Tag: Explosions in the Sky

Manchester Venues 87 to 88 Albert Hall – Part 3

Now I could be wrong here, but my impression is that the early shows immediately post- pandemic appeared to have less tickets on sale as for a spell there was more room to breathe, even at sold out shows. Then, the sold-out events seemed to become much busier and for me this is one of the flaws in Manchester Albert Hall’s arsenal as at some of their gigs there you literally cannot move. A case in point was a Mogwai date this year where I was pinned in a spot by the bar (though there are worse places to be!) which didn’t allow you to adjust your position or viewpoint even if you wanted to.   

My next gig at the venue was to see Car Seat Headrest in November 2018. I have always been a huge fan of this band ever since I first heard the track ‘Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales’, the song is derived from the 2016 ‘Teens of Denial’ album. That album ticks so many musical boxes from me and I would rate is as highly as being one of my Top 10 albums.  

Car Seat Headrest. Image Credit Billboard.

The driving force behind the band is Will Toledo who as a solo member self-released an astonishing 12 records between 2010 and 2014 before becoming a fully-fledged band the following year. In my view their music is so thoughtful and heartfelt but beautifully wrapped up in a crunchy garage rock sound which I have an inherent weakness for. The lo-fi lyrics talk specifically and empathise with the waifs and strays, lonely and dispossessed bedroom warriors of the world and the audience that night reflected that cross-section of the population, and I thoroughly enjoyed their show and the resulting exultant sing along!

As part of the Dot-to-Dot festival in 2018, I saw Dream Wife, a three-piece pop punk band from Brighton. I saw so many bands that day, and I cannot recall a note of whatever portion of their set I witnessed, but they do appear to have received a fair degree of critical acclaim since then.

July 19 resulted in seeing two reforming 90’s bands but neither hit the heights for me. The first being the Anglo-French combo Stereolab, who came across as a tad self-indulgent. The second was the Glaswegian lo-fi popsters Belle and Sebastian whose ongoing driving force has been Stuart Murdoch. They formed in 1996 and have produced twelve studio albums. Their previous members have included Isobel Campbell who collaborated on a couple of excellent albums with the late great Mark Lanegan.    

Their jaunty single ‘The Boy with the Arab Strap’ was featured on the soundtrack of the ‘Juno’ movie and the C4 series ‘Teachers’ featuring a young Andrew Lincoln. In my opinion though, Andrew’s defining role remains the character Egg in the fantastic ground-breaking BBC 2 series ‘This Life’. Despite a couple of decent moments, the band were too twee for me.

In February 2020 I saw the Texan post-rock band Explosions in the Sky where it was patently clear when we were out and about that the dark clouds of Covid where beginning to form. In November 21 the old troubadours Jesus and Mary Chain were back on tour, and I was seeing them for the eighth time in total and for the first time in seven years. They played their excellent second album ‘Darklands’ in full and following an intermission played some further tunes. They sounded in very fine form and Jamie looked well though William looked a little weather worn and was seated throughout the performance.      

Jesus and Mary Chain. Image Credit exclaim!

In April 2022, I saw Sea Power (now without the British in their name) for the sixth time and later that year witnessed Mountain Goats. The latter band being from California and their constant member is John Darnielle, and for many years he operated as the solo member. Their name was derived from a line in a Screamin’ Jay Hawkins song, and they were firmly in the folk-rock vein and there were some die-hard fans in attendance.

My most current gig there was a couple of months ago to watch Eels who provided a soothing performance led by the distinctive vocals and quirky presence of Mark Oliver Everett (stage name E). They were supported on the night by the French soul rock band Inspector Cluzo.    

One postscript before I go, when leaving the hall during Dot-to-Dot festival in 2018 there was a Manchester Albert Hall Beer Van situated right outside the venue. There was an impromptu gig taking place in the open van by some accomplished musicians called the Road Crew, it was an enjoyable interlude before walking on to the next venue!  

Manchester Venue 31 Night and Day – Part 2

My first visit to Night and Day Café was unusually to see a support band on 02/11/06. The band in question was the terrifically named post-rock outfit Amusement Parks on Fire from Nottingham. I had picked up on them via their second album Out of the Angeles with its distinctive sci-fi sleeve cover. They were a decent noisy live act with the venue only about a third full.

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Amusement Parks on Fire ‘Out of the Angeles’ album cover. Image Credit Discogs

For the main act Mumm Ra I recall there was a hugely overactive guitar tech thoroughly prepping the kit, unfortunately despite the odd moment the headliners were a tad limp and a bit twee for my tastes.

In May 2012 we headed in after another gig at the Soup Kitchen and caught a portion of Rooftop Runners set who were a Berlin based electronic combo comprising two Canadian brothers. We caught a further gig at Gulliver’s that night to complete a commendable trifecta. The following year we saw local act Egyptian Hip Hop who supported The Words.      

I also saw John Steele Singers, a non-descript six-piece from Brisbane in Australia and witnessed a decent fuzzy surf pop set called Get Inuit from Kent in 2015 as part of the Carefully Planned Festival.  

On a cold January night in January 2008 we decided ambitiously to do a double header of gigs which was deemed feasible by the virtue of Night and Day having later set times. So, after witnessing most of the Explosions in the Sky set at the Academy and additionally finding out North End had got an important victory over West Bromwich Albion, we jumped in a cab in true movie style and landed right on cue to see the much touted Glasvegas wander on stage.

The Glaswegians had a real presence about them, and this is surprisingly for me to say but on this occasion, they overcompensated with volume which resulted in them losing a degree of the subtlety of their self-titled debut album material. The song highlights on the night were ‘Geraldine’ and Stabbed’, the latter being a particularly dark heartfelt track.

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Glasvegas on stage. Image Credit GDR.

After the gig we ensconced to the bar and upon suddenly realising the late train was due we smuggled the remaining half bottles of Budvar out of the venue to accompany the walk back. Upon turning the corner to trot up the hill to Piccadilly station there was a young copper who on espying us had a big grin on his face due to the combined age of about 140 between the three of us. His opening riposte was ‘I am not going to have any trouble with you lads am I?’ to which he got three nods of assent and astutely asked us to lose the bottles at the bin 100 yards beyond him before we entered the station, a fine example of community policing if ever I saw one, so well done to him!   

On other visits I saw Low Island, an interesting Wrexham band called Gallops and an experimental project called Self Esteem consisting solely of Rebecca Lucy Taylor who was previously a member of Slow Club. I additionally saw Brad Stark and Seazoo, a quirky Welsh indie band. I witnessed a fine set from an Australian/Danish duo called Palace Winter who as a result of their quality I then made a conscious effort to see them in their own right a couple of years later.

It is now exactly a year to the day (13/03/20) since I saw my last gig of Nada Surf at Hop and Grape, which is naturally my longest ever gap between gigs. But there are now chinks of light on the horizon and I am hopeful of having my first vaccine soon. I have now started booking some gigs for later in the year which is very exciting!