version. The crowd absolutely loved it, completely wild and wonderful. Great gig in all, can’t wait to see them again!

And then it was Twin Atlantic time! I wasn’t sure what to expect since the last time I saw them was at Reading Festival, which of course was massive. Compared to that, Perth Concert Hall felt a lot like it was gonna be a living room gig. Strangely, as Concert Halls usually don’t feel that intimate. Turned out to be exactly that kind of gig though, sweaty, intimate and a 110% amazing from the first song onwards. Edit Me is such a good first song. As a gig, it was possibly the best I’ve ever seen with them.

Then came Oceans and I knew from the start that that might be a hard one for me since I was quite emotional about the whole moving away from home bit. And while I managed to keep that suppressed (and still do) quite well, I knew that if I was gonna break it would be during Oceans. And so it was. Generally I never cry during gigs, but hey, I couldn’t help it. Sam apparently noticed and made it a hundred times worse by maintaining eye contact for the whole damn song (or so it felt like). I mean, I’m trying to push my tears back in here, you’re not helping. Was also accused of making him cry on stage after the show, so I suppose I can put that on my CV now.

Whining aside, it was quite special to share that “my heart is feeling bigger than this whole room” connection with someone who’s actually on the stage. Live music man. Life.

I recovered and proceeded to headbang the rest of the show away which is what I usually do. And with that, I’ve not much more to say, except “it was amazing” about every song. Looking forward to the Budweiser gigs, and trying to figure out which ones I should go to considering uni.
Also, Leeds, which will definitely be the best way to celebrate a 26th birthday ever. Nothing But Thieves and Twin Atlantic on the same weekend, what are the odds? Can’t wait!

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Twin Atlantic – SSE Hydro, Glasgow 9/5

Posted on June 7, 2015 | Leave a comment

Arrived in Glasgow after 4 hours of sleep on the bus from Birmingham. Yay. Went directly to the Hydro to start queuing. Stupid hilly Glasgow, I was way too tired for that walk. Had a great time hanging out with everyone in the queue though, and mine and Laureens hotel was about 30 seconds away from the venue which was AWESOME.

The gig itself though… Seeing the sheer scale of the venue inside was pretty epic. Twins apparent happiness was awesome. Sams little speech about having made it so far as well. And the confetti. CONFETTI DURING HEART AND SOUL YES.
But… apart from that my “least” favourite gig on the tour. (I had definitely overhyped it).

Small europe shows please.
Very cool that they HAVE made it so far though but..yeah.
Pictures!

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Twin Atlantic – O2 Academy, Birmingham 8/5

Posted on June 7, 2015 | Leave a comment

Went to Birmingham. Queueueued in the rain. Laureen arrived. We got barrier. The venue was great. The support was great. Twins gig was amazing, fantastic, wonderful and pure happiness. Sam and Laureen had a moment during WWWC that made ME cry wtf guys.

They went off stage. Me and Laureen drank monster with vodka (heaven in a glass yo). Had more drinks until Propaganda started, headbanged, danced and went to barrier AGAIN when Barry and Ross turned up for the dj set because “it’d be fun if they saw us”. They most defnitely did. Gangsta Barry put on the hip hop tunes and we continued our headbanging/dancing epicness and generally had the best fucking night of our lives.

Until I went to the bar to get a drink and the bartender did not give a FUCK about people so when I went back the dj set was over, oh well. Still the best night ever. DAMN.

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Twin Atlantic – Brixton Academy, London 7/5

Posted on June 7, 2015 | Leave a comment

Sooo. I was supposed to blog about these gigs ages ago, and I also thought I was going to do some editing on les photos. As you will see, neither happened. But at least I’m getting something up, finally. And this autumn I’m getting a camera that can shoot RAW, yes indeed.

Anywho, I got into London LATE for the gig. Thank you, signalling problems at Victoria, for that much needed heart attack. So didn’t make it to the hostel to leave my bag but at least I did make it to the venue before the soundcheck thing started. I was very against the whole soundcheck thing, mainly because it included early access and I find it ridiculous that you should be able to pay your way in before the people who queue the whole day. (THIS INCLUDES GETTING IN FIRST BECAUSE YOU HAVE A SPECIAL MOBILE PROVIDER O2 YOU FUCKING RETARDS.)

But then we got in and Twin Atlantic played A Guidance From Colour and it was all oh so worth it. YES. I also got to hear about 30 seconds of Audience and Audio and let’s just say I don’t doubt Sam when he says he couldn’t remember more haha. Happy for the little snippet though. Also got all of Lightspeed which was great. Then back out in the queue after receiving the “special gift”, that turned out to be a flag. SWEET. I dropped it in something within a minute when I got home and it now has to be washed, but still.

(It is now almost 3 weeks ago I started writing this and more than 4 weeks since the gig. Eh.)

The gig itself? Pretty damn epic. My second time at Brixton Academy (first was 30 Seconds to Mars in 2007). Felt very strange seeing them in such a big venue, and my personal opinion is that they’re still better at the 300-2000 capacity range. I really shouldn’t put off writing these things for so long, I barely remember the setlist… I know it didn’t contain Cell Mate, aha ahah. Oh well.  Uh.
Heart and Soul had huge balloons which Barry REALLY enjoyed kicking out at the audience (it was pretty great).

Afterwards we hung about outside for some hours to say hi, which was nice. Craig asked how Germany was, and I’m sure it’s great. As is Sweden, where I’m actually from haha. Sam thanked me again for travelling to see them and my respons was apparently “no problem” haha. Next time it’s gonna be “you’re welcome” I’m sure. I suck at those things. Took a less than serious photo with Ross as well.

Then to the hostel and sleeeeep before going to Birmingham the day after.

Here, have some pictures…
(I was going to edit them, then I gave up because they’re crappy phone jpegs.)

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Bernhoft – Katalin, Uppsala 4/3

Posted on March 6, 2015 | 2 comments

Two nights ago I saw the world’s best live artist.
It was all I expected it to be, and more. Bernhoft is live magic, and everyone should see him at least once. Whether you’re into funk or metal, it doesn’t matter. He’s a genius. I could try convincing you by asking you to listen to the albums, but it wouldn’t work. I could try by showing you youtube videos, which would be better but still not enough. See. Him. Live.

Still, there are some pretty great videos out there.
(So what I’m trying to say is… watch them.)

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Plan Three – Bandit Rock Awards, Colosseum, Stockholm 26/2

Posted on March 1, 2015 | Leave a comment

Plan Three plays their first gig in three years.
And it. was. EPIC.

Never seen them so… hardcore. Wow, guys. Raw and hard and they pulled that off better than I would have expected actually.
I don’t have much more to say, I look forward to many more live shows and I look forward to the new album.

Have some pictures!

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Nothing But Thieves – The Macbeth, London 1/12

Posted on January 31, 2015 | Leave a comment

That’s december 2014, I know. I’m quick.

Booked tickets and flights to go to London and see Twin Atlantic in a tiny pub. They cancelled. But the three of us who were going went anyway. And that was probably one of the best decisions I made last year. Want to know why?
I got to see Itch!

No I’m sorry, just kidding, Nothing against him really even if it’s not my cup of tea, just such a weird and wrong support for Twin Atlantic? What was good though, was that I got to meet Mareike (again) and Laureen and we had the best day in London. Walked around Camden and then I dragged them along with me to my favourite place, St. Christopher’s and Belushi’s. I do love that hostel/bar. Had some pretty great food and my staple when in London, Strongbow cider 😉 Also realised that they had jugs of snakebite for £5 after 5. So of course we hung around haha. After a couple of jugs it was time to move though, to The Macbeth! Not very crowded when we got there so we had a chill time.

Itch was first on stage and it was… weird. Amber Run second and while it was pretty good it didn’t really catch my attention. Headlining instead of Twin were Nothing But Thieves, originally meant to “only” be support. And they made the whole night. What an AWESOME fucking band. What an EPIC fucking voice. Holy shit. And other profanities as well. I had listened to them on Spotify before and while I did like them, nothing had prepared me for the live performance. Intense.

Reason I finally got this blogpost up is that I’m seeing them again on Sunday and Tuesday, this time supporting Gerard Way. I have a feeling it’ll be fantastic.


I apparently took all of one picture of NBT and it’s shit. But still.
20141201_222910

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