Tag: The Swans

2021 Gigs – Part 3

The third and final part of reviewing the 2021 gigs recommences with a couple of visits to Manchester Ritz. The venue is now firmly ensconced in my Top 3 venues visited list as I have been attending there consistently over the years since my first attendance in October 87 watching the astoundingly loud and intense Swans.

First up on 22/09 was the old stalwarts Ash, who I was watching for the sixth time, three of those being at festivals, and it was the first time I had seen them in eleven years. Prior to the gig we had a drink in Brew Dog near Albert Hall on Peter Street, coincidentally the most profitable Brew Dog bar in the world, and then feasted on a pizza that took an age to arrive in Rudy’s Neapolitan restaurant next door.

I thought they were decent but slightly one dimensional, and I always contend that their sound has never been quite as complete since Charlotte Hatherley left, though admittedly they do still have a bagful of recognisable tunes. I was at the bar mid-set when I found out that PNE had drawn Liverpool at home in the League Cup though that subsequently ended up with the usual golden chances missed and then inevitable defeat.  

Ash in Charlotte Hatherley days. Image Credit Steve Scalise.

The other attendance was to see Maximo Park on 10/10 which saw Rick Clegg toggle over for a rare appearance in Manchester and I think his first visit to the Ritz. After a trio of scoops in Yes, Lass O Gowrie and Temple Bar we headed into the venue. It was the second time I had seen them though overall not as enjoyable as my first sighting of them fourteen years earlier.   

I finally went full circle from my first ever blog and first Manchester venue by revisiting Manchester Apollo for the first time in thirteen years since being pummelled by the gentle My Bloody Valentine! There were four of us in attendance and we had a couple of pre-gig aperitifs in the Wine and Wallop in West Didsbury, the future of that chain being currently in doubt, prior to a cab to the venue.

Wine and Wallop. Image Credit DesignMyNight

When we reached the busy bar inside, we discovered they sold beer in two-pint pots which we decided to purchase though it wouldn’t accept my card asking me to input my pin details in. To my chagrin I realised the reason for this was the round cost £52, above the then limit of £50, this equated to an unacceptably brutal price of £6.50 per pint. Come on, Apollo, you can do much better than that!   

The band on stage was the ever-dependable Public Service Broadcasting who were in excellent form, and we had a cracking vantage point near the front.

My pal Marcus is a huge James fan and he persuaded me to attend their Manchester MEN Arena show in December. I had only just managed to purloin some tickets when they were released about a year earlier and was bizarrely sat waiting for an appointment in Stockport Specsavers at the time. I rather rudely had to ask for the lass to delay my appointment slightly as I had finally reached the booking page!

Our significant faux pas was to foolishly book our Covid booster appointments the day before the gig which resulted in Gill being unable to attend and myself feeling distinctly below average. We did consider watching the support act Happy Mondays only from a statistical angle viewpoint as it would have created a new personal record of 34 years between seeing a band as I first saw them in Camden in 1987, but in the end decided not to.

My record thus remains at a 28-year gap with Meat Puppets, however the Loop gig later this year will be just shy of a 32-year gap since witnessing them at my last ever gig at Manchester international 1 in 1990.

We were seated up in the gods with a side on view of the stage, the band were very good value over there 2hr 15-minute set and we watched the last track stood up by the barrier. Marcus headed off to a Christmas works do and I must have resembled a sulky teenage emo as I dragged my weary feet back from the tram stop!

We happened to be out and about of 21st December and sallied into the Manchester Parrs Wood, which will always have a special place in my heart as the first pub we ever visited on that mad day we relocated to Manchester, though there some people rather brazenly sat in ‘our seats’ from that first night! There was a band on stage called Irish Fiddle who performed the seemingly obligatory cover of ‘Dirty Old Town’.    

Nottingham Venue 30 – The Maze

On Mansfield Road, at the junction where Forest Fields commences sits the Forest Tavern pub. The hostelry is a real ale paradise, and you could happily quaff your way down the drink’s menu in the small front tap room. This was a regular haunt and quite often a last stop prior to stumbling across the dark forest fields on the way back to my brother’s residence.

In the back of the pub was a more spacious gig venue called the Maze. It was always a decent venue with a cracking sound system and was mainly a roots and ska place but did cover other genres. Despite a successful crowdfunding scheme to raise 20K in 2017 to revamp the premises, the venue sadly closed its doors for the final time in 2019 and there are now plans to convert the building into student flats.

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The Forest Tavern with the Maze located in the back of the building. Image Credit flickr.com

My first visit there in August 2009 was for a double bill with Minus Society providing the support. The headliners were a radical leftist punk band with the natty name of Leftover Crack from a squat in Manhattan, New York who produced a vibrant noisy set.

My next foray was in 2011 to see a fairly limp performance by a local band called Kick the Rabbit with Youth in Revolt in support. A couple of years later a dub band from Brighton called the Resonators were in residence and produced a suitable skanky set.  

My final visit there was on 08/05/15. The previous night we had watched North End beat Chesterfield 1-0 in the Play Offs in a pub further down Mansfield Road in the Sherwood area. The gig was originally planned for a café venue in town which I had not attended previously, but for the life of me I cannot recall the name of the place. Anyhoo, they moved it at a late date to the Maze venue.

First band on was Eyre View and the main support was Flyying Colours from Melbourne, Australia who I had totally forgotten I had seen until I checked my notes. I think I see too many bands which I don’t view as a problem, but it can cause bouts of partial amnesia! The reason for my surprise is that I adore this band now and had tickets to see them earlier this year, which was naturally cancelled by the pandemic, but will catch them at their rescheduled date in 2022. I recall enjoying their Slowdive influenced shoegaze heavy set.   

The main band was PinkShinyUltraBlast, a fabulously named shoegaze band hailing from St Petersburg in Russia. Listening to their recorded material beforehand I heard elements of Asobi Seksu, Sereena Maneesh and Cocteau Twins in their sound and they portrayed all that in a live setting. What was so astonishing was the volume, and I mean thunderous white noise pin you to the walls sonic attack type of volume, which was all encompassing in a fun way but did lose a smidge of the subtlety.

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PinkShinyUltraBlast on stage. Image Credit www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk

As a result, I would have to include them in my Top 5 loudest live bands list alongside more recognisable luminaries in this genre of Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine, Swans and Pelican.