Sarah's Gig Guide 2006
5:44 pm
If there is one thing I live for, its the next concert ... when you have it pinned on your board, months in advance, and there is so much build up and excitment ... HURRAH!
5 November 2006 - THE FRATELLIS @ The Astoria
3 November 2006 - THE FEELING @ Shepherd's Bush Empire
31 October 2006 - SCISSOR SISTERS @ Brixton Academy
* Best part - this was their infamous Halloween night gig, so not only did they insist on dressing up themselves, they made sure everyone in the audience did too!
24 October 2006- PANIC! AT THE DISCO @ Brixton Academy
* Support Act - The Sounds. They had a really good sound (excuse the pun!) very catchy punk. But their lead singer was doing my head in - not content to be a really strong female singer of a male band (think Shirley Manson of Garbage) she kept parading around the stage like a bloke ... making dick jokes with her mike ... not cool, and not really necessary!
* Best part - the set design and dancers, which were brilliant and themed - it was their "Nothing Rhymes with Circus" tour after all! I went into this gig thinking it would be 6/10 - the band only have the one album, and its not even my favourite of the current emo-offerings. But these guys really stepped up, especially seeing they are quite young and relatively new to the whole thing. Lead singer Brendan Uri is really quite entertaining, and got into it with the dancers without appearing either too camp, nor too silly.
* Random fact - proof I was one of the oldest in the audience ... Panic! played two cover songs in their set - Karma Police by Radiohead and Bullt with Butterfly Wings by Smashing Pumpkins, and most people had never heard of either these songs. Depressing!
23 October 2006 - JOHN MAYER @ The Forum
* Support Act - Iain Archer, a young singer-songwriter. He was suprisingly good - I have a lot of respect for people who can just stand up in front of a huge audience (2000+ fans) and command an audience, just a man and a guitar.
* Best part - the whole damn thing! John is one of my favourite music artists, I was never going to have a crap time! He looked HOT, he sounded great, and his guitar solos were amazing! Slighlty disappointed that there wasn't a lot of great John banter, as he is so funny, but what can you do?!
But don't just take my word for it ... check out THIS
1 October 2006- RYAN ADAMS & THE CARDINALS @ Shepherds Bush Empire
* Support act - some of The Cardinals performing their own songs. They were dreary and dull, and then they started talking to the audience ... and it all went downhill from there.
* Best part - I kept hoping it would get better ... and it never did! I'm struggling to think of a part I actually enjoyed ...
* Worst part - the entire evening! Without a doubt, the worst concert I have ever been to IN MY LIFE! Was the worst part when Ryan shouted at the crowd to "F**k off!"? Or the fact that the gig ran so long, I couldn't even get a tube home, and to pay for an over-priced taxi to add insult to injury! It was an expensive evening for something so shite! Admittedly, I had high hopes (I own 8 of the man's records!) but this was so very dissapointing
But don't just take my word for it .... check out THIS
22 July 2006 - LOVEBOX WEEKENDER @ Victoria Park
11 July 2006 - BEN HARPER @ Hammersmith Apollo
* Best part - Ben's gospel brilliance, the fact he did TWO encores, his acoustic rendition of "Walk Away" ... its hard to pick just one! I love Ben, and even though this was the third time I've seen him, I was still blown away. Great mix of stuff across all his albums - and lovely stories in between (like how when he recorded with the Blind Boys of Alabama, they had a swear jar in the studio ... and every morning Ben would just come in and put a $20 in it!). He played for AGES, and I love the fact he loves performing as much as mad fans like me love going to see him!
But don't just take my word for it ... check out THIS
28 June 2006 - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE @ Brixton Academy
23 June 2006 - 02 FESTIVAL @ Hyde Park
17 June 2006 - FOO FIGHTERS @ Hyde Park
Let me first set the scene ... Hyde Park, a blazing hot Saturday afternoon, an incredible rock line-up and 85,000 fans! Yep - count us 85,000!!!
* Support Act - OMG - You'd be hard pushed to get a much better line up than this ...
- Juliette & The Licks - for shear comedy factor, they were great. Juliette Lewis in a body leotard with a feather in her hair, fronting a band that are surely only famous because she is!
- Angels & Airwaves - they were brilliant! Enough proof that Tom Delonge has grown up slightly from his Blink-182 days, but not losing what made them great. Some great rock anthems amongst them, can't wait until the album is released!
- Queens of the Stone Age - were brilliant! Got the crowd moshing ... "No One Knows" was a real pleaser, and enough thrashy guitar to keep everyone pleased!
- Motorhead - of course, I'm not the target demographic for these guys, and I could probably only name you one Motorhead song. But Lemmy is a hard man to ignore, and even I found myself enjoying them ... despite the fact the guys are now middle aged rockers with voices that are shot to shit!
* Best part - the Foos were amazing! Big Day Outs have taught me to expect that much! But the encore, where they bought out Roger Taylor and Brian May (of Queen) whilst playing "We Will Rock You" then playing "Tie Your Mother Down!" Without a doubt, we all knew we were witnessing something pretty special!! One of the all-time top 5 gigs I have ever been to!
But don't just take my word for it ... check out THIS
25 May 2006 - FALL OUT BOY @ Brixton Academy
* Best part - I'd have to say it was the epic performance of their two big singles "Dance Dance" & "Sugar We're Going Down" (my new ringtone, hehe). It was a good ol' fashioned leap around, where you ended up a wee bit bruised & battered, unbelievably sweaty ... but not giving a flying f**k!
* Worst part - feeling so damn old! Matt and I (both a mere 26!) seemed to be the oldest concert-goers there. The band seem to over-index in the barely legals ...
6 May 2006 - ME FIRST & THE GIMME GIMMES @ The Astoria
* Best part - undoubtedly, the fantastic outfits! The boys started the gig off in cowboy shirts & hats, very reminiscent of their "We Love Our Country" CD cover. For the encore, they had changed into Hawaiian shirts. Which they then ripped off ... which wasn't actually as good as it sounds! Fat Mike is called Fat Mike for a reason!
* Worst part - it was over all too quickly. I'd say that about most gigs, but given they do punk covers of contemporary songs, speeding up songs that are only 3 minutes to start with, each song lasts about 2 minutes!
But don't just take my word for it ... check out THIS
30 March 2006 - IMOGEN HEAP @ Shepherds Bush Empire
* Best part - Imogen sung a lot of acoustic material, where she did this wicked thing where she sampled herself singing different harmonies, then overlaid them. Not sure how she did it, but it was amazing. It was also pretty hard to beat "Let Go", as that was the song that introduced me to her (via her band Frou Frou, via the fab Zach Braff flick "Garden State"
* Random Fact - she was wearing an evening gown on stage ... and no shoes! An interesting look, when combined with her weird floral hairpiece!
But don't just take my word for it .... check out THIS
28 February 2006 - LOUIS XIV @ Scala
* Support act - The Zutes, who were fantastic. Really got the crowd into it - but then thrashy guitars will do that for you!
* Best part - The finale - everyone singing the quiet part to "Finding Out True Love is Blind" ..."wind you up and make you crawl to me/ tie you up until you call to me" it was fantastic!
* Random facts - the guitarist looked Amish with his weird hat and beard combo. So not rock'n'roll.
12 February 2006 - GOLDFRAPP @ Brixton Academy
* Support act - don't know who they were, but they were RUBBISH!
* Best part - hard to pick: "Train" was the track that really got everyone going, but "Ooh La La" was the best song, and "Number One" had a superb finale with confetti falling from the ceiling
* Random facts - the dancers were a little bit bizarre - from the dancers in leotards with wolf masks on (?!?) to the dancers in leotards with fake tails & giant horse heads for "Ride A White Horse". Really odd.
16 December 2005 - FAT BOY SLIM @ Brixton Academy
* Support act - The Scratch Perverts who played a fantastic mix of different genres
* Best part - its hard to top Fat Boy Slim for his dancing, which despite the fact he KNOWS he can't dance, he continues to do it anyway! :P
* Random facts - 3 D glasses, giant smiley face balloons suspended from the ceiling ... could it BE more random?!
5 November 2006 - THE FRATELLIS @ The Astoria
3 November 2006 - THE FEELING @ Shepherd's Bush Empire
31 October 2006 - SCISSOR SISTERS @ Brixton Academy
* Best part - this was their infamous Halloween night gig, so not only did they insist on dressing up themselves, they made sure everyone in the audience did too!
24 October 2006- PANIC! AT THE DISCO @ Brixton Academy
* Support Act - The Sounds. They had a really good sound (excuse the pun!) very catchy punk. But their lead singer was doing my head in - not content to be a really strong female singer of a male band (think Shirley Manson of Garbage) she kept parading around the stage like a bloke ... making dick jokes with her mike ... not cool, and not really necessary!
* Best part - the set design and dancers, which were brilliant and themed - it was their "Nothing Rhymes with Circus" tour after all! I went into this gig thinking it would be 6/10 - the band only have the one album, and its not even my favourite of the current emo-offerings. But these guys really stepped up, especially seeing they are quite young and relatively new to the whole thing. Lead singer Brendan Uri is really quite entertaining, and got into it with the dancers without appearing either too camp, nor too silly.
* Random fact - proof I was one of the oldest in the audience ... Panic! played two cover songs in their set - Karma Police by Radiohead and Bullt with Butterfly Wings by Smashing Pumpkins, and most people had never heard of either these songs. Depressing!
23 October 2006 - JOHN MAYER @ The Forum
* Support Act - Iain Archer, a young singer-songwriter. He was suprisingly good - I have a lot of respect for people who can just stand up in front of a huge audience (2000+ fans) and command an audience, just a man and a guitar.
* Best part - the whole damn thing! John is one of my favourite music artists, I was never going to have a crap time! He looked HOT, he sounded great, and his guitar solos were amazing! Slighlty disappointed that there wasn't a lot of great John banter, as he is so funny, but what can you do?!
But don't just take my word for it ... check out THIS
1 October 2006- RYAN ADAMS & THE CARDINALS @ Shepherds Bush Empire
* Support act - some of The Cardinals performing their own songs. They were dreary and dull, and then they started talking to the audience ... and it all went downhill from there.
* Best part - I kept hoping it would get better ... and it never did! I'm struggling to think of a part I actually enjoyed ...
* Worst part - the entire evening! Without a doubt, the worst concert I have ever been to IN MY LIFE! Was the worst part when Ryan shouted at the crowd to "F**k off!"? Or the fact that the gig ran so long, I couldn't even get a tube home, and to pay for an over-priced taxi to add insult to injury! It was an expensive evening for something so shite! Admittedly, I had high hopes (I own 8 of the man's records!) but this was so very dissapointing
But don't just take my word for it .... check out THIS
22 July 2006 - LOVEBOX WEEKENDER @ Victoria Park
11 July 2006 - BEN HARPER @ Hammersmith Apollo
* Best part - Ben's gospel brilliance, the fact he did TWO encores, his acoustic rendition of "Walk Away" ... its hard to pick just one! I love Ben, and even though this was the third time I've seen him, I was still blown away. Great mix of stuff across all his albums - and lovely stories in between (like how when he recorded with the Blind Boys of Alabama, they had a swear jar in the studio ... and every morning Ben would just come in and put a $20 in it!). He played for AGES, and I love the fact he loves performing as much as mad fans like me love going to see him!
But don't just take my word for it ... check out THIS
28 June 2006 - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE @ Brixton Academy
23 June 2006 - 02 FESTIVAL @ Hyde Park
17 June 2006 - FOO FIGHTERS @ Hyde Park
Let me first set the scene ... Hyde Park, a blazing hot Saturday afternoon, an incredible rock line-up and 85,000 fans! Yep - count us 85,000!!!
* Support Act - OMG - You'd be hard pushed to get a much better line up than this ...
- Juliette & The Licks - for shear comedy factor, they were great. Juliette Lewis in a body leotard with a feather in her hair, fronting a band that are surely only famous because she is!
- Angels & Airwaves - they were brilliant! Enough proof that Tom Delonge has grown up slightly from his Blink-182 days, but not losing what made them great. Some great rock anthems amongst them, can't wait until the album is released!
- Queens of the Stone Age - were brilliant! Got the crowd moshing ... "No One Knows" was a real pleaser, and enough thrashy guitar to keep everyone pleased!
- Motorhead - of course, I'm not the target demographic for these guys, and I could probably only name you one Motorhead song. But Lemmy is a hard man to ignore, and even I found myself enjoying them ... despite the fact the guys are now middle aged rockers with voices that are shot to shit!
* Best part - the Foos were amazing! Big Day Outs have taught me to expect that much! But the encore, where they bought out Roger Taylor and Brian May (of Queen) whilst playing "We Will Rock You" then playing "Tie Your Mother Down!" Without a doubt, we all knew we were witnessing something pretty special!! One of the all-time top 5 gigs I have ever been to!
But don't just take my word for it ... check out THIS
25 May 2006 - FALL OUT BOY @ Brixton Academy
* Best part - I'd have to say it was the epic performance of their two big singles "Dance Dance" & "Sugar We're Going Down" (my new ringtone, hehe). It was a good ol' fashioned leap around, where you ended up a wee bit bruised & battered, unbelievably sweaty ... but not giving a flying f**k!
* Worst part - feeling so damn old! Matt and I (both a mere 26!) seemed to be the oldest concert-goers there. The band seem to over-index in the barely legals ...
6 May 2006 - ME FIRST & THE GIMME GIMMES @ The Astoria
* Best part - undoubtedly, the fantastic outfits! The boys started the gig off in cowboy shirts & hats, very reminiscent of their "We Love Our Country" CD cover. For the encore, they had changed into Hawaiian shirts. Which they then ripped off ... which wasn't actually as good as it sounds! Fat Mike is called Fat Mike for a reason!
* Worst part - it was over all too quickly. I'd say that about most gigs, but given they do punk covers of contemporary songs, speeding up songs that are only 3 minutes to start with, each song lasts about 2 minutes!
But don't just take my word for it ... check out THIS
30 March 2006 - IMOGEN HEAP @ Shepherds Bush Empire
* Best part - Imogen sung a lot of acoustic material, where she did this wicked thing where she sampled herself singing different harmonies, then overlaid them. Not sure how she did it, but it was amazing. It was also pretty hard to beat "Let Go", as that was the song that introduced me to her (via her band Frou Frou, via the fab Zach Braff flick "Garden State"
* Random Fact - she was wearing an evening gown on stage ... and no shoes! An interesting look, when combined with her weird floral hairpiece!
But don't just take my word for it .... check out THIS
28 February 2006 - LOUIS XIV @ Scala
* Support act - The Zutes, who were fantastic. Really got the crowd into it - but then thrashy guitars will do that for you!
* Best part - The finale - everyone singing the quiet part to "Finding Out True Love is Blind" ..."wind you up and make you crawl to me/ tie you up until you call to me" it was fantastic!
* Random facts - the guitarist looked Amish with his weird hat and beard combo. So not rock'n'roll.
12 February 2006 - GOLDFRAPP @ Brixton Academy
* Support act - don't know who they were, but they were RUBBISH!
* Best part - hard to pick: "Train" was the track that really got everyone going, but "Ooh La La" was the best song, and "Number One" had a superb finale with confetti falling from the ceiling
* Random facts - the dancers were a little bit bizarre - from the dancers in leotards with wolf masks on (?!?) to the dancers in leotards with fake tails & giant horse heads for "Ride A White Horse". Really odd.
16 December 2005 - FAT BOY SLIM @ Brixton Academy
* Support act - The Scratch Perverts who played a fantastic mix of different genres
* Best part - its hard to top Fat Boy Slim for his dancing, which despite the fact he KNOWS he can't dance, he continues to do it anyway! :P
* Random facts - 3 D glasses, giant smiley face balloons suspended from the ceiling ... could it BE more random?!
