#thank you Willie J healey

[nicoscheer]

Championship rounds. Mucho hurto with big @Mileskane

That sensei at the end of Willie’s turn got me cackling

-

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Miles reposted

The reel

[songspiral]

"Thank You" by Willie J Healey, feat. Jamie T

[yellowloid]

my experience at am's show (rock in roma, ippodromo delle capannelle - 16/07/2023)

SO you know the drill by now this is the compulsory recap post i need to write because i'm terrified of forgetting about things and i also have so much more footage this time around (i basically recorded the whole concert while in paris i kinda did but idk i had much less stuff it was my first time so i was just too overwhelmed ajfnwidjsj). you knew it was coming i just needed to sort my thoughts out and i know some of those things have already been said but idc i'm writing them down anyway + i rewatched all my videos so i have a lot to say so LET'S GO

• first of all i want to preface this by saying that it was +40° degrees in rome and gates were opened at 3pm. opening bands started at ~6:30 and am came on stage at 9:40. needless to say everyone was cooking under the sun and slowly losing our collective minds i swear i've never drunk so much water my entire life and still felt like i was shrinking

• it was also my first proper concert standing in a pit + i was lucky enough to have tickets for the closest section to the stage and kind of a decent view despite the fact that i'm literally 5'2

• still i confirmed my opinion that i very much prefer seated tickets (not a big fan of standing in a crowd i must admit) ESPECIALLY when it comes to summer concerts because there was literally NO AIR just weed smoke and most importantly sweat i swear i couldn't breathe. we were fairly close to the stage but at what cost

• i wasn't particularly excited about the opening acts (as i wasn't for inhaler back in may) BUT i have to say they both slayed so hard??? willie j healey was so fucking cute and thoughtful with the crowd (we were under the shadow of the stage but the more far back section of the pit was directly under the scorching sun his whole set and he kept asking if they were okay) and the hives hyped up the crowd so fucking much??? their stage presence was incredible everyone loved them

• the breaks in between opening acts and am were filled with the festival replaying the same harry styles/rosalia/*random italian trapper* songs over and over again and at some point the crowd was about to riot because FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TURN THAT SHIT OFF not even joking when i say we heard the same hs song at least 30 times i swear dante alighieri used that as inspiration to write his inferno

• everyone was sweaty dirty tired and kinda fucked up from the sun and by the time am was about to come on stage i was contemplating my chances of not passing out and praying to god clinging to the bit of energy i still had in me to hold on for just an hour and a half more

• just making it clear this wasn't in any way their fault they came on at the time they were supposed to and everything turned out fine it was just. concerts in rome in the middle of july are.........something

• BUT ANYWAY after hours of us slowly decomposing it was finally time for am!!!!!!!!!

• they opened with sculptures and honestly THANK GOD because (maybe unpopular opinion? idk idc argue with the wall) that is just how it should be. not a big fan of brianstorm as an opener

• alex introduced teddy picker by saying "haven't you heard? teddy is back!"

• he also introduced the view with "let's go back to the very beginning" at which my heard did a bit of a !!!!

• after the view and before 4/5 he randomly went "feeling professional... 🎶 tonight 🎶

• he was feeling sooooo silly the whole show (<3) but he really went crazy with the spoken antics during 4/5

• he clapped his hands as he sang "with coloured old grey whistle test👏 lights👏" which weirdly scratched something just right in my brain

• "and that's unheard of... here in roma or anywhere else for that matter... nobody's done that!"

• he changed the lyrics and went "the only time that I stop laughing is to breathe or steal a kiss" and then proceeded to send a kiss to the crowd

• "four stars out of five... why don't you put that in your [pile]? / four stars out of five... ten times out of nine"

• "four stars out of five... that's right... that's why i like it! 😜" at the very end, said in the most adorable tee-hee way i can't even begin to describe it

• the piano interlude before high was sprinkled with the saddest series of "why... why... why..." ever uttered by man 💔

• after high he said " fantastic! ... what a night"

• "i wanna tell you about a girl that i made up... 💁‍♂️ ages ago 💁‍♂️" as an introduction to arabella

• i'm sure you've seen the video going around but during arabella he noticed a fan was (i think?) crying and asked "are you okay?" before resuming his singing

• "the horizon tries but it's just not as kind on the eyes...... ‼️RRRRRRROMAAAAAAA‼️......... as arabella"

• after the song ended he thanked the crowd by going "good work everyone... jolly good. grazie"

• he thanked the crowd a lot, said grazie/grazie mille a lot, and frequently said roma instead of rome (idk why i found that cute but yeah <3) and his way of rolling his r's when speaking italian was just too adorable i wanted to put him in a blender and drink him as a smoothie

• the version of do me a favour that they've been playing lately sounds slightly softer than the original and i'm all for it. it amplifies the vibe of exhausted resignation that lingers in the lyrics and it just sounds so devastating i love it

• he lifted the mic stand during the song +  pretended to break something in half during the "to start to break in half" line and yeah. that was also what he was doing to my heart

• no he did not have a mullet he just arranged his hair in a way that made it seem like it for a split moment. why did i see people on twitter hoping for the mullet........DON'T GIVE HIM IDEAS

• "tremendous.... thank you 💅"

• also about that rumour going around of him pointing at louise during the "may i call you her name" - he literally acted out the whole line, pointed to himself, then at a random hypothetical you, then sidestage; he was not pointing at anyone specifically + why would anyone want that song dedicated to them lmao like. did the people saying it's romantic read the lyrics or

• also you know who else was in the general direction of him pointing? that's right everybody. mr jamie cook himself. maybe he uses he/she pronouns and alex wants to call someone jamie's name. have you considered that

• okay i'm sorry enough with the bullshit

• he said something during cornerstone and right before dancefloor that i caught on video but i can't really understand what he says so i'll probably end up posting those bits to see if we can figure out wtf he was on about

• "crawling back to you..... ‼️OH‼️ ever thought of calling when you've had a few"

• "🎶 ~rooomaaaaa~ 🎶.... thank you for having us everybody, what a beautiful audience.... soooo predictable i knowwww what you're thinkiiiing"

• he was so obsessed with crooning "roma" every chance he got <3 the silly <3333

• "lone ranger riding through an open space... THANKS A LOT in my mind when she's not right there beside me"

• now a list of random things he does at nearly every show that i still found very endearing:

- the "squeezed me very tightly" bit which is always so 💞💞💞

- "NO! you can't call me her name" with the NO said in the most 'child throwing a tantrum but make it cute' way

- the way he directed matt during the mirrorball intro and matt going 'y'all hear sumn?'

- "5......0......5......"

- him swaying his hips in a way that made everyone's knees buckle in a 10-mile radius

• about the interactions with the others: he didn't interact with them that much, i think he didn't even scissor with jamie during the body paint outro :( BUT we got the directing matt bit before mirrorball + a shout out to tom rowley

• i think in paris i noticed it less because i was seated, or maybe i just noticed it in a different way because i got some different songs (star treatment with the green/purple lights, pretty visitors with the red ones), but still - the lights are incredible and the fact that they create different lighting games for each song (like the blue ones for body paint or the golden ones for am songs) is so cool and fascinating i was mesmerised

• about the crowd: i made the mistake of getting into a telegram group of people who were going to see them and most of them were such casual fans they even believed the fake setlist that was going around a while ago as a joke on twitter 😭 the one with songs like the jeweller's hands. my brother in christ that's never going to happen

there were people going like "if they play r u mine i'm gonna die" and like bruh i appreciate the naivety but it's so painfully obvious they're gonna play it at least have a bit of creativity with your wishful thinking 😔

generally speaking the crowd was really REALLY hyped for am classics and wpsia/fwn oldies, while they were mostly completely dead during the car tracks it was disappointing to say the least. once again i was the only one popping my pussy

• BUT LET'S TALK ABOUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS. i was so fucking scared they wouldn't play cornerstone and perfect sense but mostly the latter bc it's much less likely to be played... and it meant so much to me to hear them live, i didn't get either of them at the paris show so i just. ugh. they're in my top 5 am songs if not my absolute favourites and they just mean so much i fucking needed to hear them

• AND THEY PLAYED THEM BOTH. they did it for ME. cornerstone had me so emotional and i'm not joking when i say perfect sense had me ugly sobbing while singing along

• i just. i love that song so much. he just looked so small on that stage singing such vulnerable lyrics, and even tho the crowd was mostly dead (rude if you ask me) he still finished the song by sending a kiss and saying the nth "grazie mille" and i just wanted to hug him so bad i was literally devastated i love him so much

• we also got the jet skis/star treatment/iwby mashup!!!!! most of the tiktok fans had no idea what was happening and kept singing the original lyrics while i once again popped my pussy rapping along with him. i'm so glad he decided to do it and i got to hear it live!!!! it just sounds so damn good ugh

• the setlist as a whole was everything i could've wished for i was so satisfied with it

• the show ended with him sending and catching kisses and just smiling so much i just wanted to tear him to pieces what who said that

• as usual they all sounded and looked INCREDIBLE and alex was just.......... ugh. the most gorgeous of boys. he's so beautiful it makes me SICK. the crowd was literally hypnotised by him, his charm and stage presence is CRAZY and everyone just can't help but stare at him in awe and reverence because his aura is just something else. no one does it like him fr. leaves me speechless every single time

• they're all so fucking beautiful and talented and seeing them feels like a fucking out-of-body experience every single time

• i miss them like air I MISS HIM LIKE AIR....... the pcd is hitting hard and i honestly have no idea wtf i'm gonna do with myself once tour is over and they yeet themselves out of the public scene for god knows how long i don't even want to think about it

• long story short i love them so much it literally hurts it's not even funny and i already want to see them again </3

• also bonus: after the show ended there was a HUGE traffic jam due to the fact that 35k people were trying to leave the place all at once SO we spent the next two hours (TWO HOURS) stuck in the parking lot exhausted dirty sweaty and still dying in the heat bc it was literally 1am but it was still so hot it was hell. then danza kuduro came on the radio and it was so random that was the last straw to send me k.o. for good

• overall crazy experience but yeah i love them so much i want to see them again sooooo bad </3 PLEASE COME BACK </3333

• so yeah that was my experience at rock in roma i hope you enjoyed my ramblings xx

[jetskisonyourmoat]

Thanks for tagging me @hesterias ☺️

go to your 'on repeat' playlist on spotify (heavy rotation mix on apple music), throw it on shuffle and share the first 10 songs you get:

1. Drunk Walk Home - Mitski

2. I Want - Mk.gee

3. Far Away - Little Simz

4. Energy Fleets - King Krule

5. I Don’t Smoke - Mitski

6. Father Time - Kendrick Lamar

7. The Apple - Willie J Healey

8. Long Hot Summer - The Style Council

9. How Do You Sleep? - John Lennon

10. Opening - Dabney Morris (Sometimes I think about dying- Original score)

No Monkeys/Miles/TLSP 🫣 someone should take my stan card away 😭

Tried to tag people who I haven’t seen post this yet, obviously there’s no pressure ☺️ @nicoscheer @arcticshadowturtles @manuonthemoat @dancelittlehellcat @wh0s-3v3

[reboundernyc]

cover of Willie J. Healey's "thank you"

[luciochaves]

Willie J Healey - Thank You (Later... with Jools Holland)

[alexstorm]

Willie J Healey lol that name makes my head hurt. The Hives (only in Italy) and the other one (all dates) sounds like an insult. Ian McAndrew did this then since he's under his label. Thank you Ian for another boring 70's guy it's really what was missing. And he got dropped by Columbia too. McAndrew should let it with having AM bc he's not good at choosing other musicians.

I haven’t really looked into who else Ian manages apart from these two. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Inhalers were on his roster too. All them straight white men. So diverse of Ian!

[murobrown]

Glad I made your morning, and hoping your day is going well.

If you made a playlist for today, which 3 songs would be on it ?

Hi anon! 😊 Thank you and I hope your day is going well too! You're very lovely ❤️

Also that's such an interesting question! I think I'd say:

1. Lazy Shade Of Pink by Willie J Healey

2. Champagne Supernova by Oasis

3. Friday On My Mind by The Easybeats

[nicoscheer]

Thanks for tagging me @misskattylashes and @jetskisonyourmoat 🫶🏽

go to your 'on repeat' playlist on spotify or in my case heavy rotation mix on apple music, throw it on shuffle and share the first 10 songs you get:

Just to add I generally listen to about 3.500 songs on shuffle so this is veeery random

-first of my kind~ Miles Kane

-Suffragette City~ David Bowie

-are you gonna be my girl~ Jets

-hot love~ t.rex

-be young, be foolish, be happy~ the Tams

-Starburster~ Fontaines D.C.

-black Camaro~ Willie J Healey

-Johnny be good~ Chuck Berry

-with a little help from my friends~ the Beatles

-fluorescent adolescent~ Arctic Monkeys

I nominate (and obviously no pressure at all to participate): @dirty-pretty-jackal-s , @humbuginmybones , @should-know-better , @the-thing-about-life-is , @dancingshoess

[dusted-0negin]

🎵

Thank you!

1. o pasatebos (remix) - manolis hiotis

2. subterraneans - willie j healey

3. покажи мне любовь (remix) - liam howard

4. runway - sexual purity

5. the hippy hippy shake - the beatles

send me 🎵 for questionable music recommendations 🤠

[newmusickarl]

Album & EP Recommendations

The Theory of Whatever by Jamie T

Whilst I don’t enjoy not having new Jamie T music to listen to, I do find the English singer-songwriter to be at his best when he takes his sweet time to make a record.

Whilst his debut album Panic Prevention will always be the sentimental favourite due to its impact during my youth, arguably his best album arrived in 2014 in the form of Carry On The Grudge. Arriving five long years after his sophomore outing Kings & Queens, it was packed with dark character-driven pieces and emotional tales of heartbreak, sewn together by Jamie's raw, honest and often poignant words. It would go on to be my runner-up Album of the Year in 2014 and left me eager for a quick return.

Jamie relatively quickly obliged, dropping the follow-up Trick just a couple of years later. Bringing in more Grime and Garage elements into his sound, that record did have its moments like Tinfoil Boy, Drone Strike, Tescoland and Self Esteem, however it sadly never quite hit the same heights as its predecessor. With a B-Sides collection then released in 2018, it seemed like Jamie might even be getting ready to call it a day. Thankfully this wasn’t the case and now, six long years after Trick, Jamie is back in business - and business is booming.

The Theory of Whatever is the sound of Jamie T back at the top of his game, with the album gleaming with his ever-present tales of misdemeanour and good times with friends. Although there are also mentions of his battles with drug addiction and pandemic-induced anxiety at times too, that distinct ride-or-die spirit woven into the heart of the record ensures it’s always a positive listen. With revered artists such as Foals’ Yannis Phillippakis (a self-confessed Jamie T superfan), Matt Maltese, Willie J Healey and Hugo White (formerly of The Maccabees) also assisting to help hone these songs, the result is an album right up there with his very best work.

90s Cars is a terrifically moody introduction, a shimmering nostalgia-soaked track centred on a big bassline and some playful synths. It leads perfectly into lead single The Old Style Raiders, which remains one of my favourite Jamie T songs to date. A typically soaring indie anthem, it boasts big guitar chords and a hugely uplifting chorus, with Jamie belting out anguished cries of “Hard to find your something to love in life.” Easily one of the best singles of the year for me.

British Hell then arrives with some early Arctic Monkeys’ style vigour, before The Terror of Lambeth Love delivers a sub two-minute short story that bridges the gap nicely over to Keying Lamborghinis, another big album highlight. With Jamie’s spacey reverbed vocals reiterating “She’s keying Lamborghinis in my mind” against a mesmerising backdrop of pulsating acid-soaked synths and a hip-hop style piano melody, it makes for an incredible sonic and lyrical display.

Second single St. George Wharf Tower then arrives to momentarily slow the pace with a raw and minimalist heartbreak lament, offering up one of Jamie’s best vocal performances of the whole album. The pace is quickly picked back up again though thanks to the full throttle punk of A Million & One New Ways To Die and raucous recent single Between The Rocks.

Heading into the back end and Jamie continues to deliver some of the best songs of his career, with Talk Is Cheap finding him at his most open and vulnerable. As he sings of being “rudderless” before the gut-punching refrain of “So rose-tint your glasses, I’m wrapped up in plastic, I still think I’m in love with you”, you’ll find yourself suitably stirred. The tale of heartbreak is then seemingly continued on epic penultimate track Old Republican, as Jamie sings of the “cruellest game of love” against some emphatic indie-rock instrumentation. Finally 50,000 Unmarked Bullets brings the record to a glorious close with a stripped-back and climatic piano ballad.

Safe to say even after one week, I already adore this album and can only see myself returning to it as the months roll on, with Jamie serving up a near-flawless project full of auditory and lyrical majesty. If you had forgotten in the six years he has been away, this is Jamie T reminding everyone why he is still one of this generation’s most treasured storytellers.

Listen here

Entering Heaven Alive by Jack White

Earlier this year, music’s mad scientist Jack White served up his brilliant first album of 2022, Fear of the Dawn. One of his best solo outings to date, the album found Jack picking up where he left off with 2018’s Boarding House Reach, still playing around and pushing the limits of his signature blues rock sound. Where that album would have you smiling in bemusement at the crazy sounds you were hearing, Fear of the Dawn was more controlled chaos, with Jack reigning in the experimentation somewhat to replace it with humungous riffs and all kinds of playful studio tricks.

Now from the singles heading into Entering Heaven Alive, it seemed that Jack’s second record of 2022 would be the more traditional of the two and that is indeed the case. Where Fear of the Dawn was the boundary-pushing rock record built mostly on thunderous electric guitars, Entering Heaven Alive is a more acoustic, timeless-sounding affair. As a result, it can’t quite match the full-throttle excitement of Fear of the Dawn, meaning this is probably the slightly less enthralling record of the two – but only just. Needless to say, there are still plenty of gems to be found in this collection as well.

Opener A Tip From You to Me is an immediate highlight, a brilliant piano-driven track centred on Jack’s refrain of “Love leave me alone tonight.” This is then followed by the equally great All Along The Way which is White at his barest of bones, a plucky bluesy number which briefly lights up midway through with added organs and electric guitars. Help Me Along is then a light-hearted string-tinged love song, that calls back to some of his best early Blunderbuss cuts.

Lead single Love Is Selfish remains classic Jack White, again tapping into the most timeless and heartfelt nature of his song writing. I’ve Got You Surrounded (With My Love) is another big highlight, based around some jazzy piano and a stinging central guitar riff, harking back to his White Stripes days. Then lurking amongst a couple of more plodding tracks, recent single If I Die Tomorrow rocks up with a wonderfully cinematic slice of modern Americana to save things in the back half.

So whilst Fear of the Dawn just about edges it by being a more engaging front-to-back listen, this is still another solid outing from Jack, as he gets back to basics for some of his most enduring solo material. With shades of The White Stripes and his less experimental early solo material, this one is well worth your time.

Listen here

Tracks of the Week

Polygod by Hayden Thorpe

This man just does not miss! This week, the ex-Wild Beasts frontman announced an exciting deluxe edition of his incredible sophomore solo album, Moondust For My Diamond, one of my Top 5 Albums of 2021. Featuring several remixes and four brand new tracks, single Polygod is the first taste of this forthcoming deluxe edition and it finds Hayden in his usual spellbinding form.

Written at the same time as Moondust For My Diamond, Polygod continues the free-spirited energy and electronic textures of that record, with Hayden repeating the instantly catchy refrain of “Set me on fire” against some richly-layered, glistening instrumentation. About midway through the track really comes alive, with some piercing, 80s-style distorted guitars bringing some additional funky flavour to the track.

Best experienced with the wonderfully vintage music video, which sees Hayden donning some angel wings as he performs on stage and dances with a flare in some seemingly enchanted woods.

Watch the brilliant video for Polygod here

How Do I Make You Love Me? By The Weeknd

It is no surprise that this cut from The Weeknd’s afterlife-exploring fifth album Dawn FM has been one of my most played songs of the year so far. Soaked in synth-pop grandeur with a hugely catchy chorus, it seemed like only a matter of time before this one got released as a single. This week was the week, with Abel dropping the song alongside a striking and graphic new visual.

Following on from the video to Out of Time earlier this year, the animated visual sees a masked, decaying Abel getting chased by surgeons, giant butterflies, gory balloons and creepy swamp creatures, before turning back into a young boy by the video’s end. As ever it’s a captivating and incredibly artistic music video, showing that Abel continues to be leagues ahead of all other popstars on the planet right now.

Watch the incredible video for How Do I Make You Love Me here

2001 (Apple Music Home Session) / Life Is Yours by Foals

The Oxford trio’s seventh album Life Is Yours has been the soundtrack to the summer so far, thanks to its infectious collection of indie bangers and vibrant, dance-heavy grooves. The opening title track has been one of the biggest highlights of that record and now it’s great to see it finally get a single release, complete with a colourful accompanying video.

That’s not the only new item Foals gifted us this week however, as they also released an excellent three track live EP for Apple Music. Teaming up with the London Contemporary Orchestra, they incorporated tuned percussion, baritone saxophone and cello to deliver new versions of Life Is Yours and Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2 favourite, Wash Off. However, the pick of the bunch is recent single 2001, which is lifted even higher into heavenly territory thanks to the added orchestration.

Watch the video for Life Is Yours here

Listen to the Apple Music Home Session version of 2001 here

Cracker Island by Gorillaz

Released initially at the end of June, Gorillaz’s awesome collaboration with Thundercat sees Damon Albarn bring some Blur-style energy to this hypnotic blend of pulsating electro and smooth disco. Now this week, the band released the spectacular and colourful new partially animated video that, as ever with the Gorillaz, brings a whole new realm of life to their latest work.

Watch the Cracker Island video here

Murder Me (Acoustic) by Blood Red Shoes

And finally this week, Brighton duo Blood Red Shoes continue to reinterpret tracks from their brilliant sixth studio album, Ghosts On Tape, which was released earlier this year and remains a personal favourite of mine. This time its Murder Me that gets a string-tinged acoustic makeover, coming out sounding like a spritely yet macabre cautionary tale from the Victorian era, with a little bit of Spanish flair lurking in there too. Fantastically fantastical as always from these two.

Listen here

[amymorrison35]

2, 8, 9, 16, 22 🌷💝

Thank you! 🥰

2. What band/artist needs more love?

Oh, many! First one that always comes to my mind is Willie J Healey. I love his music so much, I listen to it all the damn time. Everybody reading this: if you don’t know his music yet, give it a listen!

8. What is your biggest musical guilty pleasure?

Probably Loredana lmao. Her songs always have good beats though.

9. How do you make your playlists?

It mostly starts out with one song that puts me in a certain mood and then I want more songs that put me in a similar mood, if that makes any sense. This explains my out of control Spotify which contains tons of different playlists 💀 Many of them are neglected but I hold on to them “just in case”.

16. How do you feel about artists “selling out”?

I don’t really know how to answer this one because “selling out” is quite a vague term and everyone defines it differently it seems. It also heavily depends on how much I’m into a certain artist and what they mean to me.

22. What artist did you try to like because you thought they were “cool”, but just couldn’t get into?

This one’s interesting. I’ve tried getting into The Rolling Stones quite often but it’s never worked. One friend also always tries to get me into Bruce Springsteen and everybody seems to love him but I don’t dig him at all. There are a lot more but I can’t think of any right now.

[luciochaves]

Willie J. Healey - Thank You | A Take Away Show

[viewfromthedrumstool]

USA Tour, day 16

Our final internal flight is from Seattle down to California and it’s a much more casual affair than flying international. Sat on the back row next to Lynn from Taiwan I trace the course of the Pacific coast, a clear view in a cloudless sky through the starboard porthole.

Back on Californian soil! I was last here a year ago with my pal Willie J Healey. He and the boys are back out on tour in the UK with Sundara Karma as we speak and as lucky as I am to be here I am missing the craic with the laddies. But I’ll be seeing them soon for the last couple of dates.

Meanwhile back in San Fran the air is warm and there’s a wonderful softness to the light. It’s another city that needs to be seen to be believed - the streets slope up at gravity defying angles (has anyone played Crazy Taxi?) and I hope the park brake on the rental van is secure...

We check in at the Casa Loma Hotel on Fillmore Street, one of the less glamorous residences of the tour but probably my favourite: it’s rich in California vibe and strikingly similar in name and ambience to the Alta Loma from Ask The Dust by John Fante.

However the wonky floor and sloping beds combined with the rolling San Fran streetscape meant I’d have to wait until we were beyond the city limits before I would really know which way was up again.

JMac (FOH) finds a restaurant a few blocks north and some of us head down the hill for dinner. The Alamo Square Seafood Grill is a family owned fish joint and the waitress does a glorious job of remembering all 6 of our starter, main, dessert and wine selections by memory. I have pear salad, grilled snapper and split a peach cobbler and a floating island with Gerard washed down with a few glasses of Napa Valley Grenache. The food is probably the bestest freshest of the tour so far and the restaurant is the perfect blend of quality fare and fine wine but with a comfortable casual atmosphere.

Afterwards we head back up towards the hotel and stumble across ‘Originals Vinyl’ on the corner of Fillmore and Hayes.

Watching Bob Stanley in a record store is witnessing Bob Stanley in his natural habitat. He fingers the records with speed and finesse, his digits rifling rapidly through the racks, eyes scanning the sleeve and his brain computing and analysing the results, cross-referencing artist, issue and condition against his mammoth internal database.

A sparkle in his eye - and his haul of 12″s tucked firmly under his arm (I hear rumours that his house started subsiding on the end that he kept his record collection...) - he leaps between Country and Soul, pauses over Rock to recommend me a Louden Wainwright III, before darting to Disco to dig out that illusive early Bee Gees seven-inch. There’s something almost athletic about his manner, and it’s clear I’m witnessing a master: like watching Picasso paint, Ronaldo in the air or Taylor at the oche.

The rest of the evening I spend back in the casa with the windows open, the cool Cali evening air wafting gently while the Yankees play the Twins on the TV.

Awaken the following morning to a room bathed in soft California sunlight that streaks through the blinds and bounces about every white surface. Gerard, Silvia, James and myself head first to ‘Brenda’s Meat & 3 Three’ for a southern-style breakfast followed by a long walk to the northern coast of the San Fran Peninsula, heading down Fillmore Street, west on Broadway, down the Lyon Street Steps, through Presidio park eventually emerging to gasps and guffaws beside the Golden Gate Bridge.

Yonder to our gig and it’s our biggest show of the tour at the iconic Fillmore. They have a tradition of designing custom posters for shows at the venue and much of the interior wall space is filled with the colourful pieces - the Grateful Dead, Tom Petty, Led Zeppelin, and The Who. Wilco, Sigur Ros, Radiohead, and among them even two for past Saint Etienne shows...!

Afore the show JMac and myself head out to catch the thrilling finale of the Diamondbacks/Rockies wildcard game but have to leave before it ends to catch Shawn Lee’s set. Shawn produced St Et’s recent ‘Home Counties’ album and will be supporting for the final three shows of the tour.

Sarah is in fine voice tonight and we have one of the best shows of the tour. It’s a touching moment when she hands her feather bower to a fan on the front row while all around him celebrate his acquisition and share in his joy. I felt like I was witnessing the very happiest moment of someone’s life and it is was a poignant reminder of just how much these gigs mean to people (another fan turned up in a home-made embroidered ‘Saint Etienne - Home Counties’ denim jacket!).

After the show Pete, John and myself head across the road to the Boom Boom Bar which is a classic dark Cali dive bar where the unseen of San Franciscan society gather to dance to the fantastic house band, a five-piece who’ve been playing here for twenty years. Pete has a hazy deja vu of a night in the same bar some years earlier and I swear there’s a twinkle of recognition in the bass players eye when he spots him sipping a Mojito on the dance floor...

Arise early, a little more shabby than normal, for the long drive down to Pomona Valley, in Los Angeles County. It’s a 6 1/2 hour drive (without LA traffic...), 410 miles: about the distance from London to Glasgow!

Stop at Denny’s for a round of their signature ‘Sizzlers’ followed by a gas station in the middle of Hicksville, CA that sells bumper stickers that say things like “Trump the chumps”, “Obamacare makes me sick” and “One Big Ass Mistake America”...

Continue south to a soundtrack of Jackson Browne. Fruit fields, oil derricks, farm land, a fleeting glimpse of a real-life twister and then more endless brush while an epic hazy mountain skyline scrolls slowly left to right on the horizon like a painted Hollywood movie backdrop.

Eventually the road rises up; traverse a final scenic mountain range; softly softly the rural becomes urban and finally we drop down via the I-5 into the Greater Los Angeles Area.

See signs for Santa Fe, San Bernardino and and Santa Barbara. Something called The Garlic Crab and something called Lemon Cuisine Of India. Pass the Rosebowl as featured in Depeche Mode’s 101 and the Santa Anita Raceway, Bukowski’s favourite track. Moments, snapshots, and characters from all of the greats: Paris, Texas, The Graduate, The Maltese Falcon.

A glimpse of a college football game. Modern American architecture and apartment buildings with communal pools. The LA river. Shopping plazas and strip malls. Interstate 10 and Highway 71. ARCO, Texaco, Petco, and AAMCO; hotels, motels, 7Eleven and Circle K. Endless suburbia, the most epic of all sprawling metropoli, people and their stories everywhere you look. The Tortilla Curtain; Columbo. Liquor stores and a coin laundry. Pawn shops, gun shops, El Pollo Loco. ‘Cadillacs of Crestview’. Palm tree upon palm tree and long shadows on pastel grey sidewalks.

It’s been a long day and it’s not over yet as we round a final No Right On Red and greet the stylish Glasshouse venue! Yours at last from LA, MM

(Middle pic by James Ball! Thanks James)

[nicoscheer]

13 Jul '23

Festival de Nîmes

Nîmes, France

By liorzh_

Via festivalde.nimes

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Some pics of the empty arena with the monkeys stage set up

PRINCE ALEX

@strummerteeth giving a quick tour of the stage in Nîmes

A few videos of the boys tonight via festivalde.nimes highlights

Don’t sit down “merci beacoup” crying lightning

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The view

Arabella

Dance floor

Jesus Lord thank you Alex for despising buttons (GianMarcoVenturi)

Via

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Cornerstone + pretty mirrorball and 505 introduction “oh you have to party”

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Alex struggling with the mic cord as revenge for the mic stand shove the other day

With some more pics

My propeller