Author: jimmyc1968

2022 Gigs – Part 1

These articles will cover the gigs I have seen in 2022 that occurred in venues already covered in previous blogs.

An unwelcome and hugely disagreeable blast of Covid blighted Christmas 2021 and half of January for me, and as I am sure many others can relate to, has left me with a legacy of sporadic health dips since then. However, what the pandemic patently illustrated is that life is just too damn short, so I have continued to throw myself readily into attending as many gigs as feasibly possible!

In late January 2022, for the first time in my life I was called up on jury service. On my first day another attendee sat in my numbered seat resulting in a number change and in a ‘swinging doors’ moment they had a gentle one-day trial and were dismissed from service whilst I was thrown into a deeply unpleasant 11-day trial complete with emotional subject matter.

The Jury Room. Image Credit Coral Gables Art Cinema.

The other jury members were a fascinating cross section of society and I got pally with one chap as he was also a huge muso and regular gig goer and we have remained in touch and as a result he is obviously stored in my phone under the name of Barry Jury!

There have been a couple of high-profile trials recently at Manchester Crown Court, namely Olivia Pratt Korbel and Lucy Letby. The latter being a 10-month event and I have the utmost sympathy for anyone involved and impacted by that trial, including the jury members, who were understandably excused afterwards from jury service for the rest of their lives.

As they had been refurbishing the main court, my case was heard in the slightly strange environs of the Hilton Hotel but located fortuitously for myself right next to Deansgate station. As ever, I had my beady eye on a potential gig around that time but didn’t want to attend if the trial was still running. When it became evident that we would be delivering our verdict on 16/02/22 I prepared for a gig that evening.

It was however a chaotic travel day with high winds disrupting the metro and I had a catch a train in and metro home. Whilst walking home I contacted Uncle George and confirmed and purchased some tickets. Within the hour I was back on the train into town, and we headed on to Manchester Yes Pink Room.

The band playing was Nordic Giants, an unusual instrumental post rock duo who are adorned with masks on stage and have intriguing cinema shorts playing in the background, I thoroughly enjoyed their performance. The night predictably ended in a train cancellation and a resultant bus home; I slept well that night!    

Nordic Giants on stage. Image Credit Laut.

I attended another gig there in September to see Harriette Pilbeam, an Australian singer/songwriter who performs under the stage name Hatchie. It was on a Sunday night, and I ended up attending on my own so made the very unusual decision to drive, making it only about the fifth gig where I have done so. I am glad I made the effort to drag myself out as she was in good form.      

Also, in September I headed to their other venue Manchester Yes Basement to see Ducks Ltd, who hail from Toronto in Canada, and they are firmly in the Wedding Present mould, and they have also covered ‘Head On’ by Jesus and Mary Chain which can only be good things in my book!

Ducks Ltd. Image Credit entertainment-factor.blogspot.com

At the gig I finally met up with my first Twitter pals Sharon and Keith in a face-to-face environment who were very fine company. After the show Marcus, Paul and I rather shambolically stayed in the nearby Font Bar until the early hours, it was my last attendance at the bar as it closed forever a month later.

Preston Venues 52 to 53 Moor Park – Part 2

Sunday arrived and Gill and I were up bright and early for attended the Radio 1 Big Weekend on Preston Moor Park and with the weather set fair and my festival hat donned we traversed the fifteen-minute walk to the gates.

The festival site was located towards the ‘Deepdale Road’ end of the park where the football pitches are located, probably selected by the organisers as the best geographical drainage point. We were in place for the opening of the doors at 12 and there were three stages in operation, the Main Stage and the In New Music We Trust Stage, both under marquees and the Outdoor Arena for more dance orientated acts.

The exact location of the Radio 1 site. Image Credit blogpreston.co.uk

The first band we saw was an enjoyable set from the Enemy from Coventry with their mod-inspired sound. They had just released their debut album ‘We’ll Live and Die in These Towns’ which remarkably went straight to Number 1 in the UK Charts and in fact their first three albums all went Top Ten.

Next up was a musician called Sam Duckworth whose stage name is Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. He was followed by the Sri Lankan rapper Mathangi ‘Maya’ Arulprgasam who performs as the rapper M.I.A. which translates as either ‘Missing in Action’ or Missing in Acton’! She subsequently received an MBE in 2019 for her services to music.

We then saw Dizzee Rascal with his suitably ‘hammed up and bonkers’ set, with the London group the Klaxons followed Dizzee. Three months earlier they had released their debut album ‘Myths of the Near Future’ which went on to win the Mercury Prize later that year.

The day of watching bands was interspersed by wandering around the site, basking on the grass, having a cold brewski and seeing many people I knew. On one such foray I caught a segment of Rihanna singing her current hit ‘Umbrella’ which went to Number 1 that very day with its refrain of ‘Ella, Ella, Ella’!   

I also saw Just Jack and Mark Ronson, who has been a renowned collaborator with many acts such as Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga. The Dundee scamps the View were reassuringly shambolic and their ‘Superstar Tradesmen’ track was as gloriously anthemic and joyous as ever!  

The View. Image Credit tenementtv.com

We missed the Stereophonics as we decided to watch the full set of Newcastle Upon Tyne’s stalwarts Maximo Park, who probably shaded it as the highlight of my day with Paul Smith’s laconic delivery.  

We split the headliners and watched the first half of the set by Bloc Party before wandering over to view the final part of Kaiser Chiefs, who I always slightly cruelly paint as a cartoon band, but they do have some fine festival tunes and the lead singer Ricky Wilson was a whirling dervish on stage. He gave the security staff palpitations by clambering up a gantry during the outro of ‘I Predict a Riot’.  

The music finished bang on the curfew at 10pm and we sauntered the short distance home down the park reflecting on a never to be repeated day in Preston musical history!

On a much less grand scale there are other festivals that take place annually on the park. One such event is Rockprest that places its stage near to Preston Moor Park Pavilion which I attended the once in 2015. It is a tribute band event which I am always highly sceptical of but that was countered by the chance of visiting a new venue virtually on my doorstep, I believe the event continues to this day.

Preston Moor Park Pavilion. Image Credit flickr.com

I attended the day after gallivanting around the Heptonstall festival which I shall cover in a future blog. Thus, I was rather jaded and the two bands I saw, namely an East Lancashire act called Folkestra, and the nattily named Pearl Scam from Manchester who have been in operational since 2011, didn’t salve my fatigue. The torrential downpour obliterated my remaining resolve and I skulked homewards!