Gigs I'm going to. The Gyroscope diaries

I am giving up with live, amplified, concerts. More often than not, a really good, to great performance, ruined, by having to listen to some shit hifi, managed by a dickhead knob twiddler.
I have heard a number of systems, in peoples homes, at shows, etc, and almost without fail, the live music sounds worse.
Then the other punters who have almost anything to do, other than shut up, and listen to the music.
It is nice to see a really personable performer, tell stories, do alternate takes, and just engage with the audience.
But with the price of tickets, shit sound, and all the hassle, it is just going to be classical, or nothing.
Rant over.

The poor soiund can be annoying but yiu can’t beat a live performance IMHO.

Who was the recent culprit?

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Mary Chapin Carpenter and Bella Hardy at the Corn Exchange, in Cambridge.

Well, as I go to “listen” to them, the sound is a major factor.

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Fair point

I kind of agree, but it’s funny how we talk of going to “see” a band or concert.

You ‘watch’ the telly, but it would be a poorer experience if the sound was dreadful?

I’ve not been to a huge number of gigs tbh, but I think I’ve been pretty lucky on the whole. There was one where the sound engineer persistently failed to deal with a feedback issue throughout the gig (and he was actually a pretty good engineer, by his own admission he just “lost it” during that one), and the only other problem I encountered was a gig that was just way too quiet.

Wife and I are going to see Iron Maiden for our iron wedding anniversary :thumbsup: (her idea)

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Went to see Trichotomy at the Stables MK last night with Rabs. Strangely it was on Stage 2 which has no stage and is just a small room with seating for around 50 people. I’m amazed that a band can haul itself over from Australia and play such small venues. Great for the audience (especially at £10 a ticket) but I imagine all they are making is CD and LP sales. It’s the 3rd time they have played there too. They definitely deserved a bigger room and a larger audience.

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The Stranglers with The Ruts DC as support

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I heard/saw her play at Folk by Oak in 2015 - my conclusion was that despite being popular, and nice sounding on recorded media, that live she was terrible.

Went to see a band called The Blank Generation at my local pub on Saturday. They are a Brummie punk covers band playing Sex Pistols, Stiff Little Fingers etc from 76-79 era.

Tight band with a great front man. Not every week you hear Bodies belted out in the local pub :smiley:

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No idea, but they keep trooping in with fiddles, Northumberland pipes, bodhran, guitar.

I suspect it may be about to get very loud.

At the first sign of a flute or a penny whistle I recommend retreating to a safe distance, usually measured as ‘in a different Pub’.

No sign of woodwind yet, other than the inevitable interaction between my ileum and a pint of HPA.

It’s like a prog gig so far. We’re 10 minutes into a pipe solo. Bodhran guy is looking frustrated.

My brother was in a band once. They had a gig in a local pub with another band on before them. He came over to me while the first lot were setting up with his head in his hands. “Oh God” he said “… they’ve got a mandolin”. Ruined his whole night.

VB

Just got back from this http://www.odradek-records.com/event/6577/. They were very good ! There are a couple more dates to follow if you fancy a Viennese evening (not Strauss waltzes !).

VB

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Off to see Andy Fairweather Low tonight, perhaps one of the most underrated guitarists in the country. He’s a million miles away from his Amen Corner days ( although does include some of their songs in his show ), he plays a mixture of blues, rock, country and westernish music. Really looking forward to it having seen him many times, if he’s good enough for Clapton and George Harrison he’s good enough for me.

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