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Gigs 'n' Tours

Apparently, I'm going to see Bullet for my Valentine on Sunday. This was Tarin's idea, but there's a certain amount of nostalgia involved - though their last two albums have fallen well short of the mark, their music was one of the first things we bonded over back in 2011 - and they're playing the first album in full, so I'm slightly looking forward to being to being reunited with my 18 year old self. Although listening in the car for what felt like the first time in years, it seemed odd that one of my best years featured such angry, miserable music :p

2017's shaping up very nicely as well - I'll see Iron Maiden at least twice in May with the family and 2 intimate Sonata Arctica shows booked around my birthday. Dream Theater have also announced a European tour to celebrate 25 years of Images & Words and I'll be first in line for tickets as soon as some UK shows are announced, and I'll go to Germany if they aren't (I wasn't a massive fan of the last tour, where all they played was The Astonishing) and... hopefully Gabrielle Aplin will play somewhere less than 200 miles from me.

Aside from somehow getting into the golden circle for Maiden in Gothenburg, my concert highlights of this year were Machine Head and Stereophonics, both of whom I saw in Nottingham. Nottingham is a silly place, with too many spiteful bus lanes.
 
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Oh, I forgot to post that I saw Alter Bridge last week. I first heard of them last year due to Guitar Hero Live and have been addicted to one of their albums since. They were excellent live but felt like all my favourite songs were played within the first 30 minutes of the set. Still, it was great to see a band who clearly know what they're doing and they really got the crowd going. The atmosphere during one of their slower songs was actually very impressive.

They were supported by 3 other bands but only really caught Volbeat. I think they have a couple of decent tracks but most of the singing is quite hard to understand? It's like trying to understand someone who is just mumbling away to themselves.
 
Well this year for me has been fab for me in terms of concerts. My first ever concert embarrassingly was at the end of 2015 seeing Nightwish at Wembley who were fab! Then this year I first saw Sabaton who are amazing live as well Alestorm in Cardiff. Then we saw Korpiklaani in Bristol who were also amazing!! But that concert was scary as hell because even though we were at the front we kept on getting squashed by the incredibly aggressive moshpit which was ironic seeming how upbeat the music was. More recently I saw Delain and Evergrey in Cardiff. Delain were good and Charlotte wessels was great live but they were my least favourite out the bands I have seen. Evergrey were really good and really nice guys who came out afterwards and were signing autographs and meeting people for free, I was even having a few drinks with the guitarist which was a bit surreal but fab at the same time. Most recently this Sunday just gone, I saw one of my favourite Bands live on their european tour... Avatar! They were unreal live and definitely the best concert I have been to easily although I am seeing Korn and Limp Biskit on the 18th which should be interesting lol
But yeah I managed to lowkey film while headbanging along to Avatar to keep some good memories but they really were great!
 
Korn is amazing live. Enjoy.

I haven't been to a concert since 2012 and I hate myself for it. BUT, they just announced the line up for Rock on the Range in Columbus, OH next year and it's got a plethora of amazing bands, as it's a three day festival, headlined by Metallica, Soundgarden, and Korn. Several other large heavy rock groups will be there, so I'm going to make the trek out there, plus gonna grab a few coasters on the trip to.
 
Managed to get to the very front row when I saw Biffy Clyro last night. Definitely one of the best gigs I've been to if not the best. :D
 
Reorganised my Germany itinerary slightly after the bad news about Colossos.
In doing so, I found out there's a Maiden gig 6 miles from my hotel. Win :D
 
Went to see A Day To Remember in London last night, it was great! They're a mix of pop punk and metalcore so there's big catchy sing a long choruses then really heavy breakdowns in the same songs which made for a fun night.

I also went crowd surfing for the first time, it was exhilarating soaring over the heads of everyone while shouting along to the songs at the top of my voice. Definitely one of those never forget moments!
 
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I saw Dream Theater last night, for what I've worked out was the 12th time :)
It was a long set, involving the full Images and Words album, meaning finally getting to see Learning to Live, Another Day and Wait for Sleep played live and the encore was A Change of Seasons, which has always been one of my favourites, so that was awesome. The band were on form as well, and interacted with the crowd and each other, while pratting about with their instruments more than usual :) I also have a very soft spot for The Bigger Picture, though apparently Lain does not agree.

The ticket had been horrendously expensive, but that meant we were on the third row from the front - one minor complaint is the theatre style shows DT and a few other bands have started doing since 2012 meaning everyone is tightly seated and you can't really move around between songs; I really dislike being sat politely when something like The Dark Eternal Night or As I Am are being played. As such, I'm hoping they'll somewhere with a more 'metal gig' atmosphere in the near future - and that there's a 25 years of SFaM tour in 7 years time!

I also took a few pictures.
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Next up is Iron Maiden in Oberhausen on Monday night!
 
Been ages since I went to see a band live. Anyway, saw Queens of the Stone Age last night. They were fantastic. I really liked their stage setup, quite simple with some cool lighting but they also had these weird light poles which were flexible and occasionally they'd kick them or lean on them and it amused me. Sound within the o2 was perfect too, it was great to hear everything so clearly. There was only one track which I didn't like and from the mood in the room I wasn't alone (just way too slow and boring compared to everything else). Some of the solos were a bit ridiculous and long winded too, the drum solo was ridiculous.

There was a support act too but they were atrocious, always find it awkward when terrible bands open for such big gigs.
 
Always fancied seeing QOTSA live but bugger if I'd see them at the O2 - that place has zero atmosphere. Willing to bet the slow song was Villains Of Circumstance off the new album. The album version builds and gets quite good but they did a stripped back version on Jools Holland recently that didn't seem to go down very well in (at least in some forums I hang about in). Glad you had a good time anyway.
 
Saw Mr Robert Plant last night at the MancApollo, seen him a fair few times over the years (first time nearly 30 years ago when he played my University students union of all places - apparently he'd seen a band there once and liked the building). Anyway he was still sounding very good, if looking a bit old now. I am older now than he was the first few times I saw him. I'm old.... not as old as Percy though.
Good seat, bang in the middle, row #6 , crappy phone pic
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Saw Metallica as well a month ago, at the MancArena. They are also older than me and I have also seen them a few times. They never played my Uni though.
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A bit before that I saw Public Service Broadcasting at MancAcademy - they were just splendid. Brilliant stuff that.
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And a little while before (August) that I saw the Flaming Lips in Birmingham - do love a bit of the lips. It's just such a joyful experience seeing them (and that from a grumpy cynic like me!)
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Public Service Broadcasting were the support then too (it was meant to be a bit of a outdoor mini-inner-city-festival-type-thing, but the outdoor site had licensing issues so it was switched to indoors more like a 'normal' gig, though there were 4 bands on)
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Earlier in the summer, Radiohead at the cricket ground - was a rescheduled gig as they were meant to be at the Arena but bad things happened and they had to cancel that. Was good, but stadium gigs are pretty horrible experiences...
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Highlight this year was obviously Svalbard in Manchester though. Really crap phone picture though, wasn't trying. Sorry about that.
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That should be it for this year, got a few lined up for next year already tho (Foos, ex-Mansun chap, Roger Waters a few times ; that sort of thing...)
 
Don't know if this counts, but I'm going to see the Tran-Siberian Orchestra tonight! I've never seen them before, and all I know is Lasers and Music. Sounds fun to me!
 
been to quite a few over the last year and a bit.

Starting with the best -
Space - Their albums are a mixture of good and bad , but the good stuff is excellent, Wasn't sure how well they'd be able to carry off their quirky sound - but Tommy Scott is a great vocalist and performer - one of the best coincerts I've seen! Only disappointment was no "diary of a whimp"

and the rest in order:
Cast - Towards the end of last year (and my first concert since REMs up tour!) - a band I'd almost forgotten about until I saw the poster advertising it - Glad I saw it, made me remember how much I like live music, and reminded me how great Guiding star is! (no "alright" though!)

Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott - time for some well crafted catchy pop - did about 1/3 Housemartins stuff and 1/3 Beautiful South stuff and 1/3 new stuff - no "A little time" though - boo!

My life story - another band who I didn't know where still around - played all my faves! - even Mr Boyd!

T'Pau - A serious of concerts celebrating 30 years since china in your hand was number one - One of my favourite late 80s bands and Carol Decker is gorgeous!, I can remember being jealous when my brother saw them about 25 years ago and got a signed t-shirt, so HAD to see them now I'd got the chance! She's still got it! Oh - and I got a signed cd AND a photo!
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Saw Him on Friday for their farewell tour :( .
Cant complain really, seen them easily 15 times and met them :D
Great band.

In March Katie and I will be seeing 30 Seconds to Mars in Birmingham. Very amazing tickets though, meet and greet, watching from the side of the stage and on stage for the final song!!!!!!
 
Thanks to Sue I got to see Franz Ferdinand last night. They were great live and their new tracks are pretty good (maybe better live?). The band seem to genuinely have a great time performing, just created a great atmosphere.

I actually have another 2 gigs coming up this month, Alestorm and Bowling for soup. Pretty excited.
 
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