#thankfully last year this venue was packed and it was an AWESOME show

[cowboyshit]

I’m working a show tomorrow (finally!) and it’s either going to be surprisingly awesome or a complete disaster and everyone including the owner is just like well we’ll see ig 🤷🏻‍♀️

[thebigreylotheory]

Star Wars Celebration 2019 Chicago Thoughts & Review

Annnd, we’re back. More or less. I think we left our good health in Chicago. I have a fever, so I apologize if none of this makes sense (but arguably it should make just as much sense as I normally do.)

So, Celebration 2019. It was the best of times, it was the coldest of Hoth times.

Twas’ a far cry from SW Celebration Orlando 2017, where I remember the humidity being awfully thick as we lined up for the Episode 8 panel at 3am. 

I obsessively check my weather app regardless. Therefore I happened to see the snowflake symbol predicted for Friday, April 12th. Thankfully, it didn’t snow Friday for the Episode 9 panel, but believing it was going to snow prepared me for the real snow on Sunday. I packed coats, snow boots, hats, and gloves. 

I know the snow was mostly a fluke thing. That Chicagoans had previously packed away their coats for 60-degree weather. Just saying, next time Celebration is in a northern city, I really hope the date is moved to May or June, where there’s no chance of snow AT ALL. I was prepared, but I witnessed several small children, no jacket, absolutely shaking from the cold. It upset me. Babies shouldn’t have to suffer for their love of Star Wars.

Right, so with the weather being the major con, here are my Celebration 2019 pros: 

The Thursday Celebration Store and Exhibit Hall (no pun intended) warm-up day. This year it really felt like a perk of having a 5-day badge. I was glad, instead of the event fully launching into panels, we had a day to explore the venue and become familiar with the area.  I’m a planner, so I like knowing exactly where I’m at and where I need to be ahead of time.

Kudos for actually being able to get into the Celebration store this year! I don’t know what the problem was in 2017, but that line, seemingly, never moved. This year, we were in line for a little over an hour and got everything we wanted.

Additionally, the employees of McCormick Place were well-prepared and very helpful compared to some of the people we interacted with in Orlando. In 2017, some employees kinda had the unfortunate attitude of you-bunch-of-Star-Wars-dorks…we didn’t experience any of that at McCormick Place. In our experience, everyone at McCormick place was very kind and eager to assist.I would definitely go back given the right weather. I would go so far to say that they were happy to be hosting Star Wars Celebration. 

I know some people will disagree, but I’m a fan of the lotteries. In Orlando, it was frustrating, if not a little risky/unhealthy, to wait in line in the dark, not get in, and then walk around sleep deprived all day. With the lottery, I liked knowing and being able to have a relaxing Celebration and maximize the other panels we attended.

Day-by-Day breakdown:

Thursday:

Got some goodies. Caps has had his eye on this ROTJ poster for a while.

Found Indiana Jones for my brother Revan/Devan.

Went to the Chicago Art Museum, it was entirely awesome.

How ‘bout those helmets and crossguards, boi?

Friday:

I was so stoked that I naturally woke up at 5am. Just kept thinking to myself, wow, I’ve been a fan of the sequel trilogy since 2015 and this is the last few hours where I don’t know the title or have a feel for what could happen. *commits to memory*

We were thrilled to be chosen for the Galaxy Stage live stream. For TLJ, we ended up watching the trailer on the phone, cause we didn’t know that The Star Wars show also streamed it in the Exhibit Hall.

Too many words for my reaction, I’ll have to make a separate post.

Afterwards, we went to 20 years of Lego, Star Wars Hasbro, The Music of Star Wars, Predicting the Future with Star Wars, and ILM Making Solo.

Also tried out pinball which was super fun.

Saturday:

Bringing Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge to Life panel! Aka Josh Gad trying to break in.

We’ve been planning to take a family trip to Disney World this fall, so this pumped us up even more.

Then we tried to get into the Del Rey Books and Marvel Comics panels, but they were already full. At the time, the reservations on the app were not working for me. I had to update the app twice.

Ultimately, we went to the Sisters of the Force panel. Stories about kids fighting cancer and bullying really touched my heart. I was trying not to cry.

We missed out on the Funko panel in 2017, but thankfully this year we got in. They tortured us with designs that were never released.

Also, Reylo art always sells out...always...

Sunday:

The Mandalorian panel was fired up. I don’t typically watch a lot of tv, I’m a movie person, but I will be getting Disney+. The Mandalorian trailer was phenomenal. Looks like they put a lot of thought and care into creating a live-action series that feels Star Wars-y.

Then my introvert self was overcome by having our photo taken with Ian McDiarmid, especially after his laughter and surprise appearance in the Episode 9 panel. I was scared to death of him (hello! HE’S THE EMPEROR, people!) (and I’m afraid of everyone anyways, I’m high anxiety) but he was so nice and such a gentleman and if you have the opportunity I recommend a photo-op with him. This will be on our Christmas card this year.

After that, we when to the ILM Model Shop panel. AND, even though we left 30mins early, we didn’t get into the Romance Those Ships Also Belong in Star Wars panel. Which I thought was wonderful from a certain point of view. I had actually told Caps, 3-4 days before, that the best thing that could happen was: the panel would be so packed, and the line would be out the door, that we wouldn’t even get in and then EVERYONE would see how many people like BOTH Star Wars and Romance. And my wish came true! Probably the first time I ever grinned ear to ear for not getting into something. Caps was more upset about not getting in than I was. He kept apologizing that we didn’t get to be with “my people.” But thankfully the panel is up on Youtube now and, perhaps, there will be more panels like it in the future due to popularity.

So, our last panel of Celebration ended up being Anthony Daniels Droidography. Which was great, because we had missed out on seeing Anthony in 2017, too. Anthony has such a positive energy. He and Warwick were hilarious together.

I can’t believe it’s been a week ago now. What a whirlwind. It was a long drive between Georgia and Chicago, so I need a few more days to recover.

[bthenoise]

Celebrate 10 Years of ‘Constellations’ With August Burns Red’s 10 Favorite Moments From The Writing, Recording & Touring Process

When it comes to most album anniversary tours, some fans tend to think those 10, 15 or even 20-year treks are just for the longtime listeners and nostalgia chasers. Instead, many seem to forget about the bands actually playing those beloved records on a nightly basis. 

Take metalcore juggernauts August Burns Red, for example. Gearing up for their 10-year anniversary tour for 2009′s groundbreaking LP Constellations, the seasoned outfit has thoroughly enjoyed tour prep as they’ve run through songs like “The Escape Artist” and reminisced about some of their fondest decade-old memories.    

Be it playing tour games on the road, surviving terrifying snowstorms or the impact of playing “Indonesia” live for the first time in the Southeast Asian country, looking back on 10 years since Constellations was released, JB Brubaker, Brent Rambler, Matt Greiner, Dustin Davidson and Jake Luhrs have all accrued memories that will last a lifetime. 

Speaking with The Noise about some of those life-changing Constellations moments, Brubaker, Rambler, Greiner and Davidson compiled 10 of their all-time favorite memories from the writing, recording and touring process dating all the way back to 2007. To check out the list to get you even more pumped for August Burns Red’s upcoming tour, be sure to see below. Afterward, to grab tickets, head here.      

Lastly, if you’d like a chance to win free tickets – yes, FREE! – head here.

Brent Rambler

The Constellations recording process and touring cycle houses many fond memories for all of us. Here are three of my personal favorites that stick out. Let’s get cracking in chronological order!

“White Washed”

The lyrics for “White Washed” were some of the first more aggressive and “angry” lyrics that I had ever tried to write at the time. However, the words flowed like water because they were very in the moment. I started working on them immediately after a youth pastor surrounded me with a group of teenagers directly outside of our tour van. He proceeded to condemn [me] and the other members of the band simply for having a case of beer on our [tour] rider. He wanted to try and make an example of me in front of all the kids he brought with him. The whole thing was super inappropriate and out of line, BUT the lyrics for one of our most popular songs came out of it so it was worth it!

First Home

The recording process for Constellations was extra exciting for me because literally a week before we left I had an offer accepted for my first house. I remember being very proud because it was a big moment in proving to everyone that I could earn a living off of making music. For weeks while we recorded, I was heading to notaries and post offices to work on the closing process of the home, and since we were in Florida while making the album, I had to sign over power of attorney and do the sale over the phone. We returned home super late from Florida, but instead of crashing at my parents where all of my things were, I grabbed the keys and just sat in my new house.

Chicago House Of Blues

Constellations came out while we were on tour in the summer of 2009. The tour had some cool highlights, but I think the biggest one was selling out the Chicago House of Blues for the first time. At that moment it was our biggest headline show ever and packing such a notable venue felt amazing. Afterwards, we had a big celebration with the other bands backstage and it capped off a great night!

JB Brubaker

“Put Him Up!”

In December of 2009, we were on the road with Underoath and Emery. We became really good friends with the guys in Emery and would hang out with them every night after the shows. They had purchased their own passenger bus and gutted it and turned it into a tour bus. It was DIY but so cool. We’d hang out, drink beers, have dance parties and tell stories. Emery taught us one “game” that we still play on our tour bus today. Occasionally, when someone new would walk on the bus, Toby (Emery’s bassist/vocalist) would slowly start chanting “Put him up! Put him up!” The chant would catch on with other people on the bus until everyone was shouting it, at which point the newcomer would be picked up and crowd surfed to the ceiling of the bus. It was basically a “welcome to the party” greeting and always got a good laugh. We are happy to continue to carry the tradition on a decade later.

Touring Australia 

It was August of 2009. Constellations had recently come out and we were invited by Parkway Drive to support them on a tour across Australia. It was our first time in Australia and an honor to be supporting them. They were the hottest metal band on the continent and drawing huge crowds. After the monster travel day to Australia, we arrived to find a bunch of luggage didn’t make it. Qantas Airlines outfitted us with small care packages to keep us afloat until our baggage was recovered. Inside were heather gray sweat shorts and matching t-shirts. The first show was in Brisbane at an outdoor hillside [venue] called Riverstage. They were expecting 7,000 people which was more people than we had ever played for at that time. When we were setting up our equipment on stage before the show, I failed to take into account the voltage difference between Australia and the US. I plugged in my pedal board and heard a pop followed by the smell of burning electronics. I had fried my pedal board’s power supply, rendering my pedals useless. I had to borrow a pedal board from Architects, who were also playing on the tour. (I think we need to do this same tour lineup again!). When we took the stage that night I was a ball of nerves. I unfortunately played sloppy for the large Australian crowd, but I don’t know if anyone actually noticed or cared. We debuted our song “Meddler” for the first time that night. (I played that song particularly poorly.) The tour was overall a great experience. I have very fond memories of hanging out with the guys in Architects and playing massive shows in every city.

Touring South America

In August of 2010, we were doing a tour of South America. It was our first time traveling there. Our buddies in Blessthefall were coming with us and it was going to be awesome. The first show was in Sao Paulo, Brazil and over 1,000 people showed up. We were treated like celebrities and it was a completely surreal start to the tour. The final show of the tour was scheduled for August 28th in Caracas, Venezuela. About a week before the show, we learned of political unrest in Venezuela. The president there was known for being a hot head and pulling stunts like closing down the airports. It was determined to be unsafe for us to travel to Caracas because of the possibility of getting stuck there should the president lock down flights out of the country.  Instead, we booked a last minute show in Quito, Ecuador. With a week to get the word out, we weren’t expecting much. The show was held in a small youth center. There couldn’t have been more than 150 people there but it was such a special show for us. The appreciation and enthusiasm the crowd showed us was unmatched. We felt honored to have been received with such open arms and on such short notice. What felt like a disaster waiting to happen turned out to be one of the biggest highlights of our South American tour.

Dustin Davidson

The Day The Van Died

Thankfully I found a journal entry from Thursday, April 16th, 2009 so that I can write accurately with every detail about the day that our van died. We were pretty early into a tour with All That Remains and Born of Osiris when as you may have guessed -- our 16 passenger Chevrolet van (unnamed to my knowledge) took its last breath of air and sipped its last ounce of gasoline (which in those days contained 0% ethanol for you engine nerds). According to my journal, we woke up at a decent hour, grabbed continental breakfast from the hotel and headed out on the road for the next show. I was first up to drive on that day and while on the road about 60 miles away from our departure our sound engineer Jade asked me, “So how long do you think this van is going to last? Do you think it’ll make it through the rest of the tour?”

“Yeah, I think it’ll last for the rest of the tour - at least I hope so,” I replied. Just as I finished that thought our speed began to decrease rapidly while ascending a hill on the highway. I let off the gas and the engine shut off. As I was pulling over to the shoulder the temperature gauge shot up, the breaks were extremely hard to press because the brake booster went out and smoke poured out from under the hood when I was finally able to bring the vehicle to a stop. “Well, I think we need a new van,” I said.

I don’t remember how many miles that van had but it was surely over 200k so something like that was bound to happen at any time. Born of Osiris was able to pick us up so that we could make the next show which was in Syracuse, NY and after the gig our friend Ricky picked us up and drove us back to Lancaster so that we could van shop the next day and get back out on the road to meet up with the tour again.

The Storm That Left Us Stranded

In the winter of 2009, we did a short tour with Underoath and Emery. It was a very fun tour filled with hangs and packed shows. However, the drive home was something that I hope to never be a part of again. After the tour ended in New Orleans, JB and Brent flew home while the rest of us (Matt, Jake, TM Josh, merch guy Mychael and myself) opted to save some bones and drive the van/trailer home. We knew there was a huge rain storm coming but we had plenty of time to beat it home by getting on the road directly after that last show - or so we thought.

Sometime in the early hours of December 18th during our drive home, we blew a wheel bearing on the trailer and had to pull over to take a look at it. This was an ongoing problem for us back in the day. You see, this was a time before the Axe-Fx / Kemper. A dark time when we carried many guitar/bass cabinets. Our trailer was always filled to the brim. We were simply carrying too much weight and would blow out wheel bearings left and right no matter how we packed the trailer.

This blow out was one of the worst ones we ever had. Since it was still dark outside, whoever was driving the van couldn’t see the smoke so they ended up driving for a while after the bearing gave out which led to the bearing fusing to the spindle which meant that we couldn’t fix the problem ourselves. We had to wait for a small repair shop to open up so that we could have the bearing fixed and while waiting to have everything repaired the storm passed us. It was only rain at the time but we knew it would turn into a mild blizzard. We finally got on the road in the early afternoon but it was too late - the damage was done.

I don’t recall which highway we were on, but it indeed was shut down and we ended up spending the night in the van on the highway until we could get moving again early the next morning. Around 6am when traffic started moving again, we opted to drive to the next closest exit and get a hotel since the roads were still covered in snow. Our drive home was supposed to be about 18 hours without stops and it ended up taking us 3 days. It’s fun to reflect on it now and talk to those that I share that memory with, but it’s safe to say from that day on, I never drove the van home from the end of a tour again.

Matt Greiner

Constellations Artwork

It was December 2007. I was getting inspiration for album artwork from the most unassuming source, a black and white movie from the 1940s. It's A Wonderful Life is a movie about a supernatural intervention in the life of a frustrated businessman. In the movie, an angel is sent from heaven to show George Bailey what life would have been like had he never existed. At their high-school graduation party, George is reintroduced to Mary who has had a crush on him since they were kids. Under the moonlight, they're walking outside when George suddenly turns Mary towards the sky and asks, "You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down."

As I watched the scene unfold, I played out the idea of a rope tied to a star in the sky. I put pen to paper and ran with the concept, pulling inspiration from Matthew 6 where the idea of Heaven coming to earth is introduced. The stars represented steadfast anchors by which we find direction throughout our lives. The kites represent our own fleeting emotions that will alter direction just as the wind changes. I remember getting on the phone with Ryan Clark, the creative mind behind the company Invisible Creature, and explaining the artistic concepts that would eventually come to fruition in the pages of Constellations.  

“Indonesia” 

In 2007, I awoke to find that a relative had died in a plane crash. David Clapper had always been passionate about flying. It wasn't uncommon to see his single-engine Cessna flying over our family farm in Lancaster County, PA. He devoted his time assisting those in need in Southeast Asia by flying the sick and dying from the bush to the nearest hospital, which often times was a several hour flight. On one of his return flights to the bush, he encountered a storm that blew his plane into the side of a mountain. I remember going for a drive after finding out the terrible news. I was so upset that someone doing such a good thing had died in such a terrible way. Here was a man who gave his time and energy to helping others and, in the end, sacrificed his life doing so. I remember wondering what his last words might have been as the plane spun out of control, crashing into the side of the mountain where it still resides today. I learned an important lesson that day. That is, not every question in life has an answer, at least not one that will satisfy. "This is the time to turn down our heads and turn up our hearts."  

I remember traveling to Indonesia on the Constellations Tour. We played an outdoor venue for a large group of excited fans who were seeing us perform for the first time. When it came time to play "Indonesia," a feeling came over me that I'll never forget, an overwhelming sense of humility. The band I helped start in my parent's basement in Lancaster County, PA was playing in Southeast Asia performing a song written about my relative who had passed away on that very continent just the year before. The fans in the crowd seemed to sing about him like he was their relative, not some stranger who's name they merely read in the liner notes of a CD. Near the end of the song Jake screams the words, "David, rest in peace." I'll never forget hearing the crowd sing those very words so loud they could be heard over the amplification of our own instruments. A story goes a long way, sometimes even to the edges of the other side of the planet.  

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Woven Skull

Image Credit: Edel Doherty

In 2008, the core trio that make up Woven Skull began gathering together in the home of two of the members, set deep in the bogs and forests of County Leitrim: an empty, sparse area in the northwest of Ireland known for its myths of shee, tales of lake monsters, and calls of otherworldly beings in the still of the night. Several years experimenting with combinations of instrumentation, kitchen utensils, seashells, footsteps, chimes, recordings of cats purring and frogs mating led to their current sound which combines densely propulsive guitar, distorted mandola and endless cyclical rhythms. Woven Skull strip and scrape what they can out of minimal instrumentation to teeter on the brink of total sonic meltdown creating engulfing, raw primal drones and damaged rock manoeuvres. This sound draws on the influences of the combined backgrounds of the trio with Aonghus (guitar) and Willie (percussion) born and bred in Dublin and Natalia (mandola) born in Ukraine and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. Of their most recent LP, Isaac Olson wrote that it was, “More serious than Sun City Girls and more playful than Bardo Pond... a great introduction to your new favorite cult band.”

A selection of sounds that we brought to listen to in the van during our last tour.

Agathe Max—Gypsy In a Church (Greasy Trucker Records)

A Gypsy In A Church by Agathe Max

Agathe Max and I first met when we shared a bill at a Baba Yaga's Hut gig in London. She was with her duo Mésangeand I became completely bewitched by her playing. Live, whether with a band or on her own, Agathe creates a mesh of violin magic mixed through a mastery of pedals. No action seems superfluous. Her violin bow might thump off the neck during a section that is fed into a loop and you wonder if it was maybe an accident only to find that the build up of the rhythm created by that slight thump singularly drives the whole next passage. It is meticulous. The Gypsy in a Churchalbum is Agathe solo and acoustic with two long improvised tracks. It came out on cassette in 2016 on Bristol's Greasy Trucker Records. Side A is recorded in Bristol in St. Thomas's church and Side B is from St. Leonard's in London. The spaces creep into the recordings. It makes good driving music because you get lost in time as the violin bounces around the church walls and suddenly the day has faded, twilight is spilling across the sky and and that night's venue is just around the corner. (Natalia)

Patrick Farmer & David Lacey—Pell-Mell the Prolix (caduc. Recordings)

Pell-Mell the Prolix by Patrick Farmer & David Lacey

A really tightly structured, interruptive and continually surprising concrète-ish composition by this duo of percussionists. Beautiful wood-block and dub segments deserve a mention. I found ‘Pell Mell’ to be more accessible than their earlier recording ‘Pictures of Men’ (equally worth checking out but perhaps more dense and angular in places). Ephemera of personal obsessions lumber up against indistinguishable rumblings, a passage is carved between the figurative and the unknowable. (Aonghus)

Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngazi Family—My Ancestors (Mississippi Records)

When you're stuck in traffic on the M1 between Brighton and any other part of the UK and you start to wonder why in the hell did we come to this country on a bank holiday, it's time to fire up the dashboard kettle, make a press pot of joe and throw on some Classic 'Zamrock' from 1974. This is hard rock coming straight outta Zambia, thankfully made available on vinyl at an affordable price courtesy of Mississippi Recordsin Portland, Oregon. This has become one of my Desert Island records. Sabbath infused riffs dipped in some 13th Floor Elevators psych with an explosiveness that's purely African. Before you know it, three tightly packed lanes of English Midlands holiday makers turns into three lanes with one else around. (Willie)

Tadlaouia—moul el koutchi rouicha et tadlaouia

I like to play the same albums both in the shower and in the van. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe these activities send me into the same zone? This tape gets a lot of listens in both places. I love the melding of Tadlaouia's voice with Mohamed Rouicha's string playing action. I know nothing of Tadlaouia aside from this album but I keep on eye out cause I’d love to hear more. I picked this tape up at a stall stacked floor to ceiling with cassettes. I choose it purely based on the cover. It coulda gone either way but sure, look at that shimmer in her smile. You know it's gonna be gold. (Natalia)

Angharad Davies, Tisha Mukarji & Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga—Outwash (Another Timbre)

Three super-focused improvisations for violin, piano and zither. Shimmering drones and creaks set against more melodic playing. Moves slowly from one area to another, acoustic instruments sound like electronics and at other times like themselves. Angharad Davies played at the same festival as us a few years back, performing a piece which consisted of her bowing a single tone while gradually unwinding the string accompanied by a really subtle tape element (or that’s what my hazy memory tells me), ruled! (Aonghus)

Miles Davis—On The Corner (Columbia Records)

Raw minimalist soul funk jazz. Totally stripped down. Enough hi-hats and trumpet wah wah pedal to keep you fuzzed out and yer head boppin'. It is such a ballsy record. But then again, Miles could get away with anything. Perfect for a morning drive on tour to get the brain aligned when you don't know what the day will bring. (Willie)

Creedence Clearwater Revival —”Sinister Purpose”

When in a vortex of stalled traffic that makes me feel like my life is melting into nothing in front of me, I like to put Sinister Purposeby Creedence on repeat (though, in fairness, any Creedence will do). Everything always just seems better then. And should the traffic never end and the van never move again, well at least there's Jon Fogarty to sound out our impending demise. (Natalia)

Bob Dylan—Self Portrait (Columbia)

Listen on Spotify

I’ve been listening to ‘Self Portrait’ a lot over the past while. I’m not hugely knowledgeable about Dylan even though I’ve heard a lot of the oeuvre over the years. A cursory google before I wrote this text tells me it’s regarded as one of his worst... not so sure about that. Opens with the sublime “All the Tired Horses”... Dylan himself not singing on it kinda blew me away as an idea for an opener when I first heard the album. Gets into weird country crooning... his version of “Days of 49” is another highlight. Things get patchy and weird but whatever... the “Blue Moon” cover is pretty funny. I’m second-guessing myself having just seen all the negativity surrounding it and started to spin “Blonde on Blonde” just to check... nah... I still think it’s good! (Aonghus)

Samandtheplants—Flaming Liar (Them There)

Flaming Liar by Samandtheplants

A few different names and guises flock from the incredible studio of musician, artist and producer Sam Mcloughlin. This album as samandtheplantsis such an absolute joy that you can have it on repeat for hours and it gets more interesting. Two disc set of almost purely vocals and harmonium. Very lo-fi, raw and total magic. Sam's Lancashire accent coming through and adding a genuine feel to the recordings as real English folk music without it sounding too twee or dated. I'd advise anyone to go looking for Sam Mcloughlin's work, including his sound sculpture work and his N. Racker project. (Willie)

‘Fort Evil Fruit’ Cassette Label

We here at Woven Skull are all big fans of Fort Evil Fruit. Label boss Paul has a keen ear for what's what. It's handy to stock up on all the newest FEF releases before a tour and gradually listen through them while zoning out on the revolving landscape outside the window. One of my favorite things that came out on the label in the last few years was Crevice’s debut album. The trio from Cork all play in a variety of other bands and solo projects, run labels, have radio shows and add to the general awesomeness of Cork City. Roslyn Steer's vocals on Black Box kept swirling around inside my brain for weeks after first hearing this so listener beware! It’s catchy business. (Natalia)

[voldiebuns]

HalLUDOween!!

So last weekend I went to HalLUDOween, aka Ludo's one night only, first time in six years concert! They're my favorite band and since I didn't think I'd ever get to hear them again in concert, of course I had to go. Even if it was in St. Louis, an approximately 11 hour drive from home lol But @biffelderberry and I figured it would be worth it, and it so was :D

We started out early Friday morning since it was going to be a long drive and we had to pick up a rental car since neither of our cars was up to such a drive. Of course we found out like an hour into the drive that the model we got had had a recall put out that very morning, but thankfully we didn't have any problems with it. The drive was actually not too bad, despite being so long and being mostly a drive through boring wilderness. We'd put together an approximately 13 hour playlist, so we had plenty of music to sing along with. And we made lots of stops at Taco Bell so I could get their potato tacos bc I'm apparently obsessed lol I ended up eating Taco Bell for every meal Friday, which was probably not a good idea, but it tasted fucking awesome.

(Me, left, and Biff at the beginning of the drive.)

Made it to the hotel around 8 maybe. There were two guys from Chicago in the check in line in front of us who we think may have been there for the concert as well, but the cool part was when we went down to breakfast in the morning, we met two other ppl who were there for the concert! They were from Wisconsin and California, so it was cool to talk to them for a bit about how much we all love Ludo and were so happy we were getting to see them again. We'd planned to use most of Saturday to explore St. Louis, since we'd come so far anyway. We'd wanted to do a ghost tour, but that didn't end up working out, but we did do a few other cool things. We went to an antiques store where we couldn't afford anything, but it still had some really interesting stuff. Then we went over to Grand Street, which I gather is kind of the popular downtown street. We ate at Lulu's Local Eatery, which is a small, hippster-y vegan place. I got the mac n cheese and Biff got the sliders, both of which were fucking delicious. Also very filling, which was a little disappointing bc we'd hoped to share the carnitas loaded tots after lol After that we went to a nearby comic book store. The owner was super nice and we talked to him about Ludo a bit (I was wearing my Ludo shirt) bc apparently everyone in town knew about this concert lol He'd had some other ppl in earlier who were going, I think from New York? Or maybe Arizona. We basically spent the whole weekend hearing from ppl in town about ppl coming in from out of state for the concert. Anyway, after that we did a little more walking around, mostly bc we wanted to look at all the pretty trees, and then went to Walmart to pick up some food (they have a So Delicious cashew milk chocolate cookies and cream ice cream that is to die for!). And crosstitching stuff bc Biff wanted to do an AO3 inspired bookmark design, and I thought it sounded fun as well. Also got some face masks bc why not. Which actually turned out not to be the best idea... When we got back to the hotel, I tried out my clay mask and it didn't go well. I did put a little too much water in it, but I don't think that accounts for how I apparently had an allergic reaction to it. Seriously, when I took it off, I looked like I had a rash all over my face. Thankfully my makeup skills were enough to cover it up, but I did end up sitting with a cool cloth on my face for awhile just to be sure the only reaction was the rash. Here's a picture of me post concert with half my makeup wiped off (the red side was waaaay better than when I first took off the mask):

So got ready, blah blah blah. And then it was time for the concert!! Costumes were encouraged, but since we didn't actually bring any, we just dressed up. My outfit of the night, which I loved bc I'd been waiting for an excuse to wear that crop top:

We took a Lyft to and from the venue since we didn't want to deal with parking or driving back at who knew what time. Which was probably a good thing bc the whole area around there was packed. More so for the second show, where the lines were literally down the block, but even for the first show. Bc of my trying to deal with a sudden allergic reaction rash, we were running a little late, so we got there like halfway through the opener. He was pretty good from what we heard, so I'll probably look up his music at some point. We had assigned seats in the balcony, which I was really glad of even if they cost more than GA down below. We would have had to get there hours early to get a good place there and would have had to stand, which I really am not up to for long amounts of time. But our seats were actually really good and we had a fantastic view of the stage. Except for the railing being right at eye level lol Since the concert was Halloween themed, they of course had some Halloween elements for the stage and their costumes. There were a couple of big, glowing blow up ghosts on either side of the stage. When the show started, about a dozen ppl came out in sheet ghost costumes and ran away around for awhile until it was just the band and they took off the sheets to show they were wearing skeleton onesies. Which I really really want one of now tbh.

Here's the vid I took of the intro. It was honestly so so awesome to see them in concert again. The first and only time I saw them before was in 2011, which was right before they basically broke up (ie they all just drifted away to other things and the band was no more). They did pretty much the song set that I'd been expecting, though there were a couple of things they sang that I hadn't expected. (They'd done a poll on twitter with Topek, Girls on Trampolines, and a couple of others, so since Topeka won I wasn't expecting them to play Girls on Trampolines.) And they did my top three favorite songs of theirs! Including Andrew going solo on my absolute favorite, Horror of Our Love! I took a vid of that too of course, which you can prob hear both Biff and I singing along to. They ended the concert with a cover of the Ghostbusters theme song and having a bunch of kids come out to throw candy to the crowd, which was a fun way to end it. There was no new music, aside from the two covers they did, which I think all of us had been hoping for. Even though we knew it was unlikely since the week before was the first time they'd all been in a room together in years. Still, the music and the experience of being part of the crowd was just as fantastic as last time. So yeah, the concert was amazing all around and totally worth the ridiculous drive :D After, we went down the block to the merch store, bc there was definitely no way I was leaving without something. We stood out in the cold for an hour waiting in line, which was fine except for the couple behind us was being really critical of the show and really annoying. We found out the reason it was taking so long was that the band was in the merch store talking to fans and signing stuff and taking pictures, which I hadn't expected. Of course their handler started telling them they needed to leave basically as soon as we got up to the front of the line. But! They were being pretty slow about it bc they wanted to keep talking to the fans, so Matt, the drummer, ended up at the door at the same time we were and he gave us hugs! He also said thanks for coming again, which made it sound like he recognized us? But idk. Anyway, as awesome as that was, the best part was apparently the girl behind us really wanted a hug from him and we were the last ones he hugged before leaving. Vengeance is sweet :D Anyway, I ended up with a t-shirt and a poster for the concert, plus a couple smaller ones from previous tours that they were giving away for free. There was a really cool tree print that I wish I would have gotten, so I hope they put that up online. There was a vinyl of the last CD as well that I wanted, but I really didn't feel like I could justify that as well. Maybe they'll put it up online too.

We took a Lyft back, which was a bit of an experience bc we had to cross the street to get to our ride and some asshole apparently was tired of waiting in traffic and tried to speed around while we were in the crosswalk. He stopped in time, but Biff really thought he was going to hit me :/ But we made it back to the hotel safely and met the lady from breakfast again. We ended up talking to her for awhile, which was fun bc she's been following the band for a long time and is apparently knows them personally bc of that. Sunday morning we slept in a bit bc we'd been out so late. We were both very glad we had decided not to drive home that day lol We went back out to Grand Street and had lunch at Lemongrass, a Vietnamese place there. I got the tofu summer roll and sesame tofu, and the sesame tofu was seriously good omg. After that we did some more walking and went to a bookstore we'd seen on Saturday. It was really cool and had a pretty fantastic variety of stuff spread out over three levels. We met a local Ludo fan there (we were both wearing the shirts we bought) who hadn't gotten to go to the concert and talked to her a little. Afterward we went over to the St. Louis Art Museum since they were supposed to have a textiles exhibit that sounded really interesting. We didn't end up finding it, and we only got to stay about half an hour before they closed, but it was still really fun. Plus they had some gorgeous views out front, some beautiful fall maples, and a statue of, apparently, Saint Louis.

We thought about going to the zoo after that, since it was literally across the street, but they were having some Halloween event and there were hundreds of small children everywhere. We decided that wasn't something we wanted to deal with lol So we went and picked up lunch from Fred and Ricky's Plant Delicious Foods, a lttle vegan grab and go place, instead and took it to eat at the hotel. The food was pretty good, though probably the best part is that I found out they ship nationwide, so I can order from there sometime if I want. Which is nice bc we really don't have many vegan places here. Monday it was time to leave. Because the drive home was long and we had to get back before the rental place closed at six, we got up at 5 am to head out. It wasn't too terrible, but we were definitely still tired. And I fell coming down the stairs with my suitcase and bruised my ass. It still hurts :/ Drive home seemed longer than the one there, probably bc I didn't really want to be going home lol It's so interesting how every time I go away for a fun weekend, it hits me when I get back how much I hate living at my house and in my city and in Texas in general. So I guess good motivation to try to find a way to move out sooner rather than later. So the weekend was fantastic! There were a few other places we would have liked to go, like the City Museum and some more vegan restaurants, but overall we hit some good places and had a lot of fun. Plus just the landscapes up there were so so pretty. We don't have trees like that in Texas lol But we're definitely thinking of going back to St. Louis sometime to see some more stuff. And maybe see Ludo again, if this concert was a sign of things to come! But of course it coudn't be all good. My throat was feeling a bit scratchy on the way home Monday, and by Tuesday I was pretty sick. Thankfully I had the whole week off plus Monday and Tuesday this week (I'd been hoping to go to a Star Trek meet up this weekend, but I couldn't afford it after all). I'm hoping I'm well by the time I go back to work, but it's been kind of a sucky way to spend my time off! But still worth it for Ludo lbr :D

(If you want to see the food pics I took, they’ll go up on my food blog: @foodandmind)

[iimaginedragons]

blog entry #5 -- oln concert

hi everyone, i know i’ve been a shitty blogger by never posting, y’know, actual blog entries, but hey. i’m here now and i’ve got something awesome to talk about. 

just this morning i was still in montréal after one of the coolest, most energetic, most unique experiences of my life. i returned to ottawa early this morning, feeling half dead with exhaustion, but beyond happy. thanks to my incredible friend who got me and another friend early tickets with a free meet and greet, i got to meet and see the incredible band our last night play an awesome set in the small, loud, and jam-packed venue of théâtre corona.

if you’re a fan of post-hardcore music, our last night is the epitome of this genre (at least, they’re up there with a day to remember). with the perfect balance of screaming and singing (and songs with varying degrees of each) and a totally unique energy to their performances, they are literally perfect and i highly recommend everyone to check them out. everything from “age of ignorance” and onwards is mostly post-hardcore and excellent. 

our last night’s older stuff has been classified as more metalcore and screamo (their albums “the ghosts among us” and “we will all evolve”, which i know little about) and although screamo is not really my thing, i’d like to think that i recognize a talented band when i hear it, so if you like this genre, i recommend you check these albums out as well (don’t get too attached though - they don’t play anything older than “age of ignorance” live).

our last night has four members, whose names i only really memorized yesterday (i’ve known of them for about two years now, but only really became a big fan a few months ago). trevor is the screamer and co-lead singer, along with his older brother matt, who has a slightly higher but very similar voice; hearing the difference between the two can be hard (in fact, i didn’t know certain parts were matt’s until i saw it live in front of me), but for music nerds like me who enjoy analysing songs, it’s a fun exercise. woody, a really cool vegan yogi, plays bass, and tim handles the drums.

one things that made this experience absolutely amazing actually happened before we even got to the show. as my two friends and i were walking down the street and about to enter into a pub, we saw trevor, tim, and two of their stage managers walking down the street in front of us, looking around at the restaurants. out of total shock, we jumped into the pub we weren’t even sure we wanted to go into, and just as we sat down at a table, barely catching our breaths, in came trevor and tim. 

both of my friends and i are painfully shy, and so we sat quietly freaking out for our entire meal while half of our last night casually ate the same food as us about two tables away. we wanted to go see trevor, but felt bad bothering him while he was eating. thankfully, he clued in to the fact that we knew him (i’m pretty sure we were not sneaky in how we stared at him a lot yikes) and came over to talk to us and take pictures. 

it was honestly one of the coolest things that had ever happened to me. when we saw him again later at the meet and greet, he remembered us and made a point to ask us about our meal, about montréal, etc.; overall, he is just such a kind and genuine person, as is woody who we met as well. they both made a point come down near us and smile at us several times during the show. even though we didn’t get to talk to matt or tim, i wouldn’t be surprised if they were just as kind, honest, and overall just real and good people.

personally, i had never been to a post-hardcore concert before, and the energy was awesome and different from anything i had ever lived before. as an eighteen year old girl who does not exactly look very threatening, i have to say i felt a little out of place in the middle of a mosh pit, but hey, i’m always willing to try new things.

trevor’s screaming was even better live than i could have hoped for, and his singing was also great. matt did awesome as well despite being a little sharp on some parts. the band’s stage presence and energy was so raw and powerful, and it was by far the most adrenaline-packed concert i have ever been to. if i had one word for this band, i think it’d just be “badass”, because nothing describes them so fucking well.

if you ever have a chance to see our last night live - which you should, because they tour quite often - please do so. they play small venues and rarely charge over 40$ canadian (after extra fees and often with free meet and greets if you book them online early enough) despite the fact that they could, and they’re honestly so worth it. it’s the best “bang for my buck” purchase that i have ever made.

one more thing: this band’s lyrics have helped me through a lot - in their music, they address everything from structural societal problems, to issues of power, dominance, and control, to mental health crises, to big questions about life and happiness, to persistent feelings of guilt and anger towards others and yourself, to relationship difficulties, and so much more. trevor and matt are genius lyricists. 

prepare to see lots of our last night lyrics on your dash for the next little while, because i’m totally obsessed, and i will be for a while.

[lucidlucas]

Journal.Entry.2019.1.13 (part 1)

This weekend was amazing. It started off pretty normal but I knew it was going to be a special weekend. Griffin House had a concert Friday Night and it was going to be our first show with a live drummer. I was so excited. I’ve wanted a drummer my whole life and I knew he was going to tear it up.

I managed to leave work early, so I went to the liquor store, the bank, and then headed home. We smoked and listened to the set while we waited for our ride. Kaeleigh and her family showed up to take us down to the Shredder. Doors open at 7 but we got there at 6:30. We thought they would at least let performers in early, but we were wrong. So we sat in the car and listened the Spiderverse soundtrack while we waited. Finally, the clock hit 7 and we were able to go inside.

We walked into an empty bar not knowing how the night was gonna go. I’ve performed for packed crowds and empty crowds at this particular venue so I was kind of nervous. But the vibes were good and I had good hopes. Plus I knew there was a lot of promotion. We helped our drummer set up, we got the dj the beats, and we started drinking.

We snuck in a bottle of crown, so we just bought a few diet cokes from the bar and we mixed our own drinks. (They were out of regular coke). I finished mine and before I knew it somebody had gotten me a Monaco. I pounded that and then the alcohol started to hit me, mainly because I hadn’t really eaten all day, so I switched to water. Then people started filling in.

Anxiety started getting to me and I was worried I was too drunk to perform. But the angel on my shoulder kept telling me to Buck up and handle it so I stayed confident. Everyone I invited showed up and I even had some surprise guests. This caused me to pinball around the venue all night like an adhd dog who saw a squirrel. Before I knew it, the show was packed.

We took a smoke break to get nice and stoned, and then they announced that we were performing soon so we got prepped. I spent the day listening to “Psycho Smile” and I felt so confident with all the people I knew who came to support us. But I also knew we were going to kill it and all my nerves went away once I hit the stage. I could see all my different friend groups at various parts of the crowd. We asked who had never heard of us before and a large percentage of people raised their hands. So we gave  a quick intro and got right into Dynamic Duos. Instantly the bar was set high. People started filming and they realized we were a performance to watch. There was a person in the front row of the crowd, stage right. He had a ghm shirt on and he was having a blast but I didn’t recognize him so I thought we made a big new fan.

Stand Up  was the next song we performed and the crowd really started to feel the positivity. The drums were killer and we were on point. I was smiling while rapping and I could see everybody having a good time. I Got People was next and we had some technical difficulties to play through. The song started and were rapping along when suddenly the dj booth connection breaks and the beat stops playing. Thankfully, Jon knew the rhythm and he kept drumming so we kept rapping. The audio got weird on our end but the crowd thought it was part of the show. And cutting the beat allowed for everyone to focus on the lyrics of that song and the vibe was officially happy. The dj fixed the issue after the song, and we told him to hold off on starting the next one.

We had to bring Kaeleigh and Kiki to the stage cause Campsite was on deck. With Kiki performing in the battles later that night, we wanted to promote him and show our respects. Then the song started. This was the fastest drumming of the night so it was hype as fuck, and nobody was prepared for Kaeleigh’s magnificent voice. Kiki killed his verse and then I put my mic in the stand and sat on the side of the stage as Kiki got off. Kaeleigh was doing her solo “Tonight” and I didn’t want to take away from it.

Her song is very unique because she sings 3 verses that play off the same catchy scheme, but the chorus is just a beat and a hard to hear sample. Because of this, Kaeleigh usually just hangs out during the chorus part of the song. However, this allowed for Jon to do simple drum highlights on her verse, and  then he just let loose on the hooks. It was so entertaining. There was a guy in the crowd taking to me about how awesome we were and I made sure he got a CD. The song ended and I grabbed the mic out of the stand. Kaeleigh asked me to get center stage and the music started.

I was told people cried to this song. Jon started off slow and let the beat build and slammed it on the hooks. Then for the last verse that Kaeleigh does, we had him clap his sticks while we get the crowd to clap and it was so cool to see all the hands moving. After the show I yelled “We are Griffin House Music” and I felt like a fucking rock star. We threw the rest of the march out and people were freaking out for it. Then I told the crowd that we had to get the drum moved out and then they could buy me drinks. So that’s what happened.

We got the drums moved out and Jasmine got me a drink. And everybody wanted to smoke. So everyone split up and planned to meet in the parking lot. On my way there I ran into a total stranger who offered me a hit of a joint. I graciously obliged and started to smoke. That’s when he realized who I was and he said, “You’re in Griffin House? You’re dad just gave this joint.” and we burst into laughter. We were smoking the joint and he told me we reminded him of Chris Webby. So naturally he about shit his pants when I said we have a song with him. I told him to follow us and he joined up with all the other smokers. 6 different smoke groups lit up their joint/blunt and passed them around. I was in the center of the stoner venn diagram so I got to participate in all the circles and I got so high. I finished my drink in the parking lot, so Jasmine took it from me and gave me hers. After we were all high as shit, we went back inside to drink and watch battles. It started getting turnt up and I was still trying to accommodate everyone who came out, while trying to keep my fade on.

People kept getting me drinks so I tried to pay some people back. I bought a random round for people I didn’t know. Then I got a drink for Jasmine and her friend. As soon as I did, Jasmine’s friend turned to Jasmine and they had to go to the car. I guess her friend puked everywhere and was super sick. Not to mention she was underage and I didn’t even know we were sneaking her drinks. So unfortunately, Joe had to leave to take them home. She called me to apologize for having to leave and we continued to text throughout the night while I kept partying.

After a few battles, and even more drinks, Eddie wanted to smoke again. I told my dad and my dad didn’t wanna join but he gave me a cone to contribute. We went to Eddie’s car and smoked the cone. Then he busted out the entire dab rig set up and we started getting lit. I was too faded for the construct of time to make sense. I kept saying, “Guy’s we gotta hurry. We’re missing everything.” and they reassured me that we were only gone for 15-20 minutes… It felt like years. But we really didn’t miss much. We went back inside and drank until the end of the battles, and before I knew it the club was empty. My dad really wanted to go to a strip club, and the fan who was wearing our shirt earlier was like, “I can take you guys.” I didn’t think about it at the time, then we were all walking from the club and we were about to reach his car when I said, “How do we know you?” and it was Jon’s brother the whole time. They just never had a chance to introduce him to me because I was a fucking pinball.

Jon’s brother Justin took us to the club and he got out and gave us a hug and said “goodbye.” My dad was like “Hell naah where you going?” and we ultimately talked him into staying. We went inside the strip club, and it really wasn’t my vibe. My dad was so excited, but all I could think about was Jasmine. We were actively texting and trying to plan a date for the next day, but I couldn’t have my phone in the club. So I used the bathroom twice to send texts and I hid my phone like a student a few times. The strippers weren’t even turning me on cause it didn’t feel right. I didn’t want anything to do with them really. I just wanted the girl I enjoyed talking with. But I know how long my dad has wanted to take me to a strip club and he was having fun so I made sure to have a good time too. I only spent like $9 and had some crown. One of the strippers licked my stomach. And the hottest stripper of them all was named Mary Jane, but she worked with my dad at an old job and so she avoided our group. Finally my dad was ready to go home, and Justin ended up being our cab for the night. We hit our traditional Jack In The Box, and we got home and crashed somewhere around 1-3am.

[mikeyd1986]

PRIDELANDS w/ Vacant Home, Furious George & ATLVS @ Wrangler Studios, January 2019

With the predicted forecast today of 42 degrees, I was absolutely hesitant as hell about coming down to tonight’s gig. My initial knee-jerk reaction was to abandon the idea altogether as I physically and mentally don’t cope well in extreme heat. And yet I haven’t been out to a local gig in nearly two months and I’m in desperate need a social connection with band members and friends.

The other issue I had to consider was that “Buses replace Cranbourne and Pakenham trains between Flinders Street and Westall stations from first train Wednesday 2 January to last train Sunday 13 January 2019.” (Source: PTV Live Travel Updates) Which meant that I would have to find an alternate means of transport getting there. Thankfully, the Glen Waverley line is a manageable distance away from where I live out in the South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne so there was my answer.

So as long as I’m prepared with sun protection and lots of water, I should be fine. Plus it’s also predicted for the temperature to drop to around 24 degrees by the time I arrive at Tottenham station and Wrangler Studios. Tonight honestly did feel like a “Welcome back Michael” moment for me, especially with all the friendly faces I seemed to bump into. So many band friends that I hadn’t seen in months.

It seemed like my anxiety had left the building even-though my social awkwardness will always be present. I guess I’ve just learned to handle it better now. Instead of tuning into my endless negative chatter (Urgh! Why can’t I ever come up with something exciting to talk about? Really Michael? Is that all you’ve got to say?), I’ve learned to not get caught up in it. I think people in the local music community generally accept me for who I am.

It’s also the biggest thing that I love about Wrangler as a venue. The vibes are mostly chilled out and there’s a non-judgemental, community spirit about the place. Nobody is superior. Everyone is welcome. Thank you to Dean and all the crew for always putting on a great show and continuing to run this awesome venue. I’m really glad that I braved it and came out tonight. It was a long trip but it was worth it.

ATLVS...I’d heard a lot of buzz around this 5 piece Gippsland-based Melodic Metalcore band. It was actually really sweet to hear that vocalist Francis was inspired by attending a show at Wrangler with I, Valiance which lead him to form this band. They have a relentless, menacing energy about them that cannot be contained. Their live performance tonight was really infectious and the crowd seemed to back them hard too. https://www.triplejunearthed.com/artist/atlvs    Set List: Epiphany, Insinuate, Love.

FURIOUS GEORGE...It’s been over a year since I last saw this Melbourne-based Melodic Metalcore band. They have since had some significant line-up changes with Shannon Hart (Drums) and Jai Irwin (Guitar) recently joining the band. Vocalist Jake was still as hyperactive as ever on stage, looking like a cross between a mad scientist and one of the Bee Gees. He always packs a lot of emotion into his performance and the quality of playing and songwriting have increased substantially. https://furiousgeorgeau.bandcamp.com/                      Set List: Who’s To Blame, No Hope, Devoid.

VACANT HOME...Tonight was my first time checking out this Perth-based Melodic Hardcore band. They delivered a tight mix of progressive metal riffs and powerful emo vocals. It was impressive to see them getting the crowd involved so much with several sing-a-long moments. They also seemed to be incredibly humble for playing tonight at Wrangler Studios. https://vacanthomeau.bandcamp.com/                                                               Set List: Knife’s Edge, Shiver, Bliss, Heirloom.

PRIDELANDS...Sometime after the release of single Battery City back in 2016, this Melbourne-based (formerly Mount Gambier) fell off the radar for me. However, I did hear plenty of hype about their latest EP Any Colour You Desire and eventually checked it out. It’s really exciting to see how much the band has changed and progressed over two years, especially the vocal role switching between Mason and Josh. They seem to be more dynamic and fluid together, giving the vocal deliveries additional structure and versatility.

 Tonight’s live performance really highlighted that and more. The crowd went absolutely wild throughout their set, engaging in hand claps, mic grabs and sing-a-long moments. It’s difficult to believe that this is the same band, even with a couple of lineup changes (Daniel Lohrey - Bass and Joe Lipsham - Drums). They were also very entertaining when Liam broke a string and they had to fill in the awkward silence with shout outs and a bass solo. https://pridelands.bandcamp.com/album/any-colour-you-desire                        Set List: Battery City, Coalesce, Any Colour You Desire, Machina.

[devils-gatemedia]

For those of us who remember the release of “Clutching At Straws”, Marillion’s final outing with frontman Fish, it’s scary to be reminded that the album was released over 30 years ago. The album was a huge commercial success, and spawned three UK top 40 singles: “Sugar Mice”, “Warm Wet Circles” and “Incommunicado”. Not bad for a concept album touching on subjects such as alcoholism and desperation. Fish is celebrating the occasion by going out on tour and performing the album in full. It’s fitting that the first date is in Fish’s home town of Edinburgh.

The Queen’s Hall, a 900 capacity former chapel, is unfortunately only around half full when support act Doris Brendel take to the stage. Resplendent in their steampunk-inspired attire, the band look like they’ve just stepped out of the pages of a Neil Gaiman novel. Their music is equally quirky. They manage to stitch together a diverse and idiosyncratic range of styles into coherent and accessible prog-rock compositions. Immediate influences that I hear are Jethro Tull (can anyone play flute in a rock band without being compared to Mr Anderson’s prog-folk-rock outfit?) and Marillion (especially the piano parts). Doris is on fine form tonight, her vocal performance is spot on, and this evening she definitely isn’t wearing a fur dress. Contrary to my previous review of her band, she wasn’t wearing a fur dress the last time I saw her either. Apologies to Doris for a short-sighted mix-up on my part. Complementing the enjoyable musical set is a light show provided by Doris herself in the form of laser finger pens and light whip. It’s not exactly up there with Alice Cooper’s theatrics, but it’s very effective all the same. Highlights from the set, for me, were “Latest Fantasy”, which we’re told in a parallel universe is a massive hit, and the closing song “The One” which involves some crowd participation. A very enjoyable set tonight, and if you’re going along to any of the dates on this tour, make sure you turn up early to watch, and support, these guys.

Edinburgh has turned out in force to see Fish re-visit the “Clutching At Straws” album. The venue is packed, and it could possibly be a sold out show tonight. Unsurprisingly, when the band, and the man himself, take to the stage the roar from the fans almost takes the roof of the venue. The familiar piano intro to “Slainte Mhath” introduces the audience to it’s first taste of Marillion’s Fish era swan song. Fish needn’t have turned up, as the audience already knows all the lyrics and sing along at the top of their voices. With barely a pause we’re into “Man With A Stick”, the first of many new tracks to be played from the latest EP “A Parley With Angels”. I was lucky enough to catch Fish in Glasgow back in December, and I was worried tonight might be exactly the same show. Thankfully, this wasn’t the case. The new EP release means we get to hear brand new material, for the first time live. Apart from the “Clutching At Straws” album and “Tux On” this is a completely different set. New songs such as “Man With A Stick”, “Little Man What Now” and “Waverley Steps” are given a warm reception and stand up very well against the Marillion classics.

Of course it wouldn’t be a Fish show without some between song banter, stories, and humour. “Some of you might not be Spotify people, or social media people, coz you’re fucking old…” jokes Fish. Looking around the audience, the average age must be around late 40’s to early 50’s. This doesn’t stop them from having a good time though. As far as a stage show goes, a large screen above the stage presents video footage along to the music. I’m just as impressed tonight as I was back in December when I first saw this. It manages to capture Fish in real-time and combine it with previously prepared video. It’s very cleverly done. It’s difficult to pick highlights from the set, as every song is a winner, but if I had to choose, it’d probably be “White Russian”. Like all of Fish’s lyrics, it’s fantastically well written, poetic, and performed with such feeling that you’d have to have a heart of stone not feel some emotion when listening. The band finish up an awesome show with the classic “Tux On” and the poppy up-beat “Incommunicado”. If you have any interest in Fish or Marillion, then try and get along to one of the dates on the tour. It’s a great show. You won’t regret it.

All current and forthcoming live dates can be found here.

Review: Martin Patterson

Images: Lara Vischi

Review: Fish – Queens Hall, Edinburgh For those of us who remember the release of “Clutching At Straws”, Marillion’s final outing with frontman Fish, it’s scary to be reminded that the album was released over 30 years ago.

[365footballorg-blog]

Fun and games at World Cup watch parties | By The Way presented by Heineken

July 27, 20183:05PM EDT

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Anyone else suffering from a serious case of World Cup withdrawal? Join the club. Every four years, the world’s attention turns towards the beautiful game, and for a month we are captivated by the drama, the heartbreak, the stunning soccer being played on the pitch. It’s glorious. And then, like a cold, hard slap in the face, it’s over. And we go back to our regularly scheduled lives, facing the reality that it will be 1,596 days before we can once again experience World Cup euphoria. Sigh.

Thankfully, episode three of BTW Presented by Heineken gives us the chance to relive at least a tiny bit of World Cup fever from an MLS perspective, as I traveled to Houston and San Jose to catch a few of the games with some stellar company.

Houston

Upon arriving in H-Town, I met up with Houston Dynamo players AJ DeLaGarza and Chris Seitz to take in Panama’s final group stage match against Tunisia and to cheer on their teammate, Adolfo Machado, who also happened to get the start for the Panamanian side that day. We headed to Pitch 25, a brand new, sprawling sports bar owned by Dynamo legend Brian Ching. Side note: this place is awesome. Wall-to-wall TVs adorn the exposed brick walls, there are bar games galore, there’s a mini-pitch where you can have a kick around, plus all the Heineken you can drink. If you’re ever looking for a place to catch a game in Houston, look no further.

Enjoying the action at Pitch 25

Both Chris and AJ have National Team experience, so it was a privilege to get their perspective on the enormity of an event like the World Cup. My favorite part of the day though was witnessing both AJ and Chris as simply fans of the game rather than professional players. They cheered on Adolfo every time he touched the ball, they threw their hands up at controversial calls, they shouted at near misses, which made me realize: Soccer pros – they’re just like us. At least when the World Cup is on.

San Jose

For the second installment of our BTW World Cup experience, I hopped on a plane to the Left Coast to catch the World Cup final at San Jose’s Avaya Stadium’s watch party with Quakes Hall of Fame goalkeeper Joe Cannon. The match started at 8 am Pacific Time, and despite the early kick off, the place was packed, and for good reason. Avaya’s vast lawn and massive big screen at the Northeast end of the stadium made it an ideal venue to catch Croatia v. France, and more than 5,000 rabid soccer fans felt the same way.

Huge crowds at Avaya Stadium

Joe and I marveled at the turnout, and had a chance to engage in some fun banter with fans of both teams. We agreed that seeing that many people show up that early to watch soccer is a testament to the growth of the sport in North America. It’s a beautiful thing.

Me and Joe Cannon at Avaya Stadium

While Joe and I were rooting for a Croatia upset, we all know how this one ended, and the France fans filed out of Avaya singing and cheering, while the Croatia fans, admittedly bummed, held their heads high after what was a tremendous showing all tournament. Joe and I headed to the bar for one last Heineken and toasted to a phenomenal World Cup, and how we’re already looking forward to 2022. Only 1,596 days to go … but who’s counting?

Thanks for watching, guys. Cheers to the World Cup and cheers to you.

Series: 

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Fun and games at World Cup watch parties | By The Way presented by Heineken was originally published on 365 Football

[jayne-hecate-writer]

A busy week of the Arts

In the last few days I have been to two events, both of which I was very much looking forwards to. 

The first was last Friday, with a performance by the Welsh National Opera of Die Fledermaus. Then this evening I was to see two former Black Metal bands, Enslaved and Opeth. I will admit that these  two events are at the opposite ends of the musical spectrum, opera and extreme metal. One of these events I absolutely loved, the other bored me to the point that I left early, which is something I have never done before. Can you guess which one I walked out of?

The Welsh National Opera was not what I expected, I read the synopsis before leaving, but it was still not what I expected. Basically this is the story of a family used to create a narrative to amuse a rich Prince at a party. The main protagonist is a firm friend of the family, but we have to assume that he has grown tired of the lying and cheating going on, so he weaves a scenario that brings together the husband, wife and the maid at a masked party. With each them bringing their own little act of deceit the story is set and the Prince watches on amused. To add to the drama, the husband has also been caught and sentenced to Prison for punching a Policeman on the nose. Meanwhile, his wife has a passionate suitor who serenades her and is then arrested under a case of mistaken identity when he is found with her in her house, dressed in the dressing gown and slippers of her husband. This is all classic farce material and as such, set up some simple, but deeply gratifying moments of hilarity. With all of the stories woven, the scene grows increasingly complicated for the players and when they are each discovered, it is glorious. The couple rekindle their ailing marriage, the Maid is sponsored by the Prince to become an actress and the joker of the show is revealed to be the crazy Bat, the hero of the story.

I sat in rapture through out the whole show, which was three acts with two intermissions over three hours. The stage was beautiful, the costumes were gorgeous and the comedy was wonderful. Yes, I truly loved it. As my first opera, it was a good one, the story was light, the live orchestra was wonderful and the singing was utterly beautiful during every song. Note I said first opera, this is because I am hopefully going to see many more in the future.

Which brings me onto the Black metal gig. I have been a fan of Black Metal since the 1990s and I have been to several concerts. As of now, I have seen Opeth four times and Enslaved twice. When I last saw Opeth it was the tour for Damnation and they were wonderful. When I saw Enslaved, it was for the In Times tour and they were mesmerising. So you can imagine how I felt when I walked into the O2 Academy this evening to witness one of the most disappointing evenings of my gig history.

Waiting for the doors to open in pouring rain was not a winner for me, thankfully my darling wifey waited with me, so that I could sit in the car sheltering from the weather. When the doors finally opened, they were twenty minutes late from the time stated on my ticket and the staff were letting the crowd in so slowly, that many of them ended up missing the first half of the first act. If there was another band prior to Enslaved, I certainly did not see them.

Now there is something that I have to say and that is how well I was treated by the staff of the O2 Academy  because I am disabled and walk with a stick. When they saw me approach, I was told to go straight inside and avoid the queue. I was also informed that they have a small seating area for disabled people and I was invited into this area. At the bag check, I was simply ushered through and offered assistance once again. To be honest, with staff this decent, many other venues that I have been to of late have a lot to learn about making these events inclusive. So well done to the O2 Academy for that.

With in minutes of my walking into the building, Enslaved hit the stage, or at least what was left to them given that Opeth were already set up on there. Enslaved barely had room to move, let alone perform and given that they were the most energetic band of the night, this truly saddened me. The next thing that saddened me, was that the sound which was garbled. I usually have to wear ear plugs, but here I found that my ear plugs made the band unlistenable. When I took my ear plugs out, the sound was painfully loud, but there were clearly some issues with the sound desk and the vocal was lost in the mix several times. The next disappointment came when after four songs they left the stage! Now to be fair, this was after about forty minutes (they were long songs!), but I could have listened to them all evening. 

To my mind, Enslaved were the stars of the evening. The rest of the crowd did not feel the same way though. I was almost alone in yelling out when Grutle asked if we had bought the new album (which I highly recommend because it is beautiful). He also stated that when they last played Bristol, the gig was a disaster. This hurt, because that was the first time that I had seen Enslaved and to my mind, they were wonderful, but then they were the headliners. It truly saddened me that they played such a short set this evening. They deserved better than Bristol gave them.

After the interval, the stage went dark and the members of Opeth slowly came on stage to thunderous applause. They then proceeded to play the most boring set I have heard them play. Even the older material that they did play, with blast beats and necro vocals, just sounded tired. Between songs, Michael spoke to the audience and confessed that with their tour nearly over, they were exhausted and looking forwards to getting home and not having to “Scream about Satan.” (a direct quote from the evening). Well thank you! 

After a couple more old familiars and a few new tracks, I was so fed up that I tapped my brother (with whom I have seen Opeth before) on his shoulder and complained that I wish I had brought some knitting to do! The new material by Opeth is very much in the genre of Prog Rock, which leaves me cold. They still have some of their black metal roots, but this was introduced with the same words that I heard Michael use ten years ago. This set was tired, the band was clearly tired and to be honest, it showed. Yet the audience screamed and cheered with an enthusiasm that was entirely missing for the better Enslaved!

Opeth hit the stage at nine PM. The venue had stated that the show would end at eleven PM. My friend and I left at a little after ten. We could not fault the technical musicianship of Opeth, but where was the passion?

In the car on the way home, we listened to Naglfar and the raw power of Black Metal from 1998 felt like a bitter pill to swallow. Where was the passion and the anger tonight? Where was the awesomeness that such a powerful act should have, when confronted with a packed venue of cheering loyal fans? For me, Opeth appeared to be coasting and this is a shame, because I know that they can and do play better gigs than that.

As for Enslaved, I was disappointed because they were gone in a few heart beats. If tonights event had been the other way around, if the crowd had come for Enslaved rather than Opeth, maybe they would have got a warmer reception. But Powerful and progressive Black Metal when played on a tour with band who have left such “Black Metal Nonsence” (another direct quoted from the stage) behind just seemed to fail. I was heart broken.

[kvrizv]

April 23, 2017 | 10:09 p.m.

Oh, where to begin…

This really isn’t my typical social media platform of choice, but everything else from my preferred list has a limit to the the amount of characters you can use (yes, even Instagram) and Facebook is for the fake front you put on for family and casual friends you’ll pretend to remember at high school reunions. So Tumblr it is…

Life is messy. I don’t know how else to put it in simple terms that will encompass everything, but life is messy. So is “my room” right now and that’s what makes it the perfect setting.

Let’s be clear, this isn’t really “my room,” but temporary lodging while my “old room” is more than likely going to have the walls torn out and made a mess of the space I tried so hard to make cozy. It has mold. Enough mold to where the apartment complex has made me and my three other roommates all relocate across this accursed place. We were told this Thursday after one roommate put in a work order to try and fix the mold that had run rampant in her room. At first they said we wouldn’t have to move everything out and it would only take seven to ten days max for them to “fix the problem.” That was Thursday.

Friday is when they told us that it would take potentially up to two weeks for them to fix everything and make it possible for us to move back in. Big difference from the seven to ten days they mentioned prior. So now I’m packing up everything I can before we had to be out by Monday and would no longer be able to access our old apartment or our old rooms. It’s one thing to pack when it’s planned, but it’s a whole other thing when you’re being told to move with only a few days to process what’s going on and get prepared. It’s a whole other thing when you have to question everything you brought into your room and whether it has mold growth or mildew on it and if it can even be repaired, saved or will have to be thrown away like meaningless garbage.

Friday is also when I had a live music show to throw and execute after hyping it up damn near since the last one a month ago. The line up was perfect. I had booked four out of the five performers myself and was hoping this would be the one thing that wouldn’t go wrong this week. It’s amazing how quickly your hopes can get squished. The DJ was late. Not just for sound check, but the beginning of the event. Now, this wouldn’t be an issue, but at the last show in March one of the performers had canceled on me the day of the performance, maybe two hours prior to sound check. The people running the venue weren’t impressed because they thought we were starting late intentionally and had wasted their sound technician’s time. So this is the second time we’re starting late and we couldn’t even run sound check on time because the DJ had some of the equipment we used to help balance out the sound quality of the show. Trust me, it was necessary he be there for sound check if this event was even going to come close to running smoothly. I know the head barista at the venue was not impressed in the slightest and rightfully angry. But it wasn’t aimed at the DJ, but me, the one who essentially serves as the representation of the people putting this together. It’s a great feeling when you know people are upset at you for other people’s actions you couldn’t help or control. But that’s been a constant feeling at the work place, but that’s a whole other thing entirely separate from this paragraph. People seemed to have a good time though, but I still felt like I let other people down.

All the while I’m having to move out of my apartment and run this show, my car begins to have more problems. The worst part is that it’s not like this is anything new. This is the third incident in less than six months where something’s wrong with the car. First it was a $500+ fix during winter break, then it was nearly $200 to get the starter replaced during spring break, and now the battery was acting up. Thankfully, my mom had gotten a warranty on the battery when we bought it last time, so it didn’t cost anything when we had to get it replaced. But tell me why 24 hours after getting the battery in my car replaced that the brand new battery dies right in the middle turn lane in front of the Walmart in town? I was just trying to get a loofah and some shower rings for the new apartment I had to move into because my old one has mold infesting it, but instead of a hot shower I get a dead car in the middle of a busy 5-lane street. Thankfully a kind stranger pushed my car while I steered my dead car into the gas station that was right there.

But how come all this had to happen all at once? How come this all had to happen over the time span of only 72 hours roughly?

I should be working on end of semester projects, studying for finals, trying to wrap up my first semester in a new position at my work place. But instead I’m sitting at the desk in a new room that’s littered with boxes of stuff that I need to unpack and organize all the while my car is sitting overnight in a gas station halfway across this little town. I already had to bail on my weekly radio show tonight and was even going to have guests come in to talk about all kinds of awesome things and just have a good time. But my phone died probably 20 minutes after my car did and I had no way of reaching out to anybody after that.

Thankfully, I was able to call my mom and she made her way back to town to help. Thankfully, I was able to text a friend and he headed right over to help without me even having to ask him to. Thankfully, I had two incredible friends who were able to give me a ride to the show on Friday and take me home afterwards. Thankfully I got a few friends who have reached out to offer support and well wishes and make sure I was okay.

I’m not okay and my ex suggests I talk to someone, but she only popped back up after I subtweeted her during a vent session on Twitter. [EDIT - Sentence omitted after further discusdion, but still uneasy *Yeezy shrug*]. I’m just tired. I’m tired of opening up to people that are only temporary and only care casually when they need you to do something for them. Yes, I have trust issues, but with my experiences and interactions I feel like it’s warranted. I‘m tired of pretending to be okay when I’m not, because people don’t know how to deal with me when I’m anything but cheerful. But people don’t realized how depressed I feel every single day, because I’ve had years of practice of hiding that and put on a pleasant front so people will feel better. So they won’t feel how I feel so often. And I don’t know who to talk to about this. I talked to a counselor when my parents first divorced, and he was a biased prick with an agenda, so I don’t trust counselors. I’m still learning to trust my mom again after calling her out on the secrecy of her actions that had been going on for a year or so, but she felt like I didn’t need to know. Even a person I use to actively call my best friend couldn’t help me when another friend of mine died in a car accident. I just needed someone to tell me everything was going to be okay, but it seemed more like he wanted to change the subject and wasn’t willing to just try and listen at a point when I wish it was me that was in that car and not my friend.

People have told me lately I say “thank you” too much, but considering the standard of people I’m use to dealing with, even the little things mean the world to me. And that’s why I keep going. I keep going for the people who have helped lift me up out of the darkest depths of my mental state and make me want to make them proud. I do it for the people who see something in me that I don’t see in myself and want to see me succeed and help me do that. I do it for 13-year-old me that just wanted to die damn near everyday because he didn’t see a reason to keep going, but didn’t have the courage to go through and actually harm himself in some way.

Honestly, I thought this was going to be some long winded rant that ended with me cursing everything that’s happened over the last three or four days, but I feel like putting it all out there has really helped me feel better right now. And who knows, maybe this will help someone else going through a similar situation. I mean, that’s what I do it for. I just want to be the person 13-year-old me needed during that time.

It’s nearly an hour later and I think it’s time I do a little more cleaning and organizing, take a shower and try to get some sleep before it’s back to work, classes, projects, people and everything else that comes with my life. Yeah, I hate it a lot of the times, but then there’s moments like these that allow me to reflect on the little things and appreciate them a little more.

So thank you to the people who reached out to make sure I was okay. I really do mean it when I say that you have no idea how much I appreciate it. But who knows, maybe if you read this you’ll have a better understanding.

[hemcountry]

THE BRILLIANCE OF C2C SHORTENS THE MILES BETWEEN DUBLIN AND NASHVILLE

Amazingly enough for a guy who’s not only a life-long country music fan, but also happens to be a country music writer, I’d never managed to make it to C2C before this year! Not even once. Not even close, actually. And I won’t lie, it does slightly shame me to admit that.

But it’s never been for the want of trying, you can be sure of that. The simple truth is that, life being life, a myriad of uncontrollable circumstances conspired to halt every attempt I ever made to make what, for tens of thousands of country music fans, has become a yearly pilgrimage to Dublin’s 3Arena for a weekend of Nashville in our own backyard. Work, no work (so no dollars!), sickness, death, weddings, births, you name it, and at some stage it’s probably played a part in keeping me away from the biggest American country music event in Ireland each year. They’ve each queued up to step in front of me and declare, ‘Thou shalt not pass!’

This year, though, this year I hoped would be different. Heck, this year I prayed would be different! And it was. So now, at long last, I can say it….I’VE BEEN TO C2C!

Buuuut…..only just! As the saying goes, planning is essential, but plans, well, plans are useless. So once again, with life being life, the plan that I’d be there for all three nights started to come undone almost as fast as it had finally fallen into place. Thankfully, however, salvation arrived at the very last minute and so it was that day three of C2C 2017 finally became my first ever experience of this glorious piece of Music City heaven transported to Irish soil.

So, was it worth the wait? Oh man, was it ever!!

Cliona Hagan – Sunday World Stage © Ken Cassidy

 Any show that features Reba and Darius Rucker at the top of the bill would, to be frank, worth going through hell itself to get to. Throw in a couple of opening acts like the utterly fabulous Dan & Shay, and the awesome Hunter Hayes, and you’re talking about a few hours of life where absolutely nothing else in the world matters because on the stage right in front of you, there’s an almost non-stop musical magic show taking place. And speaking of stages, it would be remiss of me not to note the Sunday World stage which saw Irish artists like The Honky Tonk Angels, Cliona Hagan, Barry Kirwan, John McNichol and Una Healy entertain fans between the sets on the main stage.

Una Healy – Sunday World Stage © Ken Cassidy

But of course, in order for so many fans to enjoy the music, so much has to happen behind the scenes, and happen at the right time, and in the right way, too. And what struck me about C2C right from the moment I disembarked from the Luas at the iconic Point venue, was the superb organisation all round. The stewards outside were friendly, polite, and happy to answer any questions, and all of the staff working inside were exactly the same. I’m sure the good-natured atmosphere created by so many country fans who were just there for a good time and to enjoy themselves helped, but credit where it’s due, too, because no event of this scope and size could happen successfully without the people who keep such a machine ticking over. I tip my hat to each and everyone one of them.

And the event itself did run pretty much like a machine, too, with barely a breath between the action on the main stage ending and the music beginning on the Sunday World stage, with the same thing happening in reverse as the set of whoever was on the Sunday World stage came to a close. Again, as anybody who’s ever been involved in a big event will agree, these things don’t just happy by accident. It’s the result of planning, preparation, and most importantly of all, excellent teamwork.

Dan & Shay © Ken Cassidy

Dan & Shay kicked off the main event, and I’ll tell you what, these guys know how to get a show underway in style. As it happens, a good friend of mine knows Shay Mooney and had told me on numerous occasions that, in his opinion, Shay is probably the greatest vocalist in Nashville right now. With their debut album, ‘Where It All Began’ already in my collection going into this weekend, I knew I liked the guys’ sound, and yeah, I couldn’t argue with the fact that Shay can certainly sing alright. But folks, I have to tell you, until you hear him sing ‘live’, it’s hard to fully appreciate just how spectacularly majestic this man’s voice really is! Now I know exactly what my friend was talking about. And now, when someone asks me who I think the best male vocalist is in country music right now, I can answer without a second’s hesitation: Shay Mooney. Simple as that.

Dan Smyers © Ken Cassidy

Together with Dan Smyers, this duo had the Irish audience in the palm of their hands from the minute they bounced on stage, full of life, full of energy, and yeah, full of love for what they get to do for a living, and for the fans they were getting to do it for that night. And that love was reciprocated in kind as the audience thrilled a clearly delighted but surprised Dan and Shay by being able to join in with singing along to so many of their songs.

Shay Mooney © Ken Cassidy

  Hunter Hayes was next up and if there was any doubt in anyone’s mind that he might struggle to match the blistering pace Dan and Shay had opened with, such thoughts didn’t last long. You get the impression that, much like Brad Paisley, Hunter must surely have been born with a guitar in his hands. It doesn’t seem possible that a human being could have such a connection with an instrument otherwise. Hunter plays with an ease that makes his guitar seem more like an extension of his own body than an actual instrument. Legend has it that he got his first guitar from the actor Robert Duvall when Hunter was only six years of age. A year later, Hunter was performing for President Clinton at the White House. In recent times he’s opened for two ladies whose talents have made them two of the biggest names in music in general, nevermind just country, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood.

What I loved about Hunter was the time he took to chat with the audience, and the fact that, as with Dan and Shay before him, it was clear to see he was genuinely excited to be in Dublin, and somewhat humbled at the affection being showered down upon him from all sides of the 3Arena. At one point, as he seemed to float from one end of the stage to the other, he remarked, breathlessly, ‘Dublin, I got to tell you guys, my heart is beating so fast right now!’ Cue more love and screams all around. An early highlight of the night was when Hunter decided to share a brand new song, one that hasn’t even been recorded yet. If memory serves, it was called ‘I’ll Try’, and when this gorgeous ballad finally is recorded and makes it onto a Hunter Hayes album, I’ll be one of the thousands happy to claim we heard it first in Dublin at C2C 2017.

In jeans, t-shirt, and a ballcap Darius Rucker came ready to party, and he met with an audience who came ready to help him make that happen, by being ready to adore him and having no qualms about letting their adoration be known and seen. And it’s so easy do that, to adore this performer. I guess it’s a combination of things, and no doubt part of it is the professionalism of being an entertainer for so long and knowing just how to get a crowd on your side. But with Darius Rucker, I always feel there’s more to it than that. He has this way of making a venue like the 3Arena feel so intimate and chilled that it might as well have been a family party more so than a concert from one of country’s biggest stars. I had the pleasure of seeing him open for Brad Paisley in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre a few years back, and that is an intimate venue. That gig still ranks as one of my all-time favourites. And my point is that Darius was able to create and generate the same love and energy and fun in the multi-thousand seater 3Arena, as he did in the Olympia, which holds only a few hundred.

Darius Rucker © Ken Cassidy

  But what best describes the ‘Rucker Effect’ more than anything is this: when he played that Olympia show, we (myself and my girlfriend, who’s not a country fan as such) were right up near the front, so close that we could see the sweat glisten on his forehead, in fact. At one stage, he happened to look down mid-song and meet her eye, and he smiled and winked at her. She still talks about it. And whatever about country music in general, THAT was the exact moment she became a Darius Rucker fan for life! I was sharing this story with my friend Ken (the man responsible for the cool shots which accompany this little account), and his response was that he couldn’t blame her, because he was only seeing and hearing Darius for the very first time and he was already in love with him, too!!

Darius Rucker © Ken Cassidy

For many present, Rucker absolutely stole the show. His version of his hit ‘Wagon Wheel’ struck a chord with all, as it’s become one of the most well-known songs in Ireland ever since Nathan Carter made it his signature tune. Even better than that, though, was when he began to introduce a song by declaring that no matter what anyone thinks, some songs are just good songs, this was a song that, for him, fell right into that category….’Blame it all on my roots, I showed up in boots…’ Que mass audience participation! He followed that up, quite unexpectedly, but most fantastically, with another tune which he said could only be described as another good song…and his stunning band kicked into a kickass version of the Blackstreet hit, ‘No Diggity.’

Darius ended his set with a performance that, well, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a song so packed with emotion that if it had literally brought the house down, it would have been accepted as the only thing that could have happened. He introduced it by dedicating it to all of the stars the world had lost in the previous year, Bowie and Cohen to name but two of those mentioned, and of course, Prince. The few minutes of ‘Purple Rain’ which followed will stay in my memory until my last breath eventually leaves my own body. And I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in still feeling that way.

Darius Rucker © Ken Cassidy

I think there’s a lot of artists who would have been more than a little nervous about having to wrap up a show that had already seen Dan and Shay, then Hunter Hayes, and then Darius Rucker give masterfully crafted performances of such sublime beauty, raw passion, and sheer fun.

But Reba…..! Well, Reba was perfection. If you thought that no-one could possibly follow Dan and Shay, you would have been wrong, because Hunter Hayes accepted the challenge, took the baton, and kept things at the level set by the boys. Then if you thought it would have been tough for anyone to top Hunter, well again, you would have been wrong. But only because it was Darius who came next. And Darius… wow. Just WOW! Under any other circumstances his performance would have been the show-topper and show-stopper. Game over.

But Reba….! When Reba walked on stage and began to perform, the reception she received took the night out of Earth’s orbit and sent it heading for a place none of us had ever been before. To have been in the presence of a true living legend of American country music was indeed an honour, and certainly one I’ll never forget. Her performance doesn’t require any more than this: Reba was Reba. And we loved her for it.

Reba live at C2C Dublin 2017. © Ken Cassidy

But I will end with a story that shows you exactly why Reba is such an iconic figure, and one of the greatest country stars of all time. Back in 1999, I happened to be staying in Nashville with friends. And as luck would have it, they happened to have a friend who was working on Reba’s latest video at the time, for a song called, ‘What Do You Say?’ Being well aware of how much I loved country music, they very graciously and generously went out of their way to arrange for me to spend two days on the set, watching it all happen! I couldn’t believe it!

Reba live at C2C Dublin 2017. © Ken Cassidy

On the second day, Reba herself finally arrived to film her scenes. I was in the canteen on-site when she got there, and what happened next stunned me but has stayed with me ever since. And from this moment on Reba became the standard by which I judge all ‘stars’, whoever they are and whatever they might have achieved. Because, realistically, there are few ‘stars’ who are as big as Reba, or who have achieved as much.

Reba live at C2C Dublin 2017. © Ken Cassidy

Reba, together with her husband at the time, Narvel Blackstock, went around to every single person in the canteen, shook hands with them, and introduced herself. That’s right. Reba herself, actually made a point of taking the time to meet with and say hi to every single person in the room. As if anyone there would not have known who she was! But that wasn’t the point. The point was, that everyone mattered. And by taking the time to introduce herself, Reba was making sure everyone knew that they mattered.

Like I said, Reba is Reba. And that’s why we’ve always loved her. And why we always will, too.

Roll on C2C 2018! And next time – fingers crossed! – three days!!!

THE BRILLIANCE OF C2C SHORTENS THE MILES BETWEEN DUBLIN AND NASHVILLE was originally published on HEM COUNTRY

[devils-gatemedia]

It feels like a long long time since I last saw Anathema headline in Scotland. The last time they played here, and were the main act, I believe was in 2014, but the last time I managed to catch them headlining was way back in 2008. Since then, I’ve seen them playing a few support slots over the years with the likes of Opeth and others, but these short sets never really compare to a full show, so I was really looking forward to seeing them again tonight. It’s early doors at this Glasgow venue, a 6pm start. Yep, you read that right, 6pm on a Friday night. The Garage is a great venue, but their gigs are far too early. Needless to say, when I arrive at 6pm there are very few people there. Very probably some of the audience are still at work, or perhaps desperately shovelling down a quick meal before racing to the venue.

Hailing from Bagnols-sur-Cèze in France, Alcest are the special guests this evening. At 6:45pm, they hit the stage, and thankfully, the Garage has filled up considerably. There’s a good turnout for these guys, and I spot a few Alcest t-shirts in the audience. Luckily, the band only comprises of four members. If there were any more, I’m not sure they would have fitted on the stage. Anathema have a fair amount of gear, and Alcest really have been squeezed into the remaining space. Drummer Winterhalter occupies stage right, as there’s no room at the back, but considering the lack of elbow room, the guys make the most of it, and are pretty animated as they launch into opening track “Onyx”, from their latest 2016 release “Kodama”. Bass player Indria Saray, in particular, is just a mass of flailing hair throughout the set. Their brand of “blackgaze” music (a term I only came across recently, but describes this genre fairly well) goes down a storm with the crowd, and the response brings a smile to Winterhalter’s face. Half of the set tonight is made up of songs from “Kodama”, but they also dip into all of their previous albums, apart from their debut. Alcest aren’t a band I know very well, but by the time they play their last song “Deliverance” they’ve won me over, and I’m sure have made quite a few more fans here in Glasgow. I was very impressed with them, and if you’re planning to catch Anathema on this tour, be sure to turn up early, as Alcest are a band worth seeing.

Once Alcest’s gear is removed from the stage, all that’s left is a mere two drum kits, a paltry three keyboards, a laptop, a projection screen, and a range of guitars. This not inconsiderable number of instruments however seems to be causing the roadies some headaches, and it appears, by the number of torches on stage and guys running around, that not everything is running to plan. As the lights dim, the hall is filled with the sound of “San Francisco”, we’re treated to a video backdrop of oceans and cityscapes, and the band members take to the stage to massive cheers from the now packed auditorium. Unfortunately, technical problems seem to persist through the first couple of songs as a roadie, looking like he’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown, rushes around the stage playing with cables etc.. This doesn’t, in any way, mar the bands performance on the first two non-instrumental tracks, “Untouchable Part 1 & Part 2”, which are just awesome, and a great way to start off the gig. To my ears, I didn’t hear any technical problems. The sound was perfect.

“You know we recorded the album here in Glasgow…. love this place” Vincent Cavanagh tells the crowd. Throughout the show, both Vincent and Danny chat to the audience, and have a real rapport with the fans, which, for me, makes the difference between a good gig and a great one. At one point, Vincent jumps down into the photo pit, and chats with members of the crowd during a song. Lee Douglas stuns everyone tonight and showcases her beautiful voice during “Endless Ways”. With only piano accompaniment, she wows the crowd. When Danny isn’t rocking out with his brother Vincent, his eyes are closed, and he really looks like he’s in the zone. Even after all these years, these guys still look like they love playing live.

“Does it sound good? Does it sound ok?”, asks Danny, and it’s a resounding yes from everyone here. On record, Anathema can come across fairly bleak at times, but it’s a real party atmosphere here tonight. Songs like “Thin Air”, from 2010’s “We’re Here Because We’re Here”, get the smiling crowd clapping along. “Oh, and it was all going so well” laughs Danny as they have a false start for the track “Closer” and have to restart it. I’ve seen bands use projected videos before, and in the past, I’ve caught myself watching the screen rather than the band. Anathema manage to do it right however, and the video enhances the live experience, rather than being a distraction. Abstract and amorphis shapes swirl on the screen behind them, exploding into firework like patterns during the song, and it’s another winner with the audience. “It’s 10 O’clock, but the people at the Garage said we can have one more song”. Guitarist Danny starts playing some Pink Floyd, and I have to say it was a bit of a WTF moment for me. I’d seen the set-list before the gig, and was hoping for “Fragile Dreams”, but after my initial disappointment, the song morphed into the “Alternative 4” classic, which had probably the biggest cheer of the night.

It’s been a great evening, and Anathema delivered an exceptional performance, featuring 90 minutes of some of their best material. The tracks from the new album fit seamlessly alongside the older favourites, although most songs were taken from 2003’s “A Natural Disaster” onwards. This is the first date of the tour for the new album. Try and catch them if you can in a city near you. You won’t be disappointed.

Alcest Setlist

Onyx Kodama Là Où Naissent Les Couleurs Nouvelles Oiseaux de Proie Eclosion Autre Temps Percées De Lumière Délivrance

Anathema Setlist

San Francisco Untouchable Part 1 Untouchable Part 2 Leaving it Behind Endless Ways The Optimist Thin Air Lightning Song Dreaming Light Can’t Let Go Beginning and the End Universal Closer Encore: Firelight Distant Satellites Springfield A Natural Disaster Fragile Dreams

Review: Martin Patterson

Images: Lara Vischi

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  Live Review: Anathema – The Garage, Glasgow It feels like a long long time since I last saw Anathema headline in Scotland. The last time they played here, and were the main act, I believe was in 2014, but the last time I managed to catch them headlining was way back in 2008.