Tag: Jesus and Mary Chain

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.

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!